25/07/2021 - Pembrokeshire Part One (a plague of gobies!)

Saturday saw us driving down to Pembrokeshire for a much anticipated Summer holiday. Of course, fishing was always going to be high on the agenda. In fact I'd already planned my sessions in advance by studying the time tables and weather forecast although, with it a being a family holiday, the concession was that I'd have to be out and back each day early doors. 

First priority, however, was to source some bait and again I'd planned ahead and phoned J & M's Tackle in Pembroke Dock to check they had some ragworm available (and a good job too as it turned out). With a bit of time to kill before they opened on Sunday morning I therefore headed to Hobbs Point in warm, bright sunshine with the LRF rod to see what I could winkle out at high tide. Now whilst I have had a variety of mini-species from this venue in the past, if I had to bet my life on catching a rock goby from anywhere it would be here. From many a previous sessions I knew that a bait fished on or near the bottom would invariably attract the attention of a "rocky" sooner or later.

Unfortunately, once you caught one it usually meant that the rest of the session would be dominated by them. However, on this occasion they must have been present in plague proportions because I was into them from the off. Fishing down the side of the ramp with a dropshot rig baited with bits of "Gulp" angleworm I started to get aggressive rattles on the tip of my Rock Rover almost immediately and it wasn't long before the first of many rock gobies came spiralling out of the depths. Coming in different sizes and colours ranging from "seabed camou" to chocolate brown they all had a fins-up attitude belying their size and an ability to clamp their toothy little gobs shut on the artificial worm - like a Staffy with a rubber bone! 

I tried to get away from them by moving along the ramp and fishing around the pontoon in the hope of a wrasse, but the little beggars would not leave me alone. The only respite came form a couple of tiny pollack that somehow managed to beat them to the hookbait by intercepting it on the drop. As the tide started ebbing and ripping along the wall I moved again to fish the slacker water around the corner in search of a shanny or two, but could still only only catch gobies and quickly racked up over two dozen. Still, it was all good fun with the light gear and along with the numerous enquiries from passers by obviously confused by the sight of a grown man catching tiddlers it made a couple of hours pass by very quickly.

The spring tide was now ripping back down the haven and out to sea, carrying sundry detritus with it. This meant that I couldn't hold bottom properly now anyway, so I headed into town to collect my reserved, fivers-worth of rag from the tackle shop. Following a morning rush they were already down to their last two trays of worms and were not expecting any more fresh dug rag until Tuesday, so it was lucky that I'd called them. Unfortunately, due to the closure of the other tackle shop in Pembroke Dock following a bereavement there's just one either side of the Cleddau Bridge now. Means that sourcing bait can be tricky at times for the casual visitor, so I made sure to whack them straight in the fridge when I got home to keep them fresh. Hopefully they will bring me a bit more variety next session!