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North Wales ,The Llyn and Anglesey 2018

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Daf & I were out yesterday fishing a deep headland - water looked incredible from the surface but was actually a little murky - lots of fish about, mainly small bass, lots of nice "table sized" ones in the mix. Saw some gars and a sea-trout - sea-trout was on the bottom at about 12 meters, I've only ever seen them shallow before. We got in the water on the low at 10am and fished solidly with a few small breaks till 5:30pm - hard day!

There was actually a bit of swell and Daf saw some big bass in the shallows which were really rough - he swears blind he saw an 8lb'er!

I had the GoPro rolling but as GoPros are want to do, it ran out of battery half way through the day. Random mix of footage below:



I took a monster of a mullet, I've never seen one so big, the picture does it absolutely no justice. It weighed in at over 6lbs. Official Welsh boat record is 6lb 2oz.

IMG_30102.jpg
 
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Nice video there Bro, cracking mullet too. It's heart breaking to see those lovely bass going about their business unhindered.
 
Nice video there Bro, cracking mullet too. It's heart breaking to see those lovely bass going about their business unhindered.

Thanks mate, I'll try and get a quick video up of each decent trip this season. We should be down next week, although it looks like the wind is getting up. Daf and I are currently negotiating our next dive location, we're trying to get to the really remote, deep spots we've never tried before. It seems to be working well for us so far, I saw more legal size bass in my first dive of the season than I've seen in the last 3 years. I don't know if it's the spots we're diving or if there are just more fish around but it's exciting to explore some new ground.

It's a real shame about the bass ban this season, I know that historically, there have been rare sightings of a little-known species, the Gentleman's Mullet, reported on the Llyn. I haven't seen any myself but it's good to know they're around.
 
I think there's more fish about this year, I don't know if that's anything to do with the cold start to the season and then the prolonged warm period, whether last years semi-ban has made a difference, or if it's something else. I've had 3 dives so far this year, the first dive I was surrounded by literally several hundred juvenile bass, which was amazing, the next dive I kept bumping in to small groups of juveniles of 4-6 individuals, plus the odd loner, I've seen a handful of (previously) take able ones. My last night (Saturday) I came across no bass, only small pollack. All dives were from shore. I've never seen so many bass.
I've heard of the gentleman's mullet, they sound like an attractive prospect, thought I've heard they're perfectly legal to take unless you get caught....
 
There was actually a bit of swell and Daf saw some big bass in the shallows which were really rough - he swears blind he saw an 8lb'er!

Nothing like spinning a yarn!

There were a couple of very decent fish around though nonetheless that I stumbled across in very shallow water over a patch of boulders that had a pretty decent swell going over them. You could just about see what was going on by holding onto a discarded bit of rope and physically pulling yourself below the white water.

I saw a lot of school bass last year so whether this population has managed to survive the winter would be interesting to see. I still find it hard to believe that a recreational fishing ban could have had such a significant impact on the subjective increase in bass stocks we have seen over the last 12 months however. For whatever reason, it is great to see!

Ahhh the gentlemans mullet, only trumped by the fabled gentlemans bass...
 
Fished a very deep headland in the extremes of the South Llyn last week, not many fish at depth but we happened across a large and very unexpected shallow area that was rammed with bass. Viz was ridiculous, finally used my 90, could have done with a 110.





Some very large lone Gentleman's Mullet around, if I had to make a wild guess, I'd have said one was 7lbs and one was 8.5lbs. Sure they would have been delicious.

2018 is turning into a vintage year for bass. I've never seen so many.

- - - - - - -

Bumped into the Sea Angler Team filming a deep tope hunt, top lads and very spearo friendly.

 
More videos of me not shooting bass on an unmarked offshore reef, North Coast... this time, passing up a potential 10lb+ fish... damn this season is epic. Huge schools of 2 - 4lb fish, lots of big ones in the mix. Never dreamed we'd see this many bass. Finally managed to get a seat trout on film as well.

Fish seem to be consistently coming in at about 1:10 - 1:30, so long dive times are being rewarded.

Obviously the camo suit is working.

 
Thanks for making the effort to post these videos mate? Did you get any footage of the wreck we found?
 
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Thanks for making the effort to post these videos mate? Did you get any footage of the wreck we found?

No probs buddy - I know if I don't edit the footage right away I'll never look at it again. It'll give me something to keep me inspired over the long, dark winter.

I did get a quick shot of the wreck but it's not amazing, I was pretty knackered by the time we found it, I think I only did about four drops and I only recorded one. We'll have to go back when the tide isn't running like mad! Too deep, too tired, too much current! I recon it must be lobstery - the extreme edges on the sand had some big crevices and holes, I took a quick peek but there were just wrasse in there. Definitely worth further exploration.

I think the whole area is a low tide / falling tide spot - didn't seem to be much around on the high. We'll have to get down again soon!
 
anyone up for a dive on the north coast tomorrow? Hopefully a bit of viz and some fish.
 
Hi folks,

Has anyone ever encountered any sting rays around the Llyn Peninsula or the upper Cardigan bay coast?
 
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