Sea Trout

Yesterday I decided I would give the Kayak an outing from Lepe. Hard to resist with the beautiful weather we are having. It wasn't so much a fishing trip, more a pleasure cruise but I decided to take a spinning rod with me and a lure that my grandson had given me for my birthday. The sea was as calm as a mill pond, perfect Kayaking weather. Within minutes of dropping the line over I caught this beautiful little Sea Trout. I put him back to fight another day. It was the only fish I caught in the couple of hours that I was out but I went home feeling very contented and pleased with myself. The only Sea Trout that I have ever caught from Lepe.

meagre offerings.

These last few months have been pretty non-productive but none the less enjoyable. I have been out on a number of occasions, including a trip to Kimmeridge and still caught very few fish, sometimes none, hence the lack of blog entries. Nothing to shout about.
Today hasn't been that much better, I caught a few barbie size bream, a solitary mackerel and a bass. It was a beautiful day from the start, an hours bait digging, back home for breakfast and then launching from my local beach, Lepe.  I moved around a bit but wherever I anchored I was plagued with weed which was a real nuisance along with the strong tide.
I observed some strange garfish behaviour whilst sitting at anchor waiting for a fish. A banana skin floating seemed to hold some attraction to a couple of garfish. They were literally jumping over it as it drifted in the tide. I should have taken a photo. The last time I saw this happen was at the mouth of Beaulieu river when I saw one jumping over a large chunk of seaweed. Can anyone shed any light on this strange behaviour?

Lepe 

Beaulieu River

Bass

Kimmeridge

Kimmeridge Wrasse

Kimmeridge

Kimmeridge

A Special day.

Today for most people,  was like any other Tuesday in April except a good deal warmer. For me it was special. I got up this morning in a rather relaxed state of mind, the weather was perfect for fishing but, well, there weren't any buts, I was going fishing and there was nothing that was going to stop me. You see today, I am a free man. I have officially retired from Exxon and it was a long time coming. So halle bloody lujah and may the pension fund stay healthy.
 It was encouraging to see that the Mackerel are in at Lepe, the earliest I've seen them in years. I also caught a  Bass but not keeper. So not a great day in terms of fish caught but a beautiful day, sitting in the sun, watching the world go by and counting my blessings. It's a good life.

A free man

Free man with a tiddler.

Lymington Mullet

It has been a long time since Tim and I went out on the Kayaks for a days fishing but it was worth the wait.
We set off early in time to get some bait at Lepe and then a couple of nice crusty loafs from the bakery on the way to Lymington. The plan was to get some worms for the odd flounder or bass that might make an appearance and some bread for the mullet that were the target species of the day.
This mullet fishing is quite new to me so I was more than happy to follow Tim's lead, he being quite an experienced Mullet man. He set up a couple of light rods with 10lb line with floats and small hooks.
We launched from the yacht club and paddled up the river and under the railway bridge. It was a slow start to the day with just one small bass being caught in the first few hours. The mullet were there in large numbers but didn't want to take the bait at first. Then Tim got one followed by another a few minutes later. I missed a couple of bites and failed to hook into any mullet but seeing the way Tim's fought I am keen to give it a try another day. A great day in spite of my lack of fish.

Mullet action

Tim and one of his Mullet

Pleased with himself I think.

End of day.

It isn't just about the fishing....

We had a change of venue and launched the Kayaks a couple of miles further up the coast at Calshot. There was a fairly strong southerly breeze and it made fishing from Lepe unsafe. Calshot on the other hand, offered a bit of protection from the wind if launching from the main slipway and heading in the direction of the power station.
 We spent an hour or so staying close to the shore and fishing the deep water less than a 100 yards out.  Tim caught a nice little Whiting but that was all so we moved to the shallows looking for flounder. We didn't get any but we did catch a few small Bass. So, the fishing wasn't great.
Being so close in to the shore we were able to get very near the bird life that frequents this area. I have found that if you approach these birds from the shore they have gone before you get a good look at them, from a Kayak it is very different. They tend to look at you with curiosity but don't take flight. It is at this point that you start thinking that the camera that you are carrying is far more important than the rod. My little Pentax has been a bit disappointing of late and I have been looking at Tims photo's with envy. I now have an Olympus Tough 6020 the same as his. With the Pentax Optio I have found it very difficult to keep the lens clean as it has no lens cap or cover and that is a problem with salt water. With the Olympus you have the lens cover and the added benifit of an image stabiliser.This will hopefully improve my photos, if it doesn't I guess I'll have to blame the photographer. No photo's of bird life this time but maybe next time.

Launching from Calshot

Calshot Castle

Tim in the shallows

Calshot Castle

Outfished!

Another trip out from Lepe and this time I was out-fished. It was another nice day so Tim and I set out for a deep water mark off Lepe which, on our last outing produced a variety of fish. We were hoping for some early cod but all was quiet apart from the tide that started ripping away and making life a little uncomfortable. So, we decided to move to shallow water and where the tide was less of a problem. I struggled getting my anchor and was saved by the weak link. Tim wasn't so lucky and had to sacrifice his anchor and cut himself free. Something to remember here, if it says no anchoring on the chart it is for good reason, cables were the reason on this instance.
We headed for the shallows around Beaulieu river and anchored shallow but allowed ourselves to drift over some deeper areas. I caught three tiny Bass, Tim on the other hand not only caught more but some were a lot bigger. I had to be content with some nice photos of a beautiful sunset.

Lucky Dip

Mick Chilling

Tim with his Bass

The sun shines on the righteous!

A beautiful evening.

End of day.

Blanked

The day started well, I was pretty well organised, the sea was calm, what could go wrong? Well apart from the weather, nothing went wrong. If you believe the weather forecast you can be easily fooled. Because the conditions were good I peddled out to the North East Gurnard buoy. I has been there before and I knew the water was pretty deep so I thought I'd try my luck for some of those early Cod or Whiting that people have been talking about. After I'd been there about an hour I noticed the wind was freshening and, since I hadn't so much as a bite I decided to move closer to the shore. Soon after upping anchor and moving towards the shore the sea and wind turned nasty and I was getting a lot of water coming over the side and front of the Kayak. It was an easterly wind and the tide against me, it was very hard work but eventually I made it back to Beaulieu river. Although I felt safer being closer to the shore the sea was still very rough and I was getting a frequent bucket load of water thrown at me. I tried fishing a while but didn't feel very comfortable so I called it a day and went ashore. There I sat for a while pondered the last few hours over a cup of tea, damn the weather forecast. No fish but a bloody good workout, my legs are gonna ache!
On a positive note the Eagle Cuda350 fishfinder/GPS was really good and proved that it can withstand the wet conditions. The Kayak stayed upright, the dry suit kept me dry and the the life jacket, well, I decided against testing that again.

Kari-tek loading

Kari-tek loaded

Eagle Cuda 350 (before the sea turned nasty)

Eagle Cuda 350 (before the sea turned nasty)