richardlawrence

Hi GB, Sounds like a great idea. Have you seen a local publication on water based activities in the county. It's an A4 soft back publication, can't remember the name! It includes a break down of the coast via kayak with good info on tides, start times relative to tides etc. I think it might be a national park publication. They usually have copies in Victoria Books, H'west. Richard.

Hi, I got my Prowler 13 early in the year when there was alot of fuss about the US boats and their scupper holes. I was sent a NZ boat and found that it had a large bulge on one side of the keel in front of the footwell scuppers. To be fair to Brighton Canoes they took it back and sent a new US boat which touch wood has been fine over the summer. The key has got to be to give the boat a really good look over when you get it. I checked out the scupper holes and the deck and made sure that there were no bad scrapes but it didn't occur to me that the hull might be misshaped. On the whole I must say that I have been very pleased with the boat though.

I haven't fished for pike from a yak but when sea fishing I use a hand landing net. The net is by ABU and is about 60cm diameter with a short one handed handle. By getting the fish netted first you can concertrate on taking the hook out carefully once the rod has been put down. There is no need to lift the fish out the water. The main benefit is that you can put the rod down to free a hand without worrying about that last surging run from the fish. As mentioned earlier, barbless or flattened barb hooks make unhooking much easier and cause less damage to the fish.

It's totally dependant on the conditions and your launch / landing point. I geenrally fackle up in the car park with the yak on it's trolley. The rods are laid down in the yak while I drag it down to the beach. In a flat calm I launch with everything rigged. Even in smallish surf it is generally quite easy getting out because you are moving though the waves. The time to be careful is coming back in. If a wave turns you side on to the beach you will quite likely end up testing your PFD. It's best to collapse your rods in these conditions and try to return on the back of a wave rather than the front. Wait for a swell to pass then head down and paddle like mad. Stop for nothing!

Hi GB, How's things. The Hobie Adventure looks ideal for fishing out of the Quay where you've generally got a good depth of water. Should be great for beating those tides around the heads and covering the ground to get to those special places. My only concern would be fishing places similar to where we went with Codshead the other week. What happens if you catch a submerged rock with a fin? I guess the answer is only use the Mirage drive when you are off shore a bit and pull it up when working in close. Do you know how spacious the tank well is? (Does it have one?) Being than much narrower than your Tarpon it could be a bit more restricted for crates etc. Let us know what you think if you get to see one next week. Richard.

Hi Dartman, It sounds like your doing well with the plug you are using. It may be working better than others you've tried because it is fishing at a different depth. Presumably if it has a big diving vane it fishes deep down compared to the J13 which will fish quite high up. With regard to loosing lures, you can often get them unstuck by paddling back over your tracks and pulling out from the other side (major advantage over shore fishing.) This doesn't always work though. There are also lots of adverts on the web for lure retrievers, not the smelly long haired golden type but chains or similar attached to a weight and rope that you lower down the line to snag the hooks. I haven't tried one yet but it's on the 'to do' list for the winter. As alast resort, how about taking you're fav lure to you're local tackle shop and seeing if they have something similar in stock. Good luck.

Hi, Welcome to the world of kayak fishing. I bought a P13 this year and have been very pleased with it. I haven't experienced any discomfort from the foot rests when out paddling.Mine is the angler edition and I have found it to be well laid out. Personally I prefer the rod holers mounted behind the seat, I find them more easily accessible. I did experiment with a rod holder near the front but found it to be too far away if you leave plenty of room for a good paddling style (not that I claim to have a particularly stylist paddling technique!) The angler version of the P13 is quite good value when you look at the part noly costs for the high back seat and two rod holders. The Tarpons are a nice looking boat and oose quality, they have a more open deck area between the knees but are that bit more expensive. Have you tried contacting the White Water Consultancy near Carmarthen to see if they have any in to try? Good luck with the shopping.

I've never seen a turtle in Pembs before but have heard of reports. A large leather back was washed up dead on Skomer quite a few years ago. I think the shell is in the visitor information building. I'm gutted to have missed your sitting Codshead, I'll be keeping an extra sharp eye out in future. Regarding the jelly fish, the waters off north Pembs have been heaving with them all summer, numerous different types. I'd never appreciated the colours until I'd seen them swimming around the Yak. Glad you had a good weekwend. Richard.

Hi GB, Glad you enjoyed it. Did you get the photo's alright. I sent them to your email address. As we said yesterday, we'll have to try out some of the other interesting places on the map. There are a few places down south that look interesting. Richard.

Hi GB, Looks like I may have a pass for Sunday afternoon. Do you fancy meeting up somewhere for a paddle? The weather forcasts are a little vague at the moment, looks like fine with anything from 8 to 20 mph SE's. Richard.

I agree Franc. Unfortunately for me last night was a blank. I blame not being able to get in close to the rocks due to the swell. Oh well, there is always next time.

Welcome aboard Franc, You've probably seen that there are quite a few people fishing out of kayaks in Pembs at the moment. Stackpole Quay is a popular launch point from south Pembs. I tend to fish out of the Broad Haven North sort of area. We'll have to arrange to all meet up for a trip sometime.

I don't have an anchor for my P13 but I do use a rope and a caribeerner to tie up to bouys etc. I use a rope tied to the carry handle at the front of the boat. The caribeener is tied to the rope at a distance slightly longer than from the bow to the seat. The remaining length of rope (longer than the one above) is loosely attached to the side of my seat. Once clipped on to a bouy, the boat sits head to wind comfortably. When you want to move, you just pull in the rope so that the caribeener is at your side and unclip. I'm sure that something similar would work with an anchor. The only downside is that you end up with a ball of rope in your footwell.

Hi, You want a rod that can reach around the bow of your boat when you're sitting down. Long rods can be a problem if the butt lenght is too great, they keep banging on the side of the yak. I use an 8' spinning rod and a 7'6" 12lb boat rod in my P13. They both work well.

With regards to rods I use both a 7'6" 12lb boat rod and an 8' 10-30gm spinning rod. Most of the trolling is on the spinning rod for bass. I find that it is important to use a rod of 7' plus to allow you to manouvre the line around the bow easily if a fish swims under the boat. Getting fish close to the boat is generally not an issue. I have tried using a longer 10' spinning rod in the past but the butt was too long and kept banging on the side of the yak. The 12lb boat rod I use is an ABU Phazer. It has a short butt about the length of my fore arm so doesn't get in the way and allows me to pump the rod with the butt by my navel to save energy. With reards to line I use 10lb mono on a rear drag fixed spool for trolling. The only problems I've had so far is from setting the dragg too light and larger pollock disappearing into the kelp with my lures. I'll be upping the drag setting from now on! One word of warning, if trolling rubber eels behind say a power ball float, it's a good idea to use an anti kink vane, if they rotate, your line gets in one hell of a mess after 1/2 a mile of paddling!

Sorry for the late entry into ths discussion, been away in the Isles of Scilly. Thanks for the PM GB, a trip out sounds good sometime, I just need to get sorted first and I'll drop you a line. Regarding fishing in the Broad Haven area etc, believe it or not I haven't been out from there this year yet, I've been off trying other areas since getting my new Prowler rather than the old sit inside which was waiting to fall appart and sink at any moment!! There are loads of good areas around, you can launch from Broad Haven, Little Haven, Nolton Haven, St Brides, Newgale, Solva etc all quite easily. There are loads of good reefs between Broad Haven and Newgale that hold bass of varying size. Makerel can be found anywhere, watch for the gannets, they come in quite close. Solva is great if you get the tides right, you can float your yak down river at low tide and then paddle back to your car at high tide. One of the areas that I have been trying this year has been between St Brides and Stack rock. Stack rock is about half way between broad Haven and St Brides so times should be similar. It can take forever when you're fishing but in a straight line it's about a 30 to 45 minute paddle in my P13. Stack rock is great if you're into wildlife and geology, loads of seals and rock formations, look out for the camel. (Clue: it's not in the water!) The area east of St Brides is virtually inaccessible by foot but full of rock gullies and kelp beds. I've had a few nice bass and loads of small pollack on lures. There are some big pollock too, you should have seen the one that got away.......... Generally I lure fish with the intention of catching something good to eat so I can't offer any advice on bottom fishing etc. Another good site for ideas on boat set up is www.paddle-fishing.com On my old sit inside, rather than drill loads of holes to support rods, I made a rod holder using 40mm waste pipe and a few bits of plywood, fixed to the deck with bungey chords. A crate was then strapped to the rear deck to hold the fish / landing nets etc. Another thought I've had for the area is to catch some spider crabs in Goultrop Roads, if you go down there at low tide when the water's shallow you can see them covering the rocks. I never fancied it in the sit inside, the thought of a couple of big leggy crabs wandering around between my knees was just too much!!!!! Good luck. Richard.

Sounds like you had a great couple of days, well done. Good to hear that the Mackerel are in at last, I've been away for a while and need to get out in the boat soon! When you say you went out from St. Martins, do you mean Martins Haven where the Skomer boats leave from? If so which areas did you fish, towards the islands or back towards St Brides? I've been meaning to take the yak that way for some time.

Hi, I have a Prowler 13 Angler and have taken out my 4 and 6 year old girls one at a time. They love being able to look over the side at the rocks and sea weed etc. We found that they could either sit on your feet out of the way or sit on your lap and help paddle. Next plan is to try one on the feet and one in the tank well (only in very calm conditions though.) Stability doesn't seem to be a problem. They just need to know not to move about (try that with a 2 year old !) There is a short video on kayak fishing with kids at Big Water's Edge. www.bigwatersedge.com/movies/movies.html Full life jackets go without saying.

Thanks for the advice GB. I'm busy for the next few weekends with kids parties, holidays etc. Maybe some time later in July would be good for a look at the Tope. Richard.

Hi GB, It was good to meet another Yakker in the area. When ever I go in to the fishing shops locally they say that alot of people clocally fish from Yaks but you very rarely see them out on the water. The fishing on the lure was very slow as the evening went on. I paddled on up to grenela point trolling over the reefs. Not a touch all the way and most of the way back. Then about 500 yds from the Quay I had a take which returned to the murky depths with my shinny J11!! Probably a decent pollack. A similar thing happened the other week out of St Brides haven. Fished a lure that dives about 2ft down only to find it snagged in over 8ft of water! Normally when trolling I set the drag very loose, I think I'll try tightening it up a bit to keep the fish on the move after the take. Any thoughts? After chatting last night, the thought of a bit of tope fishing does sound fun (if that is the right word when you're talking from a yak!) I'm busy next weekend but maybe another time would be good. Richard.

Have you seen or tried BDH containers. I think that they are pretty cheap and are used by touring kayakers for storage. Nice job though all the same.

You're problem stems from the fact that the camera needs to focus before the shutter will release. It's exactly the same problem trying to get a photo of the kids smiling. The best way around it is to guess where the dolphin will appear and prefocus (push the button half way down) when the cross hairs in the middle of the view finder are over that position. It is then a matter of waiting for the beast to reappear. It will be a very hit and miss process and you may only get one photo in focus for every ten taken, but there's the beauty of digital cameras it won't cost you a penny (unless you fall asleep waiting for the dolphin to surface and drop the camera in the sea!! )