Late March kayak report

CSSC Wales qualifier - Penarth 08/05/15

Big tide and big wind! Lucky it was a sou easterly and we fished the ebb for most of the day!

No dogs for the 1st 90min for me, just spurs. 

Moved onto sandbanks for rays and managed a blonde and a small eyed. 

Not many hounds about, but did managed to bag a few conger and max out on dogs by mid afternoon. 

Managed to quality in 2nd, so its off to Poole in July. 

Mini search - Torquay

Skerries plaice 30/04/15

Llys y Fran morning

Wet morning on the fly for the 1st time in a long time!

Report - kayak - Lydstep 08/02/15

Flat calm perfect conditions, but lots of seals about. Fishing very quiet with only dabs reading the script. Gorgeous couple of hours out though!

Report - Burry Port

Last minute decision to get out in a short break in the weather. Off to BP with some frozen blacks.

Got there on LW and it was at least a dab a chuck for the hour and a half I fished.

Report - The Haven - Kayak - 24-01-15

2 hour session out of Gelliswick on the kayak, wind over tide on big springs made the trip interesting - but with teh tide due to ease doen to LW, conditions were fine to fish.

Target was thornbacks!

1st up was a tiny poor cod.....

Then the TBR's came on the feed.....biggest going approx 10lb.

Managed to vary it up with a few pouting.

Half a dozen dogs

And a single whiting.....

Once the tide eased and I turned on LW - conditions were lovely!

Nice busy 2 hour session (and the lowrance worked a treat!!)

Report - Burry Port 19/01/15

After missing a few of the trips East, I finally had a small window today to get afloat (after all it is my birthday and I have a very understanding wife (most of the time!) - what a stunning day to get out!.

 

2 options - take time to travel East to somewhere I know the codling are living, or gamble, experiment and stay local and hope for the best?!! 

 

More fishing time won so off I trotted somewhere North of the Gower armed with some frozen blacks, a couple of squid and some manky 8 year old garfish fillets from the freezer (they were for the turbot on the shambles, but hey ho!).  Tide was bit big, but I fancied experimenting and travelling out a fair way.

 

45min paddle out West (I should have left a little early for an easier trip) and soon the hook was down and I was fishing. 

 

1st half hour was slow and I was thinking of moving when I had the 1st bite, and landed a nice codling of around 2.5lb or so. 

 

 

That's when all hell broken loose on the dab front - it was difficult to keep 2 rods in the water with double and triple shots of good dabs flying over the side (mainly to frozen blacks - but squid worked too).

 

 

I even managed back to back to back triple shots on dabs, and after about 400 of the beggars I thought I'd call it a day.  Dismantled one rod and swung the kayak round to pull up the anchor, but as I was swinging round I noticed a bite on the other rod, and was soon lifting another nice codling out of the water.

 

Sat bow into the tide I thought I'd have one sneaky last drop (over the shoulder job - couldn't be arsed swinging back round) - and within a couple of minutes I was lifting a near 4lb'er over the side. Back down and another comfortable 2lb'er, and then another! Crazy 15 or 20 minutes - but I really had to go - so decided to slip the last one back as I already had a few nice ones for the table.

 

Only 1/2 decent pic that came from my new 'muvi' camera - more practise required.

 

Fair do's the tide was thumping through today (7.5m Llanelli scale).  I've fished it from boats before, but only on neaps - still plenty of fish about (and the landing back in Burry Port was also a bit hairy with some nice surf rolling in).

 

Stayed dry tho (just!!), and bagged 5 codling and around 70 - 100 dabs - strange thing was that I didn't get a single whiting?!

 

 

 

The fridge/freezer is now replenished and my species hunt is off the mark (when I get a chance to submit)!

 

 

Report - Burry Port - 18/01/15

Time to kickstart the 2015 species bash (now the cards are printed). 

Long walk for a short session - practically a dab a chuck, with a half tidy flounder thrown in for good measure. 

Riley loved it!

Report - same place, different night

Back down after a codling with some manky blacks from the freezer and they had read the script! 

Practically a fish a cast with fish up to 3.5lb+.........

As the tide eased the dabs came out to play - some big ones!

Not a bad start to 2015!

Report - 1st bash of 2015

1st outing of 2015, and a chance to test out my new rod and reel.

Managed a 3lb codling 1st cast, followed by a smaller one 2nd cast. Not a bad start for the new gear!

Plagued by dabs and whiting for the rest of the night with a fish a cast.

Even Vaughan managed one - his 1st ever shore codling!

Report - Anchorman - 30-12-14

Last trip of the year and a last minute replacement on Mark's club trip (needed a codling fix after missing the swka cod bash). 

Managed the 1st codling of the day, but it  was a slow(ish) day.  Plenty of moves, and well over 30 codling later it was lines up on 2014!

Basically only saw Cardiff in darkness!

Cracking day to finish a good fishing year. 

Report - Benjoma

Strong westerlies and lots of rain forecast, but with Penarth we managed to get afloat.  With some shelter the conditions were really comfortable, and the rain stayed away!

Vaughan was into a codling on the 1st drop - his 1st ever! Job done. I quickly followed with another 2. This basically continued all day with a few whiting and conger thrown in for variety. 

Steve J had a slow start, but finished strongly with some nice codling. 

All codling were stuffed full of hermits and sprat!

One codling came up with a lamprey attached. 

Finished the day with 8 codling up to about 3.5lb - 4 kept myself and about 35 to the boat. Not bad for a trip that could have been blown off. 

Report - Lougher flatty comp - yak

Last minute decision to fish the swka comp due to what looked like the only window in the weather for a good spell. 

Cold start and an easy paddle up to the mark. Anchored up in 8inches of water and sat back waiting for a flounder. 

It was a slow start but soon hunger got the better of the flats and i picked up my 1st flounder - a double shot of tiddlers. 

Finished the comp with 4 small flounder (returned) and 4 tidy ones for the pot. Nothing to worry the prize table though.

Happy with the results on the float rod!!! 

Report - Haven - yak

With still some worm left over, headed back to the same mark, but this time with the kayak. 

Anchored up quickly and immediately started having bites. Fish were very timid though and hard to hook. 

Finished the short 2hr session with 2 codling. Both returned. 

Plenty of tide tested the anchoring skills! 

Report - codling bash

Night session with Steve J cut short due to missus not being well. Finished the short session with lots of missed bites and 1 x codling.

With the boss better i decided to use up the rleft over bait, and spent 2hrs at the same mark. Ended up with 7 codling and with 2 released, i bagged a few for tea and the freezer. 

Picked up a at poor cod to finish off the short session.

14 codling in 3 sessions - fishings good at the moment!

Report - the Haven

Decided to try and exercise the codling demons, and made sure i had top bait! After a few unsuccessful trips East, i headed to the Haven.

Suprisingly only 4 others at the mark so set up right in the middle of them for the last of the flood. Managed 2 x 2.5lb codling in the first 2 casts, but no one else had  picked up anything except for dogs. It then went quiet and i picked up my 3rd and last fish about an hour after high. A codling just shy of 4lb. 

Crabs very active!

Report - Leah James 27/11/14

1st time on leah james and a long steam up to the english and welsh.

48 codling to the boat up to 8lb, majority approx 2lb 8oz though. Slow day for me, likely to be due to poor quality worm! 

Finished the day with whiting, conger, and codling.

Report - Yak - Aberavon

After setting my sights on a blonde at Sully, everything seemed to conspire against me....... 20 min late starting from the house (long story) heavy traffic, lack of lug in dragon baits to try for a codling on the 2nd rod, realising at dragon baits that i only had one rod in the car (not quite lrf but light!!).......you get the drift though!

Torn between my plan B (oxwich) and plan C (newton)........ Somehow (something to do with traffic) i ended up at Aberavon.

Launched in no time and through the surf was soon paddling out on a mill pond and heading towards mumbles head (i was still contemplating oxwich!! Lol).

Dropped the hook about 1/2 mile off the tip of the long arm and was soon into a fish a drop (probably a fish every 2 or 3 minutes. It was a steady stream on woofers, dogs, growlers, swansea bay spotted sharks, barkers, lesser spotted dogfish and jumbo doggies!

Removed any fish or squid scent or bait, and it soon changed - it was now a whiting a drop. At the same rate as the doggies were previously, with the odd dab and a solitary pout to vary it up a little.

Not a codling to be seen anywhere.

The highlight of my morning has to be a nice thornie (on frozen blacks) - guestimate around 8lb or so.

 

 

Doggies cme back out in force, so i made my way home. Beached safely in a few nice waves (my bad timing!) - and stayed dry.

Not plan A, B C or D, but with a flat calm sea a few fish and a day off work it was a great day out. Gutted though to have missed the guys in sully. Next time ill be more organised!