It’s been nearly 4 years since my last visit to North Wales and me and Steve made the decision a few months ago that it needed to be prioritised over our usual jaunt to Scotland lest we be accused of being too predictable!
For the travelling species hunter looking to lift their tally, you could do a lot worse than Anglesey and it’s no real surprise when you have access to venues with records like Holyhead Breakwater, which historically has amassed over 50 species by itself! Most Anglers stick to the inside of the pier, where fast paced sport can be found with the various species of Wrasse, Blennys and Gobies that occupy the habitat all along the foot of the breakwater. Casting puts you onto clean sand where the usual Dogfish and Whiting will readily oblige, but you can also expect surprises in the shape of big Bass, Bull Huss, Rays and Smoothounds. And that really is only naming a few.
The outside wall is more for the specimen hunter; the ground is extremely unforgiving with large rocks, boulders and kelp, but this is where the larger fish lurk and good numbers of large Bull Huss and, on the right day, Conger eels can be expected. It’s also worth a chuck for Cuckoo Wrasse and 3 Bearded Rockling, which don’t tend to show much on the inside of the pier but can more readily be caught on the outside by putting in the time (and leads).
Anyway the plan was to start here later on the Friday afternoon, fish the evening flood for smaller species and then switch to bigger baits as darkness fell to target the bigger Huss and Conger. In reality, it didn’t work out that way for me, as I arrived at the pier a whole 3 hours after I’d intended due to horrendous traffic and road closures. Steve, Stu and Ez had already been there a few hours themselves, although sport had been slow as most of their fishing had been concentrated over the last of the ebb and first of the flood. The breakwater does tend to fish better the further you get into the flood in my experience, at least as far as targeting species down the side of the wall is concerned.
So, I managed an hour of species hunting before the light began to fade and amassed a small tally of Corkwing Wrasse and a couple of nice Ballan Wrasse to get me started before I switched focus to targeting bigger specimens. Darkness is definitely a factor in successful Huss fishing, maybe not as important as with Conger, but Huss are definitely more active at night. They love sticky ground as well, so often times you can target both species at the same time.
A strong pulley rig with big, strong hooks is all you’ll need. 6/0s are my go to at the business end with something like a 5/0 demon circle with an offset point as a pennel. Once upon a time I never used to use a pennel hook over rough ground, but over the years I’ve not found it makes any difference in terms of lost gear, and the pennel provides better presentation and definitely improves hook up rate, especially using a circle or chinu pattern. Fish baits are all you need – mackerel and/or squid are a standard option that will catch well, but if you can get it, what Huss really love is a fresh Whiting, Pouting or Poor Cod bait. These have accounted for many double figure Huss for me, incl my PB (a fish over 14lb). It seems to sort out the bigger specimens as well – In fact I would go as far as to say if you gave me the choice either of these 3 baits VS Mackerel the latter would get binned every time!
Anyway – big baits were plopped out the back of the breakwater as the light faded and we set about the evenings fishing. Dogfish started to make a nuisance of themselves pretty much immediately, as is often the case here. As the tide turned however they seemed to slacken off, which proved effective as less than an hour later my ratchet stripped away indicating the first proper Huss bite of the evening. They’re not the most exciting fighters but they do put up a good account of themselves, tending to hang deep until they’re at your feet. Steve manoeuvres in with the dropnet when the fish surfaces and expertly hauls the fish up the wall. It’s a clear double, and after a quick weigh it hits the scales bang on 12lb – great start!
Less than an hour later up comes a second, smaller fish a round the 5-6lb mark and then Stu follows suit not long after with a fish of his own, landing his first ever Huss, an angry female going over 7lb.
The tides halfway back now and bites dry up, save for the ever present Dogfish, and we decide to call it a night. That long walk back along the breakwater never gets any easier!
A rough nights sleep thanks to a punctured sleeping matt meant I suffered a bit the morning after, but eventually got up the motivation to have a few chucks off the back of the breakwater closer inshore while the rest of them were still snoring away. This didn’t produce much to write home about, a couple of Wrasse and of course the ever present Dogfish. The plan was to fish a rock mark for the evening flood, but since there was no rush to get there we dropped on to Amlwch for a spot of species hunting as the tide ebbed. The venue has been getting a lot of social media and YouTube attention recently and has been getting hammered as a result, but it is still producing a decent array of species for those using light gear. On arrival it was the busiest I’d ever seen it, with at least 20 people fishing. It’s only a small pier so this makes things pretty cramped, but thankfully there was still a bit of room on the inside and we tallied up a decent array of Corkwings and a few Ballans. I was hoping for a Goby or two, but sadly the most interesting thing that came up was a Long Spined Sea Scorpion!
Come tea time it was time to get to our next mark to see if there are any Conger willing to play. A precarious scramble over jagged rocks and boulders saw us awkwardly perched 15 ft above the water which would make landing any decent fish interesting.
With hours of daylight left, I busied myself with the light gear, knocking up a repetitive tally of Ballan’s and Corkwing’s again. The lads daringly set the stalls out for bigger fish at distance and got pestered by Dogfish for their enthusiasm.
Perseverance with the light gear paid off for me with probably the most interesting mini species of the weekend in the shape of a Tompot Blenny, which made a nice change from the onslaught of Wrasse.
Then Stu matched my bet with his first ever Leopard Spotted Goby. A trip of many firsts for Stu! Meanwhile, after relenting and casting out a big rod I was bringing in what I assumed to be another Dogfish, but on surfacing it was a much darker colour and turned out to be a Dogfish sized Bull Huss.
All of a sudden we seemed to be getting snagged up on a regular basis, and with suspicions growing in regards to what the culprit might be, I managed to drop off a small strap Conger on a 2 hook flapper right at my feet, which confirmed our theory that we were being hung up by small straps taking our bait and retreating into their holes. Sadly, that was the only sight of a conger we got all night, and when darkness settled in and the heavens opened the rocks became a bit precarious and we decided to call it a night around midnight, all of us tired from the weekends exploits.
So ends another weekend trip away, and probably my last for a while. It was great to have Stu and Ez along with me and Steve for a change, the banter never stopped all weekend and we had a right good laugh. Looking forward to the next one!
