It’s been a little while since my last catch report on the Tronixpro website, so I figured why not do a catchup of what I’ve been up to throughout 2024. I’ll be focusing on the summer as that is where most of my fishing was done.
As a lot of you may have seen, I’ve been posting regular on my YouTube Channel, so with that and a busy day-to-day life, the summer absolutely flew by. So not having crazy amounts of time to do much travelling, I had an enjoyable summer spending time fishing my local South Wales marks.
The bulk of my local fishing is between Lavernock Point and Ogmore. Smoothhound were the most prolific species for me throughout last summer. I had some great sport, targeting the hounds over rough ground. Some of the most successful marks were East and West Aberthaw, St Donates, Marcross and The Rock Fall, this sits to the right of Somehouse Point. All these marks are rough ground and produce some excellent fishing.
My preferred set up is simple, a three-foot pulley rig made with 70lb Tronixpro Xenon Leader for both the body and the snood. When I’m fishing over clean ground, I drop the snood down to 60lb. I like to use as few and as smaller components I can get away with on my rigs, I like things to be neat. For the hook, I fished with the Tronixpro Circle Hooks in 5/0 for most hound fishing. If the fish are smaller, I’ll drop to a size 3/0. My hound fishing is done with a braided dongle on the hook, this is 2 inches typically and is used to attach my bait of choice, which is typically crab or prawn.
Blonde ray were another fish that has been growing in abundance over the past few years. I had some very productive sessions on the blondes throughout the summer. Also, I enjoyed good sport with small eyed, spotted and thornback rays.
Over the season, the blonde ray fishing has seen smaller fish than usual, with the average fish in the 8 to 10lb bracket, with some bigger fish into the mid-teens. The fishing for me has been best on the White and Green light in Barry, with good mixed bags that included spotted ray, thornback and conger into low doubles, too.
Another good mark that I love to fish is the Knapp, which is one of the easiest marks to fish with a short walk from the car park and comfortable fishing off pebbles. On this mark, you’re casting onto sand, which makes life even easier!
During the spring, I had some great sessions on the Knapp, producing plenty of blonde, spotted and thornback rays, this included a thornback of 10lb 8oz and an 11lber too, a new PB for me.
One fish I would have liked to have spent more time targeting was a bass. Although I had a few sessions with the best fish going 6lbs, it would have been nice to have had more sessions. On the odd trip I did get out for them, I kept things basic with a rig made from a Three-Way Swivel, a weak link to one section to a plain 5oz lead. A three to four foot snood made up of 45lb Xenon Leader down to a 5/0 Tronixpro Circle Hook. Baits were either a whole joey mackerel, whole squid or crab. There isn’t any need to be clipping up or doing anything overly complicated with bass fishing. Distance isn’t needed, with most fish under your feet at ten to twenty yards. I believe this is why they are not caught as often as they should be, many anglers are overcasting when targeting rays and hounds, bypassing the bass that are patrolling closer in.
I did head down to Barry Dock a few times searching for bass, though, fishing mainly with lures such as the HTO Pathfinder and the AXIA Mighty Minnow. The 28g Pearl White Mighty Minnow was the one that worked the best, picking up fish to 7lbs.
Another successful method when fishing in a dock is to float fish ragworm for bass as well as mussel. You’ll be surprised at how many mullet you’ll catch when fishing with mussel too, I caught my new PB mullet this year on mussel when bass fishing, it weighed a monstrous 7lbs 3oz.
I found the time to head to west Wales to target pollack and wrasse from rock marks around St Davids Head. The marks in this area have great fishing, they are deep and have plenty of tide run, jigs come into their own in these conditions. I had plenty of successful jig fishing sessions, they really do come into their own and are highly effective when fished correctly.
My favourite jig is the HTO Yo Yo in the 38g weight. It has a small body that doesn’t catch the tide as much. When fishing with lighter braids, you can get away with fishing into a strong tide and hug the bottom, where you’ll find pollack and wrasse tend to be. I’ve had fish on most colours, these fish will be selective on the colours they will hit depending on what they are feeding on, by switching colours when bites are slow, you’ll win over a few fish.
Away from Wales, the summer doesn’t feel complete unless I get a few sessions on Chesil. I had a few productive trips with good hauls of bream, triggerfish, plaice, bass, squid and some nice gurnard.
All my Chesil fishing is done with a basic three hook clip down rig. Some rigs have pop-ups and others don’t. The rig is constructed from 80lb Xenon Leader for the rig body and three 16 inch snoods made from Tronixpro Fluorocarbon Soft in either 0.30 or 0.35mm. I tend to fish with the Tronixpro T78 Kairyo Han micro barbed hook in size 2.
I always find ragworm, blow lug, mackerel, crab, and squid successful baits on Chesil, and it pays to take a good mixture as I’ve found the fish will change what they’re feeding on throughout the day.
My most recent trip I managed to catch a few squid, I know they’re not a big deal for locals, but for someone who doesn’t catch them on their local marks, they’re awesome to fish for. Just watch out for the squirting ink!
So that was my summer! I didn’t get out as much as I usually do, but I still managed to get in a fair few sessions in and around a busy work schedule.
Many of my sessions I document on my YouTube Channel, I also post about how I use my favourite Tronixpro products and how they’re incorporated into my fishing life. You can view my channel by clicking here.
Tight lines and good fishing.
Mario
