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North Wales A spell on the dark side.

Andy 1965

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Location
North Wales
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After a successful few weeks on the lures, it was time to go to the dark side this week with a spell of fishing dirty bait. First off was the latest club match on Sunday afternoon, but late on Saturday night I happened to find out that we had a slight problem. The original venue was to have been Moel y don in the Straits, where we hoped to catch smoothhound, but I happened to see on Facebook that the WFSA were holding a qualifying match there at exactly the same time we planned to fish :oops:. After a last minute chat on Sunday morning we settled on Deganwy as a back-up venue, where at least we would be able to make good use of the peelers that everyone had bought (y).

Now the river had been fishing well a few weeks ago, and we hoped for decent bags of flounder, and maybe the odd bass or two, but sadly it looks like we were a bit late :unsure:. The match started off well enough, when I caught a flounder of 0.53kg on the very first cast, but that soon looked like a one off as things went very quiet after that. A few fish did eventually put in an appearance, when Kenny caught a couple of flatties in quick succession to take top spot, and Glyn also managed a small one to take third place, but the other 4 lads all blanked ?.

My next outing was on Monday evening, when I took my son Sam out for some quality dad and lad time at a local mark, but this time the weather gods weren’t in a good mood. For the first 2 hours of the session the rain fell steadily, and we were both drenched, but we still managed to dig enough fresh lug to keep us going.
Sam soaked_May_30th_2022.jpg

Things started off slowly, but once the flood got underway the fish started to feed. First off was a very fat and probably pregnant doggie and I soon followed that up with the first bass of the evening, a decent example of 51cm ?.
Bass-1_May_30th_2022.jpg

Next up was Sam’s turn to catch, and though it wasn’t the bass he hoped for, he still beat the blank with his first dog of the night ?.
Sam Doggie - 1_May_30th_2022.jpg

It was my turn again next with a couple more doggies, before I caught the second silver of the night, a proper beast this time ?.
Bass-2_May_30th_2022.jpg

Unfortunately this was the last bass of the night, but we both caught another brace of dogs each before we called it a night, to finish what was quite a productive little session ?.
Sam Doggies - 2 & 3_May_30th_2022.jpg

The following evening I had planned to get back on the lures again, but though there was no rain in the forecast, conditions still weren’t the best, so I decided to have another go after bass on bait.

Once more things were quiet until 30 minutes or so after low, when I missed my first bite of the evening, but that was just the start. Soon after this, an identical rattle resulted in a tiny schoolie of 25cm
Bass-1_May_31st_2022.jpg

Over the next couple of hours I missed several more bites ?, but I did land 2 more diddy bass to keep my numbers for the year rising, plus a small and spotty flounder ?.
Bass-2_May_31st_2022.jpg

Bass-3_May_31st_2022.jpg

Flounder_31st_May_2022.jpg

As darkness fell, I had been pushed back almost to the pebbles when I spotted a small movement on one of the rod tips, I walked forward and stood next to the tripod and just as I looked up the rod tip was pulled over hard and as the rod sprang straight again, the line dropped slack onto the sand ?. I quickly picked up the rod and waited for another movement, then just as I felt the rod pull gently down again I raised the rod and started to reel in. At first I thought I might have missed my chance, but as my gear got closer to shore I felt something fighting on the end of my line and eventually I was able to land my best bass of the night of 44cm ?.
Bass-4_May_31st_2022.jpg

The rest of the session was a case of more missed bites, as what I assumed to be small schoolies started feeding hard under the cover of darkness. I wasn’t able to connect with anything else, so I called it a night and headed the short distance home.

So a week which started off slowly had picked up in the end, and though the size of fish was a lot smaller than I have been used to lately, I had actually quite enjoyed my local adventures ?.
 
Well done Andy plenty of fish for you and a few for the lad , so that keeps him happy . You seem to have loads of bass up
Your way .
 
Thanks for the replies all (y), it was a nice change of pace from the lures and good to see a local mark fishing well.

Doesn’t look very dark…:unsure:

I can assure you it was ?.

The camera on my phone is a seriously good bit of kit, and it's amazing how much light the lense gathers. Here are some pics I took that same evening, an hour and a half after sunset with no flash.
Dwygi 1.jpg

Dwygi 2.jpg

Dwygi 3.jpg
 
No flash ! It looks almost back lit, is it a special setting and what phone is it please?
 
That's a cracking report and pics well done.Hope you don't mind a bit of nit picking.The pic of your lad holding the doggies up suspended by the hooks leaves a lot to be desired.Ammo for the Politically Correct brigade.
 
No flash ! It looks almost back lit, is it a special setting and what phone is it please?
It's a Samsung Galaxy S20+, it does have a "Night Mode" setting but I just switch the flash off and leave it in "Auto Mode".



That's a cracking report and pics well done.Hope you don't mind a bit of nit picking.The pic of your lad holding the doggies up suspended by the hooks leaves a lot to be desired.Ammo for the Politically Correct brigade.
Fair point but hopefully there aren't any antis in here.

Doggies are pretty tough, so 30 seconds hanging on the hook shouldn't do them any harm, but I'll bear you comment in mind next time.
 
They are here most of the time but don't shout about it until they spot something on their radar to complain about.
Usually when they can't catch a cold and someone else is caining fish out!
 
Hang on TDX and Cfish! There's nothing wrong with good, quick C&R but everything wrong with a slow, poor C&R. Its called respect for your quarry. Anyone that doesn't have that respect is an idiot that shouldn't be angling! Taking pics of those doggies doesn't count as poor Cand R as you and I have absolutely no idea how long they were out of the water. I believe Andy - it's a quick snap before release. So what's the problem? There isn't one, not until you make one.
 
So what's the problem?

Taking pics of those doggies doesn't count as poor Cand R
The problem is not C&R it's the fact that they are being displayed and photographed hanging on the hooks.All ammo for the antis.They could have been unhooked,held and a photo taken and then returned.
There isn't one, not until you make one.
Which is what I did.My comment was directed at the OP and as he says he will bare it in mind for future reference which is the sensible thing to do.I would never take a photo of any fish hanging on a hook.
 
The problem is not C&R it's the fact that they are being displayed and photographed hanging on the hooks.All ammo for the antis.They could have been unhooked,held and a photo taken and then returned.

Which is what I did.My comment was directed at the OP and as he says he will bare it in mind for future reference which is the sensible thing to do.I would never take a photo of any fish hanging on a hook.

While I appreciate your point, I have been fishing for 50 years now and I know perfectly well how to take care of the fish I catch.

Taking photos of fish hanging on hooks isn't something I usually do, and I only did so on this occasion as it was the quickest and easiest way to get a picture for my son. If I had unhooked the fish first, then Sam would have had to hold them hanging by their tails to hold 2 dogs at once, which again isn't ideal. Also dogs caught off a pier or any other high mark would be hanging on the hooks for longer than these 2 were, while being reeled up from the water, so this was no worse than that.

As I said earlier, dogs are made of tough stuff and I've seen others treat them far more harshly than this with no apparent harm done, but I certainly wouldn't condone such behaviour. I wouldn't do the same with any more delicate fish such as bass, rays or smoothhound either.

This was a one off and I have posted the same picture on several forums, as well as social media, and so far you're the only person who has had a problem with it. You are of course perfectly entitled to your opinion, and by posting a report in the public domain I must accept any criticism, but as far as I'm concerned the matter is now over and done with.
 
I have been fishing for 50 years now
I've been doing it for 68 years and never treated fish in that manner but everyone to their own.
This was a one off and I have posted the same picture on several forums, as well as social media, and so far you're the only person who has had a problem with it.
No! I'm the only one who has mentioned I have a problem with it. Pictures like that are fuel for the antis.
Seen the same report on the Dark Side(no pun intended) but one moan is enough.
Anyway water under the bridge.We agree to disagree. (y)
 
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