Topic: Exmouth And Guernsey Kayak fishing road trip (Read 5795 times)

smokey · « **Reply #40 on:** May 20, 2008, 08:01:07 PM »

Nice one Ken,you always remember your first Bass for a long while,is that a yz crystal minnow i sea??....tight lines

Bassyken · « **Reply #41 on:** May 21, 2008, 08:14:48 PM »

Yes Smokey it is lol, i had a hard day yesterday and didnt connect with a fish. But today has made up for it, i've had wrasse on bait and pollock & mackerel on plugs, all off the yak. Will post a detailed report in a bit

Bassyken · « **Reply #42 on:** May 22, 2008, 10:21:52 AM »

Yes tuesday was a bit of a fishless day but a nice day anyway, after a day on the yak without catching I tried the same rock mark for another bass but again blanked.

Yesterday was much better, i spoke to an old guy with a little boat on the beach and he showed me how he simply hung a jellyworm over the back of his boat as he went between his pots for spider crab. They are big ugly things those crabs

.

I fished the same bay again, first right out into open water with sandeel, this produced some really colourful wrasse. The tides do run fast here with a slack water point halfway through both the flood and ebb. They run fastest between the rock features as it can be quite shallow between them.

I then came further in and drifted close to all the rock features casting a chrystal minnow towards them, I bought a cheap drouge to slow my drift down as with the strong breeze on tuesday I was drifting way too fast, it seemed to do the job well. Again could find a fish though.

At top tide a lot of the features are submerged and so I spent the late afternoon trolling a Rapala Sliver between them all. This produced loads of pollock and a few mackerel, great fun. Anther local kayaker paddled across and he pointed out a rock feature skirting the edge of the bay and told me this produces a few bass, I gave it one troll up and down but by this time it was getting late. Time to get back to the campsite, quick shower and out to the local pub for food and football

.

Its a bit over cast and miserable today so I've put all my beach gear in the van and after taking a bit of local knowledge heading for a mark on the south coast to fish the bottom for bream, brought my spinning gear too tho

.

Tonight I'm meeting up with a guy from the guernsey fishing forum and he's taking me to a couple of top secret bass marks

.

What can I tell you about the island?? Well you cannot get away from the fact its a great fishing spot with all the bays and rock features, there are huge deep gullies, shallow sandy storm beaches, it seems to have everything. One of the big pluses is that most if not all the parking around the island is free and every bay has a little diner/cafe and toilets. Driving is restricted to 35mph and you have to watch out for the filter systems, no T junctions or traffic lights, just 'take in turn filter'. After nearly wiping out a few locals I soon got the hang of it

.

Spawney Bass · « **Reply #43 on:** May 22, 2008, 10:43:01 AM »

great post again Ken, keep em coming. I am Really Really envious. going out to buy a tent this afternoon

Nicepix · « **Reply #44 on:** May 22, 2008, 09:32:54 PM »

Sounds like you're having a great time Ken. I'm dead jealous.

Still, thinking of the penance you're going to have to do to justify a ten day fishing pass I'm not so sure

Bassyken · « **Reply #45 on:** May 23, 2008, 08:07:06 AM »

Hi all, just up and about to get ready to shift camp as the rest of the kayak anglers are coming acros today so its on to a scout field somewhere

, I'll miss the showers

Yesterday turned out quite well in the end. In the morning I went looking for a rock mark that I heared produces bream and the such like but with poor navigating skills I ended up at completely the wrong cliff but it looked fishable and I thought I would give it a go. It was a 80 metre scramble down gorce and bramble which ripped my legs apart but eventually got to a nice fishable ledge.

On arriving I had a few knocks but nothing really worthstriking into but after that, and as the tide ebbed there was no sign of fish at all and squid baits were coming back untouched. I even scrambled down to the waters edge and cast a chrystal minnow but nothing at all. It started to pour it down so gave it up as a bad job.

Later yesterday evening I met up with local angling guide Andy and local angler Paddy. Andy took us to one of his favoured bass plugging marks, this is over a causeway between and island and the mainland were the tide rips through right at your feet. Not many fish but I had another small schooly which I was well chuffed with.

Will post later, meeting some of the others coming across this morning, the sun is shining, it should be about 21 degrees today so heres hoping for another great day

bigfat · « **Reply #46 on:** May 24, 2008, 09:15:22 PM »

nice one ken,back in the wagon now,keep getting them silver bars good luck,BIGFAT,(ANDY)

Bassyken · « **Reply #47 on:** May 24, 2008, 11:19:05 PM »

Just a quick post, its saturday night and sheltering in the back of my van from the wind and rain. Yesterday was a great day, met the rest of the kayak anglers off the ferry in the morning and also some of the representatives from the Guernsey yakking promotion. We went around and did the formal stuff like meet the event sponsors and then set up camp on the scout fields. Eventually we got out on the yaks by early evening and targeted a bay with a lot of obvious features, top tide was a couple of hours away. We paddled across the bay and headed for a rock formation that had been pointed out to me a previous day by the local guide who has witnessed some large bass cruising the area recently after a snorkelling trip. The wind was gusting and the sea was whipping up into a messy swell, it was hard work to keep up with a pair of Dorados. We set ourselves up to drift the rocks using drouges and I chucked a Storm chug bug at the features. On my first put in i had a fantastic take were both lure and fish were momentarily airborn, I struck and immediately had to take up slack as the fish charged towards me. It wasn't a big bass, probably two and a half to three pound but my first from the yak. It was an amazing experience battling with tide, wind and chop, and on landing the fish i was fearful of being swept into the rocks but all went ok. We did many more drifts on this and other features but this was the only fish of the evening.

Today had us all on the beach showing and promoting the sport to local and visiting anglers accompanied by the main retailer on the island, a kayak training business and representatives from Ocean etc. The heavens opened mid afternoon and we then retreated back to the camp site and then eventually the pub

.

Tomorrow we have a small yakking match organised by a few of the sponsors, hoping the weather gets a bit better.

Ken (pictures to follow)

Nicepix · « **Reply #48 on:** May 25, 2008, 01:04:38 PM »

Sounds like you're having a great trip Ken. I'll expect some bass pluggin' lessons when you get back.

p.s. I did warn you that it was only a summer tent

Hope you didn't get too wet

johno · « **Reply #49 on:** May 26, 2008, 08:32:09 PM »

really great report ken very envious i hope you caught plenty of fish can,t even get out fishing here North easterlies

johnhelen · « **Reply #50 on:** May 27, 2008, 05:34:14 PM »

Ken.... it was a real pleasure meeting you at Exmouth and even better at gurnesey, we couldnt have wished for better company, thanks mate

john and helen

johnhelen · « **Reply #51 on:** May 28, 2008, 05:38:17 PM »

here are a few pics of the gurnesey trip,
after we had set up the campsite

we had a look at the beach where we would be giving the demo's and advising what yaks would be best for the job,

we then went into st peters port to meet the sponsors,

on saturday we had the demo,

here are a few land/sea scapes around the area we were staying at

and i couldnt leave out kens cooking skills

it was a fantastic weekend and the company was fantastic,
we are looking forward to coming up later in the year and having a fish with you guys and girls

john

Bassyken · « **Reply #52 on:** May 28, 2008, 05:44:24 PM »

Great pics John, but I can never remember the gazeebo looking that tidy??? Were are all the beer cans???

You must have taken that pic soon after we arrived.

.

johnhelen · « **Reply #53 on:** May 28, 2008, 05:50:45 PM »

5 rubbish bag fulls

and i didnt drink a thing

mind you helen had her fair share

that was one big hangover

johnhelen · « **Reply #54 on:** May 28, 2008, 05:54:22 PM »

also got to say a massive thankyou to nicepix (clive) the kelly kettle you recommended was fantastic, one of my better buys

dont mention the tent at exmouth though ken

Bassyken · « **Reply #55 on:** May 28, 2008, 05:57:15 PM »

And not forgetting we made it into the local rag, yer my kayak is now famious on Guernsey

My tent was wonderful, I stayed warm and dry the whole 10 days

, shame about the bl**dy sleeping bag the wife got me from pound shop, that was soon replaced after a visit to Millets in St Peters Port.

Capt. Spro · « **Reply #56 on:** May 28, 2008, 06:06:33 PM »

Just been reading the reports from Ken and John that I've missed during the last few days, excellent pics/reports lads. Looks like a hell of a place, would love to have a kayak fishing holiday down there

I'm soooo jealous!

Bassyken · « **Reply #57 on:** May 28, 2008, 06:21:03 PM »

We thinking of maybe arranging something in September when the fish are really in mate, and everyone is welcome

. Oh and Sam, it wasn't a holiday it was a research, promotion and working trip ( as I told the wifey )

johnhelen · « **Reply #58 on:** May 28, 2008, 06:24:33 PM »

research , drinking, promotion, drinking, and a working trip, oh yea ....and drinking

johnhelen · « **Reply #59 on:** May 28, 2008, 06:30:59 PM »

and we had to watch for the local vilans

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Author Topic: Exmouth And Guernsey Kayak fishing road trip (Read 5795 times)