Davemc

yeah well done for getting out - and any fish is better than being at home not fishing!
nice work!
more trips planned for the weekend? 

Another good day for fishing, although the actual fishing was not that good !
A cold a frosty start, it was -1c when I left home for the 5 mile trek to the slip via Tesco’s for fuel, and a chilly 1C on the slipway. Launched on low tide at 08:30 and I noticed that the estuary water temp was only 6.3C, however, once out at sea the water temp was a respectable 10.4C
Windguru was forecasting a flat calm sea inshore, but was unable to forecast the wave conditions offshore, once I got out there I could see why !
I decided to go back the to wreck that has been kind to me during the late Autumn, so it was a good 30kt ride for the first 3 miles, then I started to hit very confused conditions, there were 0.5m wind driven waves from the NNE at probably 3secs and the true swell was coming from the East, also 0.5m (ish) and about 6 secs. The result of the sets of waves meeting was nasty washing machine conditions, but I still managed a bumpy 24knts out to the wreck.
First drop with my new Temple Reef Gravitate III and I was into a Pout, and that just about sums up the day, it was a real Pout fest. Once the flood had stared the drift was 1.4knts, even though it was a mid neap tide. I tried all sorts to avoid the Pout, but they grabbed everything I threw at them, 150g Slow jigs, 178mm Red Gills, and even 160g off shore shads (fished on the SPJ rod).
The sheer number of Pout suggests that the Bass have moved offshore and there probably isn’t too many Pollock in residence yet, but at least I managed to christen the new rod
The fisheries Patrol boat passed by very close (close enough to wave) but carried on and didn’t trouble me.
After numerous Pout of which 7 were of a decent size, at 12 midday I decided to call it a day and head back in as I need to do the school run in the afternoon. The return trip was uneventful at a steady 22kns.
Not the best of days, but 100% better than staying at home. The total trip was 23Nm
A couple of fixes are needed. I loaded a G3 Vision chart using Active Captain for relief shading and that just seems to have screwed my chart up, so I removed the Active Captain card and reverted back to the standard G2 Charts. I will fix this by downloading the G3 vision charts to a dedicated SD card via Garmin Express.
Also, I had a strange electrical fault on the Jeep. Every time I indicate Right, the tail gate wiper comes on and all the doors lock !  You could be fooled into thinking it was a bloody Land Rover, I will investigate this tomorrow.
Just a couple of pics off the Gopro

 

I carry a 12 guage on mine just incase I have a similar experience with a boat 😂😂

I carry a 12 guage on mine just incase I have a similar experience with a boat 😂😂

I carry a 12 guage on mine just incase I have a similar experience with a boat 😂😂

We usually carry a small drill and a large stubby auger with us for such occasions.
Have you been down to check your boat recently?

That sounds like a well thought out set up. Thanks for sharing. I guess you must need to keep a sharp eye on the weather conditions in case they deteriorate whilst you're out, or do you find you fish more sheltered waters and can ride it out?
@Davemc on here has a similar yak, although not a Hobie I don't think.

22! That's gotta give @MegaByte a run for his money I'd have thought! 

Nice boat, but you do need more rods!! 
@MegaByte sets the pace on this one, his boat of similar size looks like a porcupine when full rodded up!

Here is my explorer elite

Well done Andy , Nice bass especially on the fly. Top fishing Sir.
 

Catching a Bass on fly is probably the ultimate in Bass fishing and certainly an excellent achievement, well done.

Taken on an imitation bread flake fly whilst fishing for mullet today. Absolutely hammered the fly and put up a good scrap on my 5 weight river rod.

Big thanks to @Scotch_Egg2012 for coaching and demonstrating how to catch mullet like a pro. I'll leave him to start a thread on how the mullet session went 😉👍

Yes, when @Davemc and I were bassing in Jersey a couple of years ago we saw one of the locals catch a cuttle on a squid jig off a harbour wall at night. 

Ha! Yes, I haven't forgotten how to cast a lure just yet. Sadly all my hard plastics are in storage waiting for us to move house, so I only had SP's and jig heads with me, otherwise I'd have switched to topwaters to tempt those bass I saw.

Result!! Top work Dave. Stick up a report and tell us all about it. Well chuffed for you 👍👍

Nice one Andy , Glad to hear you got out with the lure gear 😁

Had a great time Andy , Never been to Pembs and came away with 2nd for the biggest combined 3 bass of 182cm ....I'm a lucky beggar 😁

Nice Ballan 👍
I guess you should have started the post with,
 
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from hell?
Blue skies from pain?
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell? Did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
Did you exchange
A walk-on part in the war
For a leading role in a cage?    

Headed to Lannacombe Beach this evening for a quick lure session. Had about 90 mins between family commitments so grabbed my spinning rod and a few lures and headed to a mark I last fished a few years ago that used to be a banker wrasse mark. But would it still hold fish? This mark is a special place for me as it's where I caught my first ever sea fish on a lure (a wrasse) nearly ten years ago.


The water clarity was reasonably good with a hint of cloudiness. Plenty of kelp about still, which is a good sign.

The lure of choice was a Fiiish Black Minnow 120 in khaki colour, with the 12g shore head. This always used to be THE killer lure on this mark, cast out from a rocky finger across a small bay and bumped slowly across the bottom. The hit would usually come about half way back and would involve a couple of aggressive taps then a full on rod bender as the wrasse defended its territory and hooked itself.
After the first few casts I felt a slight tap on the lure, which came to nothing. A couple of casts later a schoolie bass followed the lure to the shore but didn't commit. This was followed by ten or so more fruitless casts before another, bigger bass followed the lure in.
Having seen a couple of bass now, I felt confident that there were fish to be had, but my time was rapidly running out, and the tide was rapidly flooding in. Moving off my rocky perch to avoid being trapped by the tide I made my way closer to the beach and found another suitable vantage point to have a few last casts. First cast out and the telltale tap, tap, whack of a wrasse! He put up a decent scrap, taking a few yards of line from the reel before coming up in the water and onto the rocks.

Love it when a plan comes together! Job done, and with time running out I headed home for a beer and barbecue while watching the sun go down.

I'd be tempted to try coarse hooks. 12 to 14. I was chatting to a coarse angler who was on holiday in Cornwall last time we were down and he was catching them in the Fowey Estuary on a cage feeder stuffed with bread paste and a single bread flake on a hair rigged size 12.

Had a great time Andy , Never been to Pembs and came away with 2nd for the biggest combined 3 bass of 182cm ....I'm a lucky beggar 😁

I think a lot of issues with mullet come from misidentification.   It's very difficult to tell thick from thins when they are swimming around. It can be done but it ain't easy. 
The two species require very different tactics and aren't normally caught on the wrong tactics.  Thins like a mepps type spinner with a worm bait in close trail, whereas thicks will ignore that in favours of bread, fish flake, maggots etc.  Thins usually ignore those baits. 
I've seen lots of anglers throwing bread in front of thins and it get totally ignored much to their frustration. 
A few pointers to help anyone interested these aren't hard and fast but combined will usually result in a correct ID. 
If you are looking at a Shoal of 5 or more fish swimming round and flashing their sides I'd be starting to think thins. Thick are generally seen in smaller shoals. 
If you can get a good look 2 features on thins to look for, a black spot at the base of the pectoral fin and to me their heads look too long as they have shorter pectorals than thicks, so looks like they have dumpy fins. 
Behaviour is a key,  usually they are thins if you see lots of bow waves in the margins combined with swimming down to the bottom and coming up with mud streaming out of their gills, as previously they do this in shoals.  Not usual behaviour seen in thicks. 
Location, under pontoons, around boat hulls or structure usually thicks, thins tend to spend more time out in the open often in the margins
Just a few pointers that can help get a good ID. 
 
My favourite though, chuck out some surface flakes 9 out 10 a thick will hit it, thins will ignore it... But not always............ 😂😂😂

Unlucky on loosing the bass , I lost my first one in 10 years  with a lure attached last week in the Pembrokeshire bass tournament around a rock and I'm still gutted .
Every day is a school day and we both will be prepared next time 😊

Unlucky on loosing the bass , I lost my first one in 10 years  with a lure attached last week in the Pembrokeshire bass tournament around a rock and I'm still gutted .
Every day is a school day and we both will be prepared next time 😊