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Sudbrook, April 1st 2006, evening high tide
Elpez2k and the Codfather took the short trip up the m4 to divers rock in Sudbrook. The wind
was high but fortunatley the rain was holding off. Big tide on this occasion around the 14 metre mark. The lads took lug,squid
and peeler crab as bait.
Soon after casting it was apparent that it wasn't going to be a memorable night. Both Elpez2k
and the codfather lost tackle due to the rip the tide was causing.
This was quickly followed by a heavy down pour. The tide was causing havoc for the lads
so casts were kept short up untill high tide.
Around the high tide mark the Codfathers pilkmaster started going like the clappers. He wound
in to find a codling of around 12oz on the end. The look of joy on his face was like that of a small boy on christmas
morning.
As the tide changed to ebb the wind died and the furious rip dropped and gave the lads
chance of half hours normal fishing. A few bites but no fish making the Codfather the only catcher of the night, and
leaving Elpez2k looking like the April fool.
The Codfather - 1 Codling
Elpez2k - Blanked
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Penarth Promanade, April 5th 2006, 4 hours before high tide
Elpez2k, shane B and the SWFF's newest member Tackle tart fished Penarth front just to the
left of the pier. Excellent conditions and by far the most comfortable nights fishing this year so far.
The lads set up around 7.45pm and within 10 mins the Tackle tart opened his SWFF account by
pulling in a codling of 10 oz. Elpez2k landed a small codling of around 4 oz soon after and Shane B had a codling and
whiting on the same rig within an hour.
By the 10pm mark the fishing was not going to plan the odd bite for all concerned but no fish,
things were looking grim. The weather being a bonus the lads fished on anyhow.
Coming up to high tide the bites started to increase and around midnight Elpez2k pulled in
a codling of around 8 oz. Just as the lads decided to call it a night Shane B pulled in another codling around 8
oz. Bait used Squid, Lug and mackerel.
Shane B - 2 codling, 1 whiting
Elpez2k - 2 codling
Tackle Tart - 1 codling
Sudbrook beach, April 9th 2006, afternoon
high tide
Elpez2k finaly managed to drag the master of disaster "BIG E" out to try and open
his account for 2006. Off to Sudbrook beach elpez2k armed with ragworm and squid, Big E armed with more packets of space raiders
than your local Spar.
The lads set up next to the pumping station around 3.30pm within 5 minutes of casting
it was obvious that it wasnt gonna work here as the rods went crashing over with the tidal rip. Tackle was uprooted and a
new spot around 150 yards further down was tried.
The bend on the rod tips was still very strong and a 2nd move to a spot fished
by elpez2k before was on the cards. As the lads were reeling in to move Big E pulled in a codling of around 8 - 10oz!
some how the big man had managed to open his account for the year using a lump of squid mounted on an old tangled bomber rig
that hadn't seen light of day since september last year! The big man was chuffed and promptly opened his 2nd packet of space
raiders to celebrate.
Coming up to high tide and with the boys back in a familiar spot, the weather decided
to start playing games. Wind followed rain followed hail followed Sunshine, but still the boys fished on. Elpez2k finaly got
a bite just after high tide and pulled in possibly the smallest codling this year. Big E opened his 3rd bag of space
raiders in celebration.
An hour past with very little action, and with Big E starting to worry about the
space raider stocks the boys decided to call it a day. Big E opened his last pack in celebration. As the boys were about to
head up the beach Big E took a stunt like tumble landing flat on his back, he laid there for a few moments looking like a
wounded turtle with his backpack on.. When elpez2k questioned his strange diving tactics the big man revealed a packet of
emergency choclate covered malted milk in his front pocket. " Didnt wanna squash em" was his reply.
Big E - 1 codling
Elpez2k - 1 codling
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St Brides sea wall, April 12th 2006, evening high tide
In comemoration of Gaz407's 12lb cod 2 years ago to the day, four members went back to try
there luck at the same spot ( about 2 mins walk left from the lighthouse pub). The lads arrived around 5.30 to find many
other anglers along the same stretch. With a moderate westerly wind and some rough seas everything was in place for another
classic night.
Within 10 minutes of casting Shane B confirmed there were fish present by pulling in a codling
of around 10-12oz. He quickly follwed this with another slightly smaller in size. Elpez2k joined in the fun soon after landing
his 1st codling around 8-10oz. BTF opened his account for the night shortly after with his 1st around 8oz. All were being
caught at under 40 yards close to the rocky bottom of the sea wall.
An hour before high tide And Shane B had pulled in another 2 codling, Elpez2k managed to bring
in his 2nd of the night quickly follwed by BTF landing his 2nd. Gaz407 tried in desperation to claim it "I put the bait on
and cast it" was the cry. BTF was having none of it .
High tide and Shane B pulled in the 1st silver eel of the year around a pound in weight, follwed
by yet another codling soon after. Gaz407 was starting to worry was he to recieve to dreaded blanking "dines" in the morning?
Just to add insult BTF landed another codling around the 1lb mark.
Into the ebb and a few more codling yet another for Shane B and finaly when all seemed
lost Gaz407 managed to land his 1st codling of the evening around 12oz in weight. Good night had by all no 12lber's but
quite a few fish, and another good whipping for Gaz407 by his boy!
Shane B- 6 codling, 1 silver eel
BTF - 3 codling
Elpez2k - 2 codling
Gaz407 - 1 codling
Cold Knap, 17th April 2006, night high tide
Shane B and Elpezk took the 45minute trip to Cold Knap, after good reports of rays
and dogfish showing further down the channel, the lads thought it time to try and kick off the summer campaign. Armed only
with 6 mackerel and a box of squid the lads arrived around 7.30 pm and quickly set up on the far right of the beach.
Weather conditions had a summer feel to them, just a slight westerly wind and a
very mild night made for comfortable fishing. Within 20 minutes of 1st cast Shane B hit into a fish he could not hide the
smile on his face, after a winter of nothing but undersize codling to feel some weight on the end of the rod was a delight.
He wound in to find his 1st dogfish of the year around 1.5lbs in wieght. Elpez2k followed suit around 5 minutes later pulling
in a dogfish of around 1lb.
Bites were coming thick and fast for Elpez2k a little slower for Shane B but still
plenty of action with an hour to go untill high tide. Elpez2k landed another 2 doggies biggest around 2lbs, 2 small
whiting and a pouting. Shane B also pulled in another 2 doggies around 1.5lb mark.
High tide came and the doggies wouldnt let up Elpez2k landed his 4 and 5th of the
night and Shane B pulled in number 4 all around 1- 1.5lb mark. An hour down and things started to slow down, Elpez2k landed
another small whiting and yet another doggie. Determined not to lose out in the "Dog wars" Shane B pulled in his 5th of the
night.
2 Hours down and after such a good nights fishing the boys decided to carry on
fishing untill the bait ran out and started follwing the tide down the beach.The fishing was starting to drop off now and
only 1 more fish was caught, yet another doggie aound the 2lb mark caught by yep you guessed it Shane B. 1.30 am
came and the lads packed up after a highly enjoyable nights fishing.
Elpez2k - 6 dogfish, 3 whiting, 1 pouting
Shane B - 6 dogfish
Ogmore "Cod gully" 21st April 2006, night high tide.
Biggest trip of the year for the SWFF eight members took a trip to ogmore-by-sea to fish "cods
gully". They were joined by 2 world sea fishing members Codeye joe and Rockling.
The boys got together in the main car park next to the lifeguard station at around 8pm where
we met Codeyejoe for the 1st time. Rockling had decided to go down to the mark early and after a quick phone call they were
back on the road in a long convoy heading for the mark. After driving all the way to Southerndown and several phone calls
it soon become evident they had missed the mark totaly and took the trip back to the main carpark where rockling was waiting
in a red suit not far from his silver Vauxhall Vectra. This is where it gets bizzare, Shane B was 1st to pull up and
quickly introduced himself to "Rockling" who was sat in the boot of his "Silver Vauxhall Vectra" wearing a red suit. Elpez2k
was next to pull up and promptly shook "Rockling" by the hand and introduced himself. Shane B a several other members
followed "Rockling" down the coastal path, while Elpez2k helped the human wrecking machine BIG E unload his gear. 2 minutes
later Elpez2k had a phone call from "Rockling" asking how far away we were??? After confirming the real Rocklings number plate
Elpez2k realised that the "Rockling" that Shane B and the other members had walked off with wasn't "Rockling" at all!!! A
quick phone call confirmed this to be true as Shane B told Elpez2k the guy they were following had run off looking behind
every 20 yards or so with a great deal of concern ( probably thought he was gonna get mugged by a bunch of nutters)!!!!!
Anyway down to the fishing, the boys were all split apart so exact times went out the window.
Lets just say from the 1st cast till the last the fish were flying in. Elpez2k, Big E Shane B, GI Joe ( a new member
and Shane b's cousin) were all fishing close to the estuary with Rockling (the real one of course), and were pulling
more doggies than the last day of crufts. Except for Big E he was busy loosing rigs, fish and his sense of balance.
Tezza, The Codfather, Gaz407, BTF and Codeye joe were all further over to the left but were
doing equally aswell with whiting and doggies being caught in large numbers.
An hour before high tide the fish were coming thick and fast, and things then turned intresting.
Tezza managed to become the 1st SWFF member to catch a ray only a small thornback but they all count. Rockling caught a awesome
bass 3.5lbs in weight and Big E finaly pulled in a fish on Elpez2k's rod while he was off taking piccys.
By high tide it was becoming hard work keeping count, more or less a fish a cast all the way
along. Big E finaly manged to pull in his 1st fish on his rod despite a damaged tailbone from falling over a 2nd
time. A phonecall from Gaz407 confirmed a large thornback Ray had been caught by Codeye Joe unfortunatley the weight was not
known but it was about 2 feet in width.
The Codfather and tezza called it a night around 1am quickly followed by Big E. The rest of
the boys fished on till around 2am. An awesome night's fishing in all with plenty of action, many thanks to Codeye for
coming along and Rockling for showing us the mark. On one final point congratulatons to Gaz407 for "opening a can of
whoop-ass on his boy BTF, finaly showing him "who's the daddy"!!
Gaz407 - 9 dogfish, 9 whiting, 1 pouting
Elpez2k - 14 Dogfish
The Codfather - 7 dogfish, 3 whiting, 1 turbot
BTF - 6 dogfish, 5 whiting
Shane B - 10 dogfish
GI Joe - 5 dogfish
Tezza - 3 dogfish, 1 thornback ray
Big e - 2 dogfish
Cold Knap, Saturday 29th April 2006, evening high tide
Elpez2k, the codfather and Silverback were joined by elpez2k's cousin lloydy and his
mate Tank to fish the 9pm high tide at cold knap. They arrived around 6pm to find the beach packed out to the left hand side
so the lads set up over to the far right.Perfect day for fishing with a slight westerly breeze and
the sun still shining when the boys were setting up.
Fishing started of really slow with hardly a knock for the 1st hour. Around 7ish came
the 1st fish, Elpez2k pulling in a doggie and a whiting on the same rig. 10 minutes later Lloydy landed his 1st ever fish
a doggie of around 1lb. Not long after this Tank managed to land his 1st ever sea fish, a small whiting of around 2oz.
Bites were few and far between with the Codfather and Silverback having very little action.
Elpez2k managed his 2nd doggie of the night on his 2nd bite of the night around 8pm.
High tide arrived and the number of bites did improve, the codfather managed to land his 1st
fish of the night yet another dogfish to add to the total. Elpez2k then pulled in his 3rd and largest doggie of the night
around 1.5lbs.
High tide came and went and by 10pm it was obvious it was not going to be as good a session
as hoped. The codfather brought in one rod and hoped that the pilkmaster could still deliver him one more fish. lloydy managed
to snap the reel seat of elpez2k's reel so that was another rod gone. 11pm and not even the mighty pilky was doing the job
so the boys packed up and headed for home. Not a great night but a few more fish to add to the total.
Elpez2k - 3 Dogfish, 1 whiting
Codfather - 1 Dogfish
Lloydy - 1 Dogfish
Tank - 1 Whiting
Silverback - Blanked
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