Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 376
- Reaction score
- 3,439
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
With school half term upon us, I had the day off work on Monday to take the boys out fishing. It’s been a while since our last session, so keen to keep them interested, I took them back to the same rock ledge we’ve fished the last couple of times. I wasn’t expecting anything particularly exciting, but the dogs can usually be relied upon to put in an appearance and there’s always a chance of something a little different, which makes it a good choice of mark for youngsters.
We arrived a couple of hours before high water and Immediately got set up with 3-hook flappers, which were then baited with a variety of black lug, squid and sandeel. Conditions were very good, with a bit of a groundswell adding some movement to the water, so I was feeling confident of some good sport.
Thing started off fairly quietly for the boys, but yours truly soon had a bite and I started the ball rolling with the first dog of the session ?. Cast number 2 was more of the same but finally, on his third cast Josh had a bite. He gave it a little time to develop, before reeling in a double header of a doggie and his first ever conger ?.
He was made up with this, and for the next half an hour he didn’t miss a chance to remind his brother that he was yet to catch ?. It was only a matter of time though, before Sam eventually opened his account with another dog
.
The rest of the flood carried on in much the same manner, with just the occasional dogs showing, plus another strap conger for me, but sport wasn’t quite as hectic as it usually is in this area. Things got quieter still either side of high, as the flow eased to nothing, but once the tide turned and started to run again, things slowly picked up once more.
An hour or so after high water, Sam had another bite which didn’t look any different from the others, and we just assumed that it was another doggie. Even when he started to reel in, there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary, but after a dozen or so turns of the reel his rod suddenly bent over and Sam commented that he’d pulled into a snag. I thought it was strange to get snagged once the gear was up off the bottom but there is quite a lot of kelp in the area, so I just assumed that he had got caught up on some. I took the rod off him and after applying some pressure I got his gear moving again before I passed the rod back to him. Though the gear was free, there was still quite a weight on the line, and I did wonder if Sam had managed to hook a rig I lost earlier . My theory was soon proved wrong though, when a bloody great huss emerged from the depths ?.
With the beast on the surface directly below us and being washed against the rocks by the swells, I gave Sam instructions to keep the rod tip up, while I scrambled closer to the water but while I was making my way down, Sam exclaimed that the rig was stuck! As I got closer, I could see that one of the free hooks had got hung up on the barnacles ?. Once close enough, I grabbed hold of the mainline and stared to lift, but I had barely put any pressure on the line when the unthinkable happened and it snapped! ?
I was absolutely gutted at the thought that I had lost Sam his fish of a lifetime, but then I saw that the huss was still there, a few feet down in the surging water. With no time to loose, I quickly climbed back up the rocks and immediately reeled my rod in, once ashore I hurriedly unclipped the rig and replaced it with a 6oz grip-lead, I then climbed back down to where I last saw the huss and peered into the depths. Sadly, it looked like I was too late though and there was no sign of it whatsoever ?. Even with Sam’s Polaroids on I couldn’t see anything, but I more in desperation than hope I decided to have a go anyway.
Over the next 5 to 10 minutes, I repeatedly dropped the weight into the water at my feet but apart from the odd snatch as the grip-wires were caught on the rocks, I felt nothing ?. Eventually I resigned myself to the fact that the beast was gone, and I dropped the lead into the depths for the final time. I reeled it slowly back up, thinking how close Sam had come to catching something quite special, when amazingly I felt the line get gradually heavier ?. Surely it couldn’t be I thought, but as I held my breath and reeled in very slowly, the top of a rig came into view, followed close behind by the shape of a cracking huss ?. I immediately called Sam over and passed the rod up top him, with strict instructions not to try and lift it, before I scrambled down again to grab the rig, I then gently lifted it out of the water until I was able to finally grab hold of the huss’s tail ?. I then scrambled back up onto the upper ledge again and presented Sam with his prize. Both he and Josh were absolutely buzzing to see such a fish, but the first thing Sam said was “I’m not touching that!” ? After several minutes of persuasion though, he finally plucked up the courage to hold his prize for a picture, a cracker of 9lb 2oz ?.
Now we couldn’t really top that, but we fished on for another hour anyway, in the hope of another biggie. It wasn’t to be though and as the tide continued to drop, the fish gradually went off the feed. Eventually, after 2 and a half hours of the ebb we decided to call it a day, but we hadn’t finished catching just yet. While Sam reeled in one final doggie, I was busy stripping old bait off my hooks, then before putting the rigs away, and in an effort to clean off any fishy scraps, I cast out one more time. I reeled in straight away but incredibly, I felt something hit my rig on the way in, and I reeled in to find a mini mackerel on my bare hook, now that takes real skill I told the boys ?.
So it was third time lucky on a rock mark, and the boys had finally caught something larger than a doggie, in fact they’re still buzzing now and I think it will take some doing to top their first big fish ?.
We arrived a couple of hours before high water and Immediately got set up with 3-hook flappers, which were then baited with a variety of black lug, squid and sandeel. Conditions were very good, with a bit of a groundswell adding some movement to the water, so I was feeling confident of some good sport.
Thing started off fairly quietly for the boys, but yours truly soon had a bite and I started the ball rolling with the first dog of the session ?. Cast number 2 was more of the same but finally, on his third cast Josh had a bite. He gave it a little time to develop, before reeling in a double header of a doggie and his first ever conger ?.
He was made up with this, and for the next half an hour he didn’t miss a chance to remind his brother that he was yet to catch ?. It was only a matter of time though, before Sam eventually opened his account with another dog
.The rest of the flood carried on in much the same manner, with just the occasional dogs showing, plus another strap conger for me, but sport wasn’t quite as hectic as it usually is in this area. Things got quieter still either side of high, as the flow eased to nothing, but once the tide turned and started to run again, things slowly picked up once more.
An hour or so after high water, Sam had another bite which didn’t look any different from the others, and we just assumed that it was another doggie. Even when he started to reel in, there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary, but after a dozen or so turns of the reel his rod suddenly bent over and Sam commented that he’d pulled into a snag
. I thought it was strange to get snagged once the gear was up off the bottom but there is quite a lot of kelp in the area, so I just assumed that he had got caught up on some. I took the rod off him and after applying some pressure I got his gear moving again before I passed the rod back to him. Though the gear was free, there was still quite a weight on the line, and I did wonder if Sam had managed to hook a rig I lost earlier . My theory was soon proved wrong though, when a bloody great huss emerged from the depths ?.With the beast on the surface directly below us and being washed against the rocks by the swells, I gave Sam instructions to keep the rod tip up, while I scrambled closer to the water but while I was making my way down, Sam exclaimed that the rig was stuck! As I got closer, I could see that one of the free hooks had got hung up on the barnacles ?. Once close enough, I grabbed hold of the mainline and stared to lift, but I had barely put any pressure on the line when the unthinkable happened and it snapped! ?
I was absolutely gutted at the thought that I had lost Sam his fish of a lifetime, but then I saw that the huss was still there, a few feet down in the surging water. With no time to loose, I quickly climbed back up the rocks and immediately reeled my rod in, once ashore I hurriedly unclipped the rig and replaced it with a 6oz grip-lead, I then climbed back down to where I last saw the huss and peered into the depths. Sadly, it looked like I was too late though and there was no sign of it whatsoever ?. Even with Sam’s Polaroids on I couldn’t see anything, but I more in desperation than hope I decided to have a go anyway.
Over the next 5 to 10 minutes, I repeatedly dropped the weight into the water at my feet but apart from the odd snatch as the grip-wires were caught on the rocks, I felt nothing ?. Eventually I resigned myself to the fact that the beast was gone, and I dropped the lead into the depths for the final time. I reeled it slowly back up, thinking how close Sam had come to catching something quite special, when amazingly I felt the line get gradually heavier ?. Surely it couldn’t be I thought, but as I held my breath and reeled in very slowly, the top of a rig came into view, followed close behind by the shape of a cracking huss ?. I immediately called Sam over and passed the rod up top him, with strict instructions not to try and lift it, before I scrambled down again to grab the rig, I then gently lifted it out of the water until I was able to finally grab hold of the huss’s tail ?. I then scrambled back up onto the upper ledge again and presented Sam with his prize. Both he and Josh were absolutely buzzing to see such a fish, but the first thing Sam said was “I’m not touching that!” ? After several minutes of persuasion though, he finally plucked up the courage to hold his prize for a picture, a cracker of 9lb 2oz ?.
Now we couldn’t really top that, but we fished on for another hour anyway, in the hope of another biggie. It wasn’t to be though and as the tide continued to drop, the fish gradually went off the feed. Eventually, after 2 and a half hours of the ebb we decided to call it a day, but we hadn’t finished catching just yet. While Sam reeled in one final doggie, I was busy stripping old bait off my hooks, then before putting the rigs away, and in an effort to clean off any fishy scraps, I cast out one more time. I reeled in straight away but incredibly, I felt something hit my rig on the way in, and I reeled in to find a mini mackerel on my bare hook, now that takes real skill I told the boys ?.
So it was third time lucky on a rock mark, and the boys had finally caught something larger than a doggie, in fact they’re still buzzing now and I think it will take some doing to top their first big fish ?.
