02/08/2026 - Metal magic

A combined birthday and anniversary celebration involving several pints of Wye Valley Brewey’s excellent "Butty Bach" put paid to any ideas of a morning session yesterday. I was a knackered after the previous two early mornings anyway, so enjoyed the lie in instead. 

The plan had been to go wrasse fishing up at Fishguard and I very nearly headed there this morning, but having woken up shortly before 0500 hrs for some reason and not able to go back to sleep I decided to head to the estuary at Lawrenny for a bass session. Got there just after first light, the sun just starting to illuminate the mudflats, and drove down to the quay. The tide was already a couple of hours into the flood and I had therefore intended to bump soft plastics in the flow in mouth of the side channel. 

However, as I got togged up I could see a lot of bird activity out in the main estuary, so walked up to the breakwater for a look. A flock of gulls were diving on a shoal of bait fish and there was also the occasional strike from beneath.  Whilst all of this was happening some distance out of casting range I thought it would be worth a punt, so clipped on a 17g chrome Slingshot “surface iron” that I had recently purchased from Lures Edge. Whacked it out as far as I could and started retrieving it close to the surface. Within a few turns of the reel handle it got whacked by a small bass that punched well above it’s weight in the current. From that point onwards it was constant action with the lure getting smashed as soon as it hit the water. 

By the time that the birds and presumably the baitfish had finally drifted away an hour and a half later I’d had 27 schoolies, all like peas in a pod. Whilst it had been great sport, with about an hour left to high I upped sticks and went to a spot higher up the side channel to try and find a bigger fish. Worked a Savage Gear slender scoop shad around the clumps of bladder wrack in the hope that a big mama would come nosing in after an easy meal. However, it wasn’t to be and I was eventually pushed up against the wall by the incoming tide. I couldn’t really complain having just had my most prolific bass session so far. It had certainly been a case of being in the right place at the right time. 

I just wondered if a heavier lure would have given me enough distance to get right amongst the action and possibly the bigger fish. Oooh look, they do a 26g version. Where's the credit card......

31/07/2026 - Disappointing morning down Milford

Celebrated 33 years of marriage by sneaking off to Milford Haven for another quick morning session. To be fair, it was actually my anniversary "present" off the wife, subject to the condition that I got her a Lidl almond croissant on the way back home. 

In contrast to the previous morning it was bright and sunny with not a cloud in the sky. However, as a result it was a tad cooler at 10 degrees Centigrade and even briefly fell into single figures as I dropped down into the river valley at Gelli. Headed to the stone pier on the Hakin side of the marina entrance and found that I'd got the place to myself, although the port authority had put up some suitably grim posters to try and dissuade the local youth from tomb-stoning. 

Again, it was about half an hour before high and there was a stream of boats of various descriptions exiting the lock and heading off up the haven. Set up on the end, baited up my mini two hook flapper and dropped it down the wall. Didn't get anything in the first ten minutes, so tried a few different spots before finding a shoal of pollack that seemed to like a strip of mackerel belly. Had half a dozen in quick succession before they disappeared, so went back to the first spot which I'd "chummed" with a few broken mussels. Had a couple of small corkwing wrasse, but bites were unusually slow in coming. At one point I spotted a shoal of sand smelt swimming under my feet so quickly wound in and dangled the my rig mid-water for one to immediately oblige and snaffle the mackerel strip.

However, by the time I'd unhooked him and popped him back his mates had scarpered. The tide had turned now and the outgoing flow was bringing a stream of debris past the end of the pier, including clumps of weed and presumably what were discards from the fishing boats, including bits of crabs and a sizeable bull huss.  

Carried on moving about trying to chase bites, but could only manage a couple more corkwings and a rock goby. Briefly had a go off the main wall but it was a bit shallow and featureless, and after another ten minutes without a bite I was back on the pier. A few people had started to turn up now, including a couple of lady swimmers and a young family with some loud kids, so after a solitary shanny I called it a day. Had been a bit disappointing as the venue is usually far more prolific. Whether it was down to lack of ragworm for bait or something else, I don't know. Rounded off the morning dodging traffic and roads works to get the wife her croissant. Might need a rethink for the next two days.