Not ideal conditions with 16 knt winds forecast and chance of showers, but not being able to get out last week made up my mind to give it a go
Wind further up the channel was forecast to be less than the Cardiff area, so the plan was to fish local, then head up with the tide
Just one other boat in the 7.30 lock for company and when we got out into the Channel, he headed down west and we made the short steam to the bottom of a large sand bar
Anchor dug in and myself, Mark and Mike into fish pretty much straight away
Wind was less then expected and conditions quite good
Had a very busy few hrs here, with Blondes and Thornies to 10lb, Conger to 8lb, Dogs and a solitary Bass of around 46cm
No real size to anything, but a good bit of sport (apart from the dogs, who just don't scrap at all)
Low water was around 10, so we made our way up towards Portishead to see if the Bass were home
Bit of a choppy ride up, but now the wind was with the tide and lessening, it was quite pleasant at anchor
That didn't last long, a couple of heavy showers, a strengthening wind and only 2 small Thornies made for a decision to head back to Cardiff
Was going to try another part of the sand bank we'd been to earlier, but wind against tide made a 35min trip into nearly an hour and the mark unfishable
So pushed further towards Cardiff and dropped the pick on a bit of rough ground just wide of the foreshore
Christ, wind speed felt at least double and wasn't a bit comfortable at anchor, with boat swinging all ways making uptiding impossible
Stayed for 20/30 mins, picked up 1 small thornie and a heap of dogs, pulled anchor and caught the 3.15 lock back in
Not a bad day by any means and nobody blanked