A week in Anglesey

[Rushy]

I'm just back from a week's superb family holiday on the glorious Isle of Anglesey! I must admit, we were bloody lucky with the weather. It was glorious sunshine for most days and it was only on the last day that the true nature of the islands weather hit home....it pee'd it down with winds gusting up to 30mph, not good when you're trying to take an awning down in one piece! Still, I can't grumble as in the main the weather was fantastic.

This is the first time I've been to Anglesey (as an adult anyway, I've got some dim memories of crossing the menai bridge as a kid with me nan & granddad), and I made sure I put mine and the lads rods in and a few tackle essentials, mainly spinning and float gear. The plan was to do family stuff during the day and hopefully get some fishing in during the evenings or very early mornings.

I bent all the experts ears about which were the best campsites, and I got some great suggestions, but unfortunately most of them were booked solid when it came to electric hook up. That wasn't a problem for me as I could make my own entertainment but I was hoping that a bit of TV would keep the missus happy whilst I sloped off for a bit of piscatorial leisure time.

Once on the Island I had a quick detour to the Golden Sunset caravan park near Benllech on TonyC's advice, as he was sure they'd have ellecy, and he was spot on the money. For anyone's info, this park doesn't take bookings, so it's a first come first served basis, so there's a good chance there'll be spaces with electric hook up. Unfortunately, the missus had a gander round the shower block and toilets and decided they weren't best suited hygiene wise for her and the kids you'd think she'd be used to a bit of mess living with me but there you go I thought it was a great site (near to some cracking marks admittedly), and the bit of untidiness was probably after a long day but she wasn't happy so we pressed on to plan B

Plan B was right up the other end of the Island, Treaddurr Bay nr Holyhead. We knew the site didn't have electric, but there was plenty of other spaces so we didn't have to book. As we neared the site, Tyn Rhos campsite, I asked a geezer walking up the road if we were close to the reception. He then proceeded to tell us that there was a Camping & Caravanning site in the next field were if we joined for £30, we could stop for only £9 a night and we could still use the Tyn Rhos campsite facilities (which charged £22 a night). What a bloody result!! Saved us £60 that fella...nice one!

Anyway, enough waffle the campsite entrance was virtually opposite Ravens point which is a known hot spot on the island. First night me and my lad Dom were down there with the spinners thrashing the water to boiling point...not a sniff! the next evening, a change of tack was floatfishing for my lad using limpet as bait, which resulted in this Scorpion fish....



The lack of Mackerel and pollack to the spinners was a bit puzzling but I continued to try for the rest of the evening, with nothing to show for my efforts

Next day I went down to the local Spar shop in Treaddurr Bay, which doubles as a tackle shop, to buy some float gear for myself and got chatting to a bloke who said he'd been hammering the Wrasse & Pollack with ragworm on the float. So armed with ragworm and a bit of local knowledge me and the lad went back to the point to try again the next evening.

The very first cast for the lad resulted in a pulled down float from a small pollack..


Before I could get myself set up, he pulled in his first wrasse....


From this point, it was a fish a chuck with small pollack becoming a bit of a pest, but good fun nonetheless especially for the lad








I was telling the lad that he was lucky to have such a good teacher as myself and what a good angler I am I said, right..I'll show you and cast out.....to be honest it was a bit of a miscast and was a bit closer to a rock outcrop than I would have cast deliberately my float shot under and the bend in the rod showed this was no pin pollack! A bit of a tussle later and I pulled a decent Ballan to the side...


I haven't a clue about weights of wrasse but I would guess it was 2lb+

Suitably impressed, the lad started to listen a bit more carefully to what I was telling him!

Apart from the evening sessions, me and the lad managed to sneak one in during the day for a few hours whilst the missus and daughter were on the beach. I think the beach was called Porth Dafarch and we found a headland to the left of the beach which was fairly accessible.




Straight away we were into pollack and some decent wrasse amongst the smaller stuff...


















This session was cut short by some pesky coasteering types who jumped all over my swim!





Bloody pains!

I have to say, I was suitably impressed with Anglesey both as a holiday venue and an angling one too though we were helped with the glorious sunshine!













The missus sussed me out towards the end of the holiday though, all this driving around looking for good beaches had nothing to do with making sure her & the kids were catered for...she realised I was doing a bit of reconnaissance for future trips! and she was right

[TerryG]

Thanks for the report Dave, looks like there is some quality fishing down there, (Looks good for a hol too), Might be worth a drive down for a long days fishing soon ,Glad the weather stayed nice for you all to ,
Was there anywhere to launch a boat???

[chris1]

omg let me know next time your down dave. ill take u 2 some good fish spots

[Rushy]

omg let me know next time your down dave. ill take u 2 some good fish spots

That's a date Chris.....I'll bring flowers too

Seriously, I think me Paul & Terry will definitely come down sometime soon, maybe stop overnight in a tent or something we'd love to meet up

Terry, the whole island is a slipway! I've never seen so many boats and tractors!! I'm sure you'd get a launch anywhere

[TerryG]

This sounds better all the time, it's also good to know people that know the area, no doubt we will be seeing you soon Chris, thanks

[billy bennett]

looks like a top week there dave, well done ,its a lovely place when you have the weather,a bit grim when you don't, well done to you and rushy jnr on a cracking read.

[chris1]

sounds good lads...

[Nige]

Glad you all had a great time .

cracking report Dave.

Nice to see Rushy jnr stood on a rockmark holding a nice pollock without a mullet . Like his dad did a few (a lot of) years ago lol

[Brez]

Nice report Dave . Was just thinking the other week when I was over in the north east, some of the coastline we've got you wouldn't bother going abroad if you could guarantee some decent weather. Unfortunately the crap summer we've had this year shows what a lottery it can be, looks like you did Ok though

[Jimmyjizzmo]

Nice one Dave
I get bored of them Wrasse after a bit tho unless
your hitting 2 pounders every drop