Llanrhystud April 17th 2011

After a long winter break from fishing, and a slow shore session for turbot in February, I finally managed to get out in the kayak last weekend off Aberaeron. Tried the usual spots but only managed 10 or so blank saving coalies.

This weekend was superb weather again so it was off to Llanrhystud to try a few more spots:

Second paddle of the year and I remembered the camera this time!

Launched from Llanrhystud beach in hope of some late turbot after putting a radio call into the coastguard.








Paddled out a bit and put down a mackeral baited shrimp rig in very shallow water - nothing doing so paddled a bit further out and towards one of my bass marks - still nothing on the shrimp rig trailing behind or close in with my favourite artificial eel. Still it was a nice afternoon for a paddle so I carried on with the last of the ebb tide.










I headed back up to the launch point and then further out on the first bit of the flood tide - the fish seemed to have woken up at last and as soon as I started on my lunch the ratched screamed and this double trouble came up:






They wrecked my baited shrimp rig so I replaced it with a one down two up beaded rig and sat back for some more dogfish sport on light tackle. Then this little ugly guy came up:












Finshed off with another few dogfish close in and enjoyed the sun going down before paddling back in and checking in with the coastguard again on the vhf.








So, two outings so far this year and two blank free sessions. Roll on the bass and mackeral and tope season:-)

At last the wind had dropped on bank holiday Monday and after squaring off some garden jobs we loaded Marks new P13 and my P13 onto the car and met up with Mike in Aberaeron at Tuesday lunchtme.

The water was well flat and the sun shining ;D We launched off the beach and headed out to one of the usual marks




The plan was to plug and spin for bass on the way out, and then tie up with baited shrimp rigs to try for the bream if no bass showed up. Nothing to show for the surface plugging or bottom spinning, so we opted to tie up and put some mackeral baited shrimps down. After half an hour of nothing we went further out and tied up at a new mark - bites for the offset and Mike was soon pulling in the odd mackeral off the bottom as well as a plague of dogfish!







I managed a small pollack, and then more dogfish than I could shake a stick at ::)



Whilst Mike continued bringing in the mackeral and yet more dogs







I then had a characteristic set of bites and my rod did a dance for my first mackeral of the day; followed, much to my delight by a different sort of bite and the only black bream of the day (and first of the year for me) came up and into the supper box ;D I lost a couple more mackeral in between regular sandpaper rats.

I had a pot down on the bottom with mackeral in it to put a scent trail out for the bream, and to try for some live prawns or something bigger with claws, and had a bit of a shock when I brought it up feeling very heavy and discovered a decent size bull huss sat inside it, along with a frightened looking wrasse! As my better half likes huss, it was kept fresh for despatching later to make huss goujons :P

Mark got off the mark with his first dogfish off his new P13




and then had Mike and I in hysterics when he pulled up his first ever bull huss, and wasnt sure how to handle it :o





A scarred hand later and it was released to grow bigger ;D




It went quiet then so we went for another hour or so of drifting for the bass - one jumped clean vertically out of the water in front of me at one point but we didnt hook up with any despite trying bottom and surface lures.

We headed in after nearly 8 hours of fishing in the sun, tired but happy bunnies.




An enjoyable session, and nice to see some eating fish coming in.








Spend an hour after getting home, reading the relevant bit in the River Cottage fish book, and following the instructions on how to gut and skin the huss (not as hard as I thought it was going to be with the help of some large pliers) before removing the central spine and getting it ready to make goujons for the following days tea - a new one for the kids, but it seemed to go down well 8-)

After a couple of days back at work, it would have been rude not to have taken advantage of the still weather, so Mark and I got out again at 6pm on Thursday and spent a couple of hours plugging/spinning and bottom fishing for the bass/bream/mackeral but we both blanked - still enjoyable session though in the sunshine, fishing into dusk.

Heres hoping that this month brings more settled weather and less wind, and the bass onto the surface for some bigger sport ;)

Still not much to report!

A planned kayak fishing trip out on Saturday was spoiled by 10 to 12 mph winds, but I took a work colleague out to Llanrhystud beach later on in the day to give him a go in the Prowler 13 kayak whilst I put the new Malibu 2 tandem kayak through its paces in the surf and chop. We played around in the surf and did a few self and assisted rescues practices over a few hours before dragging the kayaks back up the shingle.

The next day was a lot calmer and we joined Stewart out on a local bass mark - hopes were high when we arrived at the launch as a phone call to Stewart, who was already out on the water since 0830am, confirmed he had had a couple of bass, a bream, a wrasse, a codling and a pollack by then! We paddled out to the mark and put some lures down on the bottom, drifting on the still ebbing tideover some rough ground. After the flood tide started up we hit some small pollack and Stewart eventually had another small bass. It continued fairly quiet throughout the rest of the afternoon, with another bass for Stewart and a pollack for me, followed by a couple of dogfish when I tried with baited shrimp rig for the bream. Mark picked up three solitary mackeral towards the end of the day to avoid a blank too. We were out for around 6 hours, and the sea was a lot calmer than the day before. Not much to show for the 6 hours but a good workout on the arms with all the paddling!

Not much to report

The weather, plus a few weeks lay off after a minor op, hasnt helped my activity levels this summer. Managed to get out on the P13 and our new Malibu 2 tandem for a family and friends beach bbq north of Aberystwyth weekend before last. A lonely mackeral, a gurnard, small pollack and the inevitable dogfish was the result after a couple of hours close in on some bass marks - the bream didnt show either so the bbq was mostly meat!Taking most of this week off work and the wind is predictably breezy! By 4pm last night, and following a phone call from another local who was just finishing work, I put the P13 on the car and met up with Nifty near Aberaeron. No surf but quite choppy, and the paddle out to usual bass marks was tiring against wind and a 5.5m flood tide. We bobbed around for a couple of hours, Nifty at anchor and me racing accross the mark on the big flood tide, trying a variety of bottom and suface lures. As the wind started picking up to 10mph around 7pm I paddled in (well flew in actually with wind and tide behind me!) followed by Nifty. A double blank but nice to get out again for a paddle, and the surf wasnt too big - I managed a nice fast plough up into the shingle, wheras Nifty got flooded by a second big wave from behind when he hit the shore Weather is looking better for Saturday, and with bass to 4.5lb coming in last weekend, hopes are set high for this coming weekend when the bass might come off the bottom in the lighter tides.

Another slow day in west Wales

Having booked four days off work this week it was welcome news to see the high pressure building, but not so welcome was the wind. Tuesday looked like one of the better days with 8mph rising to 10mph later in the day.
Arranged to meet up with Mike from Aber but the strong sunshine had me out of bed at 6.30am and sorting out the ducks and hens before heading over to the coast for an 8am early start on the water. Surf was low and everything looked good for another bash at the bass, pollack and mackeral. Loaded up two older spinning rods, an old spinning reel and a new baitrunner reel loaded with some 20lb braid. A new xrap lure one one rod and a large slug go sandeel on a 5/0 hook on the other, and I was off to the first mark after checking in on the vhf with Milford coastguard.



There was a bit of chop about on the first mark but nothing to worry about. Tried the sandeel lure and then the new sub surface lure for around an hour and a half with no success on the last of the flood.
I paddled back in to the launch point to look for Mike and to take a loo break. The water flattened out a lot so I relaunched and tried the same mark again, fishing the sandeel just above the bottom for pollack whilst plugging with the other rod. Freelined the sandeel imitator on the baitrunner reel and then changed over to a small weighted trace to get it back near the bottom.
Mike appeared around 1030 so I paddled in for a chat and then we both paddled out to a second mark on the very last of the flood tide. There was a fair bit of chop on the waves by now with an increasing breeze so we headed north of the mark and then started a long drift back on the ebb, using sandeels and plugs.
















Over the second mark I at last had a follow on a surface lure and then had two light hits over the same rough ground. Unfortunately no hook up on either hit and I took some shore rest to sort out a wind knot on the braid. Paddled back out to rejoin Mike in increasing choppy conditions and tried some more spinning and plugging at various distances from the shore. Nothing doing, so we paddled back down on the ebb and in to shore. No sign of mackeral close in, and the cloudy water and bright sunshine meant the bass didnt want to play either. Surprised that neither of us had a pollack, as in recent weeks it has been hard to get through the small pollack to the bass.


http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h225/moniar/?action=view&current=IMGP1563.mp4

We both managed to get back in without any surf trouble, so it turned out to be a fishless day but it was at least nice to be out for a paddle for most of it.

Slow day in west Wales 5th June 2010

Met up with Nifty at a local beach with a plan to take advantage of the decent weather and head further out.
After getting through the small surf





We trolled some feathers for some live joey mackeral on the way out to a potential tope mark some mile or so offshore. Unfortunately the mackeral had other ideas and Nifty was having more success on the species front - first a pouting, then a codling, then a launce! The fishfinder was going mad but the next fish up for Nifty was a herring! Finally a lone large mackeral was brought up and Nifty went on the drift with some live bait on the main rod. I unfortunately was still blanking, despite having two rods out with shrimp rigs and black shrimps on.

Nifty had a few takes on the live bait, but there was still no mackeral about, so we headed back inshore for a bit of spinning for the bass. I carried on trolling feathers on the way back in and finally managed to get off the mark with a medium size mackeral, which went into the footwell as potential bream bait.

We set up for spinning - Nifty with some bottom fishing lures whilst I tried a variety of surface and sub surface lures. There were sea trout jumping all around us but other than an odd pollack for Nifty it was pretty quiet. We moved around a bit and drifted over a mark which then produced a take and a follow for me on a J9 rapalla and the first bass of the day for Nifty:







the bass was returned to grow bigger, and we carried on for another hour or so drifting on the flood.
We then paddled accross to another mark after a short shore rest for me. We drifted over this second mark a few times before Nifty was rewarded with a pollack and then his second bass of the day. I managed to scrape a small pollack myself for another 2010 species, which went back after a photo.






We carried on spinning for a few more hours but it went very quiet at high water slack water, and at 5.30pm we headed back in to the beach.
A slow day, and the lack of mackeral scuppered our plans to dirft offshore all day for the tope, but still some fish were caught to avoid a blanking session.

Aberaeron Blues 20th May 2010

The light wind and good forecast meant it would have been rude not to have taken a day off on Thursday, after a ten day lay off due to a sore back (cricket is dangerous!).
Loaded up the P13 at 945 and headed west to Aberaeron with my favourite plugging rod and reel plus a bag full of plugs and feathers to try for some mackies and early bass.
Launched off Aberaeron beach onto a flat sea and hugged the shoreline towards the first mark as the mist was quite close in. Put a call into Milford coastguard to advise them of my paddle plan as paddling solo.



I paddled around for a couple of miles trying out different marks but not a sign of any mackeral or bass. Stopped off at a beach for a bite to eat and then tried a few more marks.








I headed north and tried a few more marks with feathers and a toby plus my favourite original jointed thunderstick lure (you can already feel a tragedy coming on here I know!)
Nothing doing around the river mouths and only saw one fish jumping the whole afternoon. I pushed out a bit further into deeper water looking for the early mackeral but nothing found, so I paddled back to Aberaeron beach with the help of the ebbing tide, having done around 8 miles in total - which is where is started going horribly wrong!

Having fished and paddled all day on a flat sea, suddenly some large and regular rollers had appeared from nowhere (still no swell at all) and were hitting the deep hole just before steep part of the pebble beach.
I put my feathers and toby away and put a leash around my rod and reel, whilst trying to count the frequency of the largest rollers. I eased my way in and contemplated trying to reverse in, but didnt like the look of the way the larger rollers were breaking just short of the steep pebble section of the beach. So I turned round and attempted to paddle in a lull.
I thought I had timed it right after seven big ones hit the beach, and I paddled like mad for the beach - they were breaking further away from the steep bit, just before a section of sand, and a big one lifted me up - survived that but then saw an even bigger one curl up and I knew this one was bigger and was going to break right on me - sure enough - the rear end came up, right up! and the bow took a dive. Before I knew it I was falling forward and sideways into the water and bobbed up next to an upturned P13. Due to the deep hole just in front of the shallow sand bit I was out of my depth and so I upturned the yak and clambered back on - only to be hit by the next one - radio got pulled off my pfd and snagged on the rear tankwell bungees, and I started to think this is not good!. Managed to get my radio back on the pfd and decided a re entry was not going to happen in that surf - Just managed to get my toes on the bottom, and stuggled to swim with the next breaker and drag the yak with me. Got hit a couple more times before dragging the yak up the steep pebbles and looked around to find my rod and reel and favourite lure had not made the landing with me - ******! **** Luckily my lure bag had been secured at the front and was still hanging on, and I managed to find my coolbag with some tools and leashes in the surf. Spent the next hour of the ebbing tide wading around still in my dry suit hoping that the rod would wash up. I thought I saw it after I had put my camera and radio back in the car, so I launched back into the rollers and got ditched before raising a paddle! Managed to try again and this time got through several big ones out into calm water again - by which time I could no longer see what I had thought was my rod butt end bobbing around at the end of the surf zone! So then had to navigate the surf again to get back in - took another dip (closer in this time luckily) and dragged myself and the yak up the beach looking like a drowned rat!
Not a happy bunny! Lost a nice 7ft xl plugging rod, a diawa reel, expensive braid and my favourite (and only) original jointed thunderstick plug.
Although I have been ditched by surf before in the shallows this was the first time I have been ditched out of a kayak out of my depth in the surf zone - and no amount of regular self entry practice prepares you for it - and the lack of interest being shown by the people on the beach to my plight was a bit of an eye opener too. The dry suit and pfd, and the regular practice of re entrys did help to turn it into a sobering lesson rather than a major epic - and I didnt need to resort to the whistle on my pfd or the radio which was still attached, to call for assistance - just shows though, even ten yards off the shoreline, a deep hole and a nasty surf can put you into trouble. Expensive lesson learnt - will secure the rod and reel more securely next time!
Couple of pics of the rollers below - dont look much in the pics but the way they were breaking made them very nasty!