After the usual week long round of visits to XC weather I woke up to a still calm sunny day at our B&B – result! After a quick breakfast we were in the cars and on our way down to the marina at Neyland to meet Andrew Alsop for our day’s fishing. We (Trevor, Darren, Lee, Mat & I) were soon loaded up with lots of shark fishing gear, plenty of bait (fresh mackerel and brown trout from my local trout farm) and chum heading out through Milford Haven into the stunning blue water that lies offshore.
By the time we arrived out at the shark grounds the wind had picked up a bit – good news! Coupled with some big tides we were guaranteed a good long drift during the day so conditions had certainly come to us. We tackled up a variety of gear, two conventional bait rods to fish well away from the boat, two saltwater fly rods to catch sharks close to the boat and a heavy spinning outfit with a weighted trace to fish close but deep.
Fly Fishing Setup:
- Sage Salt Fly Rod – 8’6”13 weight
- Nautilus Silver King Fly Reel
- Rio Leviathan Fly Lines
- Rok Max Ocean Predator Shark Traces
It wasn’t long before Mat was in action on one of the fly rods, after a good tussle an 80lb blue was on the deck, photographed and swiftly returned. Lee was next up with another nice blue, this time on the stand up gear – Lee’s first ‘proper’ fish of any species. He played the fish like a pro, and with a bit of guidance from me this cracking first ever fish for him was on-board, photographed and launched back to swim off in the sun!
Stand Up Boat Fishing Setup
- Star Stand Up Plasma Boat Rod
- Avet EX30W Two Speed Reel
- Alutecnos Albacore One Speed Big Game Reel
- Momoi Diamond Mono Line
- Rok Max Ocean Predator Shark Traces
Trevor and Darren landed a steady stream of sharks too including a nice porbeagle for Trevor of around 60lbs to add to the final score of 19 blues. The highlight of the day was when Lee hooked-up on his first ever fly tackle caught shark, Trevor on the stand up gear and Mat on the spinning setup – all at exactly the same time! A great day’s boat fishing by any standards.
Heavy Spinning Setup
- OTI Tuna Sniper Popping Rod
- Daiwa Saltiga Dogfight Spinning Reel
- Daiwa J-Braid
- Rok Max Ocean Predator Shark Traces
Big thanks to Andrew Alsop for some top skippering – he worked tirelessly through the day to keep the sharks coming and make sure everyone had a safe and enjoyable day.
