Porthdafarch 22nd July

[moniar]

Had a great day out in the new kayak with the kids, but the fishing sucked!

Loaded both kayaks last night:



Got the kids kitted out in their new wet suits and pfds this morning and arrived at porthdafarch beach just after 10am. We unloaded both kayaks and set them up on the beach.

We did a bit of safety drill on the beach before putting the fishing gear onboard - and we went for a short paddle out of the bay and back to see how young Jac fared in the front seat of the tandem (loved it!) and how his sister got on solo paddling my prowler 13.





We then loaded the tandem with my fishing box complete with lures, picnic, fish bag (we were optimistic! = kiss of death on the fishing) and more safety gear (floating tow rope, vhf radio, flares, compass, whistle, knives etc etc)and the prowler 13 with anchor, whistle and fishing rod in the holder.

Dave and Steve from total sea fishing had joined us by now and we all set off out of the bay in a reasonable swell but not too choppy. Onshore SW light wind, as forecast and the rain clouds moved away

We paddled / drifted down to mackeral rock - young Jac had the rod in the front seat once we had got out of the bay and we followed some coasteerers traversing along the coast whilst we paddled parallel to them about 50yds offshore. Nothing doing on the fishing front, no mackeral or gurnard by the time we arrived near mackeral rock, so the kids and I landed on the nice sandy beach in the corner of the bay for a drink and biscuits and some piccies at the same time as the coasterers arrived on the next beach:



The picture above is of us on the little beach looking back towards the entrance to porthdafarch beach/bay where we had paddled from.

Jac's sister stayed on the beach with the prowler13 kayak sun bathing and taking pictures whilst Jac and I paddled back out along mackeral rock and around the bay with Jac jigging the small shrimp rig on his 9ft spinning rod:




Nothing doing, and by this time Dave and Steve had returned from a paddle around mackeral rock with reports of another blank(the guys on the rock had blanked too). At this point I suggested trying the left side of porthdafarch near flat rocks where I had had around 20 mackeral last Sunday in 2 hours - so we paddled back up to the entrance to porthdarch and tried there. Nothing doing there either and the swell was increasing. as was the chop, so the kids and I paddled into the beach and unloaded the fishing gear, seats, box etc. After a comfort break I waded out up to my waist and helped the kids jump out of the clutter free tandem kayak for some re entry drill - they both managed to get back into the kayak ok , so it was then standing up in the kayak time - which they also did no problem (these wider tandem ones are really stable!) - I then attempted to get my fat ar*e into the kayk and tipped everyone out ;D We all got back in successfully and then went for another paddle out of the bay and back in again to try dual paddling with Jacs sister in the front and Jac in the middle seat - worked a treat, and got quite a speed up

We fooled around for another half an hour close into the beach before fetching the trolley wheels and pulling the yaks back up the beach to the car.

So no fish today but a great day out and a good confidence builder for the kids in the yaks.

[SEAJUNKY]

Great report monair, its so good to hear of kids really doing the healthy thing (instead of sitting in front of the xbox) and who knows they may even take up serious fishing or kayaking.
It just goes to prove---that sometimes its not just about catching fish----is it?

great report mate ;D

tight lines and happy yakking ;D

Steve

[ZEBRA]

just ashame the fish did not play its great to watch the kids catching but i bet next time they catch more than their dad great photos steve looks like a good day .

[boomphat]

looks like you had better weather than we did at Llyn Padarn, we were rained off at 1pm.

[moniar]

Cheers guys. The weather was as forecast for once - big rain clouds cleared around 10am and stayed nice til after we left the beach around 3pm.

Lovely way to spend a Sunday rather than just me disapearing yakking for the day. Just need to get the wife to christen her new wet suit now -think the weather will have to be a tad warmer for that tho :-)