Andy 1965
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2020
- Messages
- 369
- Reaction score
- 3,398
- Points
- 93
- Location
- North Wales
- Favourite Fishing
- Lure
After getting within touching distance of another century of lure caught bass on my last outing, I’ve been enjoying a relaxing family holiday in Yorkshire, but after returning home on Friday, the time for relaxing was over as I had to prepare for the latest club match. In a break from the regular monthly matches, Saturday was to be the annual species rover, where we would meet up in Llanfairfechan at 8:15, before scattering to the 4 corners of North Wales for the day. After a full day of fishing, we would then rendezvous back at the Penmaenmawr Phoenix clubhouse, to peruse the results and then relax with a nice curry, washed down with a few cold bevvies 
.
After I won the match there with 9 species in 2022, Steve A and I headed straight back for Amlwch breakwater, and we arrived to find only 2 other anglers already there. The other lads had obviously learned from last year though and we were soon joined by John, Gwion and Marc
. Now Marc is a bit of a demon when it comes to species hunting and he had obviously done his homework, but it only became clear how much homework he had done when I began talking to him as we started fishing. Marc had in fact fished the breakwater the previous day, when he ended up with 13 species 
, so it looked like I had my work cut out to defend my title.
While Steve, John and Gwion started the day quietly, Marc and I got off to quite a good start and after an hour of fishing we were both on 4 species. I had caught a corkwing wrasse, a long-spined sea scorpion, a goldsinny wrasse and a pouting
While Marc had also caught both a corkwing wrasse and a sea scorpion, plus a tompot blenny and a ballan wrasse.
Over the next couple of hours, I added 3 more species to my tally, a ballan wrasse, a whiting and a leopard spotted goby
But Mark started to apply the pressure with 4 species of his own, leopard spotted goby, shanny, whiting and goldsinny, to take a one species lead.
The next couple of hours were fairly quiet, as we both started to catch the same species we had already caught, particularly a steady stream of corkwings, but having concentrated so far on fishing small baits down the side, as the depth of water started to increase I decided to fish a second rod with slightly larger baits out in the channel, in an attempt to catch something different.
After half an hour or so this tactic paid off as I landed species number 8, a dragonet
But no sooner had I drawn level, than Marc landed a rock goby to restore his 1 species lead.
Having seen me catch out in the channel, Marc now decided to adopt the same tactics, but for the next hour things stayed the same as the second rods only accounted for the occasional pin whiting. His change of tactics eventually paid off though with a dab and a doggy, to open up a 3 species lead.
Try as I might, I just couldn’t tempt a doggy of my own and for the rest of the afternoon I struggled slightly. It wasn’t all bad, and in among the ravenous corkwings, I did manage to catch a tompot blenny, to claw 1 species back on Marc
But he replied almost immediately with a pouting, to maintain a 3 species lead.
While Marc and I had battled for the lead, Steve, John and Gwion had been having a relatively quiet day, but as the afternoon wore on they belatedly started to add to their bags. Glyn, Kenny and Steve O also joined us, having started their day at Llanbadrig, but they had struggled there with only a few species each in what sounded like pretty tough conditions.
The rest of the afternoon followed a familiar patters for Marc and I, we both caught plenty of fish but we struggled to catch anything new. The law of averages came into play though and we both managed to add one more species each to our tallies. I finally caught a rock goby,
While Marc caught a poor cod to take him up to 13 species for the second day in a row.
Now the rules of the day state that everyone must be at the football club by no later than 18:00, so Steve A and I called it a day at 16:30, to give us time to get home and to dump the gear before getting showered and changed. We left the others at Amlwch, as they tried to add late species to their bags, but we wouldn’t have to wait very long to find out how they got on.
Steve and I arrived at the club just before 6, to find most of the other lads waiting outside, and we were soon joined by the last 2, Glyn and Kenny, we then grabbed some refreshments
and sat down to tot up the final scores.
As expected, Marc had won, with a cracking total of 13 species
and I finished second with 10, still an improvement of 1 on my winning score from last year. Steve A finished in third with 8, while John came in 4th with 6 species each. Steve O and Glyn finished equal 5th on 5 species, while Kenny and Gwion came equal 7th with 4. This brought the day’s total species count to 18 and as well as the species mentioned above, the other lads had also caught conger, mackerel, pollack and cuckoo wrasse.
As well as the singles, there is also a pair’s competition, where names are drawn out of the hat after the match. This was won by Mark & Steve O, with a combined total of 18 species
, while John and myself came second with 16 species. Steve A & Glyn came third on 13 species while Kenny and Gwion finished in 4th on 8.
So this years’ species hunt was a great success and everyone had thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and what better way to round off a great day with the lads than with a tasty ruby
and a few refreshing scoops 
.
.After I won the match there with 9 species in 2022, Steve A and I headed straight back for Amlwch breakwater, and we arrived to find only 2 other anglers already there. The other lads had obviously learned from last year though and we were soon joined by John, Gwion and Marc
. Now Marc is a bit of a demon when it comes to species hunting and he had obviously done his homework, but it only became clear how much homework he had done when I began talking to him as we started fishing. Marc had in fact fished the breakwater the previous day, when he ended up with 13 species , so it looked like I had my work cut out to defend my title.While Steve, John and Gwion started the day quietly, Marc and I got off to quite a good start and after an hour of fishing we were both on 4 species. I had caught a corkwing wrasse, a long-spined sea scorpion, a goldsinny wrasse and a pouting
While Marc had also caught both a corkwing wrasse and a sea scorpion, plus a tompot blenny and a ballan wrasse.
Over the next couple of hours, I added 3 more species to my tally, a ballan wrasse, a whiting and a leopard spotted goby
But Mark started to apply the pressure with 4 species of his own, leopard spotted goby, shanny, whiting and goldsinny, to take a one species lead.
The next couple of hours were fairly quiet, as we both started to catch the same species we had already caught, particularly a steady stream of corkwings, but having concentrated so far on fishing small baits down the side, as the depth of water started to increase I decided to fish a second rod with slightly larger baits out in the channel, in an attempt to catch something different.
After half an hour or so this tactic paid off as I landed species number 8, a dragonet
But no sooner had I drawn level, than Marc landed a rock goby to restore his 1 species lead.
Having seen me catch out in the channel, Marc now decided to adopt the same tactics, but for the next hour things stayed the same as the second rods only accounted for the occasional pin whiting. His change of tactics eventually paid off though with a dab and a doggy, to open up a 3 species lead.
Try as I might, I just couldn’t tempt a doggy of my own and for the rest of the afternoon I struggled slightly. It wasn’t all bad, and in among the ravenous corkwings, I did manage to catch a tompot blenny, to claw 1 species back on Marc
But he replied almost immediately with a pouting, to maintain a 3 species lead.
While Marc and I had battled for the lead, Steve, John and Gwion had been having a relatively quiet day, but as the afternoon wore on they belatedly started to add to their bags. Glyn, Kenny and Steve O also joined us, having started their day at Llanbadrig, but they had struggled there with only a few species each in what sounded like pretty tough conditions.
The rest of the afternoon followed a familiar patters for Marc and I, we both caught plenty of fish but we struggled to catch anything new. The law of averages came into play though and we both managed to add one more species each to our tallies. I finally caught a rock goby,
While Marc caught a poor cod to take him up to 13 species for the second day in a row.
Now the rules of the day state that everyone must be at the football club by no later than 18:00, so Steve A and I called it a day at 16:30, to give us time to get home and to dump the gear before getting showered and changed. We left the others at Amlwch, as they tried to add late species to their bags, but we wouldn’t have to wait very long to find out how they got on.
Steve and I arrived at the club just before 6, to find most of the other lads waiting outside, and we were soon joined by the last 2, Glyn and Kenny, we then grabbed some refreshments
and sat down to tot up the final scores.As expected, Marc had won, with a cracking total of 13 species
and I finished second with 10, still an improvement of 1 on my winning score from last year. Steve A finished in third with 8, while John came in 4th with 6 species each. Steve O and Glyn finished equal 5th on 5 species, while Kenny and Gwion came equal 7th with 4. This brought the day’s total species count to 18 and as well as the species mentioned above, the other lads had also caught conger, mackerel, pollack and cuckoo wrasse.As well as the singles, there is also a pair’s competition, where names are drawn out of the hat after the match. This was won by Mark & Steve O, with a combined total of 18 species
, while John and myself came second with 16 species. Steve A & Glyn came third on 13 species while Kenny and Gwion finished in 4th on 8.So this years’ species hunt was a great success and everyone had thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and what better way to round off a great day with the lads than with a tasty ruby
and a few refreshing scoops .
.
.
