28/05/2025 - Two venues and an unpleasant surprise

Decided that two days of standing up to my nads in freezing water whilst getting battered by the wind was probably enough, although there was the obvious benefit that I'd discovered a new, high water mark in the estuary, not only for the bass but also potentially for the mullet judging by the hundreds of lip scrapes in the exposed mud. 

Instead I decided to head over to Hakin point near Milford with the remnants of my salted rag and a bit of squid. Pulled up about 7 AM to find another angler already on the pier. Recognised him as a local chap called Graham that I'd previously met bass fishing, so went and had a chat. He was after the bass again and was using a very interesting rig with a home-made hook release system consisting of a rotten bottom clip, an elastic band and a Weeto - yes, the ring-shaped, chocolate breakfast cereal! Whilst there was a bit of colour and quite a lot of weed fragments in the water due to the wave action on the shore I decided to give it a go on the leeward side of the pier. Set up my usual two-hook, mini-flapper baited with a sliver of squid on the top hook and a piece of salted rag on the bottom. 

Dropped it down the side and felt for a clear patch with the lead. Started getting knocks straight away and it wasn't long before the rod tip properly bent over resulting in a female corkwing wrasse. Had a colourful male a couple of minutes later, after which it was just a procession of more corkies with a the odd, morose-looking shanny thrown in. Looked up at one stage to see Graham with his beachcaster well bent over, so paused to see what he'd got. 

Unfortunately, rather than the monster bass hewas after, it turned out to be a huge ball of seaweed with a small doggie in the middle of it! He took that as his cue to pack up, so took the opportunity to glean a bit more local information from him before he toddled off on his bike. I wasn't long after him as the ebbing tide had started pulling down the side of the pier and my braid was starting to look like a washing line, abeit covered in bits of weed. It was only 9 AM at this stage so after popping into Costa for a flat white and a bacon roll, I headed back towards Haverfordwest to "my" little, urban trout stream, having brought a few red worms scavenged from the in-laws' garden on the off chance. Swapped my two hook flapper for a 0.5 gram jig head, popped on the waders and scrambled down the bank to the first pool. 

Hidden down in the water and under the trees with just a dipper for company it was a world away from the busy road just a few yards away and I do wonder how many people even realise that it is here. Despite all the rain we'd had the day before the stream was low and clear and various bits of urban rubbish and detritus, including tyres, rebar, road signs and plastic could clearly be seen on the bottom. Flicked the worm-baited jig upstream and let it drift back towards me. Did this a couple of times before getting a positive rattle and after a spirited fight landed my first little wild Welsh brownie of the morning. Knacked the swim on the next cast by snagging up in aforementioned rubbish, so slogged downstream through the brambles and Himalyan balsam. 

Started working my way back upstream but was shocked when I came to the first riffle to find it covered in slimy, cotton wool-like growths of sewage fungus. Not actually a fungus, but colonies of naturally-occurring filamentous bacteria that thrive in the presence of organic material, smothering the substrate, displacing invertebrates and, in extreme cases, stripping oxygen from the water and killing fish. Carried on upstream to find several places where black, foul-smelling liquid was running down the far bank. Took a few pictures with the intention of reporting it when I got back home. Thankfully the brook was clear further upstream and I'd managed to land half a dozen more little brownies by the time I got back to the car, although I'd probably been mugged by as many again - the hook either coming back bare or the worm chopped up by tiny teeth. 

Got stuck in roadworks leaving Haverfordwest, but was on the phone to Natural Resources Wales as soon as I got throught the door. Was assured that my report would be passed to the local environment team for investigation. Hopefully the two prime candidates of a dairy and a sewage treatment works will be getting a visit soon! 

27/05/2025 - Two estuaries, mixed fortunes

Took the opportunity to hook up with Joel Squires while I was down in Saunton. Cirumstances had prevented us from meeting last year and I was keen to build on the success of previous sessions. Exchanged emails beforehand and whilst Joel had only been out a few times himself this season, he had managed to find a few fish in his last couple of outings so things looked promising. 

After an 8 km paddle up the Taw estuary from Crow Point to Braunton and back with the lads in the morning I returned a couple of hours later to meet Joel in the car park.Got togged up and had a good natter as we walked over the dunes and down onto the estuary. Started off by fishing topwaters over the reef on the last of the ebb without a hint of a fish, so slogged back up the to the mussel beds as the tide turned. Was unusual to walk past a few bait fishermen on the way, which had Joel bemoaning recent social media posts about gilthead bream, smooth hounds and even tope showing up in the estuary, although everyone that we stopped and spoke to was also fishless. 

Out on the mussel beds we carried punching our lures out into the fresh breeze, but as the light began to fade the wind dropped and conditions seemed perfect. However, try as we might the fish were either not there, or just not interested. Nail in the coffin came when I had the mother of all wind knots in my braid after having carefully looked after it, checking it after each cast, all afternoon. Headed back to the cars a tad disappointed, but it had been good to catch up and we pencilled in some plans for later in the year. Fast forward to May Bank Holiday down in Pembrokeshire. 

Saturday was taken up with the mother-in-law's 80th birthday, including assisting the wife put on a surprise tea party up at the village hall with friends and family and then a massive curry in the evening. With plenty of brownie points in the bank I snuck off at 5.30 AM the following morning to the Cleddau estuary. With stiff westerley winds forecast all weekend I had my eye on an area just around the corner from Lawrenny that I thought would hold a few fish at high water and where I would hopefully find a bit of calm. However, I'd forgotten that it was the "Big Retreat Festival" and when I pulled up in the car I found a dozen middle-aged ladies enjoying an early morning wild swim, although it sounded more like an excuse for a chinwag. Got togged up in the chesties, said good morning and then headed a decent distance further up the bank. Was initally flat calm and looked perfect for topwaters. 

Started off subtle with a small Fishus Espetit, working it over the top of the eel grass and bladder wrack. As the breeze picked up and ruffled the water I changed over to a Patchinko 125 and carried on working the area in front of me. After a while the ladies left, but were immediately replaced by a paddle boarding class. Thankfully they steered clear of me and as they disappeared around the bend in the river I changed lures again to a larger Espetit in hot belly glass. First cast a fish slashed at the lure just beyond the edge of the weeds then came back for a second go, resulting in my first bass of the year. Carried on with renewed enthusiasm, but as the tide rapidly ebbed exposing the bare mud beyond the weed beds I figured that the any fish would now have disappeared for pastures new so headed home for breakfast. 

Despite the appalling weather forecast I was back again this morning, hoping that there would be an early window of calm before the storm. However, when I arrived it was already raining and blowing a hoolie, although this did mean that there were no wild swimmers to contend with. Decided to go with soft plastics this time because of the chop on the water and popped on a slender scoop shad on a 5g cheb rig. Spent an hour and a half covering some new ground in the wind and rain without any interest before making my way slowly towards the car. As I came around a slight corner I could see the area that I'd fished yesterday was a bit calmer and that the ebbing tide had started to expose the top the of bladder wrack. Decided that it looked "fishy" and was worth staying a bit longer, so started working the lure in clear channels between the weed in the hope that a bass might still be mooching about. 

Third cast the shad was taken with a thump and a fish took off against the drag of my Penn Spinfisher. Managed to get itself stuck in a clump of bladder wrack, but after I gave it some slack line it was out and off again. When I got it up onto the surface I could see it was a decent fish, so was glad when I eventually drew it safely into the margins - a nice fat bass of 55 cm that made everything worthwhile. Took a couple of snaps on the phone and watched him swim off strongly before carrying on. However, I was pretty wet through by now and starting to shiver with the cold, so decided to end on a high. Left me with a bit if a quandry of what to do on our final day in Wales - had planned to go LRF or trout fishing, but who knows now?!

17/09/2025 - Need to get my mojo working!

Suffice to say that I have had little or no enthusiasm to go fishing recently. Work has been particularly shite and has been sapping my energy, whilst life in general seems to be stuck in fast forward and I just seem to be hurtling from one day to the next. However, the first of two annual trips with friends down to North Devon offered some respite and a chance to break the cycle. 

The drive down on Friday was thankfully smooth and interrupted - an increasingly rare event on our over-crowded motorway network - and we were all safely installed in the bungalow by mid-afternoon. Rest of the day was spent catching up and celebrating my friend Craig's birthday with a home-made, three course, Italian meal washed down with plenty of beer and red wine. Was still feeling the effects when I snuck off early the following morning at first light and headed the short distance up to Ilfracombe for a couple of hours with the LRF gear. Pulled into the carpark overlooking the pier as the sun was coming up over the far headland and lighting up Verity. Could see that there was an angler already on the lower deck, so got my stuff out the boot and wandered down for a chat. 

Turned out he was targeting wrasse, fishing a whole, cooked prawn on a Texas rig straight down the side. Dropped in a bit further along and was amazed by the clarity of the water, probably the clearest I'd ever seen it. Got tackled up, baited up my mini two-hook flapper with bits of salted ragworm and dropped it down to the bottom. Had to wait a bit before I started to get some interest, however, my first positive bite resulted in a small, long-spined sea scorpion. Had a much larger one a few minutes later, but it was soon obvious that it was going to be slow going, unlike in October when it had been a fish a cast. There was decent swell pushing into the bay and as the tide came in it wasn't long before the waves started breaching the lower deck, pushing both of us up onto the steps and up onto the top level. 

My fellow angler left at this stage to try the rock ledges on the other side of the car park, whilst I dropped my rig down into my "pouting hole". Got a rattle on the rod tip straight away, but it wasn't a pouting but a poor cod that had snaffled the bait. Had another one soon after, followed by a tiny tompot blenny. Moved into the next "bay" between the pilings and had a pollack almost immediately. However, after no further interest I was soon back in the pouting hole. 

However, again it was a different species - a female corkwing wrasse - that took the ragworm on the bottom hook. My companion from earlier returned at this point and showed me a picture of a nice, orange ballan wrasse of about 3lb that he'd caught before being pushed off the rocks by the incoming tide. Had another corkwing whilst we continued to chat and look at some more photos of his previous captures but, despite the sun, the wind had really started to cut through me (it had only been 4 degrees Centigrade when I'd left the bugalow earlier!) so when my new friend headed off I decided to do the same. Have found that this time of year can be very hit and miss, having blanked completely on occasion.

Was therefore pleased to have had a few fish, not least so I had something to report upon my return to the bungalow. Hopefully on the bass next.