I decided to grab a few hours of easy fishing at Hobb’s point. This popular fishing mark, near Pembroke Dock, was the embarkation point of a car ferry to cross the River Cleddau in the days before the Cleddau road bridge was built.
This venue is very accessible – you can almost fish from your car – and attracts a large number of anglers. The sheer number of man hours fished here is probably the reason for such unexpected catches such as a sturgeon. I arrived mid-afternoon. A few fishermen were already trying their luck at various points around the ramp. A chilly wind blew up as I descended to fish the pontoon, which is fixed alongside the wall in the better weather months.
I had decided to target smaller species (rather than risk wasting my limited time waiting for a bass, ray or conger which may not arrive). This type of fishing would suit my tiny travel rod – a six-piece bought from eBay for about £11. With no section thicker than a pencil, it would be fine for small fish, and I teamed this with a Daiwa Sweepfire 4000E reel. I had bought this rod and reel to use as my travel-kit, as it would comfortably fit into any case on foreign trips, but was as yet untried.
Wary of this venue’s reputation as a tackle graveyard, I simply dropped the rigs a yard out in front of the pontoon. There was enough flow in the last hours of the ebb tide to require a 2oz weigh to hold bottom. Bites came immediately to my small pieces of ragworm. Even with small size 4 hooks, I couldn’t hook into anything, so I snipped these off, then tied on size 6 mustad hooks.
A steady stream of mini-fish then took the bait, yet the hook-up rate still wasn’t great. In all, I captured three species which I’ve not had before:
The majority were rock gobies. They have a distinctive cream, yellow or orange stripe on top of their dorsal fin.
A couple of black Gobies – a very similar species to the rock goby, they can be distinguished by its elongated dorsal fin.
And a solitary poor cod – similar to a pouting, but lacking the vertical stripes and has a different fin alignment.
The fishing was the same for the two hours I spent there. Now and then, I’d have to work around a visiting yacht or family of swans. A fisherman casting from the top level of the point would occasionally send out a huge cast out over our heads – maybe 100 yards – out into the main channel. I saw just one dogfish taken by him, although I expect he’d have more luck after dark.
This bite-rate dropped off a little on slack water, and with the light fading at 6:30 pm, we packed up. As we left some other anglers arrived and set up for a club competition. Hobb’s Point is a fun venue for a few hours, which I will return to for easy fishing if time is short. It would be interesting to witness how it fishes after dark. Next time, I’ll throw out an additional big bait for a conger or bass.
Total Catch:
- 6 Rock Goby
- 2 Black Goby
- 1 Poor Cod
A Fishing Diary 