Paddle session at Runswick bay 16/11/2013

 

 

I met up with Mark today for a familiarisation session as Mark has just bought a P&H Scorpio and is still trying to get to grips with a few rescues and to get a feel of his new boat.

 

 

 

We started off paddling inside the flat calm bay and made our way out to Kettleness point where there was some large swells rolling in over the shallow ground with a few big breakers mixed in I had a short mess around fooling in the waves while Mark was tucked safely on the outside edge of them but didn't manage to really surf any of them properly today.

 

 

We then paddled around the point giving the rough water a wide berth and headed down towards Sandsend stopping to fool around in the small cave entrances and a bit of rockhopping too really enjoyed this still find it hard to feel in control and balanced when left high and dry on a rock but all good practice.

As Mark was reversing in to a cave entrance I spotted a large wave heading our way so shouted him to start forward paddling out into it just in time as he had just enough momentum to push out and pop through the roller (think he enjoyed that bit!)

 

 

Some really stunning scenery along this stretch of coast not seen by many!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had been watching Mark keeping well out from the rocks but found some ‘Safe’ (famous last words) water on the edge of a steep cliff with a small crevice/cave in it where the swell was just moving up and down with no risk of big breaking waves and some small clepotis created so encouraged him to have a little play about in it after which I couldn't resist  but whilst reversing my stern into the small crevice a surge of water drained out of the gulley as my stern was hard up against the rock and was stupidly tipped (Really need to react quicker with a brace) and ended up swimming in what turned out to be a very deep gulley couldn't feel the bottom and had to hold on to my boat and wait for my paddle to be washed back down from the back of the cave (yet another silly mistake letting go of the paddle) bad habits of relying on a paddle leash whilst on my sit on top.,but I managed to keep calm and still smiling I shouted Mark as he was oblivious to my situation and he came over offering assistance but I was determined to get myself out of my situation and managed a solo self rescue without any problems a great confidence builder.

 

 

 

After this we headed back to our launch point and we had an hour or so of practicing self rescues which Mark really struggled with last week but after just one demo he nailed it this week so we progressed on to assisted recoveries which he managed without issue too Mark also brought along a paddle float to practice with and he can use this with very little effort to re board should the need arise, I borrowed the float and had a fool about using it to roll myself back up not from totally inverted but almost and think it may help me get my head around the right position to be in for rolls in the future

 

 

 

 

A Video of the day:

 

 

 

Out in the surf solo!

Had a short trip out this morning in what at times were very big waves, after a couple of dunking's I managed to catch a few and peel off them before they broke looking back at the video I could have had a few more seconds on them but a bit more experience in the Delphin 155 and expanding my comfort zone a bit more

 

A few pics to share too

 

 

 

Failed Thornback session 24/10/13

Had a quick trip out with the rod for a change this morning hopes were high for a Thornback or two

But after an hour or so of constant Whiting I decided to just have a tour down the coast to Saltburn and have a play around under the pier before eventually finding some small surf to fool around in a few pics to Share but not much in the way of fish

Leaving the rods and reels at home!

Over the past few months the fishing has taken a back seat as I have been putting in the hours getting to grips with my Sit Inside Kayak A P&H Delphin 155

 

After an exciting trip to Filey Brigg joined by Ken Oliver and Dave Adamson myself and Mark were shown what can be achieved with some skill and confidence in the surf, I was still finding my feet in the Delphin so didn't throw myself into the challenging stuff as much as I should but still managed a face full of shingle and bubbles

 

There was a big northerly sea running and we could get close to the dangerous water whilst sheltering behind Filey Brigg which was awesome with big swells hitting the brigg and smashing spray high into the air with the odd wall of white water making it over to play in also managed a few more practiced recues with Ken really enjoy this sort of thing with Ken and also some tips on bracing which I’ve managed to build on over the last few sessions

 

 

All of this gave me the confidence to go out solo even in some quite challenging conditions lately however Mark has joined me on most trips out but managed to stay upright without incident so far

 

Really looking forward to learning a bit more and possibly training for some BCU * awards with Ken in the near future along with some trips to new places also GOT to get to grips with “Rolling” too!

Jack gets in on the action 23/09/13

After quite a dismal fishing trip this morning I decided to get Jack out in the tandem and paddle him around see if he could latch into some fish so as soon as he had eaten his tea we met up with Mark at Redcar and launched he couldnt wait to get going

He was into fish from the off with a few Coalies

and a small Pollack

He was having a great time and needed no instruction from me today apart from bringing the fish on board and unhooking them
After a while he latched into something with a bit more spirit in it and I was over the moon to see him bring a nice Bass to the surface weighing in at bang on 2lb



One very happy little boy and a massively proud dad
Andy

30/08/2013 a PB Bass and a lost monster

Launched at Dawn today 2nd day running into a nice clear calm sea but with the wind forecast to pick up a quick dash out to my marks resulted in a few Coalies to 2lb and then whilst over the Kelp it was non stop Pollack action mainly small fish but had one fish that was around 6lb that looked perfect filleting size but as I reached for my pliers to unhook it in the net it threw itself back in leaving the trebles in my net!


After that slight disappointment and a few greedy Mackerel hitting the plugs I had 2 decent fish kelp me one after the other and lost my favourite pink headed yo- zuri too!
Switched to another pattern Yo-Zuri and was soon attached to a fish of awesome power I couldnt do a thing with it after smoking the drag for quite some time with nothing I could do to control it I felt the horrible feeling of it entering the kelp beds gutted to lose it without even seeing it but amazing to feel the power of which I presume was a very nice Pollack

I managed a few more 3-4lb fish and countless smaller ones before being kelped yet again with the wind increased now I managed to get the Kayak over the top of the kelped fish and could feel it bumping now and again so knew I was still attached  I was getting blown around and needed to get the rod to the right hand side of the Kayak as I was drifting away from the fish with the rod on the wrong side so let some line off and tried to pass the line over the bow where it promptly tangled with the drain bungs  so I was effectively anchore from the very tip of the bow after a few minutes of trying to get free it was time to get wet so off the yak quick swim to the bow untangle and reboard the fully rigged kayak 2 rods landing net and so on but this is exactly why its good to practice this kind of thing

Ended up pulling for a break but managed to get the lure back but sadly the fish had long gone.
After that I switched to a deeper diving Rapala and after a few more Pollack I was heading into some shallow water less than 5ft so stopped paddling to reel in the lure to prevent it snagging but as always gave it a few twitches on the retrieve when the rod banged round at first I thought it was the rock edge  but then it went mad with a big eruption on the surface and violent head shakes at first I thought it was a Salmon or sea trout as they often fight likewise up on the surface but after a while I could see the shape and spikey fins of a nice Bass so out with the net and scooped him up first time I knew straight away it was my best Bass yet and would have just unhooked it and released it but it had engulfed the lure and was hard work getting it out without damaging the fish so took it home for the pan and when weighed on the beach it went 4lb 14oz well chuffed


The wind was now increasing again so decided to call it a day and paddle/troll back in had to keep checking with the pot buoys that I was making headway against the wind quite a slog and after a few more Pollack interupting me and drifting further offshore whilst unhooking them packed the rods away and slogged on to the beach
A great little session and result and a few fish for the freezer


Andy