Post by Mumbles Motor Boat Fishing Cl on Nov 3, 2015 18:13:32 GMT 1
1. After the success of the trip 2 weeks ago I put another trip together to head up to Aberthaw on Sunday. This trip was better supported by the membership. At 7am with 7 of us board we made ready for the long journey east.
The sea was fairly flat so we made good time but as we hit Nash the visibility dropped considerably, as did the temperature as we made our way through the thick fog.
Our first mark was a deep trench that is more commonly reserved exclusively for the smallest of tides, but as we were going to be passing at high water, I thought we'd have a hour or so either side of high water.
We got the anchor down, we may have been a little early. 20oz+ weights were needed to keep the baits firmly on the bottom, but as expected the tide started to ease and fish started to find the baits.
First to arrive were congers and doggies.
John Elvins with one of the congers weighing 15lb
As the tide and boat turned Pete Jordan found a lovely blonde ray male). The fight was an interesting one, he'd hooked the ray as we we're swinging around which meant he brought the fish up and over the anchor rope.
Pete Jordan with 10lb blonde ray
The congers and dogs continued to feed as the tide started to ebb. John Bevan had a cracking spur dog - his first ever. Very lucky we landed this one as I messed up the first netting attempt. I was pulling the fish back towards the waiting net for a second time when it bit through the hook link. I just managed to scoop it into the net before it realised it was free of the hook. It pulled the scales down to 17lb.
John Bevan with his first spurdog (17lb)
1. The tide was now starting to run harder so it was time to get the anchor up and head east to Aberthaw. We dropped the anchor outside the flotilla of boats already fishing there.
We stuck it out for 30mins or so, but the wind and tide combined to trip anchor. Luckily for John Bevan, he'd hooked a nice blonde ray. Normally in this sort of tide run he would have had a hell of a fight on his hand, but luckily the boat was tripping anchor so that the boat was going along with the fish instead of having to pump the fish up.
John Bevan - 9lb blonde ray
With the anchor up we headed a little further west to Stout Point to see out the strongest part of the tide. Other than dogs and a few little congers it very slow. 1pm saw us edge back out to where we struggled to hold anchor earlier. Even though the tide would still be running hard, at least it would be easing for the next couple of hours so would only get better, and it dis. Fishing started pretty quickly with reasonable numbers of blondes, congers and dogs along with a lone spotted ray.
Dea Gifford with 8lb blonde ray
Nigel Davies with 7lb Blonde Ray
Colin Albert 5lb blonde ray also Dean Gifford 5lb blonde ray
John Elvins 11lb blonde ray
John Elvins 5lb blonde ray, Nigel Davies 3lb conger
Nigel Davies 10lb Blond Ray
At 4pm we lifted the anchor and headed back through the dense fog to Swansea. In all a reasonably good day, a few quiet periods but during these the dogs kept the rods nodding. I was pretty disappointed that we didn't have any codling as we had loads of quality worm. Ah well, there's always next time!!
The sea was fairly flat so we made good time but as we hit Nash the visibility dropped considerably, as did the temperature as we made our way through the thick fog.
Our first mark was a deep trench that is more commonly reserved exclusively for the smallest of tides, but as we were going to be passing at high water, I thought we'd have a hour or so either side of high water.
We got the anchor down, we may have been a little early. 20oz+ weights were needed to keep the baits firmly on the bottom, but as expected the tide started to ease and fish started to find the baits.
First to arrive were congers and doggies.
John Elvins with one of the congers weighing 15lb
As the tide and boat turned Pete Jordan found a lovely blonde ray male). The fight was an interesting one, he'd hooked the ray as we we're swinging around which meant he brought the fish up and over the anchor rope.
Pete Jordan with 10lb blonde ray
The congers and dogs continued to feed as the tide started to ebb. John Bevan had a cracking spur dog - his first ever. Very lucky we landed this one as I messed up the first netting attempt. I was pulling the fish back towards the waiting net for a second time when it bit through the hook link. I just managed to scoop it into the net before it realised it was free of the hook. It pulled the scales down to 17lb.
John Bevan with his first spurdog (17lb)
1. The tide was now starting to run harder so it was time to get the anchor up and head east to Aberthaw. We dropped the anchor outside the flotilla of boats already fishing there.
We stuck it out for 30mins or so, but the wind and tide combined to trip anchor. Luckily for John Bevan, he'd hooked a nice blonde ray. Normally in this sort of tide run he would have had a hell of a fight on his hand, but luckily the boat was tripping anchor so that the boat was going along with the fish instead of having to pump the fish up.
John Bevan - 9lb blonde ray
With the anchor up we headed a little further west to Stout Point to see out the strongest part of the tide. Other than dogs and a few little congers it very slow. 1pm saw us edge back out to where we struggled to hold anchor earlier. Even though the tide would still be running hard, at least it would be easing for the next couple of hours so would only get better, and it dis. Fishing started pretty quickly with reasonable numbers of blondes, congers and dogs along with a lone spotted ray.
Dea Gifford with 8lb blonde ray
Nigel Davies with 7lb Blonde Ray
Colin Albert 5lb blonde ray also Dean Gifford 5lb blonde ray
John Elvins 11lb blonde ray
John Elvins 5lb blonde ray, Nigel Davies 3lb conger
Nigel Davies 10lb Blond Ray
At 4pm we lifted the anchor and headed back through the dense fog to Swansea. In all a reasonably good day, a few quiet periods but during these the dogs kept the rods nodding. I was pretty disappointed that we didn't have any codling as we had loads of quality worm. Ah well, there's always next time!!