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Hello from a newbie in North Wales

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Pecheur Anglais

New Member
Jan 20, 2021
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We bought a house in France as a holiday home and were planning to retire there. Brexit spoiled that plan, so, sadly, we have decided to sell it.

Now, having recently retired and with the France plan scuppered, we moved from the middle of England to the North Wales coast.

I am a born again sea angler, hopefully those are not dirty words on here. I don't catch much. When I do, most of it goes back. Its really just an excuse to be beside the sea. Particularly pleasurable during lockdown.

Have enjoyed snorkelling since a teenager. Got my PADI Open Water qualification on holiday twenty years ago, but not done much diving since.

Aspire to do a bit of spear fishing and make more of the time I have now by the sea, on the sea and in the sea.

Lots to learn and hopefully, many adventures to be enjoyed here and abroad!
 
Welcome. Some friends of ours closed on a house in France the day after the referendum result came out. Apparently unphased by the result.

Many spearos are sea anglers too, some very good ones. My wife is strongly against "catch and return" though - catch the fish and eat them, don't mess them about seems to be her philosophy!

North Wales can be magical (and wet!). There are several places up there I'd like to explore, post lockdown. Surprised to find there are two places called Gogarth so close to each other.
 
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Welcome. Some friends of ours closed on a house in France the day after the referendum result came out. Apparently unphased by the result.

Many spearos are sea anglers too, some very good ones. My wife is strongly against "catch and return" though - catch the fish and eat them, don't mess them about seems to be her philosophy!

North Wales can be magical (and wet!). There are several places up there I'd like to explore, post lockdown. Surprised to find there are two places called Gogarth so close to each other.
Thanks for the welcome.

We still love France, and indeed the house and its location. We sadly would not be able to achieve residency in France now, so retiring there is no longer an option. Our house there is just too big an investment and too big a house to justify as a second home, so we decided to bite the bullet whilst city dwellers, particularly Parisians, are hungry to buy coastal properties.

I can understand your wife's philosophy on catch and return, but unlike spear fishing, although an angler may target a species, they cannot be selective on which fish will take a bait/lure and if they are undersized, out of season for keeping, of an inedible variety, or various other reasons, it is appropriate to carefully unhook and release them. I am assuming that most spearos would not kill a fish they did not intend to eat, most anglers are the same.

You are spot on about North Wales being magical and wet. It is frequently windy where we are as well, probably because of the mountains. Plenty of stunning coast line, particularly around Anglesey and Lynn Peninsular, many, many places to explore. I was not aware of the two Gogarths before. Learning new stuff every day!
 
Sorry to hear about your retirement plans being messed up. I've recently read 4 of Carol Drinkwater's books on her olive farm on the Cote D'Azur so I can understand the desire to live there - although the ridiculous amount of bureaucracy she describes would probably deter me. :) I have been learning some basic French during lockdown, quite enjoying it but I keep losing the book!

I'm more easy going, re. catch and release, than my wife, having grown up coarse fishing on the cut (canal) - everything caught was released. It no longer appeals to me and the canals are now restored and taking boat traffic again, which I am happy to see, even if it did ruin the angling! :D But just because it no longer appeals to me, there is no reason why it should not appeal to others; I spent many a relaxed, beautiful summer day fishing on rural canal banks. I dabble with sea angling myself but have only caught a few fish so far - I thought it would complement spearing but actually lure fishing and spearing require similar conditions, so they tend to compete rather than compliment! Spearing always wins, given the choice. Bait fishing might be different but I rarely have the time and mindset to have fresh bait available when conditions are not so good - we tend to walk the coastal path or moors instead.

Yes, the more pictures I see of N. Wales the more I want to visit. I've been to N. Wales quite a lot but mainly climbing and visiting in-laws, there is much that I have not seen. Gogarth on Angelsey is a sea cliff and cove, site of numerous climbs, most famously "A Dream of White Horses" a spectacular rising traverse above crashing seas. But I noticed recently there is also a place called Gogarth on the mainland nearby, possibly near or above the PenTrywn seacliffs (site of the "new wave of British rockclimbing"(c) in the 1980s, when new, very hard, bolted routes were developed by well known Sheffield based climbers).
 
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