24/08/2025 - A game of two halves

Didn't get out again in July or the early part of August for various reasons (work, weather, club fishing bans, general apathy, blah, blah, blah....). Then had two weeks very relaxing weeks in France with the family and friends in the middle of the European heatwave. 

Temperatures topped out at 41 degrees Centigrade, which meant we were up early every day and out and about before it got stupidly hot and then chilling back at the house for the rest of the day in the shade with a glass of wine or a cold beer (or several!). Also meant that it was too hot to contemplate the two hour journey each way to St Palais sur Mer on the "Wild Coast", so although I'd packed some LRF bits in anticipation they went un-used. Once back from France I had a couple of days at work before we headed down to Pembrokeshire for the Bank Holiday weekend. With potentially four days to play with I had hedged my bets and taken enough kit to cover all eventualities. However, in the end, I'd not reckoned with the weather or my own physical capability, but more of that later. 

Having eyed up the tide tables and keen to get on the bass again I was out bright and early on Sunday morning for high  tide. Headed to the same area where I'd had a couple of decent bass out in May with a view to fishing the ebbing tide as it exposed the beds of bladder wrack, flushing out any potential prey items of interest to a foraging predator. It was a big tide, over 7 metres, so the level was well up the shore when I arrived and partially submerging the clumps of grass and reeds at the high tide line. Rather than blast my lure to the horizon I therefore flicked it parallel to the shore. 

Two turns on the reel handle and the shad was taken with a bang, the rod tip hooped over and the clutch briefly sang as an angry fish tried to make its escape. Unfortunately for me it was successful and after a few seconds the line fell agonisingly slack. Disappointed and encouraged at the same time I carried on, but three hours later and with the tide whizzing out like an express train I was fishless. Better still I'd managed to gash the knee of my waders and fill both legs  with water, so I had to strip off and drive home in my pants! Had planned to return to the estuary later in the week for a low tide session, so on Monday I headed to Hobbs Point in Pembroke Dock. Popped into the local Tesco for some bait, but had forgotten it was Bank Holiday and that they wouldn't be open for over an hour - doh! 

Headed down to the point anyway and spent an hour or so fishing off the pontoon with isome on a dropshot rig. Quickly racked up several rock gobies, black gobies and poor cod before I was able to nip back to the supermarket and get a pack of raw king prawns. Moved onto the old slipway, setting up a two-hook flapper that was baited up with chunks of prawn and dropped down the side, hopefully for a trigger fish or a decent ballan. Swapped the drop shot rig on the LRF rod for a mini-two hook flapper, baiting the bottom size 16 hook with a sliver of prawn and the top hook with a section of isome. The corkwing wrasse and the pollack loved the isome, often intercepting it as it dropped past the weed growing on the wall, whilst the prawn continued to pick up the gobies, along with the biggest tompot blenny I think I've ever seen. 

Kept an eye on the other rod, reeling it in after 30 minutes or so to find both hooks completely stripped, so re-baited it and dropped it down again. With another big Spring tide that morning, there was only about 40 minutes of slack water before the tide started to ebb and rip along the wall. At this point the prawn rod hooped over and I struck into some firm resistance. Hope of a trigger or big ballan were dashed when I saw a snake-like shape emerge from the depths and I began to think I'd hooked a strap conger instead. However, once safely landed I saw that I'd actually caught a decent silver eel, not the first I've had out of the Haven either. Thankfully he was neatly hooked in the bottom lip so after a quick shake with the forceps he was quickly off back down the slipway under his own steam. 

Went back to the pontoon at this stage as it was impossible to hold bottom with my relatively light gear. Another angler had arrived by now and stationed himself on the end, but he graciously let me slot in next to him. Turned out he was from the Black Country not too far from where I grew up in Birmingham, but had retired down to Pembrokeshire with his wife. Had a good old natter, gaining some decent local intelligence in the process, whilst picking off a few more gobies, pollack and corkwing wrasse with the LRF rod in the process, interrupted briefly by one of the Haven's tugs testing its fire-fighting  jets. Had an eye on the time and was just about to pack up when I finally had a ballan wrasse to make it an eight species session comprising 17 corkwings, 13 rock gobies, 7 pollack, 5 black gobies, 4 poor cod, 1 tompot, 1 silver eel and that ballan. 

Headed home pretty satisfied but thinking I was going to get a wigging off the wife, who instead told me that I could have stayed longer if I'd wanted to! Unfortunately that was it for the fishing for the rest of our stay. I'd been feeling a bit dizzy and "out of it" over the previous couple of days and when my hearing started to suffer it became apparent that I'd got a problem with my ears. Taking a strong decongestent knocked me for six, but helped things a bit and I felt bright enough to contemplate a bass session on our final morning. However, by then the tail end of Hurricaine Erin had blessed us with high winds and heavy rain that knocked things on the head anyway. Not what I had planned, but at least I'd had a decent session at Hobbs Point for a change. 

With temperatures cooling down and a bit of rain forecast it's time to see how the rivers are faring now. 

21/04/2025 - Treading water

Been in the doldrums ever since the river season finished. However, the Easter holidays gave me a chance to snap out of it, firstly with a trip to Exmouth for my godson's 18th birthday celebrations. Included in a packed agenda drawn up by his mum was a trip down to the marina with the LRF gear. 

Unfortunately, I had returned from Lanzarote in January having broken both tips of my much loved and abused Rock Rover - a combination of clumsiness and the unforgiving landscape! Contacted Tronix to find that they no longer carried spares, so I set about repairing them instead. The tubular tip was straightforward - a clean break that just required a spigot cut from the tip of an old float rod glueing between the two pieces and a bit of sanding and varnishing to finish. The solid tip had to be cut down to the tubular section so I could insert a Drennan quiver tip that I'd laboriously sanded down to fit. Fixed the eyes back on with shrink tube rather than trying to whip them on, then painted and varnished the whole thing. 

Was pleased with the end result - looked quite professional compared to my usual cack-handed efforts. However, the quiver tip I'd used was quite a bit softer than the original, so I was keen to see if this had made much difference to the action of the rod. After brunch we headed down to the esplanade and walked along the beach to the marina. The water that was flying out of the estuary was gin clear, but by the time we'd got to the slipway the flow had eased up and the water had taken on a distinctly muddy tinge. Set up a dropshot rig with a Decoy SG-3 baited with a small section of Gulp! isome. Started off by dropping this into any gaps between the rocks of the breakwater and into the pockets behind the pilings. 

Had a female corkwing, followed by a long-spined sea scorpion and a few shannies, some of which were full to bursting with spawn, before going to join the others on the slipway itself. They were amusing themselves by sight-fishing for shannies with lumps of prawn but after a bit I suggested we move and fish off the corner of the carpark, a spot that is usually full of tompots, wrasse and pollack. However, whether it was due to the clarity of the water or the level of the tide, we couldn't buy a bite between us. Tried one more spot, by which time the wind had started to pick up, but again failed to pick anything else up so headed back home. From Exmouth we headed across to Pembrokeshire to the in-laws for a few days. 

I had planned to do a bit of everything while I was there and had even dug out my fly-fishing gear. However, the weather had other ideas and it blew a gale and pissed down from Monday through to Wednesday, causing muddy water to pour off the fields and roads into the local rivers with the inevitable consequences and knocking any ideas of trout fishing on the head. Thursday in complete contrast was dry and sunny, although it was distinctly chilly when I headed off bright and early to Milford Haven for high tide. Got there to find that the water in the marina was the colour of coffee grounds and I could see that the lock gates were open onto the estuary, so feared the worst. However, just around the corner the clarity was thankfully much better. 

Had been and got some rag from County Sports in Haverfordwest the day before and it was small sections of this that I used on my mini-two hook flapper rig off the end of the pier. Didn't take long to start getting fast, pecking bites and I was soon busy wading through hordes of little corkwing wrasse, with a few miniature ballans and shannies thown in. The haven was equally busy with vessels, including the fire-fighting tug testing its jets, and at one stage the inshore lifeboat arrived to assist a small boat that was having engine difficulties. As the tide turned it started pulling a plume of dirty water out of the marina and past the end of the pier, so I decided to pack up and head home to make the best of the rest of the day, having had a total of thirty fish.

The forecast had indicated another, albeit brief, weather window the following morning. However, woke up to the rain hitting the bedroom window, so that was the end of that. Oh well, we're back in May. I'll see if I can be bothered to do something else in the interim!

05/10/2024 - Ilfracombe part I (what a load of pollocks!)

As expected the rain put paid to any further sessions on the rivers so my left-over maggots went out on the lawn to feed the birds instead. Next opportunity to wet a line was our second Old Boys trip of the year down to Saunton. 

Weather forecast wasn't brilliant - very mixed, some heavy rain but above all very windy. However, nothing ventured nothing gained, so a selection of fishing tackle went in the car, including my LRF and bass lure gear, the latter with a view to possibly meeting up with Joel Squires for a session on the estuary again. Picked up friend Ken from Bridgewater on way down, arriving in Saunton mid-afternoon to find the others already settled in and the "bar" open, so joined in with a few beers and had a much-needed catch up. As is customary, Friday night is curry night, my contribution being a spinach and paneer butter masala, which we had with roasted vegetable madras, dhal, bombay potato, rice, naan and poppadoms. 

It was therefore a bit of struggle when the alarm went off at 0630 hrs the following morning, but after a quick coffee I was off up to Ilfracombe to fish a couple of hours either side of high water. Had brought some squid and mackerel with me, but popped into Lidl for some raw prawns as well. Got down to the pier as the sun was just creeping over the headland to find two anglers already installed on the top deck with three rods out apiece. The lower deck was already flooded by the incoming tide, so it didn't leave many options but after a quick chat they were happy for me to slot in next to them. Got set up with my usual two hook mini-flapper, alternating a small piece of prawn or mackerel on the bottom and a strip of squid on the top.

Dropped it down between the wooden posts, feeling the dropshot lead down until it just touched bottom. Didn't have to wait long before I had my first rattle followed by a confident pull down on the rod tip, the culprit being a poor cod that had taken the squid strip. Next drop down it was the squid again that accounted for a hand-sized pollock. After that nothing else was able to get a look in, because it was just pollock after pollock. The little spot in front of me must have been thick with them as sometimes the bait didn't even reach the bottom before it was intercepted in mid-water. Had got few under my belt when I struck into something that caused my rod to hoop over before the 5lb hooklink gave way. 

This happened three times during the session, the prawn on the bottom hook being taken each time. Therefore guessed that a decent, resident wrasse was responsible. Had turned into a fantastic, sunny morning and Verity was now lit up in all her glory. Another five anglers had also arrived to my right by now, all chucking leads or float rigs to the horizon whilst I carried on winkling out fish from under my feet. In fact the only other fish I saw caught the whole two hours I was there was a mackerel that one of the chaps to my right found unknowingly attached to his rig when he wound in to rebait! Packed up just before my parking ticket ran out, having caught 34 pollock, one poor cod and a single, small ballan wrasse that came right at the death. 

A decent session in terms of numbers, but a bit more variety would have been welcome. On to the next one...

31/08/2024 - Quantity but not variety

Didn't get any more fishing done in middle part of August as we were in France for two weeks.  Hadn't taken any fishing gear with me as the cost of a "permis de vacances" outweighed the few opportunites I would have to fish, plus I'd spectacularly blanked last time I tried.

We did kayak 20 km down the River Charente, which was crystal clear and full of lillies and streamer weed, me with cling film wrapped around a dressing on my leg. This the result of being chased and bitten by a loose dog whilst out cycling and the subsequent trip to A&E on just the second day of the holiday! We spotted loads of wildlife, including coypu, kingfishers, buzzards, a sparrow hawk, a grass snake, dragonflies and damselflies. However, there was little in the way of fish apart from small perch, roach and chub. 

Suspect from what I've seen of the fishing matches down at the local aire de loisirs (which appear to be more an excuse to drink beer and wine and have a BBQ) that, apart from carp and catfish, nothing really gets a chance to grow that big in that part of France as anything caught usually ends up in a bucket and gets taken home. After France we were back home for a week and then we were off down to see our friends in Exmouth. Unfortunately the town has been making local and national news lately, but for the wrong reasons - untreated sewage leaking from South West Water's failing sewerage infrastructure resulted in beach closures over the summer and repeated warnings not to swim in the sea. 

Queues of tankers lining up to transfer sewage from the pumping station near the rugby club to the treatment works caused traffic misery and left an unpleasant odour hanging over the town centre. However, on the morning that my friend Simon and I headed down to the marina we found that the water was gin clear. I'd not brought any bait with me and it was far too early for the tackle shop, so we had to pop into Tesco Express to see what was available and ended up coming away with a small packet of cooked prawns and some crab sticks! The latter I shredded into small sections and fished on the top hook of my scaled-down two hook flapper as a substitute for a strip of squid. 

Seemed to work as first cast it was nailed by a small pollack. Only trouble was keeping it on the hook for any length of time. However, leaving the pieces to dry out a bit in the weak, early morning sun seemed to prolong their longevity. Bits of prawn on the bottom hook soon attracted the resident tompots and it was a race between them and the pollack to see who would get to the bait first. Often a hooked fish would be followed up to the surface by their brethren and a last-minute snatch of the other bait would result in a double hook up. Took turns with the rod, dropping the rig down the side of the wall and between the boulders in an attempt to winkle out something different but apart from a lone ballan wrasse and despite spotting shoals of sand eels and possibly sand smelts it was tompots and pollack all the way. 

After a couple of hours the tide was ebbing fast, bringing with it a dubious looking trail of brown scum from upstream and exposing the rocks, so we moved onto the slipway - normally a reliable spot for species such as shannies and long-spined scorpions. However, after about fifteen minutes without a single bite and with the water starting to colour up we decided to pack it in and headed to Abi's for a coffee and a bacon bap - well bacon in a brioche bun complete with hash brown and an onion ring! What was interesting and noteworthy for future trips were the three anglers obviously swinging lures in the outgoing tide for the bass, although I hope they gave their waders a good rinse when they got home!

04/08/2024 - Bass blanks and back to basics

Headed down to Pembrokeshire for a few days last week for the father in law's birthday - 83, increasingly cantankerous, deaf and with dodgy legs but otherwise still going strong. As usual I took my bass and LRF gear, although the priority was to try get another bass on the lures. 

Unfortunately the tides were a bit neither here nor there and I had to wait until the Friday morning before I could head off to the estuary at a reasonable time. Usually I fish the flood, but this time high tide was early doors so I would be fishing the ebb instead. Therefore had a look on the map at a couple of spots higher up the esturary, eventually settling on Picton Point where the Eastern and Western branches of the River Cleddau join together - on paper at least an ideal ambush point for fish travelling back down river on the outgoing tide. Got there an hour after high water and got togged up, trying not to disturb the inhabitants of a couple of vans that had been parked up for the night, and made my way along the shore to the point.

Didn't have the need to use the open air toilet facilities and took stock of my surroundings instead. In contrast to the warm, sunny conditions of the previous day, it was overcast, cool and quite breezy and the resulting wave action had muddied up the margins. I also had to wade out well over waist depth as well to clear the band of floating debris that was being dragged out to sea by the tide and I was beginning to regret my choice of venue.The next two and a half hours was spent punching various lures out into the flow. However, my efforts proved to be for nothing with not even a bump or a knock. 

Undaunted I returned to the estuary the following day, but this time I'd played it safe and headed to Lawrenny instead. The conditions had improved and the wind had dropped enough to try for one off the top. Unfortunately after a couple of casts with the Patchinko I found that there was far too much floating weed about, so it was back to bumping soft plastics around on the bottom the instead. Went through the lure box over the next couple of hours trying various different sizes and colours, but again I ended up fishless. Even the mullet seemed to be taking the mick - launching themselves out of the water without any warning and boshing back on the surface, scaring me witless in the process. 

The only saving grace was that Poseidon hadn't claimed any of my tackle, but it was still a tired and disappointed angler that went home that morning. Gave the bass a miss then next day as it obviously wasn't happening on that front and instead headed to Milford Haven with the LRF gear. Had intended to fish off the pier at Hakin, but as I dropped down the hill towards the marina I could see that there were some people already there. Pulled up a couple of minutes later to find three anglers with six rods spread out between them. Bugger! Contemplated fishing next to the marina entrance, but there was already a stiff breeze blowing straight across the Haven that would have made fishing down the high wall a bit tricky. 

Instead I jumped back in the car and made the 15 minute journey back out of Milford, over the Cleddau Bridge and down into Pembroke Dock to Hobb's Point just in time for high water. Made my way down the ramp to the water level and rigged up my usual mini-two hook flapper with size 16 Drennan widegapes. I hadn't had time to get any fresh bait, so was making do with the last of my salted rag and what I had stashed in the mother-in-law's freezer. Went with a sliver of squid on the top hook and alternated bits of worm and tiny cubes of mackerel belly on the bottom. Had a couple of small pollack and the inevitable rock goby but it was slow going and it wasn't long before the ebb tide started picking up. 

At that point I decided to move and made my way down the gang plank and onto the floating pontoon at the base of the wall. A change of spot, possibly combined with the increase in flow, seemed to make a difference straight away as I was immediately into the fish, a succession of pollack coming on the squid strip and the mackerel (I'd dispensed with the worm as it was just getting stripped off the hook) picking up corkwing and ballan wrasse, black gobies and yet more rock gobies. 

Even managed a little bass, which was a nice surprise. Was fishing away quite happily when a string of mackerel feathers came flying over my head. The culprit, a chap about the same age as me, then came stomping down the gangplank, winding furiously. Whether it was due to the look on my face but rather than apologise when he spotted me he immediately got a bit arsy saying "What's the matter? You in a mood 'cus I pinched your spot?". Decided not to get into it and said "No, carry on", but it just re-inforced the fact that there a lot of twats in this world. Carried on for a bit longer, but had to get back as we were heading off back to Nottingham at mid-day. Despite a slow start I'd had over 50 fish, half of which had been pollack. 

Hadn't been hampered by the lack of fresh bait and it was good to know that squid and mackerel are a decent standby. Doubt if we'll be back to Wales this summer, so that'll leave our October trip to Saunton for one last chance for a bass. 

19/05/2024 - A plague of tompots

Headed down to Exmouth last weekend to see friends and not to waste a potential opportunity the LRF gear went in the car as well. As usual we had a lot of catching up to do over food and drinks on the Friday evening, so I wasn't really prepared for an early start the following day. 

Had a pleasant morning instead walking along the front, drinking coffee and people watching in the sun. Weather turned a bit grim in the afternoon, so we jumped in the van and had a run down the coast towards Teignmouth and back. Took it a bit steadier in the evening and so upon retiring to bed I set my alarm for an early start. After checking the news to find that, after all the hype and shenanigans, the little bloke had beaten the big bloke in the fist fight I was up and out of the house by 0630 hrs. In contrast to the previous morning it was pretty chilly, with a dense fog cloaking the estuary. The tide was on its way out and through the gloom I could make out the solitary figure of a bass angler, patiently casting his lure out into the flow.

Carried on down to the docks to find another angler already there. He came over to chat as I set up, dropping his two-hook flapper right in the spot I'd intended to fish, promptly pulling out a double shot of  wrasse! After I jokingly said he'd nicked my spot he moved along a bit and we carried on chatting and fishing. First drop down I had a quick rattle on the rod tip, which was converted into my first fish of the morning - a little tompot blenny. 

This was quickly followed by a small ballan wrasse and then another tompot before I got properly smashed by a very powerful fish, probably a much bigger wrasse, that made short work of my 4lb hooklink. I was using my usual mini-flapper baited with salted ragworm, which sparked the interest of my fellow angler and prompted a conversation about the general dearth of places where you can buy fresh bait, hence why I always now have some preserved bait in the bag. 

After catching himself another small ballan he said that he had to shoot off, but not before he kindly offered me the the best part of a quarter of left over rag. Gratefully accepted his gift and immediately set about using it. However, the tide was now well into the ebb and was making it increasingly difficult to hold bottom and after losing a couple of hooks and dropshot leads to snags (the old dodgems from the former Exmouth Pier according to my new friend!) I decided to move to a more sheltered spot around the corner. Also decided to get rid of one of the hooks to try and reduce the snag rate. First cast out onto the sand beyond the rock armour at the base of the dock wall the tip jagged round resulting in yet another tompot. 

After that it was a fish a cast, mostly tompot blennies of all sizes and in a range of colours from sandy to almost black. By the time that my friend Simon turned up on his Brompton I'd had 25 tompots, 10 ballans, 3 sand smelt and a solitary rock goby and was fast going through the bait. Handed over the rod to him and he carried on where I had left off, catching another 13 tompots, 2 ballans and a single, female corkwing. The sun had burned through the fog by now and it was turning into a fabtatsic morning. In addition the Pride of Exmouth had pulled up and the dock suddenly became busy with folks waiting to board. After entertaining a curious audience of small kidsfor a short while and with the fresh rag finally running out we therefore packed up. 

It was bang on low tide now anyway and you could easily see the bottom where we were fishing - sand with a smattering of weed covered boulders. Headed back to the house via a now sunny and bustling seafront to join the wives for a slap up full English. Had been a decent session in terms of numbers if not variety, the absence of any pollack being particularly noticeable. Off to Wales for a few days in half-term, so I'll have to see if I can fit something in before then.

07/03/2024 - Give us a break!

I'll be glad to see the back of this winter. Fishing wise it has been very poor, with just a handful of snatched sessions in the few windows of opportunity available. 

However, with the local rivers out of sorts yet again at least I had a weekend with our friends in Exmouth to look forward to and with it the prospect of some early season LRF. When Friday came around the fishing tackle went into the boot with the suitcases along with some of last summer's salted rag that I'd found in the back of the bait fridge. However as we drove down the M5 it soon became apparent that it had been pissing down in the South West all day. Sure enough a check of the conditions the following morning revealed the estuary to be the colour of a fresh turd (probably contained a few as well) with zero visibility. Any thoughts of fishing were therefore abandoned and we headed over to neighbouring Budleigh Salterton and had a mooch along the seafront instead. 

Sunday morning my friend Simon and I headed down to the marina hoping that conditions had improved. Unfortunately it appeared that the incoming tide was just returning all of the crap back up the estuary as again the water was highly coloured with little or no visibilty. Undaunted we tried a few of the usual spots and actually found a few fish, including a few shannies, a tompot and a couple of mini-ballan wrasse. However, fishing blind into structure had the inevitable result and after snapping several hooks and losing a set of gear we packed up and headed back for a full English. 

Upon our return to Nottingham it not only looked as if the local rivers were finally heading in the right direction, but that the weather was also going to behave itself as well. By Tuesday I therefore reckoned that it was worth a quick punt on the Derwent for the grayling, so I wrapped up work early and was out the door shortly after 3 o'clock. Fifteen minutes later I was at the river in bright sunshine. Whilst the level was still a bit higher than I'd I was sure that I would be able to find a few fish and headed for a spot downstream of an island where I knew from previous sessions that that the flow would be a bit gentler. Had a few trots down the inside without a bite then had a speculative cast upstream into a slightly deeper pocket of water right under the hanging branches of the trees on the island. 

As the float trundled back towards me it promptly disappeared as a grayling snaffled the double maggot. Added half a dozen more in the same way from this little spot before it all went quiet and I headed downstream to "the beach". By now the slight breeze had dropped away to nothing and the surface of the river was like a mirror. Found that the river had done a bit of re-modelling and had scoured out a channel down the nearside bank forming a bar. Added three more grayling stood out on this new feature, but rather annoyingly pulled out of a much better fish that hung deep in the flow and never showed itself. However a mini-murmuration of starlings over the fields as I made my back to the car was a nice highlight.

Two days later I was back again, but in contrast it was dull and overcast with a cold, brisk Easterly wind. The river had also dropped significantly allowing me to try a couple of my more usual spots further upstream. However, whether it was because of the conditions or that the fish had yet to re-distibute themselves after weeks of high flow I don't know, but I failed to buy a bite until I got right back down to the beach. Thankfully I managed to avoid the blank by adding a trio of graying before the gloom descended, which made me rue the decision to head upstream when I first arrived. Hopefully the rivers will continue to improve for the remainder of the season as I've got some flexi to take, although it's looks like the east wind is going to be with us for another few days at least.

31/10/2023 - Wild, wild West

This half-term the wife and I were meant to be going to see the lad and his girlfriend in Lithuania where he is about to start a PhD on sea eagles.

However, due to the long-winded process required to obtain his residency permit and the risk that he would run out of Shengen days before he got it, he had to come home for a bit. This left us at a bit of a loose end so, whilst the weather forecast was not exactly ideal, we decided to head down to Pembrokeshire instead. On the journey down the effects of Storm Babet were still much in evidence with virtually every river still out of their banks and fields full of flood water. Despite a last minute diversion over the Brecon Beacons to avoid a crash on the M4 we eventually arrived safely, albeit in the middle of the first of many torrential downpours we were to experience over the next few days! 

Managed to get a walk in down on the beach at Amroth on the Saturday during a brief break in the weather, before heading back to watch the rugby. In contrast Sunday looked like it was going to be a complete write off. However, rather than go mad watching the rain batter against the windows, we braved the water-logged lanes and went for a warming bowl of cawl (lamb stew to the non-Welsh) at our favourite cafe at Lawrenny Quay, overlooking a very wind-blown and grim-looking estuary. Persuaded the wife to pop into Pembroke Dock on the way back and got some ragworm from Roddy at JBM Marine. His overall summary of the local fishing prospects was a resounding "crap", the main issue being the amount of fresh, but dirty water being dumped into the sea by the river. 

Had a quick look at Hobbs Point, which only seemed to confirm his assessment as the estuary was the colour of mud, with water pouring in from the storm drains! The following morning I therefore headed up to Fishguard on the north coast instead hoping that the rain would have had less of an influence and that there would at least be some whiting about to pull the string. Walking out to the end of the breakwater at first light I was relieved to see that the water was relatively clear, so got set up on the top of the rock apron well out of the way of the swell. Had a selection of baits with me and started off with ragworm on a two hook flapper on one rod and a mackerel/squid cocktail on a pulley pennel rig on the other. 

Started getting rattles and pulls on both rods and was feeling pretty confident, but after two and a half hours I'd only had one small pouting to show for my efforts. With the wind picking up and the sky darkening yet again I therefore returned home with my tail between my legs! The next day I decided to gamble and headed towards Milford Haven with the light gear. It had actually been clear and calm overnight and the temperature was down to 5 degrees, the grass verges covered in heavy condensation, although it had warmed up a bit by the time I arrived. Whilst the water in the docks was the colour of my Costa coffee, parking up at Hakin Point I was again glad to see that clarity in the estuary itself was pretty good.

This was despite the debris on the high tide line indicating that the pier had only recently been under water due to the combination of big spring tides and floodwater.  Set up my usual two hook mini flapper made up with size 10 Tronixpro Sabpolo Wormers, baited the bottom hook with a scrap of ragworm but put a sliver of squid on the top hook just for a change. Slowly worked my way along the wall, dropping my rig down  every couple of metres or so, until I found the fish literally stacked up in one spot. As soon as the bait rig hit the bottom the ragworm was snaffled by a corkwing wrasse, although they weren't having it all their own way as the squid proved to be as popular with the pollack, who were snatching it on the drop. 

Whiled away the next hour and a half catching both species in equal numbers and adding a few, perpetually glum-looking shannies and the odd, uniquely coloured ballan. Had to tear myself away in the end as unfortunately we had to head back up the motorway for an appointment with the carpet fitter later in the afternoon, otherwise I would have happily carried on all morning. However, having caught one short of fifty fish in total I'd had a pretty busy session. On reflection it's been a strange couple of months as I've done very little coarse fishing recently. Will have to see what impact the storm Ciaran has in the next few days, but hopefully I will be able to get some short, "smash n grab" sessions in after work for the chub, perch and zander. That's the plan but I guess we'll have to see!