Porthdafarch 010507 evening session
May 1, 2007 21:45:15 GMT -1
Post by moniar on May 1, 2007 21:45:15 GMT -1
Had a last minute planned evening outing in the kayaks this evening - just two of us - Hughsey and myself. Met up at Porthdafarch at 4.45pm in the hope of some early mackeral sport or a bit of bottom fishing for the flatties. Hughesey had his new prowler 13 out again rather than the prowler elite so we were a matching pair of 13s. Appologies for the lack of piccies - Hughesey forgot his camera and I still havnt decided which one to buy to replace the olympus which died a month ago after only 2 years of light use.
We paddled out of the bay in 5 mins and into the easterly breeze which hadnt reduced as much as the forecast had suggested. However it was blowing us nicely from the bay entrance down to mackeral rock, so we started our first drift down with Hughesey on large Hokkais and me on the killer small shrimp multi coloured rig which was the most succcessful on the mackeral last year.
As we neared mackeral rock on the first drift I felt a take and confirmed that a fish was on. It felt fairly light even on the 9 ft spinning rod I was using. I got it to the surface and was delighted when Hughesey confirmed my identification that it was my first ever red gurnard - all of about 8 oz of it but beautiful all the same and a new species for the yak
After carefully returning the gurnard to grow bigger I tried a drop of the shrimp rig about 30 yards off mackeral rock over some rougher ground. Bang bang bang - 2 mins later I had another new species for the year and an all time new one from the yak - three small pollack ;D
We paddled back up to the entrance of porthdafarch bay for a second drift. Towards the middle of this drift I thought I had snagged, but no, the frantic taking off from the reels drag then signalled the first mackeral of the season - a lovely mature one, which gave a fantastic fight, going under the yak, out for a flying lesson and back down again - another new species from the yak :-) and Hughesey was getting distinctly worried that he was going to be outfished for a change
We paddled back up to porthdafarch entrance again and started another drift - first drop of the shrimp rig and I was in again - this time a brace of mackeral into the bag. Second drop ,in again, a full house of six. Nearer mackeral rock again - bang bang again - and another few in the bag.
This continued until I had around a dozen in the bag and Hughesey was stll not off the mark, despite having tried both baited feathers and then changing to the same smaller shrimp rig as I was using. The only difference (given that we were fishing within yards of each other on the drift) was the weight used - i was using a lighter 2oz weight.
Finally Hughesey got some of his usual luck back and was into a good fight with a full house of 6 mackeral which were duely brought on board and unhooked into the rear baitwell - only to have most of them jump back out to freedom 
;D
We did several more drifts before the sun started going down behind mackeral rock and we did our final paddle up to the bay entrance - and decided to try another ten minutes or so on the other side of the bay entrance around flat rocks. First drop again and I was into fish - which fought really hard and indicated the large pollack we were trying for - but no it was another set of mackeral :-) After one more drift on the south side and with 15 mins to go before we lost the sun, we paddled back into porthdafarch - two very satisfied yak fishermen ;D
Pity about the lack of a camera, but I did take a shot of the yak on the car and of the 15 mackeral I took home when I called in at my parents in Holyhead to drop some fish off for them and borrowed their camera.
Then home it was, to watch the end of the Liverpool match and a nice glass of red wine. A fantastic evening session, and one that made up for me missing out on the thornie action on Sunday at Ty Croes. Roll on the bank holiday weekend
We paddled out of the bay in 5 mins and into the easterly breeze which hadnt reduced as much as the forecast had suggested. However it was blowing us nicely from the bay entrance down to mackeral rock, so we started our first drift down with Hughesey on large Hokkais and me on the killer small shrimp multi coloured rig which was the most succcessful on the mackeral last year.
As we neared mackeral rock on the first drift I felt a take and confirmed that a fish was on. It felt fairly light even on the 9 ft spinning rod I was using. I got it to the surface and was delighted when Hughesey confirmed my identification that it was my first ever red gurnard - all of about 8 oz of it but beautiful all the same and a new species for the yak
After carefully returning the gurnard to grow bigger I tried a drop of the shrimp rig about 30 yards off mackeral rock over some rougher ground. Bang bang bang - 2 mins later I had another new species for the year and an all time new one from the yak - three small pollack ;D
We paddled back up to the entrance of porthdafarch bay for a second drift. Towards the middle of this drift I thought I had snagged, but no, the frantic taking off from the reels drag then signalled the first mackeral of the season - a lovely mature one, which gave a fantastic fight, going under the yak, out for a flying lesson and back down again - another new species from the yak :-) and Hughesey was getting distinctly worried that he was going to be outfished for a change
We paddled back up to porthdafarch entrance again and started another drift - first drop of the shrimp rig and I was in again - this time a brace of mackeral into the bag. Second drop ,in again, a full house of six. Nearer mackeral rock again - bang bang again - and another few in the bag.
This continued until I had around a dozen in the bag and Hughesey was stll not off the mark, despite having tried both baited feathers and then changing to the same smaller shrimp rig as I was using. The only difference (given that we were fishing within yards of each other on the drift) was the weight used - i was using a lighter 2oz weight.
Finally Hughesey got some of his usual luck back and was into a good fight with a full house of 6 mackeral
which were duely brought on board and unhooked into the rear baitwell - only to have most of them jump back out to freedom 
;D We did several more drifts before the sun started going down behind mackeral rock and we did our final paddle up to the bay entrance - and decided to try another ten minutes or so on the other side of the bay entrance around flat rocks. First drop again and I was into fish - which fought really hard and indicated the large pollack we were trying for - but no it was another set of mackeral :-) After one more drift on the south side and with 15 mins to go before we lost the sun, we paddled back into porthdafarch - two very satisfied yak fishermen ;D
Pity about the lack of a camera, but I did take a shot of the yak on the car and of the 15 mackeral I took home when I called in at my parents in Holyhead to drop some fish off for them and borrowed their camera.
Then home it was, to watch the end of the Liverpool match and a nice glass of red wine. A fantastic evening session, and one that made up for me missing out on the thornie action on Sunday at Ty Croes. Roll on the bank holiday weekend
