Elpez2k, Shane B, BIG E and CKK headed down to Barry after a disastrous start to the evening. Wanner had been given the wrong time to meet, the meet up was late anyway and the venue had to be changed last minute. The lads opted for Friars as a few tidy fish had been landed recently and the thought of Cold Knap pebbles was too much to bear.

The lads reached Friars around 8pm to find it packed with anglers, the only spots left to fish were the end of the point and a small section facing the old harbour. To make matters worse a hungry seal was lurking waiting for any angler to offer a meal. In the end Shane B and CKK set up facing the harbour, while BIG E and Elpez2k set up at the end of the point. First casts hit the water around 8.30pm. Wanner turned up around 9.00pm with no fish caught at the point, and Shane B managing his first doggie of the night fishing towards the old harbour.

10pm Elpez2k and BIG E were having no luck at the point, just one good bite for BIG E. As an offering to the fish gods BIG E baited up some of his emergency Pepperami hoping it would bring him a fish. His stash of goodies was already looking low, his Monster munch were gone and his Minstrels were at critical level. This was the most unselfish move BIG E has ever made during his SWFF career and as the Pepperami flew into the distance attached to his rig a tear welled up in the bagman’s left eye. "If that’s sill on there when I reel it in I'm gonna eat it" said BIG E choking on his own tears...

Shane B and CKK were having a little more joy a few bites and 2 dogs on the board for Shane B. The weather had been a bonus so far, but the wind was now starting to pick up making it feel cold compared to recent days. 11pm and BIG E and Elpez2k had more or less given up hope BIG E reeled in to find the fish gods had not taken his offering of Pepperami and it was still there on the hook looking slightly paler and a bit manky. This was the final straw for the big man, how dare the fish gods turn it down. He took a bite in protest but decided against eating it all, as he had heard of several people going blind after swallowing brown fish caught in the area.

Midnight approached and Elpez2k and BIG E had sat there long enough, to pissed off to walk over to tell the lads Elpez2k phoned CKK and told him he was leaving before long. CKK couldn't believe it he and the others around him had hit a purple patch and were landing a few dogs. The lads fished on for around half hour before finally leaving. A tale of two marks which had left both BIG E and Elpez2k totally devoid of any faith in Friars Point. That’s 3 blanks at Friars for Elpez2k this year, will he go back? I doubt it...

Shane B - 6 dogfish

CKK - 3 dogfish

Wanner - 2 dogfish

Elpez2k - blanked

BIG E - blanked

The SWFF headed back to west Wales hoping that the fine weather of late would bring some good spinning action. The lads headed back to stackpole to fish one of the ledges Elpez2k had spotted when last there. The drive down seemed to take forever but the lads arrived around 8pm. The weather was perfect, for the first time this year a west Wales trip had some good weather to accompany it.

The lads reached the ledges around 8.20pm, the water around the ledge was lower than expected but after such a lengthy drive the lads were happy to stay and try their luck. Elpez2k and The Codfather opted for feathers and attacked the left hand end of the ledge, while Wanner and CKK tried plugs and spinners from the centre of the ledge and towards the cove on the right. After around 30 minutes The Codfather managed the first mackerel of 2007 on feathers. This gave the lads some hope the tide was flooding fast but there was only around an hour of light left.

9pm CKK had seen one or two fish showing interest in his surface lure but no takes. The Codfather had also seen a few fish hanging around the bottom of the rocks, but the light was fading fast. Elpez2k was tired of lofting out feathers and changed tactics dropping a light rig over the edge on a light rod. Within minutes the tip went crazy and Elpez2k soon had a corkwing wrasse of around 10oz to kick off the session. He lobbed another ragworm bait over the edge and was into his second fish in minutes, this one was a much better fight and Elpez2k was expecting a nice size wrasse unfortunately the fish came off on the retrieve.

The other lads unpacked the beach casters as the sun went down while Elpez2k and Wanner carried on getting the odd bite in close. By 10pm the action in close was gone as was the sun and the beach casters came into play. The water was now a good depth and the bites soon started showing. CKK landed 2 dogfish in quick succession much to his disappointment after traveling so far. Bites soon appeared for Elpez2k and The Codfather and they both landed their first dogfish of the night by 11pm.

The bites carried on as the lads fished towards midnight. CKK was landing lots of dogs although something monster had given him a shock as the rod went doubling over, but there was no connection with the culprit. Only Wanner was yet to land and he was looking nervous. The Codfather was first to break the dogfish mould, a clonking bite resulted in a monster battle, after a few minutes he had his first conger of the year on the ledge. The evil eel was weighed (3lb) and released to fight another day.

Midnight arrived and Wanner finally landed a dog fish to escape the "dines" and save his pride. CKK was still landing dogs and Elpez2k was now landing more as the lads were forced to use mackerel and squid baits. With no crab left the thought of hounds and the bigger fish drifted away until Elpez2k hit into a fish that got the blood pumping. He brought the fish to the base of the rocks, but as the winch up began the rod devoloped a critical bend and Elpez2k was forced to call for help. Wanner rushed to his aid and began to handline the fish up. As the shockleader knot appeared over the ledge the fish came off, leaving the lads with no idea of what it was.

1am and the lads fished on hoping for a surprise fish to make the trip worth while, the spider crabs were now playing games and CKK had landed 2 while Elpez2k had lost a hook length to the ugly red sea demons. Wanner had managed a brace of dogs as had The Codfather who was now slowing things down with only one rod in play. As 2am approached the lads started to pack up slowly with the odd dogfish still being caught. If every fish had been landed in this session than almost all the lads would have been in double figures but the amount that had come off on the retrieve was ridiculous. The dogs were unusually small except for one or two good 2lber's landed by CKK and The Codfather. By 3am the lads were back at the car facing a long drive with not much to show, still a good night and still nowhere quite like west Wales to fish.

The SWFF headed back West to try a mark Shane B and Elpez2k had been keeping a close eye on for sometime. As usual things didn't quite go to plan and the lads ended up reaching west Wales later than planned. A stop at Manorbier prooved that any mark facing west would be un fishable in these wind conditions, so despite the late arrival the lads pushed on to Stackpole quay car park to take the longish walk to Barafundle bay.

Elpez2k, Shane B, The Codfather and Wanner arrived at the lattice window ledges around 7.30pm and quickly went about setting up. The tide was on the flood which was good news as there wasn't a great depth of water at their feet. The lads opted for different methods, Shane B went straight to the beach casters, The Codfather went on the hunt for mackie using feathers and Wanner and Elpez2k set up the light tackle to fish close in.

8pm and the lads had set up and Elpez2k was the first to strike bringing in a small blenny after only 2 minutes in the water. There were plenty of small fish in close to catch on the light gear. Shane B and The Codfather weren’t fairing so well, no bites for Shane B on the beach casters and no takes on the feathers for The Codfather. As 9pm approached Elpez2k lost his first rig in the dense kelp close to the ledges and swapped to a float outfit as did The Codfather/

9pm and a good take on the float had seen Elpez2k lose a good fish as it darted straight for the kelp, The Codfather had also suffered a similar fate. Shane B had managed his first fish of the night a small ballan wrasse caught close in on light tackle. Wanner finally got on the board with the SWFF's first silver eel of the year caught on the light gear again. This was a relief for old Wanner as he had lost a couple of fish close in and had the feeling he was in for another bad night down west.

10pm approached and as the light faded the fish started feeding and the beach casters came into play. It was a similar story to Stackpole ledges, hoards of hungry dogfish were making their presence known and the lads had to cast bigger baits to try and avoid them. As 11pm approached most of the lads had at least one dogfish on the board, Elpez2k and Shane B were on full scale fish mode and were already around half a dozen doggies. As the last of the light faded The Codfather finally opened his account. After a good bite he struck into a real good fight that saw Wanners and Elpez2k's rod get involved in the action as the fish made a dart for freedom. Finally the fish broke the surface at first the lads thought it was a tope, but as Shane B pulled the fish from the clear blue sea it became obvious it was The Codfathers 3rd smooth hound of the year This one around 3lb in weight. The fish was quickly photographed and released. Meanwhile Wanners night was also picking up; a pollack on the light gear was quickly followed by a good scrap which ended up with a 7-8lb conger surfacing at his feet. As Wanner pulled the fish up to the ledge on the light rod the line gave way and the fish fell back to the sea before he managed to get his hands on it, sorry Wanner but no touchy no fishy...

Midnight approached and Elpez2k and Shane B were still battling with the dogfish, The Codfather had also landed a couple as had Wanner. Then finally the fish the SWFF had headed to west Wales for made an appearance. Wanner pulled the SWFF's first bullhuss to the shore to take the combined species tally for the year to 22, the same as the SWFF, managed all of last year. The fish weighed in at 4.5lb and after throwing up all over Wanner it was released to fight another day.

1am and the lads started to pack up slowly, although the fishing was still very much full on the lads had a 2 hour drive home in front of them. By 1.30am the lads had packed up and started on the long road home after an excellent nights fishing.