Been in the doldrums ever since the river season finished. However, the Easter holidays gave me a chance to snap out of it, firstly with a trip to Exmouth for my godson's 18th birthday celebrations. Included in a packed agenda drawn up by his mum was a trip down to the marina with the LRF gear.
Unfortunately, I had returned from Lanzarote in January having broken both tips of my much loved and abused Rock Rover - a combination of clumsiness and the unforgiving landscape! Contacted Tronix to find that they no longer carried spares, so I set about repairing them instead. The tubular tip was straightforward - a clean break that just required a spigot cut from the tip of an old float rod glueing between the two pieces and a bit of sanding and varnishing to finish. The solid tip had to be cut down to the tubular section so I could insert a Drennan quiver tip that I'd laboriously sanded down to fit. Fixed the eyes back on with shrink tube rather than trying to whip them on, then painted and varnished the whole thing.
Was pleased with the end result - looked quite professional compared to my usual cack-handed efforts. However, the quiver tip I'd used was quite a bit softer than the original, so I was keen to see if this had made much difference to the action of the rod. After brunch we headed down to the esplanade and walked along the beach to the marina. The water that was flying out of the estuary was gin clear, but by the time we'd got to the slipway the flow had eased up and the water had taken on a distinctly muddy tinge. Set up a dropshot rig with a Decoy SG-3 baited with a small section of Gulp! isome. Started off by dropping this into any gaps between the rocks of the breakwater and into the pockets behind the pilings.
Had a female corkwing, followed by a long-spined sea scorpion and a few shannies, some of which were full to bursting with spawn, before going to join the others on the slipway itself. They were amusing themselves by sight-fishing for shannies with lumps of prawn but after a bit I suggested we move and fish off the corner of the carpark, a spot that is usually full of tompots, wrasse and pollack. However, whether it was due to the clarity of the water or the level of the tide, we couldn't buy a bite between us. Tried one more spot, by which time the wind had started to pick up, but again failed to pick anything else up so headed back home. From Exmouth we headed across to Pembrokeshire to the in-laws for a few days.
I had planned to do a bit of everything while I was there and had even dug out my fly-fishing gear. However, the weather had other ideas and it blew a gale and pissed down from Monday through to Wednesday, causing muddy water to pour off the fields and roads into the local rivers with the inevitable consequences and knocking any ideas of trout fishing on the head. Thursday in complete contrast was dry and sunny, although it was distinctly chilly when I headed off bright and early to Milford Haven for high tide. Got there to find that the water in the marina was the colour of coffee grounds and I could see that the lock gates were open onto the estuary, so feared the worst. However, just around the corner the clarity was thankfully much better.
Had been and got some rag from County Sports in Haverfordwest the day before and it was small sections of this that I used on my mini-two hook flapper rig off the end of the pier. Didn't take long to start getting fast, pecking bites and I was soon busy wading through hordes of little corkwing wrasse, with a few miniature ballans and shannies thown in. The haven was equally busy with vessels, including the fire-fighting tug testing its jets, and at one stage the inshore lifeboat arrived to assist a small boat that was having engine difficulties. As the tide turned it started pulling a plume of dirty water out of the marina and past the end of the pier, so I decided to pack up and head home to make the best of the rest of the day, having had a total of thirty fish.
The forecast had indicated another, albeit brief, weather window the following morning. However, woke up to the rain hitting the bedroom window, so that was the end of that. Oh well, we're back in May. I'll see if I can be bothered to do something else in the interim!
