Welsh Danglers reports

February 2007
2006

February 8th Porthcawl lighthouse
 
This session was arranged at the last minute and after a quick check of the tide, winds and weather we decided to fish the deeps at ogmore. slight westerly, neap tide and the odd shower......lovely!
We got down there put our floaty suits on and started to walk down. When we got about half we down we started to notice large waves breaking over the ledges so we stopped to watch. Very large waves were breaking and covering the ledges so we turned straight back up the hill.
 
Roughest we've ever seen the deeps and strange all the same because there didn't seem to be that strong a wind to push the breakers in!
 
Anyway we thought about fishing shingle beach but that was just as rough so we headed for Porthcawl.
We got there eventually around 2 and half hours before high and hit the end of the pier.
With bait choice limited to frozen stuff for the evening mackerel strips on pulley pennels were cast out.
An angler next to us reeled in a doggie so at least there were some fish there.
 
Then Barrel's rod lurched seaward and sprung back so barrel struck and proceeded to wind in what he thought was a doggie at first, then as the fish got closer to the pier, it didn't really fight but seemed to get heavier!
It seemed like it could be a ray holding in the tide.
Then Valleyboyo climbed up to have a look over.......'F***ing hell its a cod' he shouted! and as quickly as he had said it he grabbed the line and yanked it onto the pier. Both Barrel and Valleyboyo were surprised as well as the two other anglers there.
It weighed in at 4lb........not the biggest but still a decent fish and Barrel's biggest codling for some time, not bad for a 1st cast on mackerel strip!
 
The rest of the evening was pretty quiet though with Valleyboyo and Barrelreef both landing 1 small whiting each.
 
We packed up just after high water and headed for home. A nice cold night with Barrelreef heading home a very happy angler!
 
Barrelreef 1 codling, 1 whiting
Valleyboyo 1 whiting
 

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Barrelreef's codling

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Fatty

February 17th Cold Knap
 
Blackcat decided we should fish cold Knap and meet up with Wilba who would also be fishing there.
 
Baits for the session were mackerel, squid, sandeel, and lugworm.
With a very light northerly wind and a large tide with high about 7pm we stared fishing about 330ish.
 
Wilba had already had a small whiting before we got there so hopes were high for catching a few whiting.  
The 1st hour or two was quiet with the odd missed bite.
As the light started to fade barrel had a lovely bite and managed to land a fighting fit whiting of about 1lb on mackerel strip which swam off strongly when released.
Wilba also had a bite and landed a small whiting and followed that with a pouting.
Maybe the whiting would come on the feed as it got dark we thought.
 
It then went quiet again although Blackcat had a stonking bite and had hooked a decent fish on a sandeel bait which he played to within yards of the shore before it spat the hooks! Seemed to be a good fish which put a good bend into his rod,  and made a right mess of his sandeel bait.
 
Barrelreef had however started to get regular bites after changing to smaller size 2 hooks and managed to land another 3 small whiting and 1 pouting on successive casts.
 
After high water though all went dead with no bites so we packed up around 8pm to head home.
 
A nice mild evening with the forecast showers holding off, and although nothing big showed at least a few fish did get caught.
 
Barrelreef - 4 whiting, 1 pouting
Wilba - 3 whiting, 1 pouting
Blackcat - Blanked but had the one that got away!
Valleyboyo - Blanked
 

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Wilba with his 2nd whiting

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barrelreef's whiting

February 18th Porthcawl pier (lower section)
 
With some bait left from saturday we decided to fish the lighthouse. We got there about 4 hours before high water to find the lighthouse already brimming with anglers, so we settled for fishing the lower part of the pier.
 
Very quiet for the 1st 3 hours with Barrelreef having the only bite. Vallyboyo did catch a crab though. With a hungry Valleyboyo fealising he'd forgotten his sarnies he had to be stopped from munching the crab!
Then blackcat had a nice bite and reeled in a decent doggie, his 1st catch since December 27th. He was well happy happy after 5 blank fishing sessions.
 
Although still quiet we did have a few bites around high water with Barrelreef landing a whiting around 8oz.
Valleyboyo also then landed a small whiting.
Blackcat followed this up with a whiting also around 8oz.
 
As the tide started to ebb the bites died off and we called it a night.
 
Blackcat - 1 dogfish, 1 whiting
Barrelreef - 1 whiting
Valleyboyo - 1 whiting
 
 

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Blackcats doggie

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Blackcats whiting

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next time he'll make sure he remembers his packed lunch

February 25th Cardiff barrage
 
With a few of the 'Danglers' nursing hangovers from the previous night in the pub watching rugby, we needed an easy to get to venue.
We decided to try out the barrage even though we hadn't fished it before.
 
We got there around 10ish with high water about 12.
With lots of anglers already fishing we sqeeezed in and set up. Our baits for the day were frozen black lug, squid, mackerel, ragworm and mussels.
 
Very quiet for the 1st hour although some small whiting were showing.
Barrelreef dropped a trace baited with mackerel on size 4 hooks down the side of the barrage wall. After a few minutes the rod gave a little rattle and Barrelreef wound in to find a double shot of whiting, one a decent size and the other small but more than welcome and returned unharmed.
Another whiting quickly followed to the same tactics.
 
Barrelreef then had 2 more whiting on his other rod which was baited with a lug/mussel cocktail and cast about 70yards.
 
Next into a whiting was Teggy who was very happy as he had caught using his new rod,  this fish was a nice whiting probably pushing 1lb and had taken a mussel/rag/mackerel cocktail cast as far as teggy could get it!
Teggy then landed another 3 whiting including a double shot.
 
By this time Blackcat had struggled for bites and resigned himself to blanking, when his rod gave a little rattle and in came a small whiting, quickly followed by another 2 on successive casts using ragworm baits.
One of which was a keepable size.
 
All in all a tidy day at a clean, easy venue with a few fish being caught and returned. After a chat with a local angler it seems this mark can also throw up some good bass in the summer so another visit later on in the year could be on the cards. Also met and had a chat with 'Kermit' a fellow WSF forum member.
 
Not to Blackcat  -  better to clip your trace to the leader after you've put it through the rod eyes!
 
Barrelreef - 5 whiting
Teggy - 4 whiting (including the biggest)
Blackcat - 3 whiting 
 

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Barrelreef with a double shot of whiting

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Teggy with a double shot of whiting

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Blackcat with one of his whiting

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Teggy with the biggest of the day