Monday 29 August 2022
Thursday 4 August 2022
Rumours of my demise
Just about two years since my last blog post. I’ve met a few lads recently that wondered if I was still alive, thankfully and for the time I am 😊 To be fair I’ve not pestered the fish too much this year, but here’s a few from winter, spring, and summer.
I’ve spent some time getting into MTB over the last 2 years, it's been great. I’ll never make the Red Bull Rampage scene, but I’ve had a lot of fun (and some injuries) trying.
Martin
Sunday 4 October 2020
Seat with a view
No van or fishing this weekend, we climbed a local hill for the sunset on Friday night and chilled out over the weekend. Even up there with the sun going down, I was angling with the Mrs. I think we'll be be on a ferry shortly. Just about where the sun went down, I would imagine they'll be decent winter Pollack waiting.
Monday 28 September 2020
Making the most of the weather
We had a nice van day on the beach on Saturday, followed by an excellent BBQ as we watched the sun go down. I guess it was too much to ask that the aurora showed this far south, as it did in some areas of Scotland over the weekend. We did have a look, but the warmth of the van was way too tempting. This was the first time I’ve used the Propex gas heating in anger and we were glad to have it.
Jamie joined me on Sunday morning and after waving goodbye
to my wife and dog on the beach, we set off in mirror calm conditions. The sun
was low and blinding, the fishing was initially rock hard. There weren’t many signs
of life, but I picked up a couple of bass and a little pollack. After
suggesting a move Jamie was way out in front and I got on the radio to say I
had two bass back to back when trolling, he turned tail and joined me. Over the next few hours, I picked up bass and
pollack on a regular basis. What I found interesting was how the results were
much better in terms of how I was able to set the kayak up on the drift. The
direction of the breeze meant that I could drift across the direction of flow
and cast up tide. This isn’t always possible,
but it made a big difference presenting the lures like this and resulted in
over a dozen bass.
Friday 25 September 2020
Monday 21 September 2020
Gear Review
I thought I would share my views on a few items that I’m currently using. These have made life a little easier both on and off the water on my trips. These have been bought by me, not given to me, this kit works for me, it might for you.
On my last boat, the Hobie Outback, initially I ran a
Lowrance 5HDI with one Hobie 12V 9AH battery. This equated to one average days
usage on the water. When I swapped this
out for a Lowrance 7Ti, I had to carry two of these batteries. They were heavy
and despite the connections being waterproofed to a point, the salt does
everything in eventually. The old battery was mounted in the rear hatch, off
the waterline and out of way. Eventually
I had to replace the pigtails and over time, the batteries degrade with use as
well as cold weather. When I moved to
the Hobie Revolution 16, I had a look at the options on Lithium based
batteries, there were lots of options going down the DIY route. There were no
options available retail, at that time, in the UK, circa January 2019. As such I opted for the FPV 12.5 17AH as I
didn’t fancy risking my DIY skills, lithium batteries and water. The advice
from the guys at FPV was good, the delivery from Australia was decent.
Getting a 16ft 30+kg kayak on top of roof bars 7ft off the
ground when you’re 5ft 8, presents a challenge. I can do it without the Rhino
Side Loader, but somewhere shortly down the line, I would damage the van or myself.
After a few shots at it I’ve got it working well. I add a towel on the roof,
just about the side door, to protect the paint, then lift the front of the boat
up on to the bar. From there, I take the
end of the boat, climb the step and push the lot across the bars. They’ll be a
mistake made somewhere, probably the steps at the end of long day; I just need
to take my time. To be fair I couldn’t consider some of the other loading
options. The boat was overweight for two of them and the other looks like you’re
carrying a selection of angle iron attached to the roof. It’s well made, has a
few fitting options specific to different fittings at the roof bar end. In terms if this, it looks like it would fit
most roof bars but it’s worth checking. It
hooks around my Yakima Whispbars snug enough that it wont budge. The support poll adjusts to height and it all
packs away in the travel pack provided.
If you use it properly, it will help load a boat on to any vehicle if
you need some assistance.
Monday 31 August 2020
August round up, it ended with an explosion!
Since my last post I’ve had four sessions from my kayak, two of these were in the mini heatwave we had mid- month. I sweltered on 12th on my shore session and it wasn’t much cooler on 14th and 15th which made it a challenge. One of the things I’ve wanted to do is chill out a little more, see some sun rises and some sunsets rather than driving two hours and then start my sessions. The van has been great for that.
I felt a change was needed and relocated that evening. I launched at dawn with high hopes of some better fish. I set up some meticulous drifts along a stretch of coast that normally produces the goods, but it took me an hour to get an offer. I eventually found some fish but they were finicky and in 25ft of water. I had to finesse to some slimline soft plastics and 7g jig heads to hook them, initially I thought it was mackerel hitting the FBM, but the change converted the knocks into fish. With sun burning a whole in me by mid-morning and a dozen schoolies returned, I didn’t feel the effort was worth it and peddled back. The small tides, weather and finding two nets strung up in 12ft of water burst my bubble. I had a look around me, without mentioning the area, this stretch of coastline is having much more pressure applied to it this year. Campers, kayaks and centre console boats and almost 100% from England, left me feeling it’s best avoided till the end of September for my next visit. The number of fish had been reasonable, but the size was a disappointment over the two days.
My intention was to fish for Perch on the Sunday. The best part of a bottle of Port put that idea to bed and the next morning I had a lazy day and watched a movie before travelling home. That was a decent enough Sunday morning in the sunshine and nice way to wrap up the trip.I had another early launch last Thursday, I’ve only fished here once before, mainly as launching and retrieving is a problem. The storm from two days previously had left some lift in the sea. As I paddled the gulley parallel to the shore to avoid the weed and boulders directly in front of me, I must have past over a submerged rock. When the following trough arrived, it deposited me on a large boulder that was now exposed, and yak went over! Thankfully I was quick to bail out before it went over completely. I was in about 5ft of water, so it was no big deal, but not a great start. The fishing was pretty good but it only lasted 3 hours as the forecast was an absolute fantasy, from the three sources I use. I checked these again when I was on the water, I was sitting in 1 metre swells and a wind from a different direction? The fishing was good with decent numbers of Bass and the Pollack were a nuisance to be honest. Knowing what the landing was going to be like and having already taken a dip, I cut my losses. It’s as well I did to be fair; it was the trickiest I’ve had. I’m pretty sure if I were in my old Outback there would have been problems. The Revo is easier to control coming on to a beach with some surf. I’ll be back here but it will take some really settled weather. I’m just glad I didn’t head the 4 miles along the coast that was my intention, the fact I caught fish straight away saved the day.
This brings me to yesterday. I had a nice evening in the van on Saturday night, a view with a sunrise in the morning, my kayak trolley is in the van and I’m having a coffee looking at the weather apps, cynically thinking, what shit show is on the cards today?
Jamie joined me and off we went, into the tide. It was good to have some company and some chat, the venue can be challenging, we both feel better buddied up here. We had our arse kicked here in September last year and as we went out, we were both thinking about what was coming down the line, fishing and weather. For once the forecast was actually better than expected. The fishing was just something else.
Decent sized schoolies from the get go.