Welcome to the Sea fishing blog

This is well worth watching and a great sound track!!

Today I bought my RTM Disco.

I am too exhausted to write much about it tonight, but I have had a great time on this KAYAK and I am hoping to fish off it tomorrow all being equal.

I went to Poldhu cove today for an hour and got screwed by a medium swell running in, then I went over to the east side of the Lizard and enjoyed some peaceful paddling

Anyway I have loads of questions about this whole kayak fishing thing so I will post as I learn.

There is a whole range of fishing kayaks now available on the market. You can fish from any kayak but some are better than others for the job in question. I will cover 3 of the makes and models here.

Ocean Kayak Prowler 13 Angling edition – This is possibly the most popular fishing kayak on the market at the moment. It is a sit on top kayak which has been designed around the fisherman. The basic package comes with 2 flush mounted rod holders, padded seat and back rest. There is also a tackle box. This kayak weighs 54lbs and is 13’4” long. Retail about £559. It’s a proven boat and highly regarded as the King of fishing Kayaks.

Wilderness Syatems ride 135 – A new kayak for 2007 boosting a very stable hull design which is well suited for angling. This design also has a lot of free board (the height from the water to the top of the kayak) making it a dry boat in most conditions. Its also a fast boat allowing you to cover distance easily when heading off to your fishing grounds. This has a safety implication in my opinion meaning it quicker to get you out of trouble if you are stuck in a tide! Again there is storage and flush moutned rod holders. This kayak weighs 64lbs and is 13’3” long I cannot find a price for this boat yet!

RTM Disco – This is my favourite. It’s a sleek kayak which tracks very well and has a good level of stability. There is a built in back rest and front hatch and the angling version has flush mounted rod holders. There is a large well in the rear which can hold tackle boxes and other angling equipment. The articles I have read testing this Kayak out rate it highly stating it’s a dry silent boat well capable of use in the sea!. This kayak weighs 50lbs and is 14’ long. £420 - £480 for the fishing type.

I would like to add that you can cut and add hatches to most Kayaks, but take care. You do not need to buy the FISHING model, you can get the standard version and adapt it yourself.

I really like the disco, its fast, a little cheaper than similar designs, lighter and looks sleek. This is the Kayak I am going to be buying soon, it will be ideal for Bassing. Plugging, bottom fishing, reef fishing and fly fishing are all suited to kayak angling – I will keep you updated with my trials.

I was lucky enough today to be able to spend 4 hours Trout fishing at Meadow tree Trout fishery, near Hayle in Cornwall.

It has been awhile since I last went fly fishing for Trout but I was really looking forward to the session.

I arrived and rigged my old 10 ft Normark silver medallion. I used a 7 wt line shooting head with a leader of Berkley VANISH fluorocarbon. I decide to start with a damsel on a 10 hook to see what was happening.

My casting was a bit rusty, but after 20 mins I got back into the swing of things getting nice casts along the sides of the pool amongst the edge of the reeds, against a breeze. I started with a medium speed retrieve making the nymph look alive and alert hoping to catch a fish off guard, inducing a take. However, while I was fishing I considered the water temperature and decide to slow the retrieve speed down gaining both depth for the nymph and perhaps a more natural effect. I spent the next 30 mins using the figure of 8 method, where you wrap the line around your fingers, starting from the index finger, twisting the handover catching the line on the little finger, slowly drawing the line towards you. This gained results.

I managed 6 fish in total, missing two strong bites. When I am fishing using slow retrieve methods I watch the line where it first touches the water, from the rod tip, this is the best bite indicator. You can see the line move when a fish takes the fly. Sometimes it slackens, moves in a strange direction or most normally you see a slight pull.

The Trout were all nice sized 2 – 2.5lb Rainbow Trout in great condition and they made good eating!

I have now bought my BA. Its a 50N device that should be more than enough for my needs as a Kayak fisherman!! I went for a slightly more expensive model than the basic ones as its the most important safety equipment you have out there!

As you can see it has two zip pockets, two hand warming pockets, a knife pouch and on the back a pocket for a camel pak or similar drinking device.

I bought it from a Kayak shop in Penryn, near Falmouth.

Here is the orignal web site

I spent about an hour today at Meadow tree trout fishery, having a lok at the shop and the 2 waters they have.

The top pond is stocked now with fish of about 3 lbs. There are Blue, Rainbow and Brown trout as well as a few tigers. The stock pond is holding some really nice fish. Lots ready to go in at about the 3 – 5lb mark. They are healthy and have good clean fins, ready for the fight.

The lower pond is where the real whoppers hide out. I understand it stocked with fish in the double figures. It’s a great Dry fly and Nymph water.

Both ponds are gin clear and you can see fish moving which are looking strong and fit.

The recent rain has not effected the water too much and I was informed that small nymph are fishing well now the water has settled. Over the past few weeks strong reds and Oranges have been seeing the best result.

Located in the grounds is a high class tackle shop. I spent ages looking at some quality tackle bags and Fly rods. All the names are there including Hardy, Orvis, Greys and some great tackle bags from an American company called Fishpond. Fishpond have built real functionality in to their products and if you haven’t seen the product line they offer you should have a look.

Here is a link to Meadow Tree Trout Fishery

Please contact them as they have an online tackle shop, even better pop in and look at the range they offer.

I am getting requests for information on Carp fishing in Devon.

My fishing guide has a few locations for you to try across england, but for Devon try,

• Newbarn farm and Angling centre offers Carp fishing. They have 6 coarse lakes in total
• South farm has 4 coarse lakes which have Carp up to 30lb

If you own a Carp lake or any fishing resource please don’t forget that you can advertise your resource free of charge on www.englishfishingguide.co.uk.

Thanks

I use a carp rod now for most of my sea fishing.

I like the sensitivity gained when using a lighter rod and weight. I tend to only use 2- 3 oz of lead and allow the tide to take the bait, moving it around the seabed allowing me to cover a large amount of water in order to search out the fish.

I look for rods with about 2lb test curves and generally do not spend more that £50 on a rod. After a heavy seasons use the rod will have taken a few good dints and knocks, I would feel real bad if I damaged a high quality rod by dropping it on the beach! I also look for a rod of about 11 foot in length. This is useful when rock fishing to clear the base of the rocks when retrieving the line. You should look for a rod which has quality rings as I tend to use braid, this also improves bite detection in my opinion as well as reducing the effects of wind on the line.

A 2lb test curve rod will also throw bigger plugs. This means you have a great all round fishing rod allowing you to float fish for mullet, bass etc, fish the bottom for most species including flounder and spin for Bass, Pollock etc.

It will feel strange at first casting 2-3 oz on a light rod. But modern materials have improved a hell of alot in recent times and the rod will be more than capable of therowing it a good distance.

To buy a carp rod have a look hereÂ

OK, Razor Shell is the same as Razor fish. I am getting about 2 people a day asking me if they are the same beast.

They seem to be known in different parts of the country by either name but the Latin name that stays the same for the genus is Solenidae.

3 species are found around Cornwall (Common Razor Solen marginatus, Ensis arcuatus and the Pod Razor Ensis siliqua.) and they all look very similar to me. It’s the curve of the Razor shell that distinguishes them.

Just a quick recap, it’s a burrowing mollusc which can be eaten if cooked correctly or used as top quality fishing bait for Bass, Cod, well in fact most fish.

The meat is the main Muscle which runs down to its foot which it uses to burrow with. It requires bait elastic to hold it together as it’s a soft meat.

Click here for more on -> Harvesting Razor Shell.