|
Ogmore, April 4th, High Tide 20.30 (13.4m), Light NE
Elpez2k
and Shane B saw the welcome return of The Codfather, CKK and The Dogmeister before he heads of to Iraq until November. The five SWFF members headed to Ogmore deeps for a nights quality fishing. Unfortunately when the
SWFF arrived the deeps were already spoken for as was much of the Ogmore coastline. The SWFF picked a spot not far from the
lawns hotel and quickly went about setting up. The weather was perfect and the evening sunshine made it feel almost like summer.
First casts hit the water around 7.30pm.
The
remaining hour of flood passed without incident, the lads sat back watching the sun go down hoping that it would signal a
change in the fishing. Elpez2k and Shane B were having trouble retrieving and had both lost a rig within the first hour. CKK
and The Dogfather were further over to the left and having less of an issue with the snags.
High
Water arrived and so did some action a series of bites spread along the ledge, but the first to land was CKK pulling in a
small whiting. Next up was Elpez2k landing a doggie around 20 minutes later. Bites were coming along for the other members
but as yet no fish. The rig loss did continue and both Elpez2k, Shane B and The Dogmeister lost another one each before putting
an end to the long distance casting.
Into
the ebb and The Codfather got himself on the board with a small whiting of around 4oz this was quickly followed by CKK
landing another slightly bigger in size. It was around 45 minutes before another fish was seen at it was The Dogmeister
who landed it, yet another small whiting of around 2-3oz. Elpez2k landed another whiting again small in the 2-4oz bracket.
Shane B looked on wondering if this was to be his first blank of the year.
11pm
and Elpez2k, Shane B and The Dogmeister moved from the ledges to the shingle beach below to try and avoid the snags and get
some more fish on the board. The Codfather managed his first dogfish of 2007 just before they moved and Shane B finally got
on the board with a brace of 5 bearded rockling the first the SWFF have seen this year. 11.30pm and the move to the beach paid off, no sooner had the lads moved than Elpez2k was
into his 2nd doggie of the night quickly followed by another. Shane B also managed a doggie not long after moving. CKK was
also having some luck pulling in his first dog of the night still up on the ledge with The Codfather.
Midnight and CKK
and The Codfather headed for home leaving the other lads to fish on. Elpez2k caught another whiting followed by another dogfish
in quick succession, his other rod was snagged in close but it would be long before he could get it back as the water was
now shifting at quite a pace. By 1am the move had really paid off,
Elpez2k and Shane B had caught a few more fish leaving poor old Dogmeister as the only member left on one fish. Elpez2k managed
to get his rig back to find another of his lost rigs attached to it, as he pulled it from the rock pool as strange looking
fish was attached to the other end. WEAVER! Screamed Elpez2k and started running around like an idiot. Using his special training
The Dogmeister threw a smoke grenade and dived for cover, this created a diversion and a chance for Shane B to take
a closer look at the fish by catching it by surprise and grabbing it in a headlock. On closer examination it was a tompot
blenny.
1.30am
and the clean sand started to appear, the lads had found most of the lost rigs and unhooked the dogfish attached to them.
If the tide had taken the sea away there’s a possibility the 3 of them would still be fishing there now, but all
good things must come to an end and the lads packed up around 1.45pm
and headed for home.
The
Dogmeister must now go put his blenny diverting tactics to good use in Iraq and if we don’t see him again before he goes the rest of the SWFF wish you all the best and look
forward to seeing you just in time for the cod season...
Elpez2k
- 7 dogfish, 3 whiting, 1 tompot blenny
Shane
B - 2 dogfish, 2 rockling (5), 1 whiting
CKK
- 2 whiting, 1 dogfish
The
Codfather - 1 dogfish, 1 whiting
The
Dogmeister - 1 whiting
Ogmore Beach, Fri 6th Apr, High Tide 20.30 (12.9m) Light E
Elpez2k and
CKK headed back to Ogmore only a few days after their last trip there. The lads arrived at Ogmore around 8.00pm,
the lads were hoping to fish Cod gulley but Ogmore was packed out with Anglers on this Good Friday. Elpez2k and CKK took a
walk towards the "deeps" looking for rock marks to fish from. Every conceivable rock ledge and spare stretch of beach had
anglers strewn across it. In the end the lads opted for the small shingle beach opposite the car park, it was relatively quiet
and an easy nights fishing.
The lads quickly
set up and first casts hit the water around high tide. The sun had just gone down and conditions were that of a summers evening.
The fishing kicked of quickly, within 10 minutes Elpez2k pulled in a dogfish and whiting on the same rig. This was quickly
followed by another dogfish, three fish in three casts. Elpez2k was getting excited thinking a busy night was on the
cards.
9pm and Wanner and Mark turned up
to join in the nights proceedings, to celebrate their arrival CKK pulled in his first dogfish of the night. By the time Wanner
and Mark had set up their gear the tide was starting to drop and the bites were starting to dry up. Mark did manage a dogfish
within the first half hour of arriving, but the rest of the hour past quietly.
10pm and the
lads started to follow the tide down the beach, there was the odd small knock to keep the lads amused but no fish until around
10.30pm when Elpez2k and CKK managed another doggie each within 10 minutes of each other. Mark started giving Wanner some
grief "looks like sardines on the menu" he chuckled. You could see the terror and humiliation in Wanner's face and he quickly
doubled his efforts.
11pm and some of the other anglers
were packing up, the lads had moved again to keep up with the tide. The fishing had dropped right off and the lads sat and
chilled not paying much attention to the rods, except for Wanner and finally his chance come. After a typical doggie bite
he struck and wound in his first of the night. By 11.30pm he had
managed another and started giving Mark some shit “how many you caught tonight bro"?
Midnight and the lads hit the flat
sand of Ogmore, as the lads were discussing whether to head for home Mark managed another dogfish and Elpez2k a small pouting.
With that the lads packed up, the water was moving so fast it didn't seem worth trying to fish any longer. No pics for this
trip sorry, took the camera but the battery was flat!
Elpez2k - 3
dogfish, 1 whiting, 1 pouting
CKK - 2 dogfish
Wanner - 2 dogfish
Ogmore Deeps, Tues 10th Apr, High Tide 23.20 (10.4m) Light E
This is taking
the piss now but the SWFF headed out to Ogmore again, this time to fish the deeps from low to high. Elpez2k and CKK were joined
by BTF and Gaz407 for only their 3rd trip of the year. The weather has been brilliant for the last week or so, and yet again
the lads could head out without the thermals and enjoy a night’s comfortable fishing. All concerned arrived just
after 8pm and took the walk down to the ledges, there were a few others fishing along the deeps and the lads were forced
to fish a ledge that saw heavy tackle loss for Elpez2k and CKK last year. To combat this they headed to the far right of the
ledge and hoped for the best.
The lads started
fishing around 9pm and the bites started pretty quickly, first into a fish was Gaz407 bringing in a nice doggie.
Elpez2k followed shortly after with a smaller dogfish. BTF wasn't far behind with his first dogfish leaving CKK to get off
the mark. Elpez2k and CKK were having a few snagging issues so Elpez2k moved to the left of Gaz407 to look for cleaner ground.
CKK stayed put and concentrated on fishing the gulley to his right. It wasn't long before this paid off as he quickly landed
a couple of dogfish and whiting.
By 10pm the fish were coming out thick and fast for CKK, the other lads were lagging behind
but still enjoying an active night. Gaz407 and BTF were locked in a "father and son" fishing contest with constant banter
being blasted back and forth. CKK pulled in a whiting that had been attacked by a conger on the way in, he had felt the evil
eel have a go but didn't manage to get a glimpse of it. Elpez2k was fishing at half steam, the gruelling fishing schedule
and constant grafting in work was taking its toll. Still he fished on managing to catch a whiting to add to his small number
of dogfish for the evening.
High tide and
CKK was into double figures for the evening, the battle raged on between Gaz407 and BTF with them both locked on 4 dogfish.
There were some really good sized dogfish showing wit lots being 2lb+, some of the whiting were also of a good stamp with
both Elpez2k and CKK bringing in nice sized fish.
Midnight and Elpez2k and CKK decided
to head for home, BTF and Gaz407 were still battling it out with Gaz407 being ahead by one dogfish. All of a sudden he had
a good bite that turned into a battle with a much larger fish than the dogs he had dealt with all night. After a good scrap
he pulled a nice conger to the surface, Elpez2k, CKK and BTF all done their part in helping to hand line the evil eel up to
the ledge. Safely ashore Gaz407 could celebrate and really give his youngling a good ribbing. CKK grabbed the beastie with
"the glove" and Elpez2k unhooked the fish. Now as its been mentioned before Gaz407 has a bit of a phobia of holding fish and
it took some encouragement from the other lads to get him to hold it up for a picture. Eventually with the aid of "the glove"
he did so, the fish was then weighed (8lb in the landing net) and then released but not before coughing up a whole whiting
of around 4oz.
As Elpez2k and
CKK finished packing up Gaz407 and BTF had one last cast resulting in another dogfish for Gaz407 to put some distance between
himself and his offspring on the night and drag his total for the year to equal. Just to top it off he set the standard for
the SWFF members by landing the years biggest fish to date, a good night for CKK also landing 15 fish in one session.
CKK - 11 dogfish, 5 whiting
Gaz407 - 7 dogfish, 1 conger eel
Elpez2k - 5 dogfish, 1 whiting
BTF - 5 dogfish
Cold Knap, Wed 18th April, High Tide 20.30 (15.8m) Mild S/SW
The SWFF headed
to Cold Knap to fish one of the biggest tides of the year. Shane B, Elpez2k, Wanner and his bro Mark were joined by BIG E
out for his first trip of the year. Now the thought of fishing between BIG E and Wanner is scary to say the least, but Wanner
has managed to stay on his feet for at least 5 trips now and BIG E was armed with copious amounts of flaming hot Monster Munch
and Lion bars so at least the bait was safe. The lads reached Cold Knap around 7pm to find it relatively quiet; they set up around the centre of the
beach and encountered their first problem. Wanner and Mark had forgotten their bait and had to make a quick dash to Morrison’s
for some mackie, the other lads had struggled to get bait themselves and only had a limited amount between them.
Elpez2k, Shane
B and BIG E started fishing around 7.20pm; the weather was good although
the wind was helping to keep it feeling fresh. The other anglers on the beach were landing the odd dogfish and the lad’s
hopes were high. Wanner and Mark made it back before any fish had been caught by the other SWFF members and by 8pm all the lads were fishing. Around this time the 2nd crisis of the night occurred as
BIG E realised he had left his Lion bar in the Bongo. Although the van was only around 200 yards away he just couldn't face
the walk and instead went about starting the bbq, "hot dogs for tea boys".
High water and
at last some fish, Shane B was first to strike landing a small pouting on the light gear. Elpez2k followed shortly with a
dogfish just over the 1lb mark. Wanner and Mark were having no luck, BIG E didn't care he was cooking sausages. Shane B continued
his good form by landing his 2nd fish of the night within 5 minutes of his first. After a good bite on the beach caster he
reeled in his first plaice of the year and another new species for the SWFF, the fish was photographed and released. Just
before 9pm and Mark landed his first fish of the night, another dogfish of
around 1-15lb.
9pm and the SWFF chowed down on some
hotdogs, Wanner and BIG E were looking concerned a fish for either one would land the other with the "dines". Shane B meanwhile
was taking the piss; he added a whiting and dogfish to his personal Cold Knap species hunt. BIG E couldn't resist the calling
of the Lion bar anymore, despite 2 hotdogs and 27 packets of Monster Munch he headed for the van.
10pm and Elpez2k landed his second
doggie of the night, Shane B added to his tally with another pouting and whiting on the light gear. Wanner finally opened
his account with a nice dogfish close to 1.5lb leaving BIG E on for the "dines." The bigman started a small fire to keep warm
and then started some sort of weird smoke signal/chant combo that resulted in a clonking bite. Despite a quick strike BIG
E reeled in to find nothing attached to his rig, "you promised me I’d catch a fish, if I don't I’m snapping
my rod and giving this shit up" he ranted at Elpez2k.
11pm and BIG E was loosing his will
to live, fishless and foodless he thought about packing up. Elpez2k pushed him to make a move down the beach after the tide
with the rest of the lads for one more cast. Wanner landed another doggie to make his tally 2 for the night. Shane B also
managed another doggie to make it a brace for the night. As midnight
approached it was looking hopeless for BIG E, the other lads were getting the odd knock but he was having no such luck. Although
he wanted to go back to the van to lick the Monster Munch crumbs from the Bongo carpets, Elpez2k managed one more cast from
him. As the bigmans fire reduced to its last embers his rod bent towards the ground with a monster bite before going
like the clappers. The bigman reeled in to find the biggest dogfish of the night attached, around 1.5lb in weight. BIG E rejoiced
" I caught a f***ing SANDFISH" The excitement gave BIG E a boost of energy and motivation only ever seen in him after a king-size
Mars bar.
Midnight and as the lads packed up
one more fish was landed by Elpez2k, yet another doggie to take his tally to 3 for the night. The SWFF retired and headed
for home, both Wanner and BIG E had managed to stay on there feet. Most important of all no one had blanked and BIG E’s
fishing career continues for one more trip at least...
Shane B - 2
dogfish, 2 whiting, 2 pouting, 1 plaice
Elpez2k - 3
dogfish
Wanner - 2 dogfish
Mark - 1 dogfish
BIG E - 1 dogfish
Friars Point, Fri 20th April, High Tide 21.51 (15.2m) Light SW
Elpez2k and
CKK headed to Friars point to target some new species for their stats in the form of ray and conger. The lads left later than
planned and by the time they had reached Friars and set up it was 9pm. The lads had set up around half way along the point and the conditions
meant they were in for a comfortable nights fishing.
It didn't take
long for the bites to start and Elpez2k was the first to strike at a fish, unfortunately he missed the connection and reeled
in to find nothing. Next cast he had an almighty over run which took a chunk of time to untangle. Meanwhile CKK had managed
to land his first fish of the night in the form of nice sized dogfish.
High tide and
Elpez2k was having no luck, after untangling his birdie he was subjected to a couple of snags causing him to lose a pair of
rigs. CKK was having a far more productive night another dogfish for the stats and several knocks had kept him on his toes.
Around 10.30pm and Elpez2k finally got his act together landing a scrawny dogfish
to kick start his evenings stats.
Into the ebb
and CKK made it 3 dogs for the night with another good sized fish, Elpez2k missed a clonker of a bite on whole herring bait.
Things dropped off for both members around 1 hour down and the lads chatted to a local angler for a while to pass the time.
With midnight fast approaching and the water dropping fast CKK had just enough time to land fish number 4, this time it was
a pouting his first of the year. No pics sorry as the lads couldn't be arsed to take any.
CKK - 3 dogfish,
1 pouting
Elpez2k - 1
dogfish
Ogmore Deeps, Wed 25th April, Low tide 20.00 (7.9m) Mild SW
The
SWFF headed to Ogmore deeps again to fish from low tide to high. Shock horror as Elpez2k, Shane B and CKK were joined by BIG
E! Two trips in a month, wonders will never cease. The lads arrived around 8pm and took the walk down to the ledges; BIG E was looking like a pack
mule with a huge array of snacks to keep his energy up. The lads set up in the same spot that had proved so productive for
Shane B& co a few weeks earlier.
The
night didn't start well, the wind was up and the swell was looking a little dodgy. BIG E had forgotten his smokes and had
to take the long walk back up the hill to retrieve them, but not before opening a monster ham and egg roll. The roll was big
enough to make a two man kayak out of and even the bigman took a while to munch his way through it. By 10pm he had finished his starters and was en route to the van for his smokes. The lads fished
on in his absence but nothing was tempting the fish through the rough surf.
10.30pm
and at last a fish, Elpez2k saw a bite through the wind and surf and struck to wind in a nice whiting of around 8oz. Not long
after and BIG E returned and immediately opened a Pepperami to build his energy levels back up. The sight of a fish gave the
lads new found enthusiasm and for the next half hour or so the SWFF pushed hard to add some more fish to the stats. Just before
11pm and Shane B managed his first fish of the night again he seen the
bite through the wind and struck to reel in a codling of around 8-10oz to save himself a blank.
With
the water flooding the surf was getting more and more dangerous, this worried BIG E so he opened a tube of Texas BBQ Pringles
to comfort himself. This gave the lads the chance to put the bigman on the spot and see if he could beat CKK's record of 19
stacked Pringles in one mouthful. BIG E rose to the challenge like the true junk food super hero he is and immediately went
for 20. The bigman started the challenge well, but as the Texas
20 entered the holiest of holes you could see the pain on his face. As he finally closed his gob around them tears ran down
his face, small particles of Pringle were being projected everywhere like shrapnel from a bomb. By the time the bigman had
eaten them at least one had left his mouth in glass like shards so the lads decided to call it a draw.
Oh
yeh back to the fishing, well there was none no more bites and no more fish. Both CKK and BIG E ended up on a blank but at
least neither of them left with the dines...
Elpez2k
- 1 whiting
Shane
B - 1 codling
CKK
- Blanked
BIG
E - Blanked
Caswell Bay, Sun 29th April, High Tide 17.50 (11.1m) Mild E
Elpez2k and
Wanner took the first SWFF trip of the year to Caswell bay in Swansea. Elpez2k had took a sneaky trip here on his own around a fortnight
ago and it had thrown up a few turbot. With this in mind the lads headed for the ledges hoping to add a few flatties to the
stats. The lads left for later than planned and it was 5pm by the
time they had reached Caswell car park. They took the short walk up to the ledges and set up in the only good fishable spot
there is. The weather was awesome; April has provided summer like weather nearly all month and today was no different. By
the time first casts were unleashed it was half hour before high tide.
High tide arrived
before any action started, then as Elpez2k reeled in to change bait he felt a resistance. As the rig broke the water he could
see his first SWFF turbot of the year attached. The fish was only around 4oz but a new species it was and a nice way to mark
his 25th trip of the year. Wanner wasn't far behind him 15 minutes later and he had his first turbot of the year on the board
again not huge but big enough to bring a smile to his Bettws chops.
Into the ebb
and the fishing picked up, another single turbot for Elpez2k again quickly followed by Wanner this time though it was a double
hit of nice sized turbot. Elpez2k declared "turbot wars" on Wanner and for the next half hour the lads went at it hammer and
tongs. Elpez2k managed a double hit to take his tally to four and Wanner pulled another in to equal Elpez2k's number.
7pm and with the water dropping the
fishing slowed, the lads discussed packing up and heading off to another mark. With only around half hours fishing before
the ledge was unfishable they decided to fish on where they were. Elpez2k had another good bite but missed the fish and reeled
in to leave himself down to one rod. As the last of the water left the ledge the lads decided to pack up and Wanner reeled
in to find another double hit of turbot to take his tally to six and win turbot wars...
Wanner - 6 turbot
Elpez2k - 4
turbot
Click here to read the March reports
Click here to read May's reports
|
