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...

First fishing trip on the Adventure Island

It’s been a while since I rigged the Adventure Island for fishing. Well to be honest it’s not quite finished, which is why I’ve not posted a rigging article on it yet. Almost there!

I’ve a 10 day road coming up later this month and I really want to take as much frozen mackerel as possible with me. The freezer is currently empty so I had only mackerel in mind when I launched at the weekend. Obviously the AI isn’t as convenient as the Outback when it comes to launching, plus I would be taking the trailer, hence planning requires a little extra consideration!.

I decided to launch into the mouth of Langstone Harbour from the Hayling Island side after a little advice from my friend Jamie. Parking was easy enough early in the morning, though it’d clearly be a real pain later in the day on these summer days. Launching towards high water could be achieved by dragging the AI over a bit of a hump and straight down to the water, though the wet sand was softer than I'd have liked!

Another consideration with the AI is of course wind. The forecast was for very light winds of 4-6mph, though this would potentially push me along at pedalling speed. That said, experience has shown that the wind in the Solent is often stronger than predicated.

I deployed the trampolines as I wanted to see how effective they’d be to fish from, otherwise it was my standard fishing setup, combo fish finder was fitted, with almost everything else contained within my dry box. I also planned to do a little trolling so I fitted a pair of Scotty rod holders on extenders ahead of me.

There wasn’t enough wind to sail to begin with so I pedalled out of the Harbour on the ebbing tide and out into the open sea. I trolled as I went, though there was no activity to report.

I’d arranged to meet up with Jamie and after a brief radio call I headed off to his general location a mile offshore. He was with a couple of other kayak anglers and they’d managed to bag a few mackerel, though not the hoards that I'd hoped for. I decided to head off to the Solent forts, into deeper water where I hope there’d be a few shoals moving about.

The Solent Forts were built as part of the British sea defences designed to protect the port of Portsmouth against seaborne attack. They are popular marks for mackerel as well as attracting bass. The plan was to circumnavigate the three forts, Spitbank, No Man’s Land and Horse Sand.

Fortunately the breeze picked up very early on, and despite being light I was pushing out directly towards Horse Sand fort at around 5.5mph, quite respectable considering the conditions!.

It was too fast for trolling, though I could have furled the sail to sloe things down. Instead I just chilled out whilst tweaking the rudder to maintain a steady course. Despite being 2.5 miles away I was there in 30 minutes, it certainly beats pedalling or paddling!

I circled Horse Sand fort a couple of times though I was unable to locate any definite shoals of mackerel, despite having sailed over a couple of small shoals on the way out. After 20 minutes of feathering I was getting a little frustrated so I decided to move further out to No Mans Land. I could see that there were a couple of boats already fishing the fort close in, so I was hopeful that there were mackerel in the vicinity.

It was only a mile or so to the next fort and the breeze had freshened a little more, so I was making over 6mph, not bad for such calm conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I eventually found the odd mackerel here and there. No shoals on the finder to speak of, just feathering in likely areas with the odd fish to show for it. It became clear all too quickly that I was unlikely to be catching the numbers that I’d hoped for.

Despite the lack of mackerel around No Mans Land Fort, the presence of two or three boats attracted more like flies. Within 15 minutes there were about a dozen boats drifting around in close proximity!. I saw one mackerel caught during this time, it was time to move on.

I headed in the direct of Spitbank Fort and as I passed over the far side of the main channel, the drop off was holding a few fish. The feathers went down and I was soon into a multitude of small mackerel. Big enough for bait, so they were kept for the freezer.

Spitbank Fort was equally as fishless as the others so I headed back towards Hayling Island after a short time. I managed a somewhat disappointing 21 mackerel for the session, I’d been wanting 50+. I’ve since heard that they were there in numbers a couple of days later, typical.

That said it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip on the water. It’s the first time that I’ve seen all three forts close up, the weather was good and I had a small bag of fish to show for my efforts. I hope to repeat the trip this weekend in the hope of completing the re-stock of the freezer.

The trampolines are a great addition to the AI, though as much as they happily support my 92kg weight, I didn’t find them ideal to fish from, I want a hard platform to sit out from the cockpit. I’ve always planned to build a set of bench seats (Hakas) for the kids to sit on as well as other plans that I have. That project is now top of my list as I can really picture myself sitting on and fishing from them. Watch this space.

Cornwall – First trip out

I used to live in Cornwall, though it’s well over ten years since I moved to Hampshire. I’ve only  enjoyed a couple of days kayak fishing in the area a few years ago, so when the opportunity arose to spend several days kayak fishing in Cornwall I took it.

I packed the car full of camping gear and enough tackle to cover just about any type of saltwater angling. The original plan had been to camp my way around the county, however, the campsites are charging what I consider to be ludicrous prices. One person and a small two man tent was attracting prices of between £18-23 per night!. That’s not far off ‘bed and breakfast’ prices, some roadside hotels offer similar deals. So I provide the tent, the bed and probably have to pay for the shower… I just don’t see how they justify those prices. Rant over.

Anyway, I decided to grab some free accommodation at the local Naval Air Station at Helston (perks of the job) which put me in easy location of both the north and south coasts.

If I wanted to bait fish I’d either have to catch it, buy  it or dig it. Though to be honest I was more interested in lure fishing. I’d made a load of jig heads, packed plenty of soft baits as well as a box of smaller lures for casting or trolling. Species wise I was aiming for Pollack, Bass and Wrasse with the chance of all sorts of other species making a show.

After a somewhat lazy weekend I travelled down early on the Monday morning, the journey being around 240 miles was expected to take a good four hours or more. Once on scene I organised my accommodation before making the most of the day and getting afloat!. I chose to launch at Porthoustock as it was familiar ground and should produce a few fish to get me off the mark.

I planned to drift over the Manacles in the hope of hooking up with my target species, however, once out of the bay the conditions weren’t quite ideal. Sure, it looks quite idyllic in the above photograph, though the small bay was well sheltered from the wind and once further out the water was choppy with an accompanying stiff breeze.

I’m not one to put off easily so I stuck with the plan and drifted, fishing a jig head fitted with a decent sized shad soft lure close to the bottom. To say that the depth varies considerably in this area is quite the understatement!. The sea floor comprises of many steep pinnacles which can rise from 20-30m to the surface in the blink of an eye. There are many mounts just below the surface so a close eye is required to watch for disturbed water, highlighting potential underwater hazards. Even with a GPS and underwater charts, you still need to keep a close eye on your surroundings at this venue. In the photo below I’m drifting quarter of a mile offshore in about 17m of water, however, rocks are breaking the water ahead of the kayak.

I experienced a few plucks and hits to my lures, though I was having no luck achieving a hard hook up. I swapped the lures a few times with no real success. I was drifting faster than I’d have liked, often reaching 2mph. Despite using fine 30lb PE braid line with a 4oz jig head I wasn’t achieving the feel I would have liked.

I noticed a fishing trawler heading in my direction when he was a mile or more away. I was drifting, yet he always seemed to be on a direct course for me. When he was within a hundred yards or so I peddled a little to push away from him, yet he kept on coming. Needless to say I wasn’t too impressed at this point and decided to wait until the last few moments to push away hard if required. As it happened he did steer clear of me, by all of about 3-4 yards at most!. He wasn’t hanging about and his bow wave lifted me up as he came alongside and I rode quite heavily over his wake. I mean seriously, what is wrong with people??. Apparently it’s a problem with the local fisherman who consider the area theirs and don’t appreciate other folk on the water. I wish I’d taken photographs and reported the idiot.

I wasn’t having any real luck fishing jig heads so I switched over to a bit of trolling. I’d rigged the Outback to permit the fitment of up to two Scotty rod holders mounted onto vertical extenders. These are fitted to a length of YakAttack’s GearTrac using a Gearhead adapter. This permits me to have the rod(s) ahead of me whilst still being able to operate the Mirage Drive.

I tried several hard lures with only one small bass to show for my efforts. Just for the sake of catching a few fish I rigged up a string of feathers with a 3oz butterfly jig for weight. I moved inshore out of the weather and made a few drifts across a small bay. I was almost immediately into fish, not sizeable, but it felt good. There was string after string of small Pollack, all around a 1lb in weight. Though with 3-4 on at time, it was providing quite some entertainment on my light tackle.

After picking up a multitude of Pollack, half a dozen school bass and a handful of mackerel I decided to call it a day despite having only being afloat for under three hours. It’d been an early start to the day, a fairly long drive followed up with a bit of fishing. I really fancied a couple of cold drinks, a shower and a comfy bed!.

I hugged the coastline on the way back and nosed around a few of the coves. It really is a picturesque spot and it was very pleasurable just doing a little sight seeing.

So the first session of the trip was over and I’d not blanked, bonus!. For my next session I’d made arrangements to meet two local kayak anglers (Sam & Ian) in order to show me how to find and tackle the big Pollack, I can’t wait!

Oxwich Bay – Gower Peninsula

I’ve just returned from fishing a competition in Wales, Oxwich Bay on the Gower Peninsula to be exact. This event was organised and run by South Wales Kayak Anglers and as much as this was the fourth time that this event has been held, it was the first time that I’d attended. Why hadn’t I fished the event before?, it was really down to it being a species competition, where size is unimportant and it’s purely about the amount of species bagged. I guess I prefer to target larger fish, though I decided that this year I’d give it a go.

Ideally I’d have travelled up on Friday morning and fished Friday afternoon in preparation for the competition on Saturday. However, things are rarely ideal!, hence I ended up leaving home at around 7pm with a 200 mile journey ahead of me. On the plus side, the roads were fairly quiet (plus I didn’t hang about!) and I arrived at the campsite three hours later. I decided against taking a tent, I knew I’d be getting up by 7am so the plan had always been to sleep in the car. I can lie flat in the back with the seats laid flat, a 3/4 length self-inflating mattress and a light summer sleeping bag made it quite comfortable.

A couple of ciders just before I got to bed resulted in a good nights sleep. Fifteen minutes after waking up I was driving down to the launch/registration area with my Hobie Team mates eagerly anticipating a day on the water. Registration was straightforward, I was issued with a token that was to be visible in all photographs, the competition being catch and release.

I’d never fished the Northern side of the Bristol Channel before, what’s more the area featured clear water, not the usual muddy waters that I tend to associate with the Channel.  I’d decided to fish one rod with a three hook paternoster rig (size 3 hooks) and the other with a running leger with a 6/0 hook. Ok, I fully appreciate that the larger single hook rig would limit my chance of racking up some species, however, I wanted the chance of catch a decent ray, hound or perhaps a tope.

Once checked in we were given a safety brief and launched on completion. There was a light onshore breeze, temperatures pushing 30 Celsius. Factor 50 sun cream was plastered onto all exposed areas and I was ready to go!. Below are the Hobie kayaks belonging to the UK Team, consisting of a Revolution 13, and Outback and a Revolution 11 (left to right).

Competitors weren’t permitted to launch with hooks attached for safety reasons, probably more of a concern when we were due to return later in the day onto a beach packed with holidaymakers.

I peddled out alongside David Morris. He noted how much the nose of the Outback digs into a chop whereas the Revolution tended to ride over them. This is no doubt down to the different hull shape. I did tend to put out quite a side splash when I crested over the larger swells and when I saw a good sized one heading in my direction I came straight alongside David. Yup, I sent a wonderfully large side splash straight over him… it seems that the Revolution 13 can be a rather wet ride at times!

I was soon anchored up and clipped my traces onto the mainline. The three hook rig was baited with squid and ragworm, the single hook ledger with a strip of mackerel/sandeel cocktail.

The first thirty minutes was rather quiet, with only one bite being registered. I eventually started to hook into a few bites and before long there was a steady stream of fish coming to the kayak.

First up was a small Dab, it actually did quite well to swallow the size 3 hook. There were clearly many Dabs in the area as one after the other was caught. The top two hooks were on short 6” snoods tied to equally short twisted metal booms. The lower trace was set rather longer at around 12” and close to the weight to get the bait on the seabed. It was this lower hook,baited with ragworm, that was accounting for the Dabs. They were all small fish averaging about 20cm in length.

After about half a dozen Dabs I hooked into something that felt distinctly different, it seemed that I was finally going to catch another species!. A Gurnard appeared next to the kayak and once aboard the blue-tinged pectoral fins identified it as a Tub Gurnard. These are a rather odd looking fish and are noted for croaking like a frog when out of the water, though this one remained rather quiet.

The Gurnards continued to appear, though he remainder were all small Grey Gurnards. These Gurnards are a rather spikey in places and require a little care when handling them.

There was a few quiet moments, time to enjoy the glorious scenery around the bay. Despite the Bay being located on the Bristol Channel, it’s sheltered from the tidal flow and only light weights are required to hold bottom. Venturing out of the bay around the headlands will expose the kayak angler to tidal rips and is best avoided.

I picked up a couple of mackerel on the squid strips, that was another species off the list and a useful supply of fresh bait. This was readily accepted by a Dogfish a few minutes later.

I hooked into something small, yet very feisty, a Bream perhaps?. The unmistakable shape of a small flatfish appeared, surely not another Dab!. However, its red spots quickly identified it as a Plaice, another species for the day.

I found myself running a little short on bait, the ragworms had been proving a hit and were all but finished. I’d bought along a packet of sandeels and decided to use sections of fillet on my small hook rig. It’s a little fiddly to fillet effectively, though it proved to be a top bait!

By around 2pm I was catching the same species, nothing new was making an appearance. I’d bagged a dozen dab/plaice, several dogfish, a handful of gurnard and a couple of mackerel. I decided to pull anchor and anchor close to the reef in the hope of some new species. I dropped down a fresh mackerel bait, wishing for a conger eel, as well as the three hook rig in the hope of some pouting and bream.

I didn’t have to wait too long before there were some very aggressive rattles on the three hook rig. I was soon hooked into what could only be a bream. These fish are cracking fighters and I was wishing that I’d been using a light spinning rod!. There was clearly a shoal in the area with fresh baits being hit within seconds of reaching the bottom. Most fish were around the one pound mark, though I did manage a much better fish which I chose to keep for the table.

I weighed it once home, eight hours later, and it was a shade over two pounds, quite respectable!. I could have quite happily sat there all day catching Black Bream, though I moved away in the hope of catching another species. As it turned out, the bream was the last new species that I was to catch that day, bring my total species to the day to seven.

The winner of the competition had captured an impressive eleven species and took home a new Shakespeare kayak. I’m at the top of the last column (V8 is an old forum username of mine)

On completion of the prize giving I was straight back on the road heading home. The first hour was slow going, driving through the built up areas, though once back on the motorway it was a fast drive back home.

It’d been an enjoyable day afloat, a new venue with lots of small species. The turnout had been excellent with literally dozens of kayak fishermen making the journey. Given the choice I’d always fish a ‘biggest fish’ competition over a ‘species competition, however, it was a good experience for sure!. Many thanks to South Wales Kayak Anglers for organising such a good event. I slept like a baby last night. Seven hours driving and 6 hours fishing in a day takes it out of you!

A few mackerel at last!

It was a last minute decision to hit the water this evening. I’d been afloat earlier in the week and noticed quite a few shoals of what was likely to be mackerel in the Solent. Despite having the rod in the car that day, I’d decided not to take it with me… typical!

After a mad rush I must have launched around 1945 into a fresh SE wind. There was a light chop on the water as I headed to a mark that I hope would produce some fish. In the rush to leave home I’d failed to pick up my fish finder, so I was hunting for the mackerel blind.

After about thirty minutes I finally found a few fish. The going was slow but steady and within an hour I’d bagged about twenty fish.

The Mirage Drive was proving useful at keeping my in the location I wanted, a little intermittent light peddling was all that was needed, despite the flooding tide.

As the sun set the fishing died off completely. I tried a few different spots, though there was nothing. It wasn’t a huge catch, though it put some much needed bait in the freezer. I’ll try and get out a couple of times a week over the next month, purely in the pursuit of bait. I ideally need about 80-100 mackerel in the freezer to see me through the winter months.

I decided to keep a couple for the table and the rest were individually wrapped in cling film and frozen. It’s a tad laborious, though keeping them as single fish really does help me to manage my bait stock well. The wrapping keeps them incredibly juicy and fresh, far better than the blast frozen alternative from the tackle shops.