Post by dean on Jun 16, 2015 15:34:05 GMT 1
A few names had been on the trip sheet for a little while asking for a trip on Saturday. They were interested in a bass trip so I put my name down.
The latter half of the week, before the above weekend, I had a horrible fever which accompanied a cold so if I'm honest I wasn't really looking forward to the trip - this was more compounded by a weather forecast which was constantly changing, mainly for the worse.
Friday @ 4pm - the fever had gone but cold was still getting me down, moreover the latest forecast wasn't good enough to get out bassing; so I gave the option of swapping the trip to Sunday (better forecast) or just stay local... as luck would have it half couldn't make it Sunday but the other half was keen on swapping. Only thing for it was to do 2 trips on the weekend.
Saturday
Got to the boat around 7:30am; quickly joined by the other members who would make up the trip. The forecasters got it right that the day would start with a mix of drizzel and heavier rain, but the wind we were experiencing was far lighter than expected.
I instructed everyone to bring some ragworm and squid as we'd be sticking inshore fishing for flatties and bream etc - but as I left the berth I rang through to Swansea Tackle and Bait to ask them to weigh out a 1lb 8oz of live eel that we'd pick up on the way through as we may have chance to get offshore - if we didn't use them I'd keep them for the next day.
Even though the conditions weren't nice for a day on the beach, being warm, overcast and drizzly they are about the best conditions to be out at sea in my opinion - for some reason everything seems to come to life. This was shown on our run down out down to Oxwich Bay. Before getting through the pier a number of sewin jumped ahead of the boat, saw a number of gannets in Swansea bay, and lots of gannets, terns and razorbills between Langland and Pwll du. Once we'd passed Pwll du I could see gannets working very actively over the Knoll, so stopped the boat a mile or so short and got everyone to rig up ready to drift with the live eel as occasionally bass will shoal up there.
As we got closer we could see what was causing the fuss, a number of dolphin were feeding hard, so much so they didn't come over to check out the boat.
Drifting with the eel only resulted in one tiny gurnard - much smaller than the eel it took. We made our way further West and anchored up in the moorings, gannets were still actively feeding here, hitting the water only a few boat lengths away. Unfortunately, we didn't have any mackerel on the feathers we were working. We did however have lots of dabs, a few plaice, smooth hounds and a couple of dogs.
As the sea state dropped and tide gained in strength I turned the Oystercat to head far out offshore to have a go for some bass. There were already 3 commercial boats working, so we joined them in their drifts and found good fishing from the off. Over the next 3 hrs or so we had 50 or so bass to 4lb, started on live eel's but they soon ran out - lures seemed to be as effective when worked up off the bottom.
As the tide fell off we headed back inshore to have some grub and try for a few more flatties before heading home. Got in the locks roughly 5:30pm and fuelled up ready for the morning.
Sunday
Sunday's trip was made up of the people who were very keen on a bass trip. Due to the half marathon going on in Swansea we had to be down the boat early, all the roads were to be closed at 7am - this worked in my favour anyway as I like to get out early!
After picking up 2lb of live eel from Swansea Tackle and Bait we enjoyed a sausage sandwich as we ran West over a flat calm sea. We didn't have the same level of life on the water as the day before, only the occasional gannets and the odd razor bill, not unexpected as already the sky was bright with only light cloud cover.
We arrived on the bass grounds and joined the boats who'd launched in the early hours. Again we found reasonable numbers of fish, in 2hrs or so saw us with 20 bass, but manly small, only 7 were over the 42cm size limit. Unfortunately, one boat kept powering up over the top of the fish which spooked the shoal and fishing died off.
We ran around a little to find some mackerel for fresh bait. Nathaniel had brought some lovely stuff from the freezer for chum, really yellow smelly mackerel which I was sure when thawed would melt like butter in your fingers.
With a dozen or so mackerel in the live well we set the anchor and with chumbag attached we were set to have a go for some tope. After getting everyone set-up we didn't have to wait long before the first reel was screaming. Sean Evans opened the account with a lovely 36lber, his first ever tope.
Sean Evans with first ever tope (36lb)
Over the next 2 hrs we had 12 tope, most 15- 17lb but a few 20+lbers too - most males which fight alot harder than the females.
Sean Evans with yet another tope Nathniel James with his first tope Lee Kilbuern and tope
John Golding with tope Nathaniel James and John Golding with nice pair
John Bevan on the tope Dean Gifford did not miss out on the tope
The tide changed and built enough for us to run back offshore to have another go for the bass. After an hour or so of searching around there was no signs of life. We persevered and were rewarded with another 3hrs of crazy fishing. The finishing total was close to 60 fish, lots of small fish but a few nice specimens with them including a beast at 8lb 3oz for Nathaniel.
The fish began to disperse so called it a day @ 4pm. 50-60 bass to 8lb 3oz, 12 tope to 36lb few mackerel and hand full of dogs - Lovely weather and good company - can't really think of a better way of spending your Sunday!! Little bit tiring for the skipper though... Slept like a log last night.
The latter half of the week, before the above weekend, I had a horrible fever which accompanied a cold so if I'm honest I wasn't really looking forward to the trip - this was more compounded by a weather forecast which was constantly changing, mainly for the worse.
Friday @ 4pm - the fever had gone but cold was still getting me down, moreover the latest forecast wasn't good enough to get out bassing; so I gave the option of swapping the trip to Sunday (better forecast) or just stay local... as luck would have it half couldn't make it Sunday but the other half was keen on swapping. Only thing for it was to do 2 trips on the weekend.
Saturday
Got to the boat around 7:30am; quickly joined by the other members who would make up the trip. The forecasters got it right that the day would start with a mix of drizzel and heavier rain, but the wind we were experiencing was far lighter than expected.
I instructed everyone to bring some ragworm and squid as we'd be sticking inshore fishing for flatties and bream etc - but as I left the berth I rang through to Swansea Tackle and Bait to ask them to weigh out a 1lb 8oz of live eel that we'd pick up on the way through as we may have chance to get offshore - if we didn't use them I'd keep them for the next day.
Even though the conditions weren't nice for a day on the beach, being warm, overcast and drizzly they are about the best conditions to be out at sea in my opinion - for some reason everything seems to come to life. This was shown on our run down out down to Oxwich Bay. Before getting through the pier a number of sewin jumped ahead of the boat, saw a number of gannets in Swansea bay, and lots of gannets, terns and razorbills between Langland and Pwll du. Once we'd passed Pwll du I could see gannets working very actively over the Knoll, so stopped the boat a mile or so short and got everyone to rig up ready to drift with the live eel as occasionally bass will shoal up there.
As we got closer we could see what was causing the fuss, a number of dolphin were feeding hard, so much so they didn't come over to check out the boat.
Drifting with the eel only resulted in one tiny gurnard - much smaller than the eel it took. We made our way further West and anchored up in the moorings, gannets were still actively feeding here, hitting the water only a few boat lengths away. Unfortunately, we didn't have any mackerel on the feathers we were working. We did however have lots of dabs, a few plaice, smooth hounds and a couple of dogs.
As the sea state dropped and tide gained in strength I turned the Oystercat to head far out offshore to have a go for some bass. There were already 3 commercial boats working, so we joined them in their drifts and found good fishing from the off. Over the next 3 hrs or so we had 50 or so bass to 4lb, started on live eel's but they soon ran out - lures seemed to be as effective when worked up off the bottom.
Nigel Ellerton with 5lb bass
As the tide fell off we headed back inshore to have some grub and try for a few more flatties before heading home. Got in the locks roughly 5:30pm and fuelled up ready for the morning.
Sunday
Sunday's trip was made up of the people who were very keen on a bass trip. Due to the half marathon going on in Swansea we had to be down the boat early, all the roads were to be closed at 7am - this worked in my favour anyway as I like to get out early!
After picking up 2lb of live eel from Swansea Tackle and Bait we enjoyed a sausage sandwich as we ran West over a flat calm sea. We didn't have the same level of life on the water as the day before, only the occasional gannets and the odd razor bill, not unexpected as already the sky was bright with only light cloud cover.
We arrived on the bass grounds and joined the boats who'd launched in the early hours. Again we found reasonable numbers of fish, in 2hrs or so saw us with 20 bass, but manly small, only 7 were over the 42cm size limit. Unfortunately, one boat kept powering up over the top of the fish which spooked the shoal and fishing died off.
We ran around a little to find some mackerel for fresh bait. Nathaniel had brought some lovely stuff from the freezer for chum, really yellow smelly mackerel which I was sure when thawed would melt like butter in your fingers.
With a dozen or so mackerel in the live well we set the anchor and with chumbag attached we were set to have a go for some tope. After getting everyone set-up we didn't have to wait long before the first reel was screaming. Sean Evans opened the account with a lovely 36lber, his first ever tope.
Sean Evans with first ever tope (36lb)
Over the next 2 hrs we had 12 tope, most 15- 17lb but a few 20+lbers too - most males which fight alot harder than the females.
Sean Evans with yet another tope Nathniel James with his first tope Lee Kilbuern and tope
John Golding with tope Nathaniel James and John Golding with nice pair
John Bevan on the tope Dean Gifford did not miss out on the tope
The tide changed and built enough for us to run back offshore to have another go for the bass. After an hour or so of searching around there was no signs of life. We persevered and were rewarded with another 3hrs of crazy fishing. The finishing total was close to 60 fish, lots of small fish but a few nice specimens with them including a beast at 8lb 3oz for Nathaniel.
The fish began to disperse so called it a day @ 4pm. 50-60 bass to 8lb 3oz, 12 tope to 36lb few mackerel and hand full of dogs - Lovely weather and good company - can't really think of a better way of spending your Sunday!! Little bit tiring for the skipper though... Slept like a log last night.