Kayak Adventure...it's In General But Should Be In Here Too!!

[NEWKID 26,380]

Well the date finally came and Air gun Ant and lads from Cumbria embarked on a fair old journey to Devon for a weekend of Kayaking, rough camping and hopefully a fish or 2.


This trip was a charity prize we had laid on and the lads kindly contributed £370 to our kitty, as you all may remember a group of 6 of us are rowing across the channel to Belgium in a couple weeks time (it's very real now!!) and we hope to raise £25k for dream-a-way charity (nearly there now).......

Well these lads are proper keen, they weren't content with a weekend and booked a static on holiday park at Sandy Bay arriving on the Wednesday night and staying till Monday, they planned to get as much fishing in as possible, plus a bit of sampling of our local tipple.... scrumpy!! lol

I gave Ant a ring Thursday afternoon to see how they were getting on, "brilliant, we've had 12 bass already!!", they'd walked onto the beach and followed it along towards Exmouth, spinning and catching as they went, great stuff.
We were training that night in the boat, so I met them after, it was just getting dark as I arrived at the site, I couldn't get hold of Ant and was about to leave when I saw 4 figures with rods walking up the slope off the beach,,, big grins all round and a final tally of 28 bass between them on there first day down here was a reason to smile, no big fish but good fun on light gear, Ant even took one on the Fly rod so he was already a happy chap and we hadn't got on a kayak yet.
We went in for a quick pint and I discussed the plans for the following days, they were all keen lads I could see Dan (Ant's brother) was in for a bit of stick off of the other lads (Micky and Andy) always dangerous that, they tend to have the last laugh
, I wanted to dig rag worm in the estuary the following afternoon, and the boys were keen to come, there's always a chance of a bass or 2 where I was digging so it was good to have the boys tag along.

We got down the estuary for low water and I got digging as the boys cast some light rods out with rag for bait, they done OK and caught a few small bass, I got stuck in and dug 60-70 worms in a couple of hours, we were now set for the real event.

The plan was to take the lads in the estuary for the Saturday morning, this should be a bit easier paddling to get them started but with a big spring tide running it was still hard enough and a good early test for them.
We met at 6am and was on the water ready for it by 7am... Geth (White van Man) got the lads doing a few turns, back paddling etc in the slack water before we hit the tide... Dan promptly rolled the kayak over and came up like a drowned rat, the piss taking ensued ( I think the first bet between the lads was "first to go over".... Dan took that title in grand fashion!) lol














I'd worried all week on the weather, we were predicted strong winds and possible rain (another reason for starting in the relative safety of the estuary) but I need not of worried, bright sunshine broke through and the wind was moderate at best....

After a paddle of half a mile or so we'd crossed the estuary from Exmouth to fish on the Starcross side, now there had been talk of gilt head bream being caught, and I'd not know of them coming out of the Exe estuary much before so that was a big draw for me.. we tied up to a buoy just off the main channel where you're usually good for a bass or 2, and sure enough small schoolies started hitting the peeler or rag baits and soon all of the lads had caught a fish or 2, nothing big 2lb tops I'd say but fun on the light gear and a nice start to the boys kayaking fishing, 1 real nice surprise was a small black bream that Andy caught (again not seen this in the estuary)











As the tide started to ebb this became harder to fish as the flow rushed through the channel so we moved inshore a bit and towards the area I'd heard rumour of the giltheads.... after tying up the small bass were soon on the baits, then Dan redeemed himself with a decent enough fish around 3lb (that made the piss taking sub side a little)..lol
Then it happened Dan the man was in and it weren't a bass, it was a lovely little gilthead bream... great stuff... I said to the lads, I don't care whats caught for the rest of the day.. that is fish of the day... unbeknown to me the boys had bet a fiver each, not on biggest fish, most fish... no on "fish of the day" and I was to be judge later that night... well I'd blown that and the piss taking of Dan was put to bed... he was the man..



Oh and as a side note Ant caught another gilthead, too late though there was only 1 fish of the day lol

We'd had a good start to the day, a dozen or more bass, couple of gilthead a black bream and 1 flounder, it was a tough paddle in kiting accross the tide, the boys showed good skills as this needs a bit of thought and you can be easily tipped if you turn wrong, a little bonus was watching a grey seal pull itself ashore onto the sand spit that's exposed at low water, a nice nice sight for us all from the water line.. It was time for a bacon sandwich in the caf (the less said about that the better... it was a bacon sandwich FFS not a roast dinner!! how long does it take!! )...
With bellies full we headed off to Branscombe, the plan was to set camp right along the beach towards Beer Head and fish around the headland until dark... this was a bit of graft, Geth had been down and sorted a good area and stashed a barbie grill in the hedge, this would be our grill overt open fire later, it was a fair trudge along the pebbles but worth it as we set up beside a big rock which gave us protection from the wind and the perfect table for filleting, beer holding, eating off etc...
With the camp set it was back in the wetsuits and a late afternoon/evening fish... the boys were full of it and up for a night time fish for congers (we'd see lol)... it was a cracking evening and we watch a commercial rod a and line boat filling up with big bass, our spirits were up but it wasn't to be that easy.. I drifted away from the lads a bit and checked a possible late night mark to tie too, whilst there I had a spin around the boulders and caught a few nice pollack, keeping 1 to make sure we had something we'd caught to go on the fire.... I had no need to worry, as I approached Micky on my paddle back he lifted a decent bass out of the well of his yak, great stuff again.. it was all coming together nicely,



I stayed out till dark with Ant and he caught his first ballan wrasse before we went in.




We could see Geth had a decent fire going on the beach, and we were heading in like moths to a flame, starting to chill a bit and starving hungry it was a very welcome sight..



Back opn the beach Geth had the place feeling like home, his magic bag had all the gear you need in it, I gutted the bass and got myself wet again in the surf cleaning it out, my turn for the piss taking lol, out of his Mary Poppins bag came tinfoil, butter, salt and pepper and soon enough the bass was ready for the fire.















We had burgers and sausages too.... plus copious amounts of cider, I had warned the boys that they would sleep like babies that night, and after a good feed and a couple of can the heads started nodding, we talked shit around the fire for a couple of hours, I then suggested getting the wet gear back on for a conger trip.... not so keen now (and neither was I)... the sleeping bag was a far more attractive prospect..


The boys got there self into the tent and were soon snoring, me and Geth sat by the fire and yapped a bit more, trying to plan tomorrows fishing, we ended up crashing out on the beach beside the fire, everyone slept pretty well.
The next morning was a bit dull, and cold, the thought of pulling on the wet wetsuits was not appealing, I got up first and sat looking out to sea, down under the headland I saw a big fin go over, a minute or so later it went over again, by now Geth was up and looking out as well, we saw it another 4 or 5 times, it was far too long across the back to be a porpoise or dolphin (which we regulary see down here), our conclusion was it was a Minke whale, (I've checked since and there has been a few spotted this year from Falmouth to Plymouth so I'm still thinking along those lines)...
We all had a quick cuppa and headed out by around 7, the sun was breaking through, the sea was flat and I had a good feeling, the boys were up for it today.... well all apart from Dan, he decided to stay in bed, the day before had done him... plus he had nothing to prove, he was the top angler now anyway! lol

I don't think we could've got it any better than we did on the day, everything fell into place, we started drifted and spinning, I lost a good fish afetr 10 minutes or so, it was a decent bass and I was ab it gutted tbh, but soon enough Ant was into a nice one (around 4lb).. then another, Micky was back into another decent bass, even Geth was catching a few fish.. it that good.


Andy was next in, a small gurnard but another for the species count (which was rapidly rising), I'd stopped spinning and was drifting with peeler for bait, a good rattle resulted in a very nice plaice... like a twat I put it in the well behind me, 1 decent flip and it was back in the water and away... Andy saw it and I got a 2nd dose of piss taking (fair enough I deserved it).. the boys all changed to baited rigs and we drifted around the headland and the fishing was great, I had a another nice plaice, then Micky did (he was on fire this day)... then Geth caught a plaice, dog fish were coming out fairly regualr, plus another better gurnard, Geth had a few mackerel on the handline.... Then Micky (now officially an angler) was into something a bit bigger.... after a decent scrap a nice smoothound was boated, we were all chuffed with this and it was unanimously named fish of the day...

The boys wanted to catch a few wrasse as they don't see them up their way, so we paddled into the boulders and used the last of the crabs on a wrasse bash, Andy had the best fish around 2lb or so.. his favourite fish he's caught..




Out of bait and out of time we paddled for shore and was greeted by a refreshed Dan.
It was hard graft packing down, paddling the gear around etc, but the boys were top lads and mucked in all weekend, it aint easy and you need lads that are willing to graft a bit.


I can honestly say we had some of the best fishing I've seen on the kayaks with 14 different species plus the lads had caught over 50 bass and species they hadn't caught before, things went to plan (for once) and the boys went home promising they were back again next year for round 2, which they are more than welcome too...




Again a big thank you to Ant, Dan, Micky and Andy for putting into our charity kitty and for making it such a successful weekend

[smithie 2,431]

Nice write up kev. Looks like a good time was had

 

5th picture down had me looking twice. Thought you had robbie fowler wi you

[NEWKID 26,380]

Nice write up kev. Looks like a good time was had

5th picture down had me looking twice. Thought you had robbie fowler wi you

Haha, yeah I can see that mate lol

[bell 3,526]

Top read that chaps.....really enjoyed it.......

[Malt 379]

Outstanding!

[NEWKID 26,380]

Top read that chaps.....really enjoyed it.......

 

Cheers mate

[NEWKID 26,380]

Outstanding!

 

Thanks Mal, one of those trips when your planning comes together, it don't happen often enough unfortunately lol

[Malt 379]

 

 

Outstanding!

Thanks Mal, one of those trips when your planning comes together, it don't happen often enough unfortunately lol

Ain't that the truth!

[chrismdd 787]

Great write-up Newkid. That is definitely the life. I took out our Ocean Caper a few times this year from Lyme and Seatown so maybe one day we'll bump into each other on the waves. Keep up the great write-ups. Guess you'll be getting ready for the ferreting season soon? we're going to start in October when its hopefully cooled down a bit. Chris.

[Daniel cain 43,182]

Top of the range kev -sounded like a most excellent time was had by all .atb dc

[NEWKID 26,380]

Great write-up Newkid. That is definitely the life. I took out our Ocean Caper a few times this year from Lyme and Seatown so maybe one day we'll bump into each other on the waves. Keep up the great write-ups. Guess you'll be getting ready for the ferreting season soon? we're going to start in October when its hopefully cooled down a bit. Chris.

Thanks Chris, haven't done a write up for a while but thought I should for this trip....

We'll be down that way a bit kayaking, there's some good fishing around beer and Seaton area, hopefully get out with you for a day..

 

Only talking to one of the lads I ferret with today, he's been out a couple of times already, I'll start once I've got this bloody row out of the way!!

[NEWKID 26,380]

Top of the range kev -sounded like a most excellent time was had by all .atb dc

Cheers Sean, yeah it was a great little trip, bit knackered after, think that's cause I'm getting older though lol

[white van man 3,192]

Cracking weekend. Great bunch of lads. You are welcome down any time. Cheers for doing the write up Kev. Thanks again for the donation to the charity. ATB Geth.

[mad4it 694]

looks like a great time was had by all, great write up as well.

Good luck with your row accross the channel.

[bullmastiff 610]

Man, that sounds like an amazing trip! Bit gutted we turned up late to the fishing comp and missed the kayaking. Hopefully next year!

 

I'll have to introduce you in person sometime to Chrismdd, You both have very similar hobbies/interests. Maybe sort something this year during the ferreting season?