The Plaice, The Jellyfish and The Flying Shark!

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. 

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The Spring tide was just starting to ebb and there was a fair tidal race streaming past the headland, we paddled across it and dropped slivers of mackerel down to the seabed 20m below. We were drifting fast, the race was up near 5kts and we were moving much slower. I started getting a few bites though and soon enough a small fish was on. A codling! My first kayak caught cod, albeit in miniature! 

We made the decision to paddle back to the start of the drift. It took effort, the tide wasn't forgiving one bit so we decided to drop just on the inside of the headland to get out of the worst of the flow. Baits went down and the kayak hardly drifted at all, 50ft away was the tidal race we would have sent us half a mile in no time yet we were hardly moving anywhere! Ethan pulled up a few mackerel on the tinsels. i was quietly watching the rod tips when directly in front of me all hell broke loose!! In the tidal race a 10m+ Basking Shark erupted from the water, fully breaching before coming back down to the surface with a huge splash!! Hell.... i felt very small in the kayak! The Go Pro went on and the camera was ready for a repeat breach but it was just my luck that it never showed again. Oh well! It was an impressive feat of nature regardless of capturing on camera. It wasn't long after that i was pulling up a fish that put a bit of a bend in the rod. From the depths emerged a nice Plaice. Well that was me happy.

By now it was mid day and it was getting hot....really hot! So hot that frequent handfuls of water were being poured over my head to keep me cool. If the tide hadn't been so strong i would have been swimming. The tide was edging off and i found myself another couple of small cod and a few dogfish.

A the tide dropped off, so did the drift and so did the bites. I was quite happy sitting there in the sun though. The water was glassy calm and the scenery along that stretch of coastline rivals the best scenery anyway in the UK. It is truly stunning and by far my favourite stretch of coastline for kayak fishing and shore fishing. Glimmering sandy beaches melt into the huge granite cliffs towering above them, intermittently broken by patches of colourful wild flowers. Stunning.

We had a paddle around and  i found a few promising reefs for future sessions. As we headed back to the beach i came across a Barrel Jellyfish, Rhizostoma pulmo, and was able to get some footage of it swimming along in the tide: 

We landed and began the long slog back up the beach, up a steep sand dune and along a rocky path back to the car. Every muscle was stretched and it was not fun in the hot sun. I say to myself  every time that its too difficult to get the kayaks down to the beach and back but i always end up back there again! The rewards are too promising and every so often you will get a cracking days fishing on the sands, plus the scenery and wildlife makes it worthwhile too. I will be back!