Sun and swell - first paddle of 2014

With a very brief break in the persistent strong winds of late i decided it was time to get out on the kayak. Kieren was keen and the wind forecast looked perfect with very light westerlies throughout the day ....but the swell was still lingering after the weekends storm. I had a couple of launch marks lined up and it was a case of seeing how they were on the day as to whether the kayak would get on the water or not.

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With a very brief break in the persistent strong winds of late i decided it was time to get out on the kayak. Kieren was keen and the wind forecast looked perfect with very light westerlies throughout the day ....but the swell was still lingering after the weekends storm. I had a couple of launch marks lined up and it was a case of seeing how they were on the day as to whether the kayak would get on the water or not. After a quick trip to the West Cornwall Angling in Penzance to get bait we were heading towards the preferred launch spot but on driving down the hill towards the car park it quickly became apparent that launching was out of the question - clean 5ft surf rolled into the bay and the nice sandy beach was now rocks and boulders thanks to the battering from numerous storms - i didn't fancy my chances with the rocks! Anyway a short drive put us onto launch mark two - it looked fine from the car park but once we carried the kayaks down to the waters edge (not easy as it involved lowering the kayaks down a 10ft wall!!) the swell looked too much to risk it yet again so it was back to the car! 

I was beginning to think the swell was going to put an end to the prospect of getting onto the water.....a quick think and we decided to have one last try at a sheltered spot a couple of miles away, the fishing wouldn't be great but i just wanted to make the most of the summery weather, get on the water and test my fish finder out!! We parked up 50 yards from the waters edge and was greeted by flat water with hardly a drop of swell rolling onto the beach....finally! The sun was out, not a breath of wind and the air was surprisingly warm.... I've been out in colder days in summer! Wetsuits on, kayaks loaded and we were ready to launch.

We paddled for about a mile up the coast and i got to grips with the Lowrance 4x DSI controls - initial thoughts.....what a fantastic piece of kit! I was paddling past buoys and could clearly see the rope hanging beneath and the line of pots between them. Rough ground was fairly easy to distinguish from the sand (a lost set of gear confirmed this!!) and small reefs and rocks were clearly shown on the colour display. A few small shoals of fish were seen off bottom, most probably small whiting. I look forward to putting it to good use on my regular kayaking spots!

We dropped our baits down in 15m of water on a patch of clean ground about 500 yards offshore and began to slowly drift but didn't expect much fishwise. A fair bit of ground swell was rolling past, the water was heavily coloured and by now we were fishing on the drop of the tide. Kieren had the first bite and hooked into something which put a decent bend in his rod, it turned out to be a small Conger which was released beside the kayak. Apart from that promising start the fishing was slow. We both had a couple of pin whiting over the next hour so decided to call it a day and just have a paddle around in the sunshine and see what i could find with the fish finder.

We slowly made our way back to the beach and were able to paddle straight up onto the shingle - a nice easy landing. It was so warm the wetsuit tops were pulled down, it wasn't quite sunny enough to get a tan but it was warm nonetheless - spring is on the way! We gained a few strange looks from people heavily clad in winter clothing walking on the beach! All in all a nice paddle in lovely weather with a couple of fish thrown in too. I finally got to try out my fish finder so that kept me happy. Time to wait for a nice calm period of weather before i hit the deeper fish holding spots. Hopefully by then i will have my new RTM kayak fully rigged ready for action!