A half tidy forecast on the Thursday but still a little windy from the north west saw us able to go out for the day.
It was an early start for Ian, Stead and myself with a 7.45 am launch. We got to the end of the river to be greeted with a fairly flat sea for a change and had a stop by the stalhiem buoy to see if there were any mackerel around.
There wasn't so off to Swansea bay we headed where we did manage around a dozen.
It was a little early to fish our usual mark so we had a scan at the plotter to find a feature to fish very close to the rocks near Langland.
We were getting bites from the off with the usual dogs sniffing out the bait but stead had a small bream and ian had a nice little plaice.
It was an early start for Ian, Stead and myself with a 7.45 am launch. We got to the end of the river to be greeted with a fairly flat sea for a change and had a stop by the stalhiem buoy to see if there were any mackerel around.
There wasn't so off to Swansea bay we headed where we did manage around a dozen.
It was a little early to fish our usual mark so we had a scan at the plotter to find a feature to fish very close to the rocks near Langland.
We were getting bites from the off with the usual dogs sniffing out the bait but stead had a small bream and ian had a nice little plaice.
We moved over to another mark Lee had another small bream and a few red gurnard. Ian had a hound which caused chaos tangling everyone up before coming aboard.
The fishing had slowed down and stead was coming out with the usual "its shit here lets move" talk so we decided to have a run down to oxwich to try for some more mackerel.
There were plenty there for a change and after a bit of fun catching them we had enough to stock up the freezer for a while.
We headed out to deeper water to try for some tope but there was a big tide rip due to the big difference between the previous tide height and this one and it was difficult to hold bottom so we didn't stay long but did reel this strange looking thing up.
There were plenty there for a change and after a bit of fun catching them we had enough to stock up the freezer for a while.
We headed out to deeper water to try for some tope but there was a big tide rip due to the big difference between the previous tide height and this one and it was difficult to hold bottom so we didn't stay long but did reel this strange looking thing up.
We headed back towards Langland for a bit where we had a few more bits and pieces.
It was time to head back in by now we were knackered too after a pretty rough day there were no great fish caught but we did manage 9 species Plaice, huss, dogs, bream, red and tub gurnard, mackerel, smooth hound, scad.
1/8/15 Burry Port boat comp
We must be a glutton for punishment, still aching from Thursday we were back up the club by 6am to pick the boat up to go the Burry Port for the comp. We had been on the motorway for five minutes when a tyre had blown out on the trailer. Not a great start but we had a spare wheel for it so had it changed in no time. We stopped off at anglers corner in Llanelli for some maddies then down to the harbour to sign in and meet up with Andy James and Peter on catcher.
There was a fairly stiff SW wind up and the estuary looked very lively, we are getting used to this now bloody winds!
We had both launched without any drama's and headed out into the chop. I had a bit of info from my friend John Harrison about where to head and with it being a specimen comp we drew up a plan to target dabs and hope for a good bass. we headed across the other side at a slow pace as I have never been in this estuary before but fully aware of the dangers of shallow water and banks.
We got over and found the deeper water and dropped the anchor.
There was a fairly stiff SW wind up and the estuary looked very lively, we are getting used to this now bloody winds!
We had both launched without any drama's and headed out into the chop. I had a bit of info from my friend John Harrison about where to head and with it being a specimen comp we drew up a plan to target dabs and hope for a good bass. we headed across the other side at a slow pace as I have never been in this estuary before but fully aware of the dangers of shallow water and banks.
We got over and found the deeper water and dropped the anchor.
We were catching from the off Ian had a dab Lee also had a dab and a smooth hound which I should have kept to weigh in! Stead was blanking and was starting to show a mixon face.
The dabs were coming in thick and fast Ian was finding the dogs which I was somehow managing to avoid. The fishing had slowed a little and we had a plan to fish the north channel on the flood so we decided to head back over before low water to try and keep away from the banks which proved a wise decision as the chart was nowhere near what was actually below us, at one point we had four feet of water below us! we decided on a mark to fish but it was rubbish, it turned out we weren't fully in the channel so a hundred yard move saw us in a better spot and were soon back on the dabs and bass but very small ones. The wind had picked up big time by now and was very rough this is why I don't have any more pics of the fish as I foolishly put my phone down by the cooker and with the big swells the kettle emptied itself all over it and it is now broke lol.
The weed was a big problem and stead hadn't stopped moaning to go in but Scottyano isn't a hovercraft so we had no choice but to put up with it.
We finally made it to the end of the comp and headed back in and put our little dabs in to weigh. To our surprise they made 5th and 8th in the comp so we were very happy after the effort we put in.
The dabs were coming in thick and fast Ian was finding the dogs which I was somehow managing to avoid. The fishing had slowed a little and we had a plan to fish the north channel on the flood so we decided to head back over before low water to try and keep away from the banks which proved a wise decision as the chart was nowhere near what was actually below us, at one point we had four feet of water below us! we decided on a mark to fish but it was rubbish, it turned out we weren't fully in the channel so a hundred yard move saw us in a better spot and were soon back on the dabs and bass but very small ones. The wind had picked up big time by now and was very rough this is why I don't have any more pics of the fish as I foolishly put my phone down by the cooker and with the big swells the kettle emptied itself all over it and it is now broke lol.
The weed was a big problem and stead hadn't stopped moaning to go in but Scottyano isn't a hovercraft so we had no choice but to put up with it.
We finally made it to the end of the comp and headed back in and put our little dabs in to weigh. To our surprise they made 5th and 8th in the comp so we were very happy after the effort we put in.