Kayak Fishing Blog

Another Day, Another Ray

10/9/2014

I'm addicted to the Blonde Ray fishing. Its awesome! Richard was down for a couple of days so we planned a session out on the ray so see if he could latch onto a big one.

Blondes on the Tandem

8/9/2014

With the Blondes in full feeding mode it was time to take Holly to catch her first ray.... she was in for a treat!

The Blonde Rays have been hard on the feed but the swell and wind over the last few weeks prevented us from fishing the marks which hold the bigger fish. Finally the weather forecast showed high pressure for the weekend so Kieren and myself formed a plan of attack with one aim.... Big Blonde Rays!

Porthcurno Summer Species Fishing

24/8/2014

The Penzance Kayak Fishing Species Hunt was unfortunately knocked on the head due to a lack of competitors. Richard had travelled down to fish the comp, so with it cancelled we planned a session in the hope of some reward for his long journey! Little did we know that we were in for a fantastic day of species fishing.....

Shore Wrasse Species Fishing

17/8/2014

With a broken index finger paddling was out of the question but i was not being deterred from fishing! I planned to fish for the small wrasse species at one of my favourite locations in Cornwall - Penberth Cove. Armed with the light rods and small hooks, holly and myself headed off the see if the little ones were biting....

Sunny Sennen Species Fishing

9/8/2014

The Penzance Kayak Fishing Species Hunt had unfortunately been cancelled for the weekend with the untimely arrival of the remnants of tropical storm Bertha. Mark, Si, Richi and Steve were already down here for the competition so with all but perfect conditions forecast for Thursday we planned a day out from Sennen – the preferred venue for the now cancelled competition. We were in for a great day on the water….

A Fishless Sunrise, Dolphins, Jellyfish and an Octopus!

27/7/2014

Its never easy getting up at 4:30am even if kayak fishing is involved however the forecast was superb and early morning sessions often brings good fishing. The Tempo was loaded onto the car and off i went to a local beach to meet Simon, Steve, Ben and Hennie. A short walk to the beach and i was ready to launch under a fantastic sky.....

Tope Fishing from a Kayak - Video

28/6/2014

I've finally got round to trawling through the footage i took during the Tope sessions a few weeks back. Here is the video - press 'read more' below to check it out, and make sure you select HD!

Another Tide, Another Tope

2/6/2014

After the success of the first Tope trip Kieren wanted in on the action so we headed off to the North Coast for another short evening session. It would be the first time Kieren, Elliot and myself would be fishing together on the kayaks so we were hoping for fish all round. Conditions were less than ideal with a fair chop being whipped up by a brisk onshore wind. We battled our way out to the mark and dropped the mackerel baits down....

Tope-busters!

31/5/2014

I have often contemplated targeting Tope from the kayak but have never got round to trying for them. News was in of Tope showing on the North Cornwall coast so hatched a plan to dedicate a session targeting them. A bit of research online into rigs, gear and conditions and I was ready. I spent the evening before tying tope traces – 8/0 Mustad o'shaughnessy hook double crimped to 12” of 100lb Sakuma coated Wire biting trace attached via a swivel to 5ft of 80lb Fluorocarbon rubbing leader. If I hooked one I wanted to land it!

Tempo Time!

27/5/2014

It was time to get my new Tempo in the water. Elliot was dead keen to get out on the water after suffering the same exam revision ordeal as i had for the past month. A plan was set to see if much was about in the deep waters off West Cornwall.... we were in for a surprise.....

RTM Limited Edition Black Tempo - Initial Overview

25/5/2014

Early in 2014 RTM announced they would be producing a limited edition Black series of the Abaco, K-Largo and Tempo. It wasn't long before i couldn't resist getting a Black Tempo. Here is an initial overview with plenty of photos.....

The Plaice, The Jellyfish and The Flying Shark!

21/5/2014

Hot sun, zero wind, zero swell and a spring tide.... i couldn't wait to get out on the kayak. A plan was forged to drift the sands with Ethan in the hope of flatfish and maybe a weever. We were on the beach and launching for 10am and started paddling out for the headland on the edge of the bay to start the drift.

Early Morning River Cruise

21/5/2014

My exams are finally over. Over a month of spending 7 days a week in the library revising..... finished. I couldn't wait to get back on the water. My exam finished at 15:30 on the Thursday, by 4:15am Friday i was awake and ready to load the car with my gear. This would be my first solo kayaking session so planned to tuck myself away on the quiet creeks of a local tidal river and try for the elusive Gilthead Bream.....

Venom on the Sands

17/4/2014

A day drifting the sands was planned from one of my favourite kayak fishing marks. The scenery is fantastic and the fish can be plentiful on the right day both in size and number of species. An early start saw me and kieren on the beach ready to launch at 10 after a long walk with the kayaks down a rocky track and a big sand dune - not too bad going down.... coming back up is a different story! The sun was shining with hardly a drop of swell, but a slight offshore wind was blowing, not too bad with the forecast predicting 8-10mph. We paddled out to a nearby headland and dropped our baits into a tidal run onto the sandy seabed 20m below us.

A Cephalopod from the depths

11/4/2014

The swell and wind has finally dropped enough for me to launch from one of my favourite fishing marks. The winter storms had destroyed most of the harbour wall protecting the slipway, with the boulders from the wall strewn across the once pristine sandy beach and slipway. This makes launching and landing tricky but possible in the calm and impossible with 2-3ft of swell. Kieren and Dwyer were keen for another trip after the successful mackereling trip the day before. A local came over to me whilst unloading the car and informed me that the beach and slipway would hopefully be restored soon, with diggers coming to move the rocky rubble, so that piece of news was promising. We negotiated the boulder field and made our way offshore to fish the deep water in the hope of catching whiting and haddock......

Spring Mackerel

11/4/2014

The weather has settled down and the sunshine is warm…. Spring has arrived and with it the mackerel have moved inshore to chase shoals of sand eels. The plan was to have a session afloat to hopefully find a few mackerel to stock up the bait freezer for future fishing trips. Me, Kieren and his friend Dwyer headed to a mark on the Lizard Peninsula in search of the shoals. Kieren and Dwyer shared the Hobie Outfitter Tandem and I used the RTM Abaco. The forecast was great, the sea was glassy calm and the tide would be pushing. All was looking well for catching mackerel.

Fitting an Anchor Trolley and Reel to the RTM Abaco

11/4/2014

An anchor trolley is a fairly essential part of anchoring up whilst fishing. It allows you to position the point along the kayak at which your anchor line will enter the water. This allows you to position the kayak in a comfortable and, more importantly, safe position relative to the wind, swell and tide......

Fitting a fish finder on the RTM Abaco

11/4/2014

It was time to fit my Lowrance Elite 4x DSI Fish Finder to the Abaco. I had fitted it temporarily for the first couple of sessions out but wanted to make it a more permanent fixture. I also wanted to rig it in a way that would allow me to transfer it between kayaks should i want to use it on my tandem. This would mean no wires passing through the hull thus allowing the complete set up to be removable.

Fitting a camera/go pro pole to the RTM Abaco

11/4/2014

Last year i made an extendable camera/go pro pole which fits within a flush mount rod holder but this limits the scope for filming angles. I occasionally like to grab the pole and jump in the water to get up close and personal with the local wildlife so require the camera pole to be removable. At the same time i want to be able to put the camera pole in lots of different angles for filming and photography.