It has to get better than this?

[pilgrim17]

A good forecast, a good tide, & what I considered a good plan, are no use without anglers? I have offered a selection of days when the tides are right, so that hopefully we get at least one day out of the selected 3,4, or 5 "flexible" days. I can understand a situation where the forecast prevents the trip that is "Sod's Law" but to lose a trip on a perfect tide, with a perfect forecast, is depressing!

Lets hope the response is better on the next set of "flexible days" (12th to 15th July) or if the "flexible days" concept doesn't suit, can somebody come up with a better idea, & post it on this forum, so we can see what it is & discuss it, rather than just not support an initiative. The Amroth shore fishing trip was off because the weather forecast was so good, that few if any fish could be expected, the opposite would have been case on Mumbles Belle!    

[office07]

Good try Pilgrim.

It would be good to know why so few of our members go out fishing on the Club boats. I know we have only a few active skippers this year and limited to their availability and so we cannot run a boat fishing timetable. There has never been an over demand for fishing trips on the Oystercat, indeed trips have been cancelled due to lack of support from members.  Now we have a qualified and experience skipper for the Belle offering a flexible timetable of fishing trips and we still have no members wanting to go.  Any views would be much appreciated. 

[pilgrim17]

I wish I knew the answer too, I know many members are still working & therefore cant just take time off to go fishing, but even weekends seem undersubscribed too? I have tried "flexible trips" when the tides are suitable to go to the limit of the Belle's range, but don't forget that ANY day we can fish in the bay as long as we have water in the river to get out, & we don't have a "hooligan" wind. In my book any day when the sun rises, is a good day to go fishing, so if my suggested days don't suit you then tell me which ones do, & we will chug our way out & see if we can get a feed.

[pilgrim17]

As an added bonus, along with the "flexible trips" I am adding hot drinks to the menu, I have obtained a single ring burner which will be mounted inside the wheelhouse, & the rubber pipe will go through the wheelhouse wall to a small (2.7kg canister sat outside) So we can boil a kettle, & fry bacon & sausages for some more creature comforts. If that doesn't tempt you, then I don't know what will? Lapdancers maybe? lol

[pilgrim17]

Saturday 12th July

Forecast is good (6 -10WSW) tide is a good time (HW 0645) we can clear the Cherry Stones before mid ebb (if not, hang on until we get opposite CG Station) then see if we can find the bream at Langland where others have failed. Then after a couple of hours of flood a drift up the Mixon Shoal to see if we can tag a turbot then if you have the bottle for it try off Bobs Cave to see if the plaice are at home. Then around the corner off the ILB slip & set a long drift across the bay towards home, hopefully arriving home with a decent "fry" apiece.

NOTE! no mention of tope, or smoothounds, or huss, or rays, or congers, (any of those will be purely coincidental) Get you names down for this trip, Only 5 tickets left Book early to avoid disappointment

The xc weather forecast is good for the entire "flexible" period (Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues) so lets not waste good tides, & a good forecast, get your name down & lets go fishing!

[pilgrim17]

Once Again

My request for anglers fell on stoney ground, & this set of suitable tides passes without event, the next set of suitable tides (that will assist us going out on the ebb, & coming back on the flood) are not until 25 -31 July. In the meantime there are plenty of days when we can fish, its just that our range will be limited. My number is on the booking form, & all you have to do is put your name down if you want to go.

[pilgrim17]

Ballast problem close to being solved

I have put all the "borrowed" weights in the stern of the Belle,  which has taken the stern down to almost the "canoe stern" feature of the hull. & I have cut down a plastic 45gall drum to use as anchor warp storage, which means that the current anchor locker can be used to hold ballast.

I have purchased polypropylene sandbags, which hold about 55lb of damp sand & I hope to fit about 8 of these into the anchor locker, which should take the bow down to make the boat level, so that the automatic bilge pump functions as it should. This should also make the idea of "walking ballast" less of a chore than it currently is, & hopefully we can be less regimented when we are on the move, than we are at present. I intend to do a "shakedown" trip with Richie later on in the week, to see exactly how she handles, but from the look of it she is sat down enough to get a good prop bite, & reasonable tiller control. If so, we will be in the same position as Oystercat where you walk on, start up, & go without having to shepherd anglers around.

Watch this space for results of the "shakedown" trip!   

[pilgrim17]

Saturday is looking good 

In terms of wind speed & direction (1 - 6mph) but the tides are not great HW @ 12.21 & 0100 but we could get out at 0800 & come back in at 1530. Probably get mackerel from around the SWIGG, then maybe spend an couple of hours at anchor off Bobs Cave up to HW to see if we can pick up a few plaice if there are any about. Then we can come into the bay & have a drift from off the hospital back towards Mumbles, then head for home about 1430 to get us in for the 1530 lock in. Not exactly "Deadly Tuna" I know, but it could be a tidy little trip.

But you wont know, if you don't go    

It's now midday Friday, & no takers as yet for tomorrows proposed trip? Ok so there is rain forecast but you all have waterproof skin  Maybe Richie & I will do our "shakedown" trip, we have tried often enough, maybe tomorrow we will do it?

Maybe we wont, Richie has been saddled with domestic chores , so we cant even get out to shakedown! I will probably go down & finish filling the anchor locker with sandbags to trim the boat, & run the engine to make sure the batteries stay topped up.

If anybody wants to go out on Wednesday 23rd July tough, because I am playing golf (very badly no doubt) with some ex army friends, & there will probably be some beer drunk after, so if you want to go on Thursday be prepared for a "snakey wake"

 

[pilgrim17]

We got out at last!

My "maiden" trip as skipper on Mumbles Belle, with some "heavy" observers to see how I managed (including the "Skipper of the year", & the Vice Commodore)  straight through the marina lock, a delay in the basin for the Tawe Lock to open, then a fairly trouble free tie up in the lock, with a minimal bump as we came alongside, then out into the river & away into the bay & headed for Mumbles on an oily flat sea.

We decided to start at Langland reef, hopefully for a bream or two well I dropped one first drop down, then we proceeded to catch the usual "trout", baby huss, smuts, a large edible crab, but no bream . We stayed until about 2 hrs into the flood, then set a drift up across the Mixon, hoping to catch a turbot or a plaice, but all we had were small gurnard (tubs & greys), tried for mackerel outside the Mixon Bouy in the deep water but nothing doing, motored up to the SWIGG & drifted but again no mackerel so we resigned ourselves to coming inshore, & drift up from Oystermouth towards the West Pier. Richie had an undersized plaice & a growler, Ray had another gurnard, Stan & I were "also ran's". the Commodore came past & took great delight in telling us that they had done the same drift before us, & had picked up 4 keeper plaice .

We carried on the drift until it was time to head back to catch the 4.30 lock-in, quite uneventful apart from a very large Rodman, that came howling down the river & gave us a curler on the bow, that sent Ray & Stan running for cover  Locked in uneventfully with no bumps, & made my "gaff of the day" by asking the marina for permission to lock through & I called them "Tawe Lock" in my best voice procedure, only to get a vinegar reply that they were Swansea Marina! !

Now comes the big test getting her back onto the berth without sinking those either side, or ramming the pontoon, so I come around wide keeping the revs up to keep control, turned the nose in towards the berth, & put her astern with left hand down, followed by a short burst ahead to come straight in & stop her perfectly alongside the berth.

I caught no fish worth talking about, but I passed my "test" with flying colours, so next time I can concentrate on the fishing, instead of worrying about my "L" plates.  

Tomorrow I hope my golf is better than my fishing!   

[pilgrim17]

Neath River Entrance

I fancy fishing the first couple of hours of the flood at the entrance to the Neath River, live eels would be ideal, trotted back on a light lead, but we would need an air pump to keep them alive in the bucket, anybody got one? I fancy a troll across from the Inner Marker Bouy with shallow divers (or poppers if you feel brave). If nothing happens off the river, we can always have a few drifts over different ground, because the commodore has caught all the plaice off Swansea beach  

If anybody is up for it, we can also try off the stream on Morfa Beach, its about the limit of our range (10.5km) & it could be a waste of time, but if we don't try we don't know, again we would want to fish from bottom water up. If anybody has any suggestions then contact me & I can look at the electronic charts, the tide tables, & the weather forecast, & if its "doable" let's do it!  

 

[pilgrim17]

We have a full boat

For Tuesday 29th, the "Cunning Plan" is to troll across to the outfall buoys with shallow & deep divers to see what we can frighten, then anchor down near the outfall to see if anything is attracted  to it (apparently it is safe to drink the discharge, but we wont bother!)  Depending on the concensus we might have a few drifts near the outfall buoys to see if anything is attracted by it.

At near to low water we will make our way to the Neath River entrance & fish the first couple of hours of the flood to see if anything is at home, you would think that flatfish & bass will be attracted to an estuary like that.

I would like to drift off Aberafan beach too, reasonable catches are being made off the beach so it may well be worth drifting a new area, but I don't think we will have time on this trip, maybe next time.

[pilgrim17]

    We have discovered!

The dogfish capitol of the world! That dubious honour goes to the entrance to the Neath River, & within a couple of miles of it the only time we weren't plagued with them was when we were trolling! We drifted & anchored, & drifted & anchored & regardless of whether we were stationary or moving, they threw themselves at any bait offered!

"Stan the Man" managed to break the monotony with a dab, & a bass, along with 100 dogs, the rest of us just got dogged to death, still we now know yet another spot to avoid. I certainly do like the look of Aberafan beach, I reckon drifting close in could produce some good fish, maybe next time. I think there is also potential in fishing close in to the Long Arm, casting close to it should produce masses of growlers . I remember catching sole shore fishing from one spot on there, it would be well worth the trip to catch a couple of those, & if not there are always lots of growlers around the Neath River entrance on the way past!

Tuesday 5th Aug looks the best forecast  low wind speeds from the west, & HW @1320 means we can lock out leisurely & head across towards Port Talbot with the flooding tide behind us. Provided there are no pots or nets set along the Long Arm we can anchor in quite close, & those who want to, can cast in even closer. This will be a "one shot" trip, once we get there we will stick with it until its time to head back on the ebb.

It gets even better!

The Origo Spirit Stove has arrived, this beauty is so safe, it is not even covered in boat coding, so its hot drinks, & bacon or sausage rolls with your dogfish, what more could you want?  Apparently it takes a long time for it to boil a kettle of water, I bet its quicker than the one that was on there before!

[pilgrim17]

Not what we wanted

We met at the boat at the normal time with conditions extremely poor, & decided to make a cup of coffee & have a natter, & catch the 9am lock to see if things improved. Well it did stop raining, & the sky brightened, & with the forecast predicted to improve as the day went on, our "Chinese Parliament" decided that we would lock out & see what the sea conditions were like. This we duly did & from the time we cleared the piers, the SE wind over the flooding tide made it less than pleasant, I headed down towards Singleton hoping to find it calmer so we could have a drift back, it became obvious that there was going to be no respite, & there was really nowhere to hide (except in the river) until the "predicted improvement" arrived.

Working on the assumption that by the time conditions improved enough for us to fish, the chances are the anglers would have deteriorated to a position where they couldn't, I took the decision to reverse course & head back in to the marina. With the bow into the SE it was a more pleasant run back than it was down, & once I got to the Inner Fairway Buoy a sprint for the river saw us back in calm water.

As predicted the weather has improved, & the SE wind dropped right down & swung from SE to SW (again as forecast) but we would have been uncomfortable to say the least if we had stuck it out, best to be tied up at the berth. All I have to do now is take my ragworms down to Knab Rock tomorrow, & drown them!

[pilgrim17]

Weather looking poor

Well for Mumbles Belle it is, winds are "marginal" for the next week, but with them coming from mainly a W/NW direction it might be possible to get a trip on at least one of the days. This is where I see the  "flexible trip" coming into its own, if the wind is SW on the proposed day but is forecast NW the following day, we just merely postpone for 24 hrs, & take advantage of the cover the NW gives. So study the weather forecast & if you want to go contact me on 07814528082 or 01792 527518 & lets start filling out John Elvins new log books?

By the way I did go down Knab Rock on Wednesday to drown those worms I was going to use on Tuesday, (they didn't take much drowning) despite being kept in a cooler bag, with ice packs underneath the newspaper, they were still very dead by Wednesday morning?? I "painted" them onto the hooks, & held then on with manky razorfish from the freezer, which I tied on with elasticated cotton. Anyway it managed to attract 2 palm sized flounders, & a tiny gurnard, (which is more than I usually catch on Belle) so the day was not totally wasted!