Porthallow Kayak fishing session

Despite moving house and having loads to do at home I managed a fishing session on the Kayak, out of Porthallow using live sand eel, targeting Bass.

Having spent a few hours on Wednesday in my local tackle shop, I heard that Bass were falling to live sand eel. Bottom fished from the shore was the most popular method, resulting in 2 x 7lb Bass being caught from Loebar Nr. Helston in the past few days. The technique they used for these fish was a ball bullet on a flowing trace fished about 40 - 50 yds out. This method allows the sand eel to cover a lot of the sea bed, finding the holes and gullies holding the Bass.

The tide was small on Thursday, high at about 10:50 hrs and the weather was very fine, no wind and no swell. I managed to get to the tackle shop at opening time and was en-route with a bubbling live bait holder full of eel. My anticipation level was really high, combined with being stuck in the house for the past month, I really thought this was it!

I arrived at the beach ready to go sea fishing. I always pay to park and drop in an extra few quid as I am launching my Kayak from there, it’s an honesty box system.

I then have my system which allows me to get everything right and not forget things (generally),

• Straps off the kayak and rolled ready for re-use on my return.
• Kayak off the roof and either on to it wheels or carried to the waters edge.
• Check the Kayak hatches and bungs are secure and well fitting.
• Carry fishing gear, paddles, leashes, bait, GPS to Kayak.
• Get changed, put camera phone and car key in water proof holder.
• Pick up fresh drinking water and snacks.
• Sun lotion if required.
• Check safety gear is working.
• Check car is secure, hand brake applied.
• Put on PFD, lock car and go fishing.

Just a quick tip - I always, on finishing the trip put the Kayak onto the roof while in my wet gear. There is nothing worse than getting warm and dry, then getting soaked lifting the kayak onto the roof and getting covered in water (trust me I have done it).

I paddled out 10 yds and rigged up my rod. I am not sure why I don’t rig up on the beach, but these few minutes bobbing about allow me to find my balance and I seem to find I get on like this much better, feeling the shape of the water and getting into the groove.

I started by heading to some rough ground towards Porthkerris. I fished a simple bottom rig as describe above, hooked up my sand eel and started to drift. The drift speed was very slow and I did not cover much ground. Small Pollock fell to the live eel but, I could not entice anything else to the bait.

Getting a bit bored, I moved closer to the shore line. Bass like to hunt gullies and rough ground close to the shore line. I changed the rig to a bubble float with a 10 ft 14lb fluro carbon leader. I set the float about 2 feet from the end of the main line which meant the sand eel was fishing 12 feet from the bottom of the float. I dropped the rig into the water then paddled about 30yds away from the gear and drifted along the shore line in about 16 to 20 feet of water.

The water was very clear and I could see small wrasse and Pollock moving along the edge of weed beds over clean sand. Mullet of about 3 - 5 lbs were also cruising these weed margins. In fact the Mullet looked very interested in me and my Kayak, coming out of cover to have a better look at the hull of the boat. I thought one mullet was a Bass until I saw it flat nose which clearly distinguishes it from a Bass.

This method worked, but as I have found all year I could only manage small Bass in the 1 - 2 lb range. Nothing worth keeping but good sport. I experimented with the presentation of the Sand eel. Hooking it through the tail end made for a more lively bait with great action, but missed takes. Looking closely at the eels hooked this way I could see damage to the head end of the Sand eel. I then tried a couple hooked in the middle of the eel. I often notice that Bass caught on plugs are hooked on the central treble, but this was not reflected when using live bait. The best location for the hook was as close to the mouth of the eel as possible. I think that the Bass will take hold of a pray item however is easiest at the time, generally from underneath and towards the mid to front area but, when they mouth the bait, ready for consumption, they arrange the fish so it can be swallowed head fist. Hence, preventing fins and body appendages from fouling the mouth and allowing for easy passage down the throat.

I moved location after learning a lot from this area. The tide was now falling rapidly and the weather was still fine and the sun was now hot! I moved to the side of the cove where the prevailing light breeze was blowing towards and the tidal current was flowing. The reason for this was I hoped that any food stuffs would be carried to this area, and the bigger fish may be hunting in this location. I was wrong (again)!

My drifts were short, which I was prepared for because both tide and breeze were on shore. The sea bed is similar, more clean sand and fewer boulders but I saw less and hooked less. I did catch a nice Pollock which I wanted to return but sadly the fish had taken the hook very deep and had damaged its self, so I decide to dispatch it and took it home for the freezer.

I moved along the shore line to a distant headland, looking for deeper water close in shore. I only had about one hour of fishing left by now. I was fishing a deep hole I found and suddenly my rod bent over hard, then eased and the tip was nodding - A Cod! I started to reel in, not pumping the rod but keeping nice even pressure all the time. The fish became lighter and easier to pull in and I got my first sight of it. I could see a deep red colour coming towards me, aah cod from kelp I thought. At that exact time I could then see my Cod was in fact a Cuttle fish. His skin was bright red and sticking up in mini spines created by the millions of muscles in this fascinating animals outerlayer. It was not happy to see me, but it was beautiful and a first for me!!

It was now time to make for port and head home. I replaced my sand eel for a Power Bait cray fish lure and dropped the rig to the bottom and started towards the shore. No more than 10 strokes and I was into a Mackerel. I started again and I was into another Mackerel. They loved this lure and watching it fall from my hand towards the sea bed I could see why. It had a lovely motion and fantastic reflective quality. I had about 10 Mackerel before I had to give up and just go straight back to the shore.

On arriving shattered at the shore line, I proceeded to dismantle my fishing gear and start storing it away in the car, not forgetting to place the kayak onto the roof before getting out of my wet suite.

In all it was a successful fishing trip at this interesting mark. A few lesson were learnt and I look forward to using this information on my next fishing trip.

I would love to hear about any lessons you have learnt recently on a fishing trip, do you experiment while on a session? Let us know by commenting on this post.