Strait & Narrow
Some 16 miles long and only 400 metres wide at its southern entrance, this famous waterway offers a huge variety of angling
The Menai Strait has long been popular with shore anglers, small -boat owners, and local charter skippers, not only for the consistency of its fishing but also for the shelter it offers in all but the very worst of conditions. I’ve fished here from shore and boat for more than 30 years but, being honest, not that frequently over the past two decades, purely due to a full annual fishing diary. In some ways I’d lost touch with it.
Friend and local charter skipper Gethyn Owen, normally based in Holyhead, Anglesey – which is very exposed to the weather – decided to move for the main winter months to a new mooring at Port Dinorwic Marina. This offered a perfect opportunity to book a couple of trips to sample the boat sport in this unique venue.
Some 16 miles long and only 400 metres wide at its southern entrance, the Menai Strait separates Anglesey from the mainland of North Wales. Its name is loosely derived from the welsh words “main-aw” or “main-wy” meaning narrow water.
Its main channel is about 50 feet at its deepest, though at low water it shallows to just a few feet between the two famous bridges – the Menai Suspension Bridge, built by Thomas Telford, and Britannia Bridge, constructed by Robert Stephenson.
The area between the bridges is known as The Swellies. Being such a narrow waterway, the tidal flow is squeezed and therefore quickly reaches speeds in excess of 10 knots (around 12mph) during bigger tides.
NUMEROUS MARKS
The Strait offers varied ground features, including sandbanks, mixed ground of sand and rock, and heavy rough with kelp weed. In parts you’ll also find mud. That tells you that you’ll be fishing a variety of marks within the day, with a high chance of bagging plenty of species.
The tides govern where and when you fish. Gethyn gets the maximum from the day by fishing several marks, each at their peak times. He’ll move regularly according to the changing flow and strength of the tide.
There are numerous marks of a mixed nature east of the marina as far as the bridges, where the bottom gets rough and will keep you busy, but to the west, past Caernarfon Castle, there is cleaner ground that produces a host of alternative species.
Some of you will remember the prolific numbers of cod this area used to produce. The numbers of codling are still there, but these are generally small fish, but there are still some nice fish to 3lb, with the exception being an occasional four or five-pounder.
However, just a few hundred yards from the entrance to the marina you’ll be hitting good numbers of whiting along with fat dabs. Whiting go in cycles size-wise; one week producing smaller fish to under 1lb, then, as the tides start to build, the bigger fish of, say, 1lb 8oz appear among the smaller ones, making for some steady fishing. These close-to marks are the ones you’ll fish when the tide is running at its strongest.
BRITANNIA BRIDGE
As the tide eases, you’ll be heading east towards Britannia Bridge. Here a top tactic is to drift through the gaps between the bridge supports in the main channels.
A good edge is to use smallish, bright tinsel feathers, and you’ll target pollack up to 3lb, coalfish and winter herring if you keep the weight just bouncing on the bottom.
Feel for the rock ledges that drop away on the Swellies side of the channel and the bulk of the fish will be sat behind these, sheltering from the tide. Alternatively, don’t rule out the chance of a big bass even in the winter, when a whole small coalfish or herring deadbait fished just up off the bottom might just get you that big bonus.
Towards slack water and the early run, a move to mixed rough or mostly rough ground is on the cards on the south side of the bridge. If you’re going to get the better codling this will be the place when fishing black or blow lug baits. Combining the two is the best option by tipping the blacks with a couple of juicy blow lug.
A frozen or, if you’re lucky enough to have some, a fresh crab bait can be a real edge, along with mussels, for the cod. Smaller baits, including squid and mackerel strips, pick up pouting, poor cod, whiting, sea scorpions and the occasional strap conger eel.
This same ground is also good for a wide range of mini species including black and rock gobies, corkwing and goldsinny wrasse and, if you’re really lucky, tadpole fish.
King rag is the best all-round bait for a wide range of species. Smaller baits, including ragworms, are best fished with a series of luminous green beads. Due to the fast-flowing tide, the Strait always carries some sediment that inhibits water clarity, so the luminous glow near the bait can be a bonus.
Gethyn has his favourite conger marks, but tends to fish these when a collective group specifically want to target the eels. These spots tend to be in the deeper, rougher ground holes, with plenty of straps up to 10lb, but with 20lb-plus fish possible.
When the small-boat clubs used to fish here most weekends a fair few competitions were won with big congers or cod from these deeper holes. If you’re fishing for congers, use a whole squid or mackerel fillet, or combine the two. I
also like a big Bluey bait due to its excess oil, and it takes any crabs a bit longer to whittle it down, giving congers the time to find it.
GOING SOUTH
In this era of changing weather patterns and fish habitation, huss are now a predictable target, especially on the ground to the south of the marina in the vicinity of Caernarfon Castle. The banks hold a lot of whiting and dabs, and the huss seem to come in here to capitalise on this untapped food supply.
Gethyn’s boat, My Way, has seen huss well into double figures, but when I was aboard we had them to about 5lb, albeit in consistent numbers. The huss take squid and mackerel baits, though I’d choose a fresh small whiting with the flanks well slashed with a knife to let the blood and juices flow.
When fishing for the huss, don’t necessarily go for a lighter lead weight, and trot the bait away with the tide. Often a huss, or several huss, tend to come straight into the strongest source of the smell. Keeping your bait in with the others tight behind the stern in this situation can see more fish caught overall, but do experiment.
This ground can also see some of the biggest dragonets I’ve witnessed, some being a deep almost luminous blue. You’ll get these when targeting whiting and dabs. The latter can also be uncommonly large early in the year when their numbers peak, with fish of 1lb or so quite possible here.
All the above marks are fishable throughout most weather patterns due to the sheltered nature of the Strait. Given calmer seas and steady high pressure, you could go west through the southern entrance to the Strait to target rays and huss off the west coast of Anglesey or down the towards Nefyn. Double-figure thornbacks and huss are highly likely, along with large numbers of whiting, dabs, pollack, coalfish and a few codling on the rougher ground.
The Strait offers a host of consistent opportunities for varied species throughout the winter through to the end of March, but with the bonus of allowing Gethyn to access the open sea when the winter weather is kinder, boosting the choice and potential.