[Yak] St Brides (Mackerel, Pollack, Bass, Codling)

St Brides 13/07/2008
Time: 8.00am to 4.00pm.
Tide: LW-1 to HW+1. Neap, flood tide.
Weather: Calm, breeze picking up later.
Sea: Calm to start, slightly choppy later.
Tackle & Bait: Mostly lures. Briefly tried fish baits a few times but nothing.
Fishing: Slow. A lack of mackerel shoals. Bass and a surprise codling.
Comments: Lovely day out again. Sea was calm but became a little choppy later on. Towards HW the drift became quite fast and strong around Nab Head. There was a lack of mackeral shoals and I only picked up a few singles. Odd because the same places at the same tide had bags of them only a month ago. May be something to do with the rough weather recently. Nice to see bass running around. I broke a rod due to a snag - the 8 pound boat rod which was useless anyway as it wasn't stiff enough. Had a lot of small pollack but put them all back as they are not good eating unless a decent size. Stopped at Musselwick Beach for lunch and a break.

[Yak] St Brides (Mackerel, Pollack)

St Brides 07/06/2008
Time: 6.00pm to 10.00pm.
Tide: HW-4 to HW. Spring, flood tide.
Weather: Clear, mild NW wind.
Sea: Calm/moderate
Tackle & Bait: Feathers & lures
Fishing: Lots of good size mackerel and pollack around the rocks.
Comments: Headed back out around Nab Head then across to Stack Rocks. Came back along the rocks but it was getting late and nearly dark so didn't have time to fish the rocks for long.

[Yak] St Brides (38 Mackerel, 8 Pollack, 2 Codling)

St Brides 30/05/2008St Brides
Time: 9.00am to 5.00pm.
Tide: LW to HW+2. Neap, flood tide.
Weather: No wind, patchy sun, warm.
Sea: Calm.
Tackle & Bait: Feathers and various lures.
Fishing: Plenty of good size mackerel about in the right places, especially around Nab Head. Pollack on the feathers, shads, worms, and squid lures. Cod caught on a squid lure and also on feathers. Tried some bottom fishing with mackerel bait but had no bites.
Comments: Very good fishing opposite Nab Head with Mackerel caught all along the stretch to Mussellwick Bay. Stopped for a bit at a small cove that would have been part of Mussellwick Bay when the tide is out.

[Yak] Stackpole (Mackerel)

Stackpole 14/05/2008
Time: 6.00pm to 8.00pm.
Tide: LW-3 to LW-1. Neap, spring, ebb, flood tide.
Weather: Clear.
Sea: Slight swell 2-3ft
Tackle & Bait: Feathers & lures
Fishing: Lots of mackerel
Comments: Mid week evening trip to Stackpole. Ebb tide so I wasn't sure what the fishing would be like. Went out 100yrds, put out the feathers with the intention of trolling them about and they were taken straight away by mackerel. Seemed to be concentrated opposite the key itself with not so many elsewhere. Headed over towards Stackpole Head but the fishing slowed down.

[Yak] Newport (4 Dogfish, 1 Pollack)

Newport 11/05/2008
Time: 12.00pm to 8.00pm.
Tide: HW-1 to LW+1. Neap, ebb tide.
Weather: Very good - clear & calm
Sea: Calm
Tackle & Bait: Feathers, lures & mackerel bait
Fishing: Slow. No mackerel around.
Comments: The mackerel haven't shown up yet on the north Pembs coast so the fishing was slow. Lovely day and the sea was very calm so I went around the headland towards Moylegrove and fished along the rocks and also further out. Stopped at a small cove for a break.

Stackpole (10 Dogfish, 12 Whiting)

Stackpole 23/04/2008
Time: 7.00pm to 10.30pm.
Tide: HW-2 to HW+1. Neap, spring, ebb, flood tide.
Weather: Dry, light SW wind
Sea: Calm
Tackle & Bait: Mackerel strips & live whiting
Fishing: Busy with dogs & whiting
Comments: Went to the ledges near the key at first and found them occupied so headed across Barafundle to Latice Windows. Spoke to 2 lads fishing on the first ledges and they had a bag of Mackerel. Fishing was busy with the usual dogfish and whiting. Tried live baiting the whiting but the dog fish just ate those as well! Took the spinning rod and tried feathers but didn't hit any mackerel.

Nolton Rocks

Nolton Rocks 19/04/2008
Time: 5.00pm to 8.00pm.
Tide: HW-2 to HW+1. Spring tide.
Weather: Rain, overcast, east winds
Sea: Calm - east wind keeping it down
Tackle & Bait: Mackerel
Fishing: Blank
Comments: Nothing at all biting. Not even dogfish or crabs. Tried feathers just in case the odd mackerel where about but nothing. Very quiet time of year!

[Yak] Morfa Bychan (1 Dogfish)

Morfa Bychan 04/04/2008
Time: 10.00am to 5.00pm.
Tide: LW-1 to HW. Spring, flood tide.
Weather: Overcast, steady cold w breeze.
Sea: Moderate.
Tackle & Bait: Mackerel.
Fishing: Slow.
Comments: First paddle out on the new yak so spent a lot of time getting used to things and trying things out. Did a bit of fishing and got one dogfish, otherwise no bite and nothing showing on the fish finder. After coming in I spoke to a chap who had been fishing the shore all the time I was out and he had a bag of flounder - about 8. He caught them as the tide was coming in over the lug beads.

Caerfai

Caerfai 16/03/2008
Time: 2.00pm to 4.00pm.
Tide: HW to HW-2. Neap ebb tide.
Weather: Dry and bright, moderate wind.
Sea: Moderate.
Tackle & Bait: Usual mackerel.
Fishing: Nothing.
Comments: Went to investigate the ledges as I haven't had a chance before. Good ledges to the right of the bay, and some around the headland on the left. Tried fishing for a couple of hours but it was an ebb tide in the day so didn't expect to get anything - and I was right! Now I know the ledges I can come back for a night session.

Stackpole (8 Dogfish, 1 Whiting)

Stackpole 14/03/2008
Time: 6.30pm to 9.30pm.
Tide: LW+1 to LW+4. Neap, flood tide.
Weather: Drizzle, light S wind.
Sea: Moderate.
Tackle & Bait: Mackerel strips and whiting livebait.
Fishing: Dogfish!!
Comments: The dogfish have moved in after the big storm this week. Started catching them as soon as I arrived and they kept coming as usual. Put some small ones back and took a few larger ones home. Gave up early as there was some tackle loss - dogs dragging the rigs into weeds and snags - and I was tired of hauling them in. Doesn't seem to be much else around when the dogs take over in such numbers.

Nolton Rocks (16 Whiting, 3 Dogfish)

Nolton Rocks 13/02/2008
Time: 5.00pm to 11.00pm.
Tide: LW to HW. Spring flood tide.
Weather: Clear, cold and no wind.
Sea: Calm.
Tackle & Bait: Mackerel flappers & whole whiting flappers.
Fishing: Busy later.
Comments: No bites at all until 8pm when the dogs and whiting came in. Then it was busy up and down the rocks pulling them in one at a time mostly. Excellent weather conditions to be out on the rocks. No wind, dry and the sea was calm, though still with a good swell at times.

Nolton Rocks (11 Whiting, 1 Dab)

Nolton Rocks 09/02/2007
Time: 5.00pm to 9.00pm.
Tide: LW+2 to HW. Spring tide.
Weather: Clear, light SE wind.
Sea: Calm.
Tackle & Bait: Mackerel & live whiting.
Fishing: Quite slow, nothing on the live bait.
Comments: Started off at Mussellwick Sands at low tide, but had nothing at all. Weather was good and the sea was relatively calm so I went to try Nolton Rocks for the evening and high tide. Whiting came in slowly and I used the smaller ones as live bait but no bites.

Newgale (1 Coalfish, 1 Whiting)

Newgale 06/02/2008
Time: 5.30pm to 7.30pm.
Tide: HW-1 to HW+1. Spring tide.
Weather: Overcast, light S wind.
Sea: Rough.
Tackle & Bait: Mackerel strips.
Fishing: Coalfish just before it got dark, then a whiting, nothing else around.
Comments: Nice to catch a Coalfish as I haven't had one before. The sea was rough even though the weather had calmed down for the day.

Freshwater East (20 Whiting, 1 Dab, 1 Turbot, 1 Dogfish, 2 Pouting)

Freshwater East 30/01/2008
Time: 5.00pm to 9.00pm.
Tide: LW to LW+4. Neap tide.
Weather: Overcast, West winds, some rain.
Sea: Moderate.
Tackle & Bait: Mackerel strips.
Fishing: Busy.
Comments: Regular bites and a nice variety of fish. Went out after the whiting. There was a strong right to left current that dragged the rigs around a lot. I didn't bother with grip leads and just let them move about to find the fish - seemed to work. Got most of the whiting on the longer distance rod, just couldn't seem to get out far enough with the shorter distance rod.

Druidston Haven (1 Whiting)

Druidston Haven 01/01/2008
Time: 4.00pm to 7.00pm.
Tide: LW-3 to LW. Neap tide.
Weather: Overcast.
Sea: Moderate.
Tackle & Bait: Mackerel strips.
Fishing: Poor.
Comments: I hate standing on beaches and catching bugger all! Weather is too bad to get on many of the rock marks. The fish have all gone out to deeper water it seems, even the whiting.