StaffsAngler
Member
- Joined
- Sep 13, 2021
- Messages
- 25
- Reaction score
- 156
- Points
- 28
- Location
- Pwllheli
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
It was time for my yearly week in north wales at my parents place on the coast, and the tackle was packed and ready! Due to holidaying with my wife and dog, convenience is a must… as dragging them both down rock faces and rough ground to marks isn’t really an option. So as always I found my self on a rather regular old pier mark amidst a small army of tourists who had been and spent their yearly £50 in the local tackle shop on the standard set up in the hope of a mackerel at 20 yards, I never turn my nose up at this as I suppose for some…. This is where it starts.
Anyway… I digress. This was my first day at the mark and I had arrived at slack water and to my surprise the only spot that wasn’t taken by tourists was the only spot I would fish.. as both to the left and right of this spot was sure fire snags galore, proven rather fast when a German family asked me to try and free them up from a snag… only for me to find them fishing from the pier with a boat rod they had just been sold ?. It could not be saved!!!
I had come along with some fresh mackerel, squid and some black lug, and so to kick start I sent a one up-one down with a squid and worm cocktail on one and a nice slice of fresh Mack on the other, I started at around 100 yards with the intention of moving in depending on the fishing. I’ll cut this short now because from 100 yards to 30 yards I didn’t have a touch on this rod!! But not to be defeated because I had come armed with some light gear, a stack of floats and a handful of Texas rigs in my box I had made ready to go!
Starting with the float And some worm and squid I started to fish the reef beneath my feet, probably in around 8/9 foot of water and this is where the sport began, cast for cast for the duration of this tide it did not stop providing. I had a small army of corkwing wrass, bleny’s (surprisingly large and a good little fight) I then landed 4 pollock on the bounce one of which was a good eating size.
Then to change things up I decided to put my feet up on the rails and drop a Texas rig down the wall, this is where things got interesting because I instantly got a real slow pull down followed by a snag? Tackle lost and the realisation that I might be dealing with an eel throwing the gear in reverse and backing up into its little hole, I set up again and drop down…. BANG… big hit and a cracking three bearded rockling comes up the wall. Bait on again…. BANG… another lovely yet slightly spotty in colour rock ling comes up the wall. Drop down again and my friend the eel is back, slow pull down, hit it, SNAG AGAIN!!!! by this point I’ve got a few people standing around watching as I claim that their is probably a silver eel beneath my feet being a big pain in my a$$ ( now I’m just hoping I’m right) I tackle up again and drop straight into the same spot, after a few small hits from probably the wrass the tip starts to bend, only this time I’m giving it no time whatsoever and I hit it just in time to feel something decent on my rod, now I’m using some seriously light tackle… so when I pull a nice strap conger to the surface you can imagine my surprise and it really made my session… my first ever conger, all be it small I was absolutely made up with it and the little battle that we had for that last hour made it even more sweet to land,
To wrap up the story I must say that I was very very surprised that I never had anything take my baits at distance, but then anyone fishing north wales shore will know that it can be very hit and miss, but bringing the light tackle really paid off!! I’ll attach a couple of pictures I have on my phone but once my wife sends me the rest over I’ll drop some in the comments! Tight lines ladies and gents!! Keep drowning those baits!
Anyway… I digress. This was my first day at the mark and I had arrived at slack water and to my surprise the only spot that wasn’t taken by tourists was the only spot I would fish.. as both to the left and right of this spot was sure fire snags galore, proven rather fast when a German family asked me to try and free them up from a snag… only for me to find them fishing from the pier with a boat rod they had just been sold ?. It could not be saved!!!
I had come along with some fresh mackerel, squid and some black lug, and so to kick start I sent a one up-one down with a squid and worm cocktail on one and a nice slice of fresh Mack on the other, I started at around 100 yards with the intention of moving in depending on the fishing. I’ll cut this short now because from 100 yards to 30 yards I didn’t have a touch on this rod!! But not to be defeated because I had come armed with some light gear, a stack of floats and a handful of Texas rigs in my box I had made ready to go!
Starting with the float And some worm and squid I started to fish the reef beneath my feet, probably in around 8/9 foot of water and this is where the sport began, cast for cast for the duration of this tide it did not stop providing. I had a small army of corkwing wrass, bleny’s (surprisingly large and a good little fight) I then landed 4 pollock on the bounce one of which was a good eating size.
Then to change things up I decided to put my feet up on the rails and drop a Texas rig down the wall, this is where things got interesting because I instantly got a real slow pull down followed by a snag? Tackle lost and the realisation that I might be dealing with an eel throwing the gear in reverse and backing up into its little hole, I set up again and drop down…. BANG… big hit and a cracking three bearded rockling comes up the wall. Bait on again…. BANG… another lovely yet slightly spotty in colour rock ling comes up the wall. Drop down again and my friend the eel is back, slow pull down, hit it, SNAG AGAIN!!!! by this point I’ve got a few people standing around watching as I claim that their is probably a silver eel beneath my feet being a big pain in my a$$ ( now I’m just hoping I’m right) I tackle up again and drop straight into the same spot, after a few small hits from probably the wrass the tip starts to bend, only this time I’m giving it no time whatsoever and I hit it just in time to feel something decent on my rod, now I’m using some seriously light tackle… so when I pull a nice strap conger to the surface you can imagine my surprise and it really made my session… my first ever conger, all be it small I was absolutely made up with it and the little battle that we had for that last hour made it even more sweet to land,
To wrap up the story I must say that I was very very surprised that I never had anything take my baits at distance, but then anyone fishing north wales shore will know that it can be very hit and miss, but bringing the light tackle really paid off!! I’ll attach a couple of pictures I have on my phone but once my wife sends me the rest over I’ll drop some in the comments! Tight lines ladies and gents!! Keep drowning those baits!
