Happy new year......

Merry Christmas!

Have a great one!

A bt of a fright.....

28 days later.....

well...more like 35...roll clinic ends and we are pleased!

Big thank you to Phoenix Kayak Club Cork.

Filmed on location, Leisureworld Bishopstown Cork.

Ireland.

Getting better!

Tony's Yak.

More training....

Screw roll..........

Well.... we are getting there!

A lot of effort to get to this moment....

 

Pawlata roll....screw roll is next.......

Fishing trip aborted....



Well, i loaded up all the fishing gear on Saturday, but when i got to my location the sea state was not suitable, so some fun at another location was the order of the day.....

 

Sat sunny paddle....

If they only grew to 6lb!

surf time ......

surf time....

More.....and a Bull...

Got a fright.....lol....

New suit sir?

Yes...i have wanted this for a while now...........

http://www.typhoon-int.co.uk/products/surface/surface_drysuits/multisport_/

Some Pollack fun....

 

Out for some fly fishing fun and lots and lots of small Pollack ...but the weather turned bad and the wind came up, so had to cut it short.....

Night Paddle....

White Bay Cork harbour.

A fun day spent surfing in white bay...i still dont have a roll sorted out so many "ejects" were on the cards...even though the surf was mostly small...this was the wave of the day and nearly got me, but i slipped over it!
Looking for fish activity, there were large shoals of sand eels around, and thats about it...i saw one lesser spotted dog fish.... and there was an angler on the beach who didnt seem to be catching...but i could be wrong!

silly season continues....

Just in after fishing four hours of the flooding tide.
The mark is one of my favourites, and has produced many fish over the years...and tonight the tide and weather were perfect. I arrived to find the water clarity was great and a complete (almost) lack of weed...looking good I thought!
I fished away for a bit with no sign of anything and then moved to a deeper spot, and first cast a follow!
Nothing special...about 2 lb...and then another....and later another and again!
Then while fishing some red gill Evo. i had some mackerel pecking at the tail of the lure...all good signs!
Well after my fifth follow (that i saw!) things went quiet and later a mack hit and hooked on a 6 inch slug-go.....greedy bugger!
And that was it....
I went through various size hard and soft lures and tried all the tricks..even a top water!!
So my silly season continues...kayaking on Friday next so i will keep an eye out for any fish activity!
That's fishing!

Yet more Mullet madness....

Another mullet outing off the kayak, with a plan to catch one on a home made fly.

The fly was some sponge super glued on to a size 6 Drennan hook...this didn't work out though, because the sponge soaked the glue up and became hard to the touch.

A little squeezing of the fly softened it enough, although i wasn't fully happy with it.

So...an onion bag full of bread was deployed just after i anchored up, and things looked good.

Within minutes they came on the feed and out went the fly...bump!

They hit ...and i struck the line....oops... the hook came back minus the sponge.

On with another "sponge fly"..and again a fish lunged at it!

Again i struck, and the hook and line parted!! Oh my God...what is it with Mullet? OK time for a breather...i switched to bread flake on a free line size 6...and after several hits and missed bites, i finally connected to a very nice fish.....

the fight was on and some incredible head shaking and lunging here and there...then...pop!

The line and hook came back to me......fish off...gutted!

 



 

The swim totally died after this, and i moved around for hours, with only the odd fish slurping some bread...a few more missed bites and my sanity called for time out!

A little more tweaking of the fly is needed also  i think!!

A nice morning on the water though, and the weather was great!

 

 



Sovereign islands....

A trip with Phoenix Kayak Club last night...finished with some rescue practise...

https://picasaweb.google.com/100799116552005341391/September62012?authuser=0&feat=directlink

The Poor season continues.....

Its an excuse to play with the Go-Pro and video editing........

Rod Ring repair....

Using a Stanly blade..scrape away the old epoxy...and remove the old whipping..

Inspect and clean up the area to be whipped...

Secure the new ring in place with a bit of tape..and begin whipping on the new thread..from the blank towards the foot not on the ring foot...

Once the ring is whipped on coat in epoxy resin and keep turning the rod until it drys..approx 5minis the epoxy  type to use..one minute is too short and 15 min too long..

 

The finished repair...almost as good as the factory finish and just as strong!

 

Lots of internet stuff out there on this so have a detailed look first...i repaired two beach caster rings years ago and their still good....( sorry about the poor pics)

I had a quick look...

I grabbed my fly rod and went on a "no plan" ramble yesterday morning...the only plan was to visit a few marks miles apart and go light on foot.
Once again the water was dirty and unsettled and on three different spots i felt i was wasting my time.
The high-light was a welcome Muffin and coffee in White gate village!
And today the weather is as bad as ever...but a few settled days forecast....I'm on evenings this week so ...when will i get out again?
Also, i damaged my 11ft Fladen rod last Friday...i arrived at the mark and closed the car door on a rod ring....so so silly!
I always watch for this mistake and cant believe i did it! So this morning i removed and re-whipped the new ring on, and its due for an epoxy coating tomorrow. I didn't have black whipping thread, but a deep purple and a Sharpie pen to change it to black....hmmm, once its coated it should be fine?
The mullet are calling me also!
Some size 10 drennan micro barb hooks on the way!
Talk soon.

Mullet madness 2

Mullet.

A trap set....

well...i had a crack at the Mullet today...the plan was to use bread as bait...and ...well that's all i had as plans go..lol..
A bag of bread on the moorings and another off my yak..and a squeeze every now and then...and the trap was set........

Line 6lb mono..size 6 kook and free lined bread flake.......

No rods just a great day...with sunshine!!

At last a fish!

Well....after a LOT of effort a small reward....a perfect bar of silver....
I was spinning for a long time ..moving around and that when i got a follow, about half an hour later another follow...no take, so i changed the lure to a feed shallow UB15 and first cast...bang!
Now after that I used the lure again and nothing for the rest of the evening...a lucky cast i think?
I was going to video her under water, but she had other plans!
Can you spot her?

Out and about...

Had a few hours spinning off the ysak on Saturday...once again the Bass were on the missing list...all i can do is to keep trying!

Messing with slo mo....

First Go Pro test...

Bass were a no show again, but a great evening on the water....Go Pro worked a treat!

Go Pro Hero 2 HD

well, i took the plunge and ordered one...so stay tuned for some different photo/movie angles!
I hope with a fish or two...lol...

Edit......its here, what a bit of kit! Let the mounting options begin! First trial on the sea kayak for a few angles i think.

Tough going....

Im not doing anything different here than the last few years, but the Bass elude me once more. Four and a half hours without a touch...the tea break was the highlight..lol..

Then a small craft warning had me heading in and it was a bit snotty as i got into the harbour.

The going is still very tough...will it change this year at all?

A great relaxing week in kerry...lots and lots of pollack...here are some pics...

A few changes to the blog ..

Bare with me.....work in progress.....

Take a few minutes to read......

http://ukbass.com/

Tough day...

Out today to a foggy, windy and rainy start. Mind you the sun came out later and helped a bit. The water was rough, very rough and full of weed, but I kept on and after about two hours I hooked what felt like a good fish...lots of head shaking and POP! The lure came out.....gutted! After a lot of talking to myself and cursing I fished on and later put on a weed less rigged slugo to try to escape the weed. After a few minutes a good bang on the rod and a bend as the fish turned....and POP! No proper hook up...this was not going to be my day! Later still a school Bass burst out of the water completely missing the hard lure I put on...I laughed...this is a sign! Fished on for another hour or more, with no more fish. Gannets were diving a lot and very close in... but the sea was going gaga now...till next time...that's fishing!

That Monkey.....

So…the weather for Friday looked bad…here we go again….ok...that’s it a change of plan! Up at 4 am and a quick coffee and away down the main road, which was dreary. Along the back roads and noting the huge amount of rain which was still on them I thought this was going to be another waste of time. Got to my chosen mark to find the water like cocoa. A few casts and off to mark two which was inside the harbour. Lovely clean water with patches of weed. Fished for a few hours here, but no luck, it just was not happening. Realised I had left the lure box back at the car and had no spare, and yes it happened …crack! Rigged a bit of stick on the line and managed to pull it in range of the tip of my rod…lucky lure? Off to mark three...outside the harbour, to find milky water but quite fishable, and a ramble began, casting down the gully’s as I went. Half asleep now I wound the pilchard lure in and it all stopped…then shaking… I realised I had my first Bass of the season on. Played the fish for a bit and got it close to the edge of a rock pool, when it threw the hook just as a wave washed it over the lip into the rock pool! I dropped the rod and dived in, chasing the fish around on my knees…grabbed it! Yes! Phone cam to get out…shite it’s away again…it was like a mad mud wrestle! Tried to grab/photograph the fish and it was going mental in the pool! Then another wave came in, filled the pool and she was gone. I’m counting that! (Did I get a pic? Turns out I got a fuzzy one) Stood up and realised my shorts had popped a button or something and were slipping down hanging on by the wader gusset! Drama! Anyway moved off along the mark after a few more casts came to a lovely gully. First cast and fish on…no drama here nice and easy on to the pebbles. Barb less hooks out like a dream and back it goes. Fished on and another hit which resulted with me holding the Bass, the lure floating away snapped off, and the rod getting washed into the gully….sorted it all out using the length of the rod to snag the lure back (lucky lure for sure!) Dropped another fish soon after hooking up, and looked at the time I had to leave for Clare’s school concert! But walking back flicking the lure here and there I winkled out a small one… I am sure I could have had more if I stayed… but who knows! Anyway finally...The Monkey is off my back!

Monkey off my back........

Very early shore raid this morn... 3 hours sleep but worth it .....4 landed and dropped one .....report soon ...zzzzzzz no sleep till midnight ......

Post gales......

Out this morning early...4:15am start and off to a favourite mark of mine to find utter choas...tonnes of weed filling the entire beach and well out into the water... So back inside the harbour and launched the kayak. At best the water clarity was about 3or 4 feet...very poor. Not a sign of a fish...

A late report....

While the ban is on, you have to try to come up with some fishy stuff to do.. I have this notion of catching a flounder or two on fly, in my head for a while now. When I first started fly fishing I had a flounder as a by catch one evening and it put up quiet a scrap...so a plan was hatched.... I arrived and set up the yak, with ever so simple equipment on board. I paddled to the spot and dropped anchor and began fishing a Rio T-11 sinking line with a small black clouser (a size 4 I think, and a small bit of lure-flash and red eyes).The ground under me is sandy..with a run off from an estuary....and here is where I went wrong (I think??) I fished the last hour of the flood on...and I had no takes at all...but I did manage a new species on fly...lasso style! At least I was in the zone! I think I should be there at the last hour of ebbing tide...ah well...this is how you learn I guess... So..after a bit i moved to deeper water to test my poor fly fishing skill's on the ever so willing Pollack...ha..they did not fail me, but all were a little on the fish finger side.......

I can get back to fishing now.....

Ocean to City 2011......

Last paddle....

Home after a last training paddle tonight....next sat.morning kayak briefing is at 10:00am....an Ras Mor!

level 2.

Just in after a great night on the water with Phoenix kayak club...and passed my level 2.
All good!
Next to join the club and get my roll nailed in the clinics.......

Last chance.

Out for a shore romp with lured and fish in front of me but they just wouldnt take .......
Ban now on ...... That's fishing I guess ....
poor start to 2012 ;-(

11ft Fladen rod.
Shimmy reel.
Feed shallow 128 mullet lure. (hard plastic)
Red gill evolution ..pearl/black sp.
Hodgy sp in black on weedless jig head.

Bass ban

Well it's looming ......no bass yet!

Fluff chucking.....

Fluff chucking for Bass but alas no joy...but a tidy Pollack and a few more fish fingers....the fly rod rocks, its the way to go for sure......