Road Trip - Wales & Cornwall (Part 1)

Last year's big road trip had been hugely successful and I'd planned a similar trip for this summer. This year I was to show Ronald Traas( aka 'The Dutchie') some of my favourite marks and to hopefully land some big fish onto our kayaks.

Sadly this year wasn't to be a repeat of last year. I do have huge reservations about booking such fishing expeditions so far in advance, as whether you like it or not, you're at the mercy of the weather. As a saltwater kayak fisherman I'm all to aware just how much a trip can be dependent upon the weather, something that's often far less of a concern to the majority of freshwater kayak fisherman.

In the week running up to the trip it wasn't looking too hopeful, but we all know how unpredictable the weather can be and that forecasts are changeable at best!. Sadly this wasn't to be the case and the wind to cause havoc with the planned fishing. Virtually all of my chosen marks were made unfishable, or quite unpleasant for the whole trip. We found ourselves having to fish marks that I had little or no experience on, something that also affects one's confidence when fishing.

We traveled to Cornwall first, purely as no other of my chosen locations were fishable at that time. With the wind averaging 20mph or more the first fishing trip saw us head up into the tidal waterways in the hunt of Gilthead Bream. During my previous trip I'd been warned that the numbers had declined sharply due to commercial netting, though I still caught several fish. What did concern me though was the effect that the stiff westerly wind could have on the fishing.

Fishing was my usual setup for Giltheads, a light running ledger, 1oz with a 3' 20lb flurocarbon trace. The hook is all important here, with a strong sharp hook being a must with the 1-1/0 Sakuma Chinu being a favourite of mine. What there are at this venue is plenty of 'school bass' and as much as they're fun they get to a fresh bait intended for something else all too quickly!

I lost count of how many of these fish were caught and returned, but they weren't the target fish and the Giltheads had yet to make a show. I knew from previous experience that I'd enjoyed my best sessions from the mid-flood tide and that time had yet to arrive.

There's rarely mistaking a Gilthead Bream bite and when my rod tip pulled over hard and line was being ripped from the reel I was in no doubt as to what I'd hooked in to!. It was actually the best run I'd had off any Bream to date and it gave a great account of itself. The surprise was when it came to the net, it was considerably smaller than I'd expected. There's no doubt about it, they fight exceptionally well. Not the PB Gilthead Bream that it initially felt like!

Though I can hardly complain, many people fish long and hard in the hope of catching a Gilthead, so I consider every one that comes aboard a special fish. Disappointingly it was to be the only fish to be caught, Whether that was down to netting, the weather or just bad luck on that particular day, who knows.

The weather continued to be against us and the chosen Pollack grounds were unfishable, I'd also wanted to fish Sennen Cove, but again the weather made that venue impossible. I decided to launch from Porthoustock in the hope of finding some mixed species. Again the fishing proved very tough with only a few small Pollack and Wrasse being caught.

The next day saw us launch from around the corner at Porthallow. The venue looked promising but again it was proving to be difficult. I resorted to drifting with baited feathers, allowing the wind to push me across the bay. After a couple of quiet drifts I found a few mixed species. Nothing exciting, though a pretty Ballan Wrasse was worthy of a photo.

As much as it was enjoyable, it was also terribly frustrating. Yes we were fishing, but not where I wanted to fish, not on grounds where I really knew exactly where and how to fish. But it was a case of fish where the weather permitted, or don't fish at all.

We left Cornwall and heading towards Pembroke, driving past marks around Lynmouth and Watchet that I'd really wanted to fish, again, the weather was wreaking havoc with the plans. I've fished off Southwest Wales before for Tope and enjoyed some great success and I was truly hoping that this trip would produce the goods once again. The weather wasn't ideal with a stiff offshore wind being present for the majority of our time there.

The first day was really tough with me only having a run from one fish which I failed to hook into. The next day was somewhat better, for me at least, with three Tope being caught with another three being lost. Ronald was sadly not so fortunate.

They were all smaller males, but good fun nevertheless on light tackle. I take two rods with me for Tope, though I only fish with one at a time. Fishing for Tope with two rods is asking for a disaster, whether it be a nightmare tangle or a double hookup, neither bodes well.

I use a lighter 6-8lb Shimano Beastmaster with an ABU 6500 when fishing with weights up to 5oz. If the tides dictate the use of a heavier weight I switch over to my 10-15lb Shimano Beastmaster with a Shimano Charter 1000LD. The rig is a simple running ledger, with the trace being 4' long, made up of 3' of 80lb monofilament with around a foot of 80lb wire with an 8/0 bronze hook crimped to the end.

Note the bag lying in the water night to the kayak. It's a military laundry bag that's actually perfect for keeping mackerel and other bait fresh in whilst fish, alive for several hours at time in fact. It does produce quite a big of drag at times, something to be mindful of when anchoring in a strong tide. It could well be enough to cause you to pull/drag anchor. Though it's useful for this type of fishing.

Yes I caught fish, but it was hard work. As mentioned I also lost fish so it had been a great improvement over the previous day. Below is a Mackerel bait that had been dropped by a Tope, note the teeth marks, there's no mistaking what had been holding the bait!

To be continued in Part 2...

Dutch Trip - you can't book the weather!

I'd been looking forward to this fishing trip to the Netherlands for some time. Though like any trip booked in advance you're always at the mercy of the weather. I've been bitten once or twice before and poor weather unfortunately featured rather heavily during the few days I was abroad. When a kayak fisherman talks about poor weather, it's almost guaranteed that they're referring to excessive wind. Cold, rain, snow and heat doesn't bother me at all, but fishing in strong winds removes the enjoyment factor for me. After all, we fish for the enjoyment right?

The target species for the week were the usual predators, Pike, Zander and Perch with a potential later in the week for some Trout fishing.

The first day was reasonable weather wise and I covered a large area on the drift, spinning as I went. Casting from deeper to shallow water, covering as much ground as possible before repositioning and repeating the action. It felt as though it was going to be a slow day, though I hooked into a fish quite early on which is always provides a good boost to morale. It was an exceptionally light bite that resulted into me hooking into a Zander. It was an average size, though it provided a very pleasing start to the day.

Was did prove most frustrating early on was finding that the internal battery on my HDS7 had discharged causing all my custom settings to be lost. I only had myself to blame, I'd not fished for way too long. That said, it's highlighted a good point that these modern units that permit such huge customisation do require operating ever month or two to ensure that the internal battery remains charged. Failing to do so will require the user to spend quite some time getting their unit back to their preferred settings, lesson learned!

Despite the promising start, that turned out to be my only confirmed hookup for the day, though I missed a couple of hits during the session.

That evening saw the weather deteriorate considerably to a point that I didn't really fancy fishing. To fish in highly exposed waters in a steady 20mph+ wind, gusting to 35mph really doesn't excite me. Regardless of the fact that I'd driven several hours to fish this area in the Netherlands, there are days that are best spent relaxing, enjoying a beer and watching the world go by. The next couple of days were in my mind 'pub days'. Fortunately the family were only an hour away so I enjoyed some quality time with them whilst awaiting the bad weather to blow over.

The next trip was to fish a Perch venue, an early start saw me fishing before 0630. The water clarity was very good, with the bottom being easily visible over two metres. Though that does perhaps make fishing rather more difficult. The beauty of these trips is that many of these venues are new to me. I get as much pleasure out of enjoying the surroundings and wildlife as I do fishing. It's just a very pleasant experience.

I didn't have to wait long before my lure was hit hard in shallow water by an angry Perch. They're fun on light gear and I tend to lose more Perch than any other species, so it's always pleasing to watch them slip into the net!.

It was a nice sized fish, somewhere in the mid-40 centimetre range. It had engulfed the lure!. It was quickly unhooked and photographed before swimming away strongly. There's something about these striped fish that always makes me smile.

Despite a few rattles, the remainder of the morning was quite quiet. I lost what I guess was a nice sized Pike whilst trolling, losing it just a few seconds after hooking up. Such is fishing.

At times I just like to place the rods to one side and just drift, taking in my surroundings. There were many species of geese migrating, divers working the water with many noisy Coots scooting around in the margins. I occasionally see a flock of geese passing overhead in the UK in their classic 'V' formation, though at times you can witness a couple of dozen of these formations flying back to back and side to side, passing over these extensive areas of wetland. That's one beauty of the kayak, taking you to these place and permitting you views that most people will never get to witness.

I'm slowly upgrading my tackle this year and it began with the purchase of a pair of Shimano Symetre 2500 fixed spool reels. They're a mid-range reel and I secured a decent price by purchasing from France (http://www.pecheur.com). I cant justify spending crazy money on tackle, especially when freshwater isn't really my forte and I only freshwater fish a few times a year. That said it's a very well made reel, extremely smooth with superb line lay. I've currently go both loaded with 30lb Whiplash braid, though I'll going to re-spool one with 20lb as it'll be better suited for casting lighter lures.

I managed to hook into a small pike towards the end of the session. He may have been small, though he had no problem whatsover in taking the Rapala Deeptail Dancer lure that was running in about 4m of water. I didn't manage to hook into any of the larger Pike that the Netherlands is well known for, but still, it was another fish and that's never a bad thing.

The last day of fishing proved to be the best day. The venue was a small lake stocked with both Rainbow and Brown trout. It had apparently previously been saltwater, though had long ago been closed off, with the water was somewhat brackish. This threw up a surprise as the day progressed.

I trolled my way around this lake, roughly following the drop offs that were somewhat wild and erratic in their pattern. I don't mind trolling for an hour or so, though it can get rather boring rather quickly for me. Despite that, it did produce several fish for me, the first being a nice Brown trout taken on a crankbait running at around four feet.

One thing I do enjoy about trout is that they can get rather lively and provide some great sport. Half an hour later I found myself hooked up once again. Well at first I thought that I was perhaps catching the bottom, though a quick glance at the HDS7 showed that I was well clear with no weed in the water. But no, it was definitely a fish, though it appeared to be swimming along with the kayak?. The biggest surprise was when it came to the surface... a Flounder!. During it's saltwater days, this water held Flounder and some Herring and the Flounder had adapted easily to the change in salinity when the water was closed off to the sea. Apparently there are also still some Herring in the lake.

I took three Flounder in very quick succession, two being to a double hookup!. If I passed over the correct ground, shallow, flat, patchy weed, it was almost guaranteed that the Flounder would have a go at the lure. They were all caught on the same small crankbait lure as the Trout.

Despite the good fishing there's always the opportunity to enjoy the surroundings. The sun was up, the wind was light, it was warm!. I also found a shallow sheltered area where I tied off to a small buoy and just snoozed for 30 minutes, perfect!. Hey, I'm on holiday!

The Trout continued to come, and despite a couple of misses I caught another two Browns. I also caught a beautifully coloured Rainbow Trout that gave a great account of itself, getting airborne at times. I missed the opportunity to photograph it on my lap as it decided to depart the kayak a few seconds earlier than planned!

I managed one last Flounder before I'd decided to call it a day.

After about 7 hours I'd had enough for the day, I'd managed to catch eight fish in total. None were monsters, but it was a really enjoyable session. It was my last fishing day of the trip and it was a good note to finish on.

This weekend sees me travel to a small lake at the Cotswold Water Park. This will probably be my last freshwater trip for 2-3 months as I really must concentrate of clocking up some serious hours on the salty stuff. My boy is really keen to fish with me this year so I expect that the Adventure Island will see a lot of use. I'm going to have to make a pair (or at least one) Haka. These are a wooden bench type of seat that permits a person to sit outboard of the main kayak hull on the AI. I'll post some pictures on here once I've knocked them together.

2015 Fishing road Trip (Part 4)

Having departed the Bristol Channel the next trip saw us go in the hunt of Pollack off the Southern Cornish coast. I've fished this venue before and I was confident that it'd produce a good few fish for us. The launch at Cadgwith is straightforward enough over the heavy shingle beach, though recovery is somewhat more arduous!.

I love this area, once you push out from the launch the scenery is simply stunning. You see  kayaks just paddling around enjoying the views and I certainly can't blame them. However, we were here to fish and large Pollack were the prime target. We started off trolling as we headed westwards.

I was using a deep diver running 8-10 metres deep.  I had a hit quite early on and managed an average sized pollack which was a good start.

The wind direction wasn't ideal and it steadily increased preventing us from getting to the marks that I'd wanted to fish. We preservered, though the fishing was tough to say the least. We took a few more small fish, though the larger fish were highly elusive.

Having spoken to a local chap sometime later it transpired that the Pollack fishing was unseasonably late and wasn't expected to pick up for some time. Despite our best efforts we didn't fare too well, perhaps a little spoilt by our earlier successes?.

We called an end to the session early and drank more beer whilst planning another session at Sennen Cove. A group of kayak anglers had arranged to meet up the following day so we decided to join them. Sennen Cove is a popular surfing venue, one drive around the car park at midday will confirm this!. There was plenty of surf, though one side of the bay was sufficiently sheltered to launch. There's a harbour off to the left which is protected by a wall, a very sheltered launch spot, something that we'd be most grateful of at the end of the day.

Getting fresh bait is always a bit of a headache when visiting Cornwall. Local tackle shops are very limited with the only fresh bait being farmed worm with the chance of live sandeel when in season. Though the latter is never a cheap option. We were very short of bait (none!) so if we wanted any, we'd be catching it!

We headed out towards the centre of the bay and began feathering with some hokkais. I eventually found some shoals hard on the bottom, though they weren't the mackerel that I'd expected. They were instead Sandeel and they were coming up 3-4 at a time. I kept these in a rear tankwell were the regular sloshing of saltwater kept then alive without a problem. The Lowrance HDS 7 came in really handy whilst chasing the bait. Being able to utilise the structure scan to look left and right was most helpful in keeping me on the bait. There were also mackerel to be had and within 30 minutes we had plenty of fresh bait for the day.

I initially chose to anchor close to a drop off, though the tide was far stronger than I'd expected!. After carefully retrieving my anchor I moved 20 metres shore-side and the difference was amazing. Just a few metres took me out of the severe current . With a section of mackerel fillet down for bait I was soon into my first fish of the day, a Bullhuss.

I caught a couple more larger Bullhuss, though I failed to take photos as I was more into just enjoying the fishing. I'd planned to take some video during the week, though it never happened. It's nice to do, though at times it detracts from the fishing experience.

Daniel was having much better success spinning with Fiish Minnows and was catching some nice sized Pollack.

This caused me to change tactics and I started to fish with live sandeel, slowly fished on the drop and retrieve. Gosh, to say that it's an exciting way to fish is an understatement!. Most of the time my bait was hit halfway down on the drop, the bait being literally smashed with me having to hang onto the rod rather tightly!!!. I caught several nice Pollack to about 8lb using this method. I think that if I was to fish here again I'd take my livewell and fill it with Sandeel and spend the day targeting Pollack and Bass.

Below is the first fish I took to live Sandeel, not a monster but what fun!

I eventually fancied a change from Pollack fishing so I headed out towards towards two charter boats located further out into the bay and dropped anchor onto a clean sandy bottom. I was hoping for some Blonde and Spotted Rays so I baited up with some fresh mackerel on one rod and sandeel  on the other and the waiting game began.

The wait turned out to be quite short, a few nods of the rod tip and I felt the unmistakable weight of a ray hanging in the current, but what species??. A Blonde Ray broke the surface, another species for the trip!

This was the first of several, just one after the other, I certainly wasn't complaining. I then had a bite that was a little different and it certainly felt different once hooked up!. Something new?

Indeed it was, another new species to the kayak... a Turbot. A small specimen, but it was great to catch all the same.

Despite the ever building swell we continued to fish and catch throughout the day. Here's Daniel hooked up into a ray.

We eventually pulled anchor and headed over toward a reef that was looking a little intimidating due to the large swells that were rolling across it. We fished quite close in, picking up a few Pollack, though the swell continued to build. At the height of the tide the swell was large and it had started to detract from the fishing. There was clearly a lot of big surf hitting the whole of the beach... remember that small harbour to the side of the bay?. That's where we chose to recover to!

This bought our 10 day road trip to an end. We fished for 7 days, drove over 1200 miles and caught 23 species of fish totaling well over 750lb. It's definitely one of my most successful road trips and I have to thank Daniel van der Post for his excellent company. There were firsts for both of us and some great memories and plenty of empty beer bottles.

The 2016 road trip is already in the planning stages and it's likely that it will see myself and Daniel travel to Ireland, a completely new experience!

2015 Fishing Road Trip (Part 3)

We departed from Watchet and headed Southwest, driving through Devon before finally arriving in Conrnwall. The target species was Gilthead Bream. These can be extremely difficult to locate and are a dream species for many UK anglers. I was very fortunate to have been given some great direction on a previous Cornish visit and the plan was to fish the same area.

The area is the tidal river system and the Bream swim in with the tide. Previous experience has shown it can be quiet until the fish arrive, followed by a relatively brief spell of activity before quiet returns once again. It's allegedly possible to follow the fish upstream, though my success at doing this has been rather patchy!.

However, if the Giltheads aren't about there's plenty of small Bass and Red Mullet to keep a kayak angler amused. Bait was ragworm  rigged onto a running ledger made up with a 2oz drilled bullet lead with a 3-4’ 20lb fluorocarbon trace. The hook was a size 1/0 Sakuma 450 Chinu. Myself and Daniel anchored up in a couple of metres of water and waited.

As it happened we didn't have to wait too long. My first fish was a decent size at 3-4lb and gave me a real scrap on the light tackle. These fish are tremendous fun!

Daniel was not far behind me and landed himself a nice sized fish as well.

The images have been edited slightly as not to disclose the location. After chatting to the tackle shop owner in Falmouth is became apparent that netting is becoming a major problem. Giltheads are currently not protected in UK waters and are being caught as a 'by-catch' by netters who are allegedly targeting Mullet. It's very disappointing to hear this as these fish are not only great sport, they only frequent a handful of areas around the Southwest.

 Despite the potential reduction in fish population we caught more Giltheads. The action was steady.

When the Giltheads weren't taking the bait there were plenty of small Bass and Red Mullet that were more than happy to oblige. I don't recall having caught Red Mullet before, a first for me?.

I've heard of Giltheads that have neared 10lb in weight coming out from this venue. We weren't finding fish of that caliber, though what we were catching was quite respectable. I'm not so sure the Daniel believed just how difficult these fish are to locate and catch as he caught yet another good sized fish!

We actually ran out of bait at one stage so I pedaled back to the launch and drove back to the tackle shop to buy more ragworm, before driving back to the launch and pedaling back to the mark!. That wasted over an hour. The bait was expensive and quite poor quality to be honest, Farmed bait, 'bitty' and small. Still, sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

We only fished for a few hours and bagged 6-7 Giltheads between us plus a multitude of Red Mullet and Bass. Plenty of fish, but most importantly I managed to get Daniel hooked up into the elusive Gilthead Bream. Having ticked yet another box it was decided to change venue and target another species for the next session.

2015 Fishing Road Trip (Part 2)

Following on from Part 1, we left Pembrokeshire and headed down to the southern side of the Bristol Channel. I’d chosen to fish off Watchet, a place where I’ve enjoyed some fantastic autumn and winter fishing. Though this was summer, the water was warm so I was a little unsure as to how it would fish. 

It’s a pleasant location to fish, with an easy launch/recovery that’s only really hampered by a Northerly wind. The water is muddy, you’d have to travel several miles West to find clear water.

Expected species were Thornback Ray and Conger Eel, with a chance of a Smoothound. Baits were mackerel and squid fished on a simple running ledger rig. The tides were quite small so leads in the 4-8oz range would be adequate. I took Daniel further offshore into about 16m of water, to an area that has produced some superb fish for me in the past. Though as mentioned, this was summer fishing, so the big Cod and Conger eels weren’t going to be there. 

Despite the pleasant start to the day, the weather soon deteriorated and a sharp chop quickly developed across the sea. Though there were fish to be caught. We both caught several Thornback Ray and Conger Eel, though there were small fish compared to what I know can come out of this venue. That said, we were catching fish!

We were fishing two rods which saw one fish after another coming to the kayaks. It was busy fishing, never a dull moment!

Some fish were smaller than others!!. Below is a small Spotted Ray, not a particularly common species in the muddier waters of the Bristol Channel.

The weather had improved though a darkening horizon didn’t bode well, sadly I was proved correct a short time later.

We moved inshore out of the weather, though the decision was made that we’d enjoyed the best of the fishing and with the wind continuing to freshen, we decided to call it a day.

We’d stayed on the campsite on the top of the hill, just a mile or so west of Watchet. I’d certainly recommend it, hot showers and a great view, what more do you need?

The remainder of the day was spent drinking beer and planning the fishing for the next location, which was to be Cornwall. Target species were Gilthead Bream and Pollack, hopefully a few more would also be caught.