A cracking Three Pounder

A window in the weather presented itself yesterday evening, after a couple of days of quite windy and showery conditions, things settled enough for us to get a few hours in on the Kayaks again. The evening was overcast, quite humid, and almost no wind at all. I suggested that We try a spot that We would normally fish by wadeing, but using the Yaks would allow us to remain in place during the whole flood Tide, instead of having to retreat like We normally would due to the deepening water. Choosing to anchor up around 100yds from shore and sitting sideways on the Kayaks with our feet hanging over the side, It wasn't long before We were into the first fish of the evening, What was immediately apparent was that there was a better average stamp of fish around this evening, most of the Bass were in the pound to pound and a half bracket and gave superb accounts of themselves on Fly tackle, in the clear water beneath the boats, a wonderful sight, I can tell you! About an hour into the session I struck into what was obviously a better fish, that fought really hard for a few minutes, and gave Me a thrilling few moments before revealing itself on the surface to be a fish of around Three pounds! After a few quick pictures the fish was returned and swam away strongly. I ended up with around a dozen fish for the evening, all over a pound and up to the three pound mark, and my friend also took several fish to around two pounds, so all in all a good evening and well worth launching the Kayaks for.

I'd like to say a big well done to My friends from the Sea Fishing.org Forum, who are all based around the Portsmouth, Hayling area, on having a Red Letter day this weekend just gone. Bassfly, Mulletfly, and Scierra experienced a fantastic days sport taking a large number of Bass and Mackerel on the Fly, whilst fishing from a boat. I know It's been a slow start to the season for these guys compared to over here so it's a well deserved result for a nice bunch of people, well done again guys!

Conversely things have gone a bit quiet over here at the moment, a couple of trips out have produced very little, probably due to the Ebb tides and Easterly winds we have yet again been getting the last few days, not the best combination. I was unfortunately unable to venture out on the day the lads had their Red Letter day, (which was a scorcher, and for once the winds weren't Easterly!), when obviously the fish were going nuts!

Tides later this week are coming good for some evening flood sessions though, so providing the Weather plays along and the wind is cooperative we should be able to get amongst the fish again and at one of My favourite venues, fingers crossed!

Faced with a period of Ebb Tides it was decided that We would launch the Kayaks for a midweek evening session. A bit of exploration was also in order, so rather than head for one of our usual spots, we paddled a bit further on from a known productive spot to investigate a little fished area, pretty much inaccessible from the shore. The winds that evening were North Westerly and pushing onshore, quite gentle and dropping as the evening wore on. It wasn't long before I spotted some Fish hitting the surface, so I quickly cast a Dexter Wedge into the area and sure enough within a couple of casts a nice Schoolie of around 3/4lb grabbed the lure. My companion for the evening also hooked up quite quickly landing a fiesty Mackerel. It was clear that there were a number of Fish around and so I settled down to drift fish a spot where the fish seemed to be breaking surface regularly. The bites were not really forthcoming on the Dexter so I switched to the Fly, ( a small Clouser Minnow on a size six hook ), for a slower retrieve, and of course some better sport on the softer rod. The switch worked a treat and I began catching Immediately. A mixture of Pollock and some nice hard fighting Schoolies up to around a pound provided me with some great sport in the ebbing Tide. All too soon the water slackened off with low water and so did the bites. With not much light left we paddled back to shore happy with the evenings sport.

The Month in Summary : May

May has been a mixed bag weather wise, Winds have been predominantly Easterly, and quite brisk at times, only changing direction briefly allowing comfortable casting with the Fly at the Venues we have been fishing. It's been a mostly dry month and We have seen the first 20 plus degree temperatures in the latter half of the month which has kick started the Bass fishing season, witnessing the first proper Blitz's of the year, and the first signs of huge shoals of tiny Baitfish and Fry. I wouldn't say the Fishing has been consistent, it's actually been quite patchy, but between us My friend and I have managed close to 100 fish, including, Bass, Pollock, and Mackerel, With a few better Bass in amongst that lot to 4lb. Not a bad start really, as I know that some of My Fellow Swffer's across the water in 'England' (!) have struggled to get amongst any numbers of Fish, so I count Myself very fortunate. The best results have been during the hottest brightest days, no surprise there really, with cooler duller days being more patchy numbers wise. The Fish seem to respond very quickly to the changes in the weather, at this time of year, or, more likely, the changes in air pressure, which proves nothing can be taken for granted, and that it isn't guaranteed that once they arrive they will be there every time we go Fishing. Of course you always hope they are! but it isn't the nature of the game, especially this early in the season. The Fishing should become more consistent, of course with time, and warmth penetrating the Ocean from the sun's rays, the warmer it gets the more the Fry will swell inshore and the Bass will be behind them, it's then just a matter of finding exactly where all this is happening at any given time! Some places last season the Fish were pretty much resident all summer long, providing very reliable sport, other spots were much more flash in the pan and timing was crucial to finding any numbers of Fish there and catching them, as well as a large slice of luck! Being able to read the conditions and having a pretty good idea where to head for at any given time is still a developing skill, but it isn't often that We don't present ourselves with a fair chance of some Fish.

This week We are presented with some quite unhelpful Tides, as We can only fish for a few hours on an evening We have to more or less take whatever is on offer if We want to go Fishing, and for the next few days We are faced with Ebb tides again, not a great start to June but some warmer, settled weather is forecast again so maybe we'll get lucky, if not it'll be fun trying!

It's been a very quiet week after last weeks flurry of activity! To begin with, the winds for the early part of the week were Easterly again, which cooled the weather a little, but temperatures were still in the upper 'teens' for the most part. The Tides have been a bit 'in between' , and by that I mean neither high or low Tide has coincided with late evening or dusk which are My favoured times and seems to bring the best results. We did have one evening where We managed to find some Fish, a mark that has been on our list of places to spend a bit more time investigating, but unfortunately The 'spot' was already occupied by two Anglers, but despite there being numbers of Fish present, they failed to capitalise on the opportunity in front of them. We just had to watch as the Bass continuously hit the surface, unable to position ourselves to be able to Fish for them effectively. Next time...

The Bank Holiday weekend isn't forecast to be great weather wise, certainly not for Fishing anyway! Windy with showers is how it's looking, but the early part of next week it looks like the winds could be calming down a bit, enough to get the Fly rod out again hopefully, though they may possibly still be of an Easterly orientation. I just hope the month of June really takes us into Summer proper, with some hot calm days to bring the Fish back inshore again in numbers. So much to do, so little time!

First Kayak caught Fish

I'm very pleased to report our first Kayak caught Fish today! Amongst the Fish caught were Bass, (including a handsome 4lb'er to my friend), Pollock and Mackerel, Some of which came to Lures and some to Fly.


It's nice to be actually using the Kayaks as a Fishing platform at last as opposed to just paddling around in them. It's easy to get carried away and end up paddling for miles when there is really no need to! We are beginning to use them as they were first intended; to enable us to reach previously unreachable areas, plus allow us to stay in productive spots later into the Tide than wading would have allowed. Rationalising the way we use the Kayaks paid off today and proved a point, and their worth as Fishing tools, because thats what they are, tools to do a job, a means to an end. Another piece of Tackle to help us Fish more efficiently and provide an advantage in difficult or tricky situations.

Upon our return visit this evening, to the same venue, this time with the Fly gear, we were greeted with the wonderful sight of the years first Bass Blitz. Gulls were excitedly flapping about and diving over the top of the area joining in the free for all. Many of the fish were just out of reach of our casts but a few came within range of our Flies and several Fish were landed to around a pound and a half. As the tide Ebbed and the Fish moved out of range altogether, we followed it out over the top of the feature, treading very carefully and only advancing forward as the water shallowed up and we could easily make out the bottom in the clear water. It was a lovely evening following the warm overcast muggy day, the sun put in an appearance and so did some more Fish including Bass and Pollock again, all super sport on the Fly rods!

You can just make out the Gulls sitting over the Fish in this Picture