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Blue Friday! A Day Shark Fishing in the Celtic Sea

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.

Rok Max Customers Darren and Trevor

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:

Mat with an 80lb blue shark on the fly tackle

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

Lee with his first ever Shark

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.

Blue Friday Shark Fishing Montage

Heavy Spinning Setup

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.

Allan Shephard
I've spent a big chunk of my life either fishing, talking about fishing, teaching fishing or working in the tackle trade. My hunger for ever more extreme and challenging fishing adventures continues to grow and can only be satisfied by a regular angling fix! I hold AAPGAI advanced instruction qualifications in single & double-handed fly-casting and have had articles published by some of the biggest UK fishing magazine titles. I consider myself very much an all-round angler. I have fished in over 20 countries worldwide for a variety of species in both fresh and saltwater. Advising people how to kit themselves out with tackle and clothing for their next fishing adventure is always a pleasure – please take advantage of my experience and knowledge.

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