The calm after the Storm

Heres some good news. Check out the weather for the next few days.

After that low pressure front we had and plenty of rain things are looking up..
Winds have dropped right off and no rain.
I will be taking this opportunity to be getting out fishing as much as i can in search of some bass. I will be hitting some bass only marks with either some big frozen crab baits or the good old whole squid baits.
Just like the baits below.

As always i will keep you fully involved involved in my progress.

I hope to fish Thursday, Friday and Saturday for a few hours each day.
Are you going to take advantage this break in the weather. please leave a comment below.

Best wishes
Justin (big bass hunter)

Having a change of heart.

Over the past few days i have been thinking about the year pending (2013).

2012 has been amazing and i have caught plenty more fish included smashing my personal best bass by 3 times with a 10lb 4oz monster. Also including a bass of around 7 or 8lb mark which done great things for my confidence with a rod.

Around this area the big bass fishing is quite exciting as its really the fish we are blessed with. Other fish are dogfish, small whiting and codling. The flounder fishing especially in the Conwy river can be very good. although flounder fishing doesn't really excite me... so what does???

Ive decided that every time i go fishing from now on i will only concentrate on   fishing for big bass. In winter we do not get much Cod of any size and the odd bass will still be scouring the area. This means that from now through next year also this will be my strategy. I enjoy bait fishing more than lure fishing, its just the way i am i suppose.

My strategy is to go as much as i can, when the weather looks good enough. I will be hitting the areas that big bass maybe lurking. Big baits will be used to tempt the silver armoured predators of the sea. Double/Triple crab baits, whole squid baits, big launces and small mackerel/mackerel flapper baits will be the flavour to lure in the bass.
Every minute of the fishing will have full concentration with No slacking. 

Hopefully the dedication and clear focus on concentrating on solely on double figure fish will help me achieve more than last year. It would be great to pull out some more surprises, but as always all fish will be returned.

Lets hope we can improve on this years biggest bass.

Thanks for reading..

All the bes and hopefully more to come!

Best regards Justin Roberts

Let the Northerly wind blow

As you might of guessed from previous posts i love to go against the grain. I have been waiting for a strong Northerly for quite some time.. 

This Northerly is likely to give the North shore of Llandudno a good `ass-kicking `. I hope to get out over high with some big baits, primarily aiming towards late bass or early cod.. 

I dont see why this onshore wind shouldn't produce some of the bigger tougher predatory fish.  

BUT WHAT'S YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT STRONG ONSHORE WINDS????

Please comment below

Conwy river this weekend

Sat 20th 22:00 
I had managed to gather together some fresh peelers and decided to wet a line this weekend. My mind was focussed more towards late bass and early cod.

The Mark.
The mark is well known as the signal box. Basically casting into one of the main channels that runs along from the Deganwy jetty across to the new Deganwy Quay/Marina. It is easier and just as good to fish inline with the jetty. the ground is mud and stone. I would be casting inline with the boat moraines being especially careful not to tangle around the moraine chains which are anchored on the seabed.

Tackle.  
I would using my light rod for this venue. Greys BZE 3-5oz. I would be using the Daiwa Slosh 20 loaded with 18lb mainline and a 40lb leader. In this situation i would be using a running ledger rig which would comprise of a 20lb hook length. The hook will be a size 1.

The peeler crab would be cut into half and then both half would be slid on the hook then held on by wrapping bait elastic until it was secure. Taking special care to make sure the hook is standing proud out of the bait.


The bite came thick and fast and we were greeted with the presence of some very small codling and small flounder. All of which were returned.

After around 1am it went a little quiet. I decided to up the hook size to a 2/0 and baited up a full crab and bound it on with bait elastic without cutting it in half. This was aimed to target some bigger fish like cod or bass.

fish did take the bait although they were medium sized whiting for this area.

After around 2am it was ready to go home.

Although no bigger species had shown up it was fulfilling to see so many juvenile fish feeding up in the river and it was great have a mix of different fish.


Sunday 21st 13:00

After the decent amount of species last night i was very pleased to see the river packed with so many small fish. All though i was looking for bigger things. With some crab left I decided to go up river. The pleasent amount of fish from last night suggested that the water quality was good and fresh rain water was minimal. Rain water and too much fresh water can drive the fish out of the river.

Me and Mishka started making our way up the river side at mid tide.

The Mark. 
The mark is a deeper part of the estuary. Its is mainly mud, scattered rocks and estuary weed. A cast of 50 yards at low would put me into the main channel.

Tackle
I would be using the same rod, reel and line as yesterday. I would using a running ledger 20lb 4ft hook length. I was using a 2/0 hook which would be small enough for good flounder and big enough for bass.

The scenery of the area is really beautiful i am very blessed to live 3 minutes away from such an amazing part of the world.

I baited up the crab baits cutting them in half and then also adding some legs to the hook point to make it look more realistic. check it!

Action come nearly straight away. My line went slack so ile reeled in the slack and struck hard. FISH ON.! I resulted in a decent flounder.

Action continued it resulted in 6 flounder but no bass :-(..
All in all a great day out.

This is the smallest of the bunch and also my `personal smallest flounder`. Hats off the flounder he still managed to swallow the 2/0 hook.

Me and Mishka had actually been cut off by the high tide, because the path that we walk around gets covered by the tide. The action was non-existent as the tide started to ebb. We were hungry, bored and wanting to go home we started making our way back to the Van. Unfortunately much of pathway was covered by maximum 4 foot of water.

WE JUST WENT FOR IT.

We double timed it back to the Van. I soaked my boots and pants but we kept moving....

Its great to just go for it and not care sometimes... or all the time for me..

All fish were returned in fighting condition and were never harmed.

I hope  you enjoyed the read. Please comment below, Share on your page and keep watching for the next post.

All the best Justin Roberts

Timing is everything.... but not so in the case.

1/8/12 Dusk.

All that was running through my head was river bass. The tides were up and there was still some peelers in the fridge just screeming to get used. I decided i would fish through dusk and into the night.

The mark.

Because of the the high tides i decided to get fishing on top of one of the mudflats over high water which incidentally was over dusk. When i got to mark i took a walk up and down to have a look at the ground (not yet covered by the water).
There was a big gully coming in from the right and left of the mudflat. There was also many fresh water drains running onto the mud. There was splatter spots of rock, weeds, wrecks, boys and even grass. I basically took up position which would allow to fish near the main depressions but away from any snags.

Tackling up. 

Due to the ground i decided to go with a running ledger which would be weighed down with a spark plug. On the mudflat there would be no current flow so a 5ft trace was opted for. I tied on a pair of 4/0 hooks to pennel hook a triple crab bait.

 After the water had risen to a level that would make the ground fishable i cast out the bait close to that clump of grass. which had gullies and deep holes around it. I then stood in the strike position with my fingers on the line waiting to feel for any activity. Rod tip raised slightly to allow me to give any slack if needed.

An hour passes.....

Bait change and back out it goes.


Another hour passes....

I then decided to change the hook size to the small 1/0 size with a single crab bait. I also changed the weight for a 3oz plain lead so i could cast a little further. I was hoping to pick up purhaps a flounder just to save a blank.

Another hour past...

The bait came back nearly as it went out.

I couldnt believe how un-alive the nature seemed that dusk period. usually the wildlife are active and so to the fish. It is a lesson learned if i knew the answer why they were not feeding.

Maybe it had something to do with this thing shining so brightly...


If you have any comment or advice please post.

Thanks for reading

Best wished Justin jnr Roberts

Dreams can come true.

After fishing some rocky areas around the local area and having no such luck only catching dogfish, i decided to try somewhere a little in shore and closer to the Conwy Estuary. After checking out the colour of the estuary water and realising that we had not had much rain in the last week i decided to give the estuary a go.
Bass seem to love the wide variety and high concentrate of food provided by estuaries and the good tide ride is highly in there favour.
I had a mark in mind where the current comes very close to the shore and is very easy to get to. the general ground is a mix of mud, sand, rock and weed.

Day1

I set my bass rod up with a running ledger rig. This comprised of a 4ft 20 pound hook length. I then used 1 peeler crab which was cut nearly in half and then bound onto some Tronixpro 2/0 hooks pennel rigged (2 hooks in tandem). The reason i was using 2/0 sized hooks was because i wouldnt of minded hooking a good flounder (fishing had been slow) if there was not any bass about. I was mainly fishing the start of the flood so a simple spark plug would be used to hold the rig on the bottom.

few hours past....
Without a bite and the bait had hardly moved due to hardly any tide run.

As the tide picked up some i then baited fresh peeler crab and used a 4oz ball lead to hold bottom. the rig was now settled in a gully down tide. but by now holding my light bass rod was starting to take it course. I held out and felt like the wildlife was starting to come alive. all of a sudden i heard a great splash way downtide. I had a chuckle and thought sea trout upto there usual trick. i heard the splash 4 times in all but it then dawned on my that the spalshing fish was nearly over my bait?
I then gripped my rod and my line with my fingers even firmer. the concentration intensified and i become quite on edge. Before i had time to wipe my sweaty palms the line went totally slack. I remembered from watching the Henry Gilbey dvd to take it gently on not to strike.I reeled in the slack gently the line suddenly tightened heavily and my intinct was to strike which is just what i did. FISH ON? it took a few turns of the reel to realise that i had a fish wooh. I few more turns and i realised it was something of size, i did not panic i kept my cool and gently played the fish. as it got closer to the shore it was thumbing on the rod tip. i lifted the rod and walked backward up the beach. I could not believe my eyes. it was a bass and by far my best one. the fish must of weighed around 7-9lb mark.

He was a feisty one and he needed a minute to calm down. I patched up the crab bait and set it back out into the tide. I let the bait settle in the good tide run and placed the rod in the rod rest. A quick picture of this beauty and then i sent the bass off its way. There were no more bites after that and i went home with a smile on my face.

After arriving back home and not being able to sleep i had time to reflect on the nights fishing. I was a little disappointed with myself for not making the most of the time with the bigger than average predator. I was also disappointed that i didn't know the weight of such a great fish. The speculation was that it was between 6-10 pounds. Also the picture of the fish was pretty poor with the fish being covered in mud was a bit of a bummer.

Day 2

After hearing some of the comments made on the picture of the bass it concluded to me that i should take the following steps.

• Went to the tackle shop and invested in some scales and some bits of tackle including some bigger hooks.

• Decided i would go back and fish the same place tonight hoping of the chance i might see that extraordinary fish again.

• I would take a spare towel to clean sticky mud off the fish.

• i would fish only for bass tonight, using a bigger crab bait, 2-3 crabs and 4/0 pennel hooks.

I made my way down to the same mark this time it was around 3 hours later to the previous day. When i got to the mark it was dark and the tide had just started to flood ~ perfect. 

I then placed 2 crab baits onto the bottom hook of the pennel rig. I applied bait elastic to the 2 crabs to secure them firmly to the hook. the top hook was then twisted around the line 4 time and put through the top of the bait. 

Using the same rig as the day before even using 20 pound hook length, i casted out the spark plug weighted double crab bait into the channel. Tonight seemed a little bit more quiet and the tides were smaller so the tide flow of the water was less. Half an hour later the bait was now sitting nicely in the tide still held down by the humble spark plug.  

I was holding my rod as i always do when the rod tip just buckled over. I leant back but didnt strike. The bait had been taken no questions asked and the fish had hooked itself. FISH-ON. I palyed the fish the same, being very gentle and cautious not to cause any harm to the fish or loose any tackle.

The fish was weighed and sneaked above 10pounds approx 10lb 4oz.

I could believe it. I got the fish back the waters edge where i gave him a dunk and then cleaned him off. I then snapped off the picture and placed him back in the water. he then made his way back into the dark water flipping over the shallows pieces of land. 

Looking back at the 2 picture im not sure weather it was the same fish. I would probably say that it was not the same fish. I think day 2 was a little bigger than Day 1 and i very much doubt that a fish could gain that weight in one day. after catching that bass i headed home with a big smile on my face.

what a brilliant 2 nights it had been. slept about 6 hours in 2 days but who cares, when there was monster bass roaming around the river, i wouldnt want to be anywhere else :-) 

Please leave a comment on how you found my first blog. All feedback is greately appreciated..

Thanks for reading


Best wishes
Justin jnr Roberts