Lobster treat!

I re-visited my favoured bass mark in the hope of a silver beauty. The fishing was slow with the odd pout bite now and then. The evening was a pleasant one as I fished into the night. A slow steady pull on the line was looking distinctly crab-like. Lifting the rod showed there was indeed something on the end, up it came, no real kicking so a crab was expected,... perhaps even some weed.

What a surprise, a lobster!!, and a good sized one at that... no messing around, into the yak it came. I though it was tangled on the line, though it turned out that the hook was merely holding onto the roughness of a nipper, what luck! .How as I going to store this thing?, though as it turned out it lay quietly in the footwell for the remainder of the trip.

Only when I returned to shore and started to de-rig the yak did it show signs of life, what a beauty.

It's not everyday that you catch a lobster on hook and line, it'll probably be my one and only!. The decision to keep it was not a difficult one, after all the wife's family were visiting and the father-in-law did ask me to bring some dinner home.

It seems that I didn't disappoint..........

Kayak Fishing in Anglesey

September saw an opportunity for a few days fishing at Anglesey, Wales.

Travelling from the Portsmouth area with two Big Games on the roof made the journey around six hours!, though it didn't feel that long.

First stop was Anglesey Bait Centre to collect some pre-ordered bait. £20 worth of rag was collected and a few pounds of squid, we were going to take some macky too but we were assured there was plenty to be caught around the island. Unfortunately there was a distinct lack of mackerel, we caught about 8 over 3 days, all of which were very small indeed. Though that wasn't the worst, on arriving at our digs the worm turned out to be the worst I have ever seen, brown, hardening and all dead within 12 hours.. NOT PLEASED! - BE WARNED

We'd been advised that some tope had been caught during the last week which resulted in us paddling around the Rhoscolyn area.

As previously mentioned the mackerel weren't about which screwed up our plans somewhat. However, we resorted to squid and a few dead worms which turned up a multitude of doggies!, probably a few small huss in there too.

The tide rip around these headlands is very impressive!, something to be respectful off, though it's also great fun!. There's a few small islands about 1/4 mile off the headland where we fished for a wee while.

Again the rips between the islands and rocks are very strong indeed, at one stage I was doing an easy 8mph without paddling , not bad for a Big Game!. Despite the tides the yak performed brilliantly, not once did I feel worried... well there was once (come to that later).

That session we paddled around 5 miles, at least half of which was against the strong tides.. nothing like getting paddle fit Again, lots of dogfish around here... not much else.Not a problem though as I enjoyed paddling through the various channels within these small islands.

 

Now I did have an 'exciting moment'. Jim (fellow yak angler) was anchored around 100m off a small island, I drifted past him and dropped anchor about 40/50m off the island and let out the same depth again as slack. When the warp tightened the whole yak started to vibrate, most odd. It was still very stable though getting buffeted around quite heavily in what appeared to be a strong tide rip. Looking around the anchor buoy wasn't behind the yak... in fact when I spotted it I realised just how dodgy things were!!... it was three foot under water and vibrating quite violently.

 

The rip was quite hellish and the anchor warp was, well to say tight would be a huge understatement!. I did think about cutting it, as trying to retrieve it normally was not an option. Though leaning back and pulling with both hands, this took several attempts, I managed to unclip the anchor from the trolley. Paddling back uptide I managed to grab hold of the now surfaced buoy and retrieve the anchor. I never felt in danger, though I was surprised how strong these rips can be... and how hard to see at times.

We tried a couple more venues over the next two days though the fishing was difficult, alas, catching doggies all day was not!. Jim managed a couple of strap conger of the final day which was good to see.


The scenery was awesome which made up for the poor fishing, quite some time was spent exploring a few nooks and crannies,... a few of which produced pollock to around 1.5lb on feathers.

 

 
The clarity of the water up there is truly amazing, paddling into some caves was a real treat.
  
 

Despite the lack of species and big fish it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip. We came back a couple of days early so we could hit the local waters.

 

Please feel free to comment.

Kayak Fishing - Bass & Thornback Ray

Despite the success of this years smoothound fishing, it's not all about the hounds.. there were some surprises out there.

Virtually all the fishing during the summer period was night fishing, purely because it was proving by far the most productive.

 

Fishing two rods for hounds will end in disaster, trust me, you'll only try it once... a double hound hookup is exciting, though just about impossible to handle. Chances are you'll end up losing one or both fish, just about guaranteed is a fantastic tangle!!

But I always feel that a rod sat behind me is a wasted opportunity. What I ended up doing was fishing a large mackerel lash on a running ledger, something that doesn't interest the hounds, though might be picked up by something else.

I didn't have to wait long for this tactic to pay dividends... in one evening alone 2 cracking rays and a sizable bass were taken on that rod, all within an hour!

 
 
 
The other rod was still picking up hounds throughout the night, what sport!..... did i mention that I've never shore fished once since taking to the water in my yak.

Please feel free to comment.

A Nights Bassing

Fished a newly discovered bass mark local to myself with a fellow yakker. As dusk fell the bites came, small taps followed by bites that bent my 6lb class rod almost double!. The first fish took my mackerel bait and ran like stink for cover, with the drag wound down this fish stripped line from the reel, my only hope of stopping it was to apply more pressure with my thumb... and it was off!. On retrieving my trace the Mustad 4/0 wire hook was bent open at 90 degrees, what a fish!!!... the adrenalin was running.

Next bait down the tapping started again... sliding the rod quietly out of the holding I waited. Sure enough the rod bent hard over and off went the fish, not a big fish but a good initial fight. A bass of around 3lb came into the yak, put back to fight another day.

Yet again the scenario repeated itself though this time it was a better fish. Holding hard I stopped its run for safety and slowly it came to the surface, a cracking bass of around 7lb!. It was swiftly bought onto my lap and unhooked, though I was unsure whether to keep it or not... then the quandary of what to dispatch it with?, something I'd next really given prior though to.

Before a decision could be made it somehow came loose and shot forward. Spiky dorsal fins moving fast are a difficult thing to tame, and it was over the side and gone before I knew what had happened... GUTTED, though thoroughly amused at the same time.

What a night, hopefully to be repeated.

 

Fully Rigged Big Game

Please feel free to comment.