In the certain knowledge that you will all be devoting this long weekend to considering how to vote in next week's election I offer links to the manifestos of the four major parties here:
Conservative
Labour
Liberal Democrat
Plaid Cymru
And for completeness on the Alternative Vote referendum...
Yes to AV
No to AV
And read Mental Health Wales' "Election Special" to get the mental health angle.
Good luck with all that. Personally I have done the studying already and voted by postal ballot. There is therefore a choice of staying in to watch the Royal Wedding or setting out on my first fishing expedition of the year.
The angling blogs indicate that mackerel were getting caught in numbers from West Wales marks last weekend but that will be the very hot weather. My main target will be pollack and perhaps wrasse. I have been taking advice in the bait shop in Neath where the consensus is to float off the rocks with the hook hanging deep below so the pollack can swim up to it (they swim around near the bottom looking upwards for prey).
But my old angling book suggests getting the hook down there two feet above a weight on the sea-bed (i.e. just high enough to stop crabs nibbling the bait). I like the sound of this as it gets the bait exactly where you want it, but it has the disadvantage of making it likely that you lose tackle in the weed, necessitating use of the amusingly-named "rotten bottom" rig - a flimsy line and worthless weight which can break off leaving your hook and line intact above. Old spark plugs make good throwaway weights but are frowned upon now for mysterious environmental reasons. Pebbles with a loop of ribbon super-glued on might work - I'll report back.
