simonwoods

hiall, been away for awhile not her majestys either

good spot for turbot, cold nap beach, barry, although more productive in early summer, a nice chunk of mackeral works well, if you can get past the doggies.

when things go a bit quiet in the bristol channel, say around high or low water, or just on a bad day, i have squirted my bait with wd40, this is a proven attractor, especially for larger cod, it really does work as i have witnessed many times.

hi all, the bristol channel has the second highest tidal range in the world, also it is a funnel shape, so around cardiff it can reach 10+ knots. there is a reef going out to sea which extends to a sandbank, so to go west one has to navigate over this reef, ok when your going with the tide and the wind, you slip over the reef in about 30 seconds. however, imagine having to navigate back againt the tide, with the wind against tide! this can cause real problems, the sea can change in seconds, its not just rough water, the waves come from ALL angles caused by the reef, not over large, but unpridictable, and powerful, this area is known as the 'ranny'. my first charter boat was a 33ft senoir marine, just bought from swansea, and a bit of an unknown, it had twin engines which had seen better days. anyway, neptune had conspired a calamity, luckily there were no paying guests on this trip, just half a dozen freinds on an explorative trip. we could see the 'ranny' in the distance, a boiling cauldren of white water, skipper increased revs, we approached the first wave, dipped, and the thing came right over the top, smashed the plywood engine covers, in the meantime, a similar sized wave broke over the port, and starboard, flooding the engines, so, no power, in the middle of a maelstrom, the boat was flicked in several directions at once, we were caught in the middle of the ranny, no way out. skipper shouts to me,(being the owner and first mate) catch this, a can of wd 40, i had to stand on a bucking bronco, alternativly squirting into each engine, which would fire and splutter out as another wave crashed over, this episode continued for fifteen minuets or so, each engine start up pushing us out of danger, the vessel was several tons, this was all that saved us on that day. lessons learnt on that day, i bought a brand new offshore 105.

loads of stinray around south wales coast, large fish too, up to 50lb, usually caught just off the range of beachcasters, but within range for boat fishing uptiders, you know when you have a stingray on, they steamroller away down tide, usually breaking off, the angler with heavier gear stands the best chance of landing one, but even with heavy gear, you have the tidal run to contend with, what a laugh.

i havn't got a kayak yet, but am interested, and have several sites that could be interesting, especially as the year progresses, the codling come in huge numbers, and are often close into shore, moving out as the tide drops off, one protected bay holds deep water and its simply a matter of drifting at the edge of the tide/eddy, and moving out as the tide drops, i would however suggest that kayak fishing could only be done on dropping/neap tides as the tidal flow is the second highest in the world, second only to the bay of bundy in canada. so any of you boys and girls who fancy a reccy, give me a shout and i would love to introduce you to some sites.

south wales, newport to nash point i could help you, especially this time of year, the fishing is good. going into peak as the year progresses.

hi all, many thanks for the responses, i have been out of action a few days, i will study the links thanks, i'm a stickler for safety too, i really like the idea of this, you know as a sea fisherman where likely spots are, and they are usually out of range or to much hassle for a powered boat, i have a few places lined up for drifting, the only trouble is the speed of the tide, although if you had two seaters one could act as a drogue, down here in south east wales we have a lot of inecessable reefs to shallow for boats jet perfect for this approach, i think my email add is on here, feel free to contact, many thanks, simon.

very interested in this, is there anywhere in south wales where i can get some more info, would like to use one for inshore work for bass and codling, what about anchoring, is it dodgy n fast flowing tides, need to know if i need certificates for insurance etc.

thanks for that.

there was a documentory programme on the box about a couple that sold up and bought land with lakes in france, anybody know what happened to them, i hope they are doing well, nice folk, hard work, and dedication.

now thats very much a no no, only pests covered in an open licence from defra. recomend a water pistol.

on many trips on the south wales coast whilst fishing light for bass, i have observed large mullet cropping the fringes of the shore, these are seriously large fish, say 10lb+, i have always fancied using the fly/maggot that breeds in the seaweed at the shore edge, anyone any tips for this area/southerndown/ogmore?, mind you i wouldnt blame you for keeping quiet. also, is there a rare breed in the area?, gold head or similar?, prob top secret.

dont worry, like i said i'm a member of airgun bbs, now there is a madhouse, you get to know the ropes pretty quick.

hi all, this is my first post here, i have been given the link by terry doe, airgun guru on airgun bbs, and am thankfull to find you as fishing is my shared love,(with airgun sport). just a potted history of my fishing past and present, i grew up in south east wales (newport), so i had the usk, and severn estuary to hand, first fishing the river/docks/st brides areas for whiting eels and the occasional cod, venturing up channel as i grew older, penarth/barry etc, always happy and excited to enjoy catching fish without targeting them, had a spell on the lower usk for salmon/trout and huge silver eels, then a period of family raising and bean counting, i was lucky enough to be able to show my boys the ropes, quite succesfully catching targeted speices, namely cod/bass/sole from the peat beds in golcliff/redwick area. some time ago i developed a real interest in boat fishing, using the fleet at penarth and doing the usual boats of the south coast, artilleryman/salt wind of dart/ brixam etc, loved it so much i bought a new offshore 105 and launched it in penarth with some heavy marketing, the boat was channel warrior, skipperd by tony busby, i dont know if anyone remembers, if so please be polite the boat was very succesful, and i learnt a lot about local fishing in the bristol channel, this corresponed with the growth of uptiding for cod, and remains a cracking area to this day, anyway the boat was fast and enabled us to hit lundy/north devon/ mid cannel wrecks,(neap tides only )and also have a crack at the porbeagle, unfortunatly unforseen circumstances took me away from these unforgetable days, and i had to start afresh, however fishing still remains a joy, i now fish weekends with freinds roaming up and down the same coast and marks, i now target species and use light gear, every month brings new interest on this stretch of coast, cod and whiting from september to march, along with some of the best dover sole fishing, although this remains something of a secret , summer fishing is good too, all species can be found, its rather nice to aim for a target and be succesfull, i am of the opinion that the fish look better on film rather than wholesale bag taking, i do take fish for the pan though. i am also aware that we must be viglant in the face of politically correctness, i mentioned that i shoot airgun, both target and bunnys for the pot, there is a growing feeling that field sport is under pressure from various anti groups, fishing is part of their agenda. anyway hope this is not to long winded for you, i have knowledge of local fishing and am available on here to answer any questions that i can, god bless. simon.