Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all our friends.

Thank you for making 2009 yet another enjoyable year afloat.

Only last month I was praising weather, for the last couple years June has been a windy and wet affair but this year warm settled seas have seen us sail regular with high hopes for the following months.

In typical fashion, good old British Summertime kicked in during July, just as the kids break form school and many anglers look forward to the summer days afloat. Wet, windy and to quote from a radio station I was listening to recently - typical April weather'.

As May drew to a close our attentions turned to the influx of quality sized smoothhounds on offer.

For what we lack in numbers aboard My Way (a normal day averaging 15) they certainly make up in size, with the catches to date averaging the 12lb mark, with the best fish landed topping the scales at 19lb. that said, 2 definite 20lb+ smoothies were dropped on the surface – too light hook lengths or simply me too slow with the net.

I argue the first case!

The smoothie fishing however has slowed down the last week with the change in the weather. Hopefully the NE east blow we are currently experiencing will help bring them back on the feed, that said, armed with hundreds of quality welsh fresh peeler, a smoothie assault is on the cards fairly soon.

Fishing has continued to be brisk, with additional to the smoothies, ballans plus plenty of cuckoo wrasse, huss, dabs, whiting, pollack etc and the wonderful north Wales Tiger Shark, aka the dogfish all in abundance to add to a trip.

Ray numbers are on the up however seeing boxes being landed at the marina yesterday may soon put paid to that, some people have no shame; never the less we’ll strive to put our guys on to the fish.

As the season progresses the fishing is continuing to hot up nicely.

Pollack are still being caught on the inshore rock marks; with an average stamp of 3lb, we’ve had a few coalies thrown in but mainly on the small side. Mackerel are now inshore in relatively good numbers, which is in all honesty early for us. We usually see a good run of the mackerel appearing around the end of this month.
Another early starter is the number of tope around, not in the great numbers or sizes as is witnessed later on in the year, but averaging 25lb and up to half a dozen in a few hrs fishing has been a pleasant surprise to some of our fishing trips.

Smoothies and rays are showing slowly as the month continues, Mike Green from Hindley Hare and Hound SAC struck gold with an excellent Thornback ray of 16lb 2oz to take his clubs pool money on a recent trip.

With the winds settling down for the Easter break it was with nervous anticipation that I planned the fishing trips for the coming week or so.

Since returning My Way to the water after her winter maintenance period, the fishing could only be best described as slow. Even the old faithful dogfish, the one fish that could help turn a slow day into an entertaining ‘how many dogs have you had?’ adventure appeared to have left for warmer climates. Catches were unbelievably slow with just a few dogs, whiting and dabs to mention. If we were lucky a bull huss would come to the party.

During the first few weeks of April we tend to see the fish starting to move inshore. This can range from more dogs, bigger huss and also some pollack and coalies. I’m glad to say that this year has followed the trend and that the catches are now on the increase with signs of summer in the wrasse caught over recent days -  cuckoos, corkwings and ballans.

Offshore the fishing has been a little hit and miss, we now turn our attentions to big spurdog and eels on the wrecks, however as I write this the numbers are remaining a little elusive.

This time of year we usually get a good influx of sizeable pollack , nothing of back breaking size, but drifting in 25 to 50 foot of water, pollack to 6lb and averaging 2 to 3lb give a great account for themselves on light tackle. They've been feeding well over the last 2 weeks, with plenty coming to the boat with the odd double hook up on standard paternoster rigs. The bigger fish falling to those prepared to work baits or jellies on flying collar rigs.

There you go for a first report of the year.

Hopefully the fishing will continue to improve throughout 2009.

Never the less, we have found some excellent and varied fishing through the year, with full catch galleries to remember those days.

Thank you for your support through 2008. I would like to wish you all a prosperous start to the New Year, and look forward to seeing you aboard My Way soon.

Prices unchanged

Diesel prices still remain higher than at the start of 2008, in addition to this we naturally have to plan ahead for increases to our general running costs, such as marina fees and general maintenance. However, as we all know, diesel prices on both filling station forecourts and to us at the marine yards have reduced. Taking our £15 increase last July and the current price of fuel into account, our prices leading into 2009 will remain unchanged.

Availability

Moving on to 2009, bookings are coming in at a steady rate for a range of different fishing adventures. From wrasse and pollack on the drift, to our beloved smoothies and tope at anchor and all in addition to our friendly matches and general species hunts. Weekends are now very thin on the ground with only the odd day left. Interested? Our availability can be found here.

Thought for the year ahead

I have a quiet chuckle to myself sometimes when you read various articles, adverts or websites that claim to be the ‘advanced this’, ‘advanced that’, ‘fast this’, ‘best at that’. The facts normally speak for themselves.

At £280 for 8hrs, My Way is still one of the most competitively priced charter boats in North Wales. In addition to the fishing we  offer, tea, coffee, cold drinks, hot snacks, quality uptide and downtide rods and reels as part of the booking. Thus helping make your day not only about the fishing, but the experience, a great day out!

An unrivalled pedigree in angling knowledge on species, rigs and baits is what the GO Angling team can bring to your fishing day; with full catch galleries for all to see, exclusive articles on many different fish, rigs and a variety of baits, the proof & information is available for us all to benefit from.

So here's looking forward to a fish filled year ahead. Oh and by the way, we also have some really poor days, but that’s fishing, so please don’t believe all my own hype.

Best Wishes for 2009

Gethyn