Post by dean on Aug 11, 2014 12:20:57 GMT 1
Good tide and good weather saw me organising a half day in work today. Oystercat was out in the day with another skipper, so 7 of us huddled eagerly around the berth waiting for the big blue bus to come through the swing bridges so we could load up and head out.
After picking up 4lb of eel from Swansea Tackle and Bait we pushed down the Gower coast to the bank I wanted to fish. We got there and joined 2 boats already there.
We were bang on high water so had to contend with the battle between wind and tide for the drift of the boat. Only a few doggies were picked up over this period, as soon as the tide built enough to give a straight drift we picked up the first few bass, but we were only getting 1 per drift. So I moved us over to another part of the bank about 0.4miles away. Luckily the other 2 boats had long gone so I slowly motored over the spot I wanted to drift and saw 3 reasonable shoals of fish on top of the peak so hopes were high. The first drift saw 3 bass landed and a couple of stolen eels and missed bites.
This rate of fishing continued until the last drift around 8:40pm (so we could make it back for the last lock). I was tempted to stay out on the outer pontoon and shoot off for first light but with a forecast of winds up to 20mph and wind over tide I decided against it. Unfortunately, the forecast didn't come to being and it would have been reasonable conditions out there. Oh well, can only go on the forecast.
We had 20 or so bass in about 2hrs so not all bad, most between 40 and 44cm but a few bigger ones also, so everyone had a few fish to take home. Sorry for the lack of pictures but as it was such a short session we couldn't waste any time on the drift.
Oystercat Skipper Dean Gifford.
After picking up 4lb of eel from Swansea Tackle and Bait we pushed down the Gower coast to the bank I wanted to fish. We got there and joined 2 boats already there.
We were bang on high water so had to contend with the battle between wind and tide for the drift of the boat. Only a few doggies were picked up over this period, as soon as the tide built enough to give a straight drift we picked up the first few bass, but we were only getting 1 per drift. So I moved us over to another part of the bank about 0.4miles away. Luckily the other 2 boats had long gone so I slowly motored over the spot I wanted to drift and saw 3 reasonable shoals of fish on top of the peak so hopes were high. The first drift saw 3 bass landed and a couple of stolen eels and missed bites.
This rate of fishing continued until the last drift around 8:40pm (so we could make it back for the last lock). I was tempted to stay out on the outer pontoon and shoot off for first light but with a forecast of winds up to 20mph and wind over tide I decided against it. Unfortunately, the forecast didn't come to being and it would have been reasonable conditions out there. Oh well, can only go on the forecast.
We had 20 or so bass in about 2hrs so not all bad, most between 40 and 44cm but a few bigger ones also, so everyone had a few fish to take home. Sorry for the lack of pictures but as it was such a short session we couldn't waste any time on the drift.
Oystercat Skipper Dean Gifford.