Oxwich 2011, Wales 22/24-07-11

Another report from the other side of the Atlantic . This time I have been fishing the Oxwich fishing competition run by the South Wales Kayak Anglers [SWKA] This the second year for the event and through the hard work of the members it has been a roaring success.
The fishing takes place in   located on the Gower peninsular in SW Wales a particularly beautiful part of the world.


Thursday dinner time and the course I had been on all week was finished, time to get home, quick bath, load the coolbox and get on the road to S. Wales.
The journey was fine with no major hold ups and I arrived at about 7:30 I was given a warm welcome and a cold beer was soon thrust into my hand. Dan arrived 10 minutes after me and the barbecue was soon lit. Sometimes the meat was not thawed before being thrown on.




Last men standing were Dan and myself, to be fair we did start later than most! and yes we did get up to some flag shenanigans before turning in. [ we swapped the Welsh flag for an English one ]



Next day with a sore head we headed for the cafe for a fry up and then on to Swansea to the tackle shop and lidl's to to stock up on beer/meat. On the way there was the small matter of a puncture to fix.



After dropping off the shopping at the camp site, we headed off to the competition venue to get in some practice. This was the sight that greeted us...beautiful.



We paddled out and I suggested we go look at the wreck, I had the co-ordinates in my GPS from last year. As we got near I heard a 'AAAGGHH' I looked up just in time to see Dan fall in!
I am not sure what happened I don't think Dan does either. I took out my camera and took a quick snap, or at least I thought I had when I looked later, there was nothing on the card I must have not pressed the shutter for long enough. Gutted or what ;D. After a couple of attempts and some encouragement from myself and Pugwash [ Andy ], who had paddled over, Dan was soon back on board.




We tried round the wreck without much success then went over to a buoy and tied off to that. We were soon catching fish ending the session with 8 species in about 4 hours. The position of the buoy was duly noted for the comp the next day.
More beer and banter in the evening, but this time I retired at a reasonable hour.
Saturday dawned bright and calm and I was clear headed. I drove down, booked in and collected my bait before getting ready in a leisurely fashion.




There was a good friendly atmosphere on the beach as we were given a safety talk before setting off.




I started off trolling a yosuri lure for a bit, then had a think. Well that buoy had produced a few fish the day before, so I headed there. I tied off and lowered some baited hokies to the bottom. The other rod had a 5'o hook and bluey on, in the hope of a ray or smoothy. I had one gurnard before a fishing boat came over and give me a bollocking for tying up to to his buoy. He explained why and to be fair, in retrospect, he had a point.
Anyway I headed off to anchor elsewhere. I found a likely looking spot and started fishing again. I had 2 more types of Gurnard, Mackeral and a Dogfish. I was getting rattly bream bites on the hokie rod but could not hook them, so I switched to a wishbone flattie rig..first fish up a Bream : Ta very much. I tried crab on the big hook rod and had a savage take that I missed. Then hooked something that fought strongly and up came a smoothound. Yay my first this year. I added up what I caught so far.... 7, Blimey that's not bad. I hatched a plan one more species then paddle in and register early. Probably not enough for first place but a good chance of a prize. A couple of minutes later up popped a flattie. I upped anchor and paddled in. I was in the lead. But there was a fair time to go before the end so I packed up my stuff and had a beer soaking up the atmosphere.






Eventually the results were all in I was 3rd. Fantastic ;D I do love it when a plan comes together. It was a great competition with generous prizes by the sponsors.
The prize giving came next and then it was all back to the camp site for a barbecue and bevvy.
The Poole small boat club won the cup in the team competition ;D ;D




There was a raffle with some great prizes in the evening. I won a huge pile of course fishing groundbait and additives from dynamite baits. I only bought one ticket ...jammy or what :
Sorry about the quality of the video I had my fishing head on and wasn't thinking about getting things on film.



Lastly thanks to all the SWKA crew and the sponsors for making it all possible and making everybody welcome...even the English. They [ the SWKA ] have promised to make more trips across the bridge to a few meets next year and I am sure they will be made welcome where ever they go. We will have to go some to beat Oxwich as a venue though.


Above is the report I put on the Anglers Afloat forum in the UK. You will be pleased to know I bumped into Phil your former NorCal member now back in the UK. So here are a couple of photos of him; the first with his daughter on the beach, the second on the water fishing the competition. 

You sure know how to put a report together, BBQ, beer, hangovers, Yep that's a yak meet.

That spot is beautiful looks tropical,

Nice to see Phil too,

Thanks again for some news from the other side of the pond.

Congrat on winning the third place.  Thanks for another great oversea report with lots of pictures and video.

Wtg on placing 3rd at the event, looks like every one had a blast out there! Fun to see the English playing some games with the Welsh lol 

Thanks always for sharing your reports with us overseas, I enjoy every one of em!!

always get excited when i see one of your reports, another great one, one of these days i want to attend one of these events, and great seeing northernboy(phil) on the water over there, thanks for another great report, cameron

Congrats on taking 3rd place bro. Sure is nice to see Phil on the water. BTW Phil,
your daughter is beautiful. Remember if you ever come to visit us in the future, I
have a loaner yak you can borrow any time brother.

Jedmo

Northern Boy!!   

Hey Phil!!! 


todaymueller and Phil......PM me your address and i'll send you guys some NCKA stickers 

"I was getting rattly bream bites on the hokie rod but could not hook them"

Ya I hate that every time it happens to me!  Blimey!

Looks like a fun time for all...

Keep in touch!

Allen

Great story & pics., looks like a fun event, what a beautiful place for a tourney.
Congrats on your 3rd place finish.

Hey phil,  Go Giants !!! 

Hey fellas

Hello to all you as well. Thanks to John for posting the report.

I managed a big improvement on last year - 5 species. Still haven't got my head round fishing for species not fishing for dinner. Got carried away loading up on macks and dabs. Lisa and I will both hit it hard next year, camping and all.

NB

Threadjack warning! 

Anybody know anything about fishing in Scotland?  I'm headed there in mid October to attend a wedding, may even have to wear a kilt.  The venue is some castle near or in Edinburgh, where we have rented a house.

Also, anyone know where I can get some info on water temps, etc for the local bodies of h20?  I'd like to take a swim in Loch Ness, but won't bother bringing gear if its below the low 50's.

"I was getting rattly bream bites on the hokie rod but could not hook them"

Ya I hate that every time it happens to me!  Blimey!

totally LOLz! 

I say it every time, but man do I love these reports!

The venue looks absolutely beautiful, and the camaraderie and good fishing mojo come through in the writing and pics.
Thanks again for keeping us all paddling across the pond!

Great report, and nice to see Phil again! Theresa and I were just wondering about you guys the other day when we were taking the long drive back to Idaho from Albion.