The shore section held the sixth match of their summer shore league yesterday at Holyhead Breakwater.
The match was fished with a bag limit of 3 of each species, although 2 rods could be used with no more than 3 hooks between them.
This was only the second shore match ive fished this year, and an opportunity to add a few more species for the hunt.
I reckoned it would be possible to catch Shanny, Rock Cook Wrasse, Cuckoo Wrasse, 3 Bearded Rockling, Leopard Spotted Goby and Grey Gurnard during this session. I said before the match that I would have been happy to get 2 out of these 6 today and tactics were selected accordingly.
The wind was blowing along the length of the Breakwater towards the end and bringing lots of rain with it. Conditions were unpleasant so we decided to head towards the end and try either Corkwing Corner or somewhere off the end as it may be a bit more sheltered up there. Sadly, this resulted in some of the photos not coming out as clearly as I would have liked.
When we got to the end, Corkwing corner was taken so I set up 2 rods on the end, in the shelter of the light house and Terry stayed on the inside just short of the corner. My spinning rod was set up with a 2 hook rig with shrimps on and size 6 hooks and rag. A rotten bottom rig with a size 2 was cast into the rocks on the outside on my other rod with worm and fishbait cocktails hoping for a 3 beard or a Cuckoo..
It was fish from the off, with my 3 Corkwings accounted for in the first 15 minutes. Terry had a Ballan first cast and some Corkwings down on the inside.
As soon as I had the Corkwings, I changed rigs to a mini special with a size 10 hook on the spinning rod. This quickly accounted for my 3 Goldsinneys as well as a Sea Scorpion, a couple of Tompots and species number 35 for the year, a Shanny!
This was soon followed by number 36, a Rock Cook Wrasse.
I caught plenty of small Ballans too, including this beautifully coloured one!
I also had a Rock Goby here but jammy Dave who was fishing next to me pulled out a Leopard Spotted Goby with a big section of Rag on his size 2 hook! Typical!
The big rod remained quiet, and the minis went off as it started to get dark, with Poor Cod, Pollack and small Codling replacing the Wrasse and Gobies.
I had been told that you can also get the Leopard Spotteds on the inside at the second bend, so I spent the last bit of the match down here, with a Conger bait on the big rod and the same size 10 rig down the side, which accounted for Pollack, Shore Rockling and another Rock Goby.
Sadly, the fishing matched the weather, not good but the addition of 2 new species made me happy, even though my waterproofs had leaked, leaving me soaked!
Back at the weigh in, a Cuckoo Wrasse and a 3 bearded rockling were brought back, meaning 5 of my 6 targets had been caught on the day!
I was still happy with my 2 new species and have now increased my personal target for the year for the second time to 40! Ive still got a couple of certs left so fingers crossed for the others.
Heres some more photos.
3 types of Wrasse, Corkwing ( top ) Goldsinney ( middle ) Rock Cook ( bottom )
A Shanny (left ) and Tompot Blenny ( right )
Long Spined Sea Scorpion ( bottom ) and Rock Goby ( top )
Heres a shot of a monster Tompot caught by Arwel Davies weighing 4 ounces exactly.
Full match results were,
16 fished 15 weighed in
1 John Jones 4.87 3 Ballans, 3 Whiting, 1 Dog, 1 Cuckoo Wrasse, 1 Tub Gurnard , 1 Pollack, and a Dab.
2 Mike Peters 2,27 3 Dogs, 3 Poor Cod, 1 Ballan and 1 Corkwing
3 Dave Elmer 1.87 3 Corkwing, 3 Poor Cod, 1 Dog, 1 Ballan and 1 Shanny
4 Terry Jones 1.78 3 Corkwing, 2 Shore Rockling, 1 Ballan, 1 Dog, 1 Tompot and 1 Poor Cod
5 Paul Jones 1.57
6 Norman 1.35.
Top team Terry and Norman 78 points, Junior - Stephen Higginson (8th with 1.15), Lady, Janet Dorling with 0.02 ( Rock Goby)
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