Anglesey - Holyhead Breakwater.

[Aqua-holic]

Anglesey – Holyhead Breakwater.

I fancied another day away fishing so after ringing my brother to see if he could get the day off work and he could we decided to take a trip down to Wales.
We set off and drove the 265 miles to Holyhead Breakwater which is situated on the North West end of Holyhead on the island of Anglesey in north Wales. It’s the longest breakwater in the UK at 1.7 miles long. On one side of the breakwater the ground is rocky so rotten bottom rigs would be useful but the other side which faces the ferry terminal is quite clear ground.







We arrived early in the morning and after a couple hours sleep we got up and set up as the tide was flooding.
I put on a 3 hook flapper baited with Rag worm and a 5oz Gripper. After a short while I was getting bites but kept missing them and the hooks were coming back stripped I thought it might be crabs the next bite was quite decent and I finally managed to hook into something that put a decent bend in my rod and I wasn’t disappointed when I finally landed it my first ever Starry Smoothhound.



After a few quick pics it was returned.



The next hour or so resulted in a few dabs and a nice sized Plaice.





Halfway into the flood it was time for a bit LRFing and it wasn’t long before we were into the mini species. First up was a few Wrasse species Goldsinny, Corkwing, and Ballen Wrasse providing us with good sport on the light rods. Using small sections of rag on the hook done the trick.







We also had some Sand Smelt, Common Blenny’s, Sea Scorpions, Tompot Blenny’s, micro Pollock and pouting. It was excellent to see my brother catching his first ever Wrasse species.

We fished until high water then decided to go get something to eat and have a drive around the island. We headed to Treaddur Bay first and had a scout about on the rocks just past the bay and seen a few people float fishing off the rocks. There is a few other popular fishing marks around the island that we didn’t get a chance to look at Ravens Point and Rhoscolyn. We had planned on stopping at a mark called Mackerel Rock on the way back to the breakwater but we couldn’t find it and I didn’t have a signal on my phone to google it.

We got back to the breakwater and fished the rest of the ebb and had fun catching Dog fish on the big rods using pulley rigs baited with mackerel. My brother had a decent bite and struck into something decent that put a good bend in his rod he managed to get it most of the way in and just as it was about in it dropped off we were gutted because we didn’t get to see what it was.



I had another shot of the LRF rod down the wall and got a few more mini’s including a nice little Rock Goby for the species hunt.



We decided to call it a night at 22:00 and started packing up ready for the four and a half hour drive home. Anglesey is an excellent place to fish and one of the good things about the breakwater is you can pretty much fish out of your car.



We lost count of the number of fish we had but totalled 14 different species that were caught mainly on Rag, Squid and Mackerel. All in all it was a very enjoyable day away with good weather and fishing. Next time we go we are planning on fishing some of the rock marks to try and target Conger, Huss and Rays. (Any info on rock marks to catch these would be welcome )

Thanks for reading.

Here's a few more scenery pics.

[toonboymc]

Great report and new species looks like a grey place to fish we have talked about a trip to wales

[Aqua-holic]

Great report and new species looks like a grey place to fish we have talked about a trip to wales

Thanks. yeah its a decent place to fish would have stayed a few days if I had the time. Well worth a trip down if your looking to rack up some species .

[Thunderpants]

Cracking report Aqua Holic it looks a fantastic place to fish for species. I think your second wrasse pic might be a Rock Cook Wrasse not a Corkwing you can just about make out the black band on the tail. A rare catch, well done mate.

[Uncle_Filthster]

Cracking report Aqua Holic it looks a fantastic place to fish for species. I think your second wrasse pic might be a Rock Cook Wrasse not a Corkwing you can just about make out the black band on the tail. A rare catch, well done mate.

I agree, looks like a rock cook rather than a cork wing, although it's a bit battered so easy to confuse. Facial markings are blue rather than turquoise, tiny mouth and it has at least 4 anal fin spines (corkys only have 3)

[Aqua-holic]

Cracking report Aqua Holic it looks a fantastic place to fish for species. I think your second wrasse pic might be a Rock Cook Wrasse not a Corkwing you can just about make out the black band on the tail. A rare catch, well done mate.

Thanks. yeah its an excelent place for species hunting I wasnt sure if it was or not glad I took a pic of it on the species card as well.

[fishingmark]

A great day's fishing there mate, well worth the trip. As the lads have said, that looks like a rock cook wrasse to me.

[Juliogeordio]

Well done Aquaholic. Cracking trip mate. 4.5hr each way is a long old trip for a days fishin so I'm glad you got some new species for the hunt!

[The seas away]

What an excellent day with a wide variety of species I'm well gel.

[g.ordon]

good report aquaholic and well done on the fish mate

[Steven1979]

I lived down Wirral, Merseyside way for 20 years before recently moving back north, the North Wales Coast and beyond is an awesome place to fish, never short of activity!
Well done. Brilliant pictures!

[lambtonworm]

Some Great pics mate,love it down there loads of species to go for,the bite and dropped bait could have been one of the monster spider crabs down there ,dont half pull the rod over then leave go close in,on the down side its not often mike gets it wrong but the wrasse is a small male Corkwing compaired to a rock cook there is little comparison.

[Aqua-holic]

Thanks lads.

Some Great pics mate,love it down there loads of species to go for,the bite and dropped bait could have been one of the monster spider crabs down there ,dont half pull the rod over then leave go close in,on the down side its not often mike gets it wrong but the wrasse is a small male Corkwing compaired to a rock cook there is little comparison.

Thanks yeah cant wait to get back down there and have another bash at some other species. on the wrasse front it would have been nice if it was a Rock Cook as I haven't had one of them before but still happy to be catching the other wrasse they are excellent fun on the lrf rod.

[L_muslibar]

My favourite region to fish in the UK, though not limited to the breakwater. We've found a couple of hidden gems down there that are absolutely fantastic marks.

In terms of your comment "rotten bottoms would be useful" with regards to the outside wall of the breakwater - I assume you didn't fish it much otherwise you'd know what I meant when I say it's nothing but pure evil - casting any rig in there is boarder line suicidal!!! Decimated my rig collection in just over 3 hours and absolutely battered me into submission - with nothing more than a couple of small poor cod and ballens to show for it!
But it throws up some nice fish to the occasional VERY lucky angler.

Well done on adding to your tally - plenty places up there to get a rock cook next time. Believe me there's no doubt when you get one - very easy to ID!