Wild and Windy With a High Chance of Rainbows

It was blowing an absolute hoolie today and a bloody strong easterly too. This put to bed my first idea  for some rockfishing on the peninsula, I didn't really want to be struggling up there after a good hour or so drive. I therefore decided to stay local and fish for Trout once more.

I visited Tecwyn Uchaf first but boy it was cold up there! I didn't venture too far around the lake, I figured the food and fish would end up on the west end anyhow, being as the wind was blowing fierce to that end, it seemed as though I was right too as third cast in I had a small Rainbow in the net.

I hooked and lost three more and landed another of similar size too. I was honestly hoping to get some brownies but both the wind and Rainbows got the better of me and I headed off to Cooks Dam to get some shelter and try for some wild fish there. 

One thing more noticeable than Tecwyn Uchaf is how low the water is just now, we have had so little rain through April, things just seem weird.

The fishing was a little tougher at the Dam but eventually I did get some Brownies on the Duo Spearhead Ryuki 50S, they were quite the acrobats today too!

Though there was nothing epic I feel quite satisfied with that little session, I do however desperately need a decent full on salt fix soon! I do really enjoy fishing for Trout but I am even starting to miss the small Pollock now, lets hope I can get on it soon!

Tight Lines for now.

Trout Minnows

Here are a few Trout Minnows I really rate;

From right to left; Duo Spearhead Ryuki 50S 4.5g, Supremo Baila 50H 5g, Jackson Kanade 50 5g, Jackson Trout Tune 55 HW 6g, Smith D-Contact 63 7g and the Duo Spearhead Ryuki 60S 6.5g.

These are all superbly made lures to cover a few different situations, I feel they excel on streams and rivers and that is what they are designed for, however they are effective on some lakes too. 

They're all pretty easy to get hold of aside from the Supremo lures and if you have a good supplier please let me know!

Lastly, here's a picture I quite like from the other evening of a Smolt on the Spearhead 50S;

Slobby Sunday

During my visit to Criccieth Tackle Box on Thursday, Russell and I planned to meet today for a session on the Glaslyn and I have much been looking forward to it.

We met about 6:30 this morning armed with an arsenal of Trout minnows and light lure rods. 

First off I opted for the HTO Rockfish Revolution Tubular 5-20g and Shimano Complex 2500HGS just incase I wanted to throw some larger lures. 

The rod took some getting used to actually, I am so used to using my Rock Rover for this kind of thing and the heavier, longer rod just felt strange.

As we made our way upstream, casting and retrieving with every pace, the fishing was quiet and in the back of my mind I thought we may struggle. However, we eventually we stopped at a meander pool where, I got the first take lasting about two seconds before the fish was off again. Almost immediately Russell hooked up too and landed a nice feisty yellow-bellied "slob Trout" and soon followed with another two fish!

I clipped on a newly received Jackson Kanade 50S and cast to the far bank, gave two short, sharp twitches and got a good bang and solid hookup. A short but decent scrap ensued before my first fish was banked for a photo.

We then decided to move and fish a different section of river, I feel this was a good move too as we spotted quite a few fish patrolling the margins. I opted for my HTO Rock Rover, Daiwa Luvias combo for this stretch, I just prefer this setup for Trout Minnow twitching. 

Getting the fish to take was not so easy and even when they did take we both lost fish, Russell even lost a proper nice one as the fish went acrobatically airborne! 

Persevering we started getting a regular amount of smaller fish.

I athen managed a pretty decent one that didn't half go!

The day was shaping up beautifully; the weather was so good, the scenery stunning and the company was OK too.

after working that stretch downstream and back up again, we made our way further upstream once more. As we made our way up we were catching small fish with some regularity until we reached a beautiful section where some trees provided some good looking cover over deep margins.

Twiching my Jackson Kanade upstream I got a proper hit once more and hooked a feisty fish in the now pushing current. This fish was fighting well but, I had managed to secure a decent hook hold and with some patience I got this fat, beautifully spotted Yellow belly to the bank.

Well all I can say is I was so pleased, it had been a thoroughly enjoyable session, just check our backdrop alone!

By now though we were growing tired and decided to head off home, on the way back I stopped at another section upstream for a look. I didn't have a single touch and I really didn't care so much, its was just nice to be out and about on such a glorious day.

Check out the scenery once again and also the multitudes of fry in the margins, you can see why the small lures work so well;

What a good and memorable day, I really feel privileged to live here on days like today!

I must end with a big thanks to both Russell of Criccieth Tackle Box and Arwyn of Penrhyn Tackle and Guns for helping me experience this cracking day.

Tight Lines.

Bed and Buried

Life kind of got in the way of my original plans to visit Uwchmynydd today and I ended up in Criccieth visiting my favourite local Tackle shop for a chinwag and lunch before a wee session on the beach and jetty. 

I arrived with the idea of flinging some jigs and twitching some plugs to see if anything was showing yet and went with that for a very short time. I just wasn't feeling it though; neap tides, a chilly breeze and some chop on, it just didn't feel quite right.

I figured I would try for some demersal species over the sand and around the reef so I went with a simple size 10 dropshot rig with 1" Gulp! Fish Fry.

It was actually part surprising and part predictable; I was firstly surprised not to pick up anything around the rougher ground, I genuinely thought I would pick up a Sea Scorpion or a small Wrasse but not even a touch!

I was also a little surprised at the amount of Dab still about, I caught a fair few. Of course the predictable part was the annoying amount of Lesser Weevers scurrying out of their sandy lairs, still I doubt it's the last I will see of those this year so I may as well get used to it.

Flatfish I can catch all day mind, they're pretty cool and nice to photograph, I hope you agree.

I think I may target Flatties again soon, we haven't seen a Turbot on here for a while so that sounds good but we shall see.

Tight lines

A Tough Easters Angling

I have spent the last couple of sessions on the Afon Glaslyn in the search of Sea Trout but it has not been at all easy. In my opinion and with my very limited experience we could use a decent downpour to liven things up some; I did catch one of a couple of pound, but dropped it back in the drink while trying to take a photo.

The rest of the fish besides some small browns were all Smolt, in one sense its nice to see so many juvenile fish in the system but, in another sense they're a pain in the ass. I also wonder what the mortality rate for these fish will really be as, they will likely get hammered by Bass and Gar on their way out and that is even before they encounter any of the multitudes of nets out there at sea.

Tiredness and some bad casting also say me lose two new Duo Spearheads and one Zipbaits Rigge Flat yesterday too and in turn saw me lose my temper in a big way on the bank. Luckily no one was around to see me launch my tackle across the field!

Anyway heres a few pictures I actually did manage to take and/or could be bothered to.

Despite the negatives, it was good to be out and also nice to bump into Mr Hollinshead on the bank.

Nevertheless I think I will leave the trout until some rain has fallen and concentrate my efforts of some Salt games for a while.

Tight Lines

The Glaslyn and the Magic Minnow

Yesterday I managed to get a ticket to fish the Afon Glaslyn, but not knowing it that well I messaged my friend Will Hollinshead who knows some of the stretches reasonably well.

Will is a very keen angler and was thankfully willing to meet. We arranged to meet at 6:30am and headed along to a stretch Will is particularly familiar with.

I had no real expectations of catching as I recognise it is still early in the year and the weather has been reasonably unsettled albeit constantly windy.

The first thing that is very noticeable about the lower Glaslyn is that the pools are very deep and I found it hard to get down to where I figured the fish might intercept my lure with the usual DUO Spearhead Ryuki's, thankfully I had an ace in my hand; my last Supremo Baila.

These small lures by Supremo are just excellent, they are heavy, dense and have a strange but innovative double lip system that really seems to work. They not only sink fast but give some tight vibrations in the water.

Casting upstream and allowing the lure to drift and sink to nearly cross current and then make the retrieve seemed to work well and with this method I had three small Sewin.

We worked our way upstream and had some knocks and follows but the fishing was slow and the follows were mainly off of small fish like those above. I felt kind of bad as I was catching and Will wasn't, he was having a bit of a tough time with losing a few lures too. We all have our times when it just doesn't seem to come together though and its just part of angling. 

It also soon became clear that my luck was down to the rather brilliant Baila which soon became known as a "magic minnow", especially when I had another two Browns landed and two Sea Trout shake the hook.

After working that stretch we headed down to the lowest part of the Association water by the Cob, we had hoped we might get some shelter from the wind but, it was very apparent we were wrong! I also felt that we were on the wrong bank as casting was limiting and landing fish would have been challenging.

I suggested to Will that we should take a look at a stretch near Prenteg; I used to live there and often saw some massive fish leaving the water in late Summer and felt that it would be a good option for Will to explore being a season ticket holder.

Trouble was the sun was very high by now and far from ideal fishing conditions, nevertheless we gave it a stab.

Real anglers never quit!

The stretch wasn't really producing and again I had the only fish. Even so it's a stunning location with a stunning backdrop of Snowdon and the Moelwyns, far better to be there on a day like today than in so many places.

Mount snowdon/Yr Wyddfa from the Glaslyn bridge.

My last fish was again small and fell to the Zipbaits Rigge Flat.

Tired and hungry we called it a day.

I must say I immensely enjoyed the session and shall endeavour to get on the Glaslyn again soon.

A big thanks to my friend Will for keeping me company and guiding me for the first part and to Criccieth Tackle Box for my Zipbaits Rigge.

Tight Lines.

Plankton based designs

A good while ago now I was having a play and designed some light game lures in the 1.5 - 2" range, they are based on plankton pictures I found on the net. I wanted them made of a similar material to that featured in the pretty awesome Aquawave range as, its stretchy and strong which I think would lend itself well to detailed and delicate critters. Sadly these will never likely go into production but I figured I would add them here for a diary type post and maybe a point of interest.