Port dafarch 5th may

[ZEBRA]

Port dafarch 5th may
A few of us met up at port dafarch for a days fishing to our surprise when we arrived there was a sit inside kayak event at the port as you can see their was a lot of kayaks on show we met up with Simon everet from kayak uk and managed to borrow his dorado fishing kayak which we put through its paces we will do a full report on the dorado later in the week .
When we got to the water their was a big swell and chop it was just about fishable our paddle plan was to fish 4 main marks we would start with a couple of drifts for the mackerel then move on to the old boiler at anchor and try for the conga .on the top of the tide we were going then to move over to the wreck Missouri and then once the tide started to run out we were going to move over the the sandbank.
We started with the drifts no problem quite a few mackerel about and we soon had a box full for fresh bait and dinner they were of good size.
We then tried to anchor to the old boiler but with the swell it was very difficult we only managed a few small Pollock on the boiler so we decided at that point to come back to shore and make a mackerel dinner on the beach.








as You can see from the photos the poached mackerel went down very well and the taste and smell of fresh mackerel is so good we soon had a crowd of the sit insiders with us to sample fresh poached fillets.







With dinner over out we went again over to the wreck but as we arrived 3 divers popped up so we decided to skip the wreck and move over to the rough cove after just the usual Pollock mackerel wrasse and a scorpion fish we called it a day with a last drift by this time the sea was growing a bit and we to heard the mayday on the vhf radios it was 2 sit inside kayaks at the fangs who were in trouble.
we came in and borrowed Simons fibreglass dorado we had great fun for an hour or so with it putting it through its paces but well tell you more about the dorado later in the week.








All in all it was a great day and good to put a face (Simon) to a name

[moniar]

Excellent report Terry and cracking pictures. Looks like it was really busy there so glad we ended up at Llandwyn (where it was also choppy). I listened to the whole mayday event and it was definitely reported that they were taking in water 1 mile south of the skerries, as the fast cat responded and was told they were too big to assist. Sounded scary but luckily one of the two responding leisure craft found them before the lifeboat and choppper got out to them. Shows the value in taking vhf radios out with you as their weak mayday signal was what alerted the coastguard.

[ZEBRA]

sorry Steve it was the skerries not the fangs my mistake i was surprised how many sit inside guys don't carry radios or flares i asked about 20 of them as they were launching and only one had a radio and he said i got a radio but the battery is no good it will only last 10 mins once i switch it on .so the guys were very lucky they had a radio did yo hear the idiot on the boat asking for a radio check every 5 mins while mayday selonce was in effect the coast guard soon told him ;D.

[moniar]

Yes I just about heard him once or twice and I heard the response he got LOL! I had been reading up on all the procedure stuff for the radio licence course so it was interesting to hear it all in use - very professionally done too by H/Head coastguard.

[moniar]

Nice photos Kev - that video shows the swell off a lot better than any photo too - it was like that off llandwyn isle where we were fishing the same day - wished I'd taken some sea sickness tablets before going out, but managed ok in the end!

[TimO]

Fantastic, looks as if you all had a great day, Kev even cooking the catch
I've had a wonderful weekend (not) moving my daughter into her new house, so can't wait for the 19th to do some 'catching'.

See you all soon

Tim ;D

[sarge]

I saw loads of those sea kayaks heading north as I was heading south on Friday evening. Looks like a great meet.
I was on a trip down the Wye with my local Sea Scouts. With river levels low it was quite a slog in my Malibu 2. 10 miles day 1, 16 miles day 2 and 5 miles on Monday. The "normal" cockpit kayaks were so much faster and when some of the guys had a go in mine, they were amazed how much harder work it was. No fishing, but some great scenery and I negotiated the rapids at Symonds Yat with no dramas. Despite having the p1ss ripped out of me for having such a strange craft, I think most were envious when they saw the ease of use of having a sit on top. My 11 year old managed the trip no trouble on his Malibu Kea and I hope to bring him on the next meet.... if I am ever at home long enough to get out fishing !