September 7th, 2009
Well it was a rather strange night to say the least. After last weeks sucess with the sandeels I went in search of some more. First drop down, a weaver. I went to cut it off and the thing jumped in the air and landed on my hand – Ouch !!!
I paddled in, close enough to shore to be able to get off the water if I had any reaction to it. I carried on jigging and managed 1 sandeel and a bucket full of baby coalies. My hand got quite painful but no sign of any swelling and after about an hour the pain went off.
I decided to paddlee out and try a bit of freelining with my livebaits. I rigged up a 3/o hook on a 5 foot snood of 30lb Daiwa Sensor (If I got a big one I wasnt going to snap it this time). The snood was then attached straight to my braid with a swivel. On the hook went the sandeel and I lowered him in the water and let out about 20 foot of line.
I drifted off with the tide, holding onto the rod with the drag sent. Minutes later all hell broke loose and line was tearing off my reel. I tightened the drag and played out my first ever freelined bass which later weighed in at just short of 3lb.
I salvaged the sandeel (Now almost lifeless) and rehooked him and set him adrift again. I went to put the bass in my fish bag and bang, another fish. This one went ballistic and was clearly a lot bigger. Frighten it would snap me I let it have more drag and the fish happily took line from the reel. I stopped the fish diving too far by stopping the reel with my hand. Again I played it out and when it came to the surface it was a belting pollack which I felt was going to be a double figure fish as it looked a hell of a lot bigger than the one I got in the southern softies match.
Anyway I had forgot my scales yet again so I borrowed some scales from another lad fishing out there. Much to my surprise the fish only registered 8lb, but sure did look much much bigger. As it got dark there was a lot of fish breaking the surface around me but I couldnt manage anymore, time for home.
The paddle back home in the dark was excellent tonight. There was a lot of phosphoresence in the water which looked like sparks coming off the paddle and in the wake of the kayak. All in all it was another very special night. The weever sting was a bad start but the night was rounded off nicely with a couple of nice fish caught with another new method.
August 25th, 2009
Just returned from an interesting day afloat at Sandsend. Not lots of fish, but I managed a news species for me, a plaice, and a nice pollack on the float and 2 bass over 3lb.
I had managed to source a few lugworm, some sandeel and some squid from Rods and Reels shop in Whitby so I started with a bit of bait fishing at low water just off Sandsend. I anchored up and shot a big bait out in hope of a Thornback or 2. An hour later I hadnt had a bite so I untied myself and did a bit of drift fishing with a 2 hook flapper rig. First drift resulted in a small dab. This isnt what I was after really so I decided on one more drift and if I was still getting dabs I would change tactics and go plugging.
On the next drift my luck changed and I landed a double shot of Plaice. Both good sized fish, but I had no use for them so I returned them. I quickly dropped back in and tried again and not long after I had another plaice – this one was a beauty and looked near 2 pounds although I never bothered to weigh it. I had now been joined by a chap called Kev in a surf kayak who was fishing for mackerel. As he said he liked to eat fish, I gave him the plaice for his tea.
With the tide now pulling through I decided on a bit of plugging for bass. I trolled around for a couple of hours and there wasnt much doing, but the 2 I did get were both nice sized schoolies that went 3-10 and 3-6 on the scales.
As dusk approached I decided I would try a bit of float fishing for bass. I put on a set of sabikis and rounded up 2 small sandeel for bait. I managed to keep them alive in the footwell. I hung one on a 1o hook at a depth of around 9ft and cast it in, an waited……, and waited and waited. Twenty minutes later the float slowly went from site and I had a bite. I struck hard but met thin air and the fish had gone, when I wound in the sandeel had gone too.
So on with my second and last sandeel. Sadly the smae happened again and I had no sandeel left. I decided to try a piece of mackerel strip. Almost instantly the float was under again. This time I connected to what felt to be a very nice fish. After a bit of a scrap I landed the brute. Not a bass but a pollack of 7lb 4oz, what a beauty.
I persevered untill dark in search of a bass on the float. Sadly, depsite several good bites, it wasnt to be. So all in all it wasnt a bad day and sure beets working.
August 6th, 2009
The usual suspects launched from Sandsend early this evening. First part of the evening was spent plugging pretty close in. I cant remember what the other guys had but there was a fair sprinkling of bass and Pollack around.
At 8ish we headed over onto the soft ground and did some bait fishing. Pretty soon we were all landing soft ground species including Dabs, Whiting, Gurnard, Mackerel and Weaver fish. Around 9 ish Mike and Damo headed for home and myself and Dan sat it out for another hour in the dark.
This was the first time I had fished on the yak in the dark. I wasnt sure what to expect but having fished so long now through the winter months it really didnt phase me. I was pleased with my new Nav light which Ive copied of New Yacker. It certainly does the job and Mike said he could see us from the slip way in Sandsend. I would estimate we were over a mile off.
It did get pretty earie at one time when we heard some loud splashing pretty close buy. Whats that noise shouted Dan. I was too busy getting my legs in the kayak to answer. Thinking about it now it was likely a seal or a porpoise.
We had hoped for a Thornback and we tried some pretty good mackerel and sandeel baits but all that seemed to be interested was a shoal of whiting.
My tally for the night was
6 Pollack
3 Bass
2 Weavers
1 Gurnard (That croaked like a bull frog)
2 Whiting
5 Dabs
July 26th, 2009
On our second outing of the day, myself and Mike met with Dan and Damo at a venue north side of Whitby. It was not long into the flood tide when we started. The water colour had cleared from its very murky state over the past few days. We had wonderd if the water clarity could be a problem with the bass being fearful to venture right into the shallows. Our minds were soon put at rest not long after we started when I hooked into and landed a better bass of 4 pounds 10 ounces, a new personal best for myself.
As the tide flooded over the shallow scars we moved about the venue and fished various runs and depressions in the scars. About an hour later I hooked and landed my secong fish of the session, another nice bass that was 3lb in weight.
We then moved nearer the car park and to the safe side of a cut off point. both Mike and Damo were quickly into fish whilst I lost 1 and had 2 jump clean out the water after my plug. My session ended with 4 fish caught and as many lost. I think Mike managed 2 as did Damo, whilst Dan managed the single fish.
July 26th, 2009
Tides (Add 1 hour for bst) : 00:33 1.15m L
06:37 5.84m H
13:09 0.60m L
19:14 5.33m H
Sea State : Almost Flat
Wind : Light South West
Water Colour : Clearing but not clear.
Well it appears the bass bug has struck. The weather of late has been a little bit to much to get out on the kayak with moderate south to south west winds for over a week. There has been a bit of northerly swell in the water but nothing too much, so the last few days the bass bug has struck and Ive been out with the plugging rod in search of those silver bullets.
Myself and Mike had arranged to meet up at 8.30 to fish the ebb tide at one of our favourite marks on the north side of Whitby. My son Jay had decided he wanted to come along too so he acted as my alarm clock at 7.30 this morning.
We got to our mark bang on time, I chucked in the maria chase BW red head, Jay used the maria angel kiss in mackerel and Mike was on every plug in his box. Not long after we started I was into a fish. I handed the rod to Jay and let him wind it in so he could get a feel of the fight these fish give. The lad has been a couple of times with me now and Im sure his first bass is not far away. After a bit of a fight Jay landed the schoolie I hooked which weighed 2lb exactly. Around the same time Mike hooked and lost one.
We had several more casts and not long after I had a second fish on, which instantly let go. Not long after we waded onto our next mark. After roughly 15 minutes we were fishless and decided to try other little gullies that run into the scars in this area. Again there was nothing to be found. So at 10.30 we called it a day and headed for home. Myself and Mike have agreed to meet up at 3.30 this afternoon to have another go on the flood tide. This bass fishing certainly is addictive, I think the bass bug has bit.
July 25th, 2009
Well Im a firm believer in the saying that you always learn by your mistakes and today I learnt from yet another mistake. I had decided to fish in my thigh waders and was happily stood at the waters edge when the first wave broke over me and down the thigh waders. The following half hour saw this happen again and again untill I was soaked to the skin. Thankfully it summer so the water soon warmed up and I was fine.
The fishing went ok for a change. Myself, Mike Dan and Damo and Mrs Damo opted for a change of venue and headed south. We fished hard for a couple of hours and darted about to various little ledges and gulleys in the scar. After roughly an hours fishing I opted for a venue closer to the car. Not long after I was into a bass about 10 yards out but it shook the hook pretty fast.
Moments later I was into another, a better fish which was taking line, untill it decided to hide behind a rock – and as you can guess that was the end of that. Within a few more moments I was into my third (Third time lucky) and after a brief fight I landed my first shore bass of the year, a schoolie of around the 2lb mark.
We fished on and climbed the ledges to hide from the incoming tide. That was the end of the bass for me although Mike landed another shortly before we decided to leave for home. Again the water was very coloured and it came as rather a pleasant surprise to locate some bass. I guess it just goes to show that you dont always need gin clear water for them to take the plugs.
July 25th, 2009
Firstly my apologies for not posting for such a long time. I have been doing a lot of fishing and angling related activities including helping out with the Whitby Angling Festival. I will try do a few more updates of whats been happening recently for me.
Last night was a few hours bass fishing with my young lad Jay. Hes actually found a type of fishing he enjoys, and says that bass fishing is for him. I have done some thinking on the subect and we have both agreed that he likes it because your always active. In the past when Ive taken him bait fishing hes always got bored pretty fast but last night it was 10 pm and he was still saying one last cast dad. Thankfully he never lost my last maria chase BW which he insisted on using, I couldnt palm him off with the cheaper storm thunderstick.
Well we had decided to head to a mark we had fished several times last year. When we arrived I could see Mike and Damo + Damo’s girlfriend (She seems keen on the fishing too, and has probably worked out she will see a lot more of damo if she gets the old waders on and joins him on the rock ledges). We quickly dropped down the path and headed onto our chosen mark. The others had just arrived too and there was no fish caught upto now.
First to catch was Mike who was fishing a little further along than us into a rather murky looking water with a bit of swell roilling in. The heavily coloured water clearly hadnt put the bass off and he soon landed a nice fish touching the 3 lb mark.
Then not long after Mike had a second of similar size. The rest of us continued for an hour or so with nothing to show for our efforts. Mike Damo and Mrs Damo waded off to another area leaving me and jay (Jay in wellies) on the now shallowing back scars. We fished on for another fruitless 30 minutes before being able to get to them and when we got there we hadnt missed anything at all.
More time passed and we watched another of Yorkshire coast’s most stunning sunsets. This one being fire red and reflecting off a rain shower in the western sky. Time passed and it was almost time to go. Damo announced it was his last cast and no sooner had he cast in than he was into a decent fish. A a scrap of a few minutes he landed the best bass of the night, a nice fish going 4lb on the scales.
So another night over. No fish for me but as always its a pleasure to be out there and Im certain my next bass is just around the corner. Lets hope its a big one.
July 17th, 2009
Ive had a couple of launches fishing around the piers and then last night at Sandsend. I watched tons of mackerel and Billet been caught from the west pier, however I seemed to struggle for numbers of fish partly due to drift speed. I think this is one occasion where being stuck on dry land would have been an advantage. I did have a short period anchored up down the side of the east pier and located a few flounder and eels. I then headed out to the pier ends and took some mackerel, a pollock and a few coalies, one on a float.
Total catch for the week included :
3 Commen Eels
2 Flounder
1 Pollock <3lb
1 Pollock > 6lb
2 Mackerel
1 Coalie on a float
July 16th, 2009
Today – 16th July 2009 saw roughly a dozen members of the Whitby fishing forum meet up at Sandsend for an evening kayak fishing. The match was on a north vs south format with the deviding line being cloughton near Scarborough. Anglers from north of the line formed the northen infadels team whilst those from the south were appropriately named the southern softies.
The match had been arranged by Iain Sellors from Scarborough. The idea was that the total weight for each team would be devided to give an average team weight. The winners would be the team with the heaviest avearge weight. Also there was an individual match with the winner being the captor of the heaviest single fish. Anglers were only allowed to target and bring back to the scales 3 species, these being Bass, cod and Pollack. The northern team were instantly put at an advantage when southern angler Dave Adamson declared he refused to land bass or Pollack. Also one of their team members – Buzz Lightyear set off 1 hour early so was instantly discounted from the fishing.
We launched from Sandsend at 6.30pm and headed to chosen marks in the area. Theoretically myself and Mike were at a bit of an advantage having been the only 2 anglers to have consistenly fished this area before. Howevere things dont always turn out as they are expected – Thats fishing I suppose. We both headed onto the south hard ground which is a mark known for good inshore cod fishing. But an hour passed with nothing so we went to plan 2 and headed inshore for some pollack fishing around the boiler scar – a place where I had a 9 pound pollack on the spinning rod last summer.
Once into our next location we jigged and used firetails etc for a short while, but again we had nothing. There was silence on the radio and most passing anglers confirmed they had never seen a fish all night. Then Dave Adamson passed and said he had located a shoal of school bass and had taken 5, returning them all.
My thoughts were that I would have a bash at them as the pollcak were not playing ball. So on went my Yozuri Crystal Minnow red head and I set off in search of bass. No sooner as I had started trolling the spinning rod went over and the ratchet was screeming. This first fish of the day felt a beauty but quickly found the bottem and was fast solid. I eventually managed to retrieve the plug but no fish.
Off I went again, this time I tightened the drag right on, no fish was going to the bottom, it was either land the fish or snap the rod. Minutes later over went the rod. I was into an even bigger fish. I quckly had it under my control, or so I thought, and then when it saw the kayak it let me know it wasnt happy and dived for the deep. I could see the fish was a nice pollack and then it dived again. This time it nearly dragged me off the flaming kayak. At one point the full rod was in the water including the reel. After a few more lunges I had the fish on the kayak, a nice pollack that was later to go some 7 pounds 5 ounces on the scales.
Well after that all went quiet. I trolled the area Dave had suggested for the bass but there was none to be found and the shoal must have moved on.
The weigh in was rather a poor afair with only a handful of fish coming to the scales. Ken Oliver from the softies team had proven he wasnt so soft after all and paddled all the way to Kettleness, he had to decent codlings to show for his efforts. Members of both teams had the odd bass each.
In the end my Pollock won the individuals competition and I was very please with that having taken the bass from an area I had caught several from last summer. Sadly our team lost the match though with the Southern softies just edging it.
So now our thoughts turn to the away leg which will be held at Scarborough Marine Drive as soon as the weathger allows.
Southern Softies
Quint 1lb 10oz
Andy(bigfat) 1lb 3oz
Ken 6lb 9oz
Ray 3lb 5oz
Marshy not weighed in
Spawney not weighed in
Northern Infedels
Glenn 7lb 5oz
Mike 1lb 10oz
Raymo 4lb 2oz
Dan 1lb 2oz
Sam not weighed in
Nick not weighed in
Ben not weighed in
Steve not weighed in
Damo not weighed in
Thus by my reckoning the Southern Softies averaged 2lb 1oz each and the Northern Infedels managed just 1lb 7oz each
Picture : Myself playing the winning Pollack 7lb 5 ounces
July 5th, 2009
Thirty Plus anglers fished the Filey Brigg Angling Society Summer kayak Fishing match. Anglers left the beach near the Filey Country Yaucht club at 9am this morning. The first 2 hours fishing were slow for most anglers with only a hand full of fish falling to a few people fishing bait. However Ray Maddison used all his knowledge and Quints crab to scoop some good fish upto 6 pounds from the Brigg end. When Ray passed me mid morning I think he had about 40lb of good sized cod in his bag.
Around 11 am the tide came through and the kayaks started drifting, and this is when the real action began. New Yacker located a steady supply of fish and then his third one of the day turned out to be a rather special cod that went almost 11 pounds. I quickly changed tactics from bait fishing to jigging and was instantly rewarded with my first double figure cod from thr kayak, a fish that went 10 pounds 1 ounces on the scales. On the next drift, Newyacker found another decent fish of about 9lbs.
As the day drifted on the tide became rather strong and we all started fishing further down the brigg to try locate a few more fish. As I passed Ben Q he informed me he had had a nice fish pushing 13-14lb. From this point onwards I didnt see much more caught and as the wind picked up from the south east I saw many of the kayaks heading for home about 2pm. After a couple more drifts myself and Mike headed for the shore.
Back at the weigh in it soon became apparent that BenQ’s recent purple patch had continued. His fish had won the match and the £500 first prize. (Weights to follow later). New Yacker came in second with a nice cod over 10lbs and I managed third with another double of 10lb 1 ounces.
The weigh in was followed by a barbecue and a refreshing can of lager each. As always the lads from Filey club were the perfect hosts, not only did they supply the safety boats, the lads turned out early to sell the entry tickets, they also cooked the food on the barbecue. I think Ive said this before but these lads are second to none, they know how to arrange a match and make it a success. In my opinion its likeley this is one of the best fishing clubs in the country and others should look to them as a role model if seeking to make more of thier own local fishing clubs. Also we must not forget Quint who coordinated the whole event, getting prizes and making it all possible.
So another great day was had by those who turned out. Those of you who wernt there dont know what you missed. The fishing was good, and as always it was nice to see familiar faces. My thanks go to Iain Sellors for making it a great day and of course to the lads at Filey Fishing Club who as always, went out of the way to make us feel welcome on thier patch. Last but not least a very big well done to Benq who just cant seem to put a foot wrong at the moment.
Above : Me with my first ever 10 pounder from a kayak
Above : Newyacker Niel winding in his 10 pound cod
Above : Dan And Damo On The Burgers – How do they stay slim ??
Above : Match organiser Iain Sellors chilling out after the match.
