lofty

Fancied doing something a bit different today. I bought a couple of dozen lures for a song of fleabag a while ago, so today I thought I'd have a go along the training bank. Took a fivers worth of rag just in case Launched at sandbanks and within five minutes a schoolie . It went for the gold and black rebel minnow. Paddled up and down the training bank using various lures but nothing on them. Anchored up but the weed was horrible. Pulled out a few wrasse on hewys favourite circle hooks, including one nice big one Decided to try the pipe at shore road. On the paddle across hook sands the gold rebel took the second schoolie. A bit snotty so no photo A few more wrasse and a paddle back against w&t Third schoolie Who'd have thought lures work? Landed back at sandbanks and had a chat with a beach lifeguard. She had a bin bag full of jellyfish. She'd had 36 washed up on the swimming beach today. They were feeding all along the training bank. So no big bass. Lots of wrasse and 3-0 to goldie over the others

Window for Southbourne today. Paddled down to my ray mark. I didn't get the memo that it's now my dogfish mark. Had a few black bream, hand sized and female so all went back. Then a welcome trio of these showed up. 3 oily fatties Speaking of fatties Hello tubby So final tally 20+ dogs 3 bream 3 Macs 1 tub And a fooking million of these dustbin sized barrel buggers

I'm out from Southbourne Tuesday . Slice of life on 6 Lofty

Well done Press officer, doing a great job

The boys The gals The off The overall winner Mark Pbsbac and How See you next year

And some of my photos

The following is lifted from AA It's Mark Radcliffes story of Saturday's competition Four days of fishing fun… I arrived at the campsite in Swanage at 7am on Thursday morning to find Martin and Steve already there. Snapper and Shaun were still in bed but not for long and soon plans were being made which the weather did its best to scupper. During the Thursday and Friday I really just wanted to catch an undulate ray, but some time was also spent exploring the reef and checking what was about. I failed on the undulate but learnt some info that I thought would be useful in the competition. It seemed that the water temp was down on usual and there was a lack of mini species. I didn’t catch a goby, blenny or the like for the whole weekend but there were a lot more dogfish, smooth hounds and rays around than usual so I thought the larger fish would play more of a role this year in the main event. On the Saturday morning the kayaks soon started stacking up on the green. After the safety briefing we were allowed to launch from the beach and hang around for the count down. On the whistle I lead the pack out and anchored on my chosen mark. My plan was to spend a couple of hours in deeper water with a target of three species, bream, smoothie and dogfish as well as a possible bonus and then head into the reef for the last two hours for an easy three or four more species. First cast and within a minute the rod was nodding, a bream was soon landed. I cast again and within seconds was bringing in a garfish. The next two casts saw a smooth hound and a dogfish. I had 4 species in less than ten minutes of fishing. I hadn’t even managed to rig up my second rod yet. This was a dream start and the possibility of winning was going through my head. I made the decision to move, there was no reason to stay put hoping for a ray as it could take an hour or two to get one so it wasn’t time well spent and there wasn’t much else I could target out there. I headed to the reef to find Martin and Dane right on my favourite mark. Martin had caught five species already and was off to a flyer, but his five were relatively easy and he knew the deep water species would be harder. I anchored ten meters from Martin and cast out. The fish weren’t prolific but eventually a Corkwing was on board. This was soon followed by another bream and a mackerel. Neither were any use to me and I felt I wasn’t over the right patch of ground. I upped anchor and repositioned. Again I wasn’t happy with where I finished up and repeated this two more times until I felt I was over the right patch. The difference was instant with bites as soon as the bait went down. It probably took ten or fifteen minutes to position where I wanted to be but it was critical to catching fish. A Baillons wrasse was soon on board – a brand new species for me. Now it was just a case of wading through the small wrasse until a new species came up. I had fish every drop, often two at a time. A ballan came soon appeared. Followed by a goldsinny I thought I was on eight species now which I was pretty sure would win. However I decided to give it another half hour to see what else I could catch. Within minutes I had a rock cook wrasse – another new species for me. And next drop a scorpion fish Somehow I had miscounted and thought I had ten species including the mackerel so nine for the comp. It was only 12.30 so two and a half hours into the five hour match. However I decided that was enough. I paddled back to the launch occasionally dropping some sabikis over a likely mark to see if I could tempt a Pollack but nothing showed. Back at the registration I weighed my bream at 2lb 7oz and registered my species. I had miscounted – I actually had eleven species but only ten for the comp as mackerel didn’t count. I registered at 1.03 and was pretty confident as someone would need eleven species to beat me and that has never been done in this event. When people started arriving back it became apparent the fishing got harder as the day went on and although a lot of people had caught fours and fives I didn’t hear of anyone near to ten or eleven, but I never really believe I have won until the results are read out. When they were read out happily I was first and now the proud owner of a 2015 Hobie Outback thanks to Steve at the Hobie Cat Centre. It was great to see Liam getting second place in his first comp, he was absolutely delighted, definitely a name to watch in the future. Also well done to Hoggy on six species in his first Southern event. Considering he usually uses nothing less than a 6/0 hook that was a great result. He spent the Friday watching and learning, asking lots of questions and you can tell right away that he has the skills to excel in these events as he does in the Northern ones. A massive thank you to Starvin for organising, Hobie Cat for sponsoring and all of the other sponsors and marshals for giving so generously with their prizes or time. It was a great weekend as it always is.

Cheers Nigel but don't worry. I use 1 kg Bruce anchors.

And now for the big embarrassing confession. The missing kayaker was me. They had 109 entry forms, and 108 signed in. I printed my entry form off at home and it printed over two sheets. Mine was the only two page entry form. Hence 109 sheets and 108 signatures. Apologies for the delays. It's all a learning process and a lesson learnt is not to trust me with a printer. Cheers chaps Lofty 67 Darbys Lane Oakdale Bh153es

Not on the day, weds I think

Anyone know this one? Photo taken by a Swanage competitor, I thought it was a cracking good photo .

Today was the 6th Swanage Kayak competition, and once again club members went the extra mile to support this event. It is a fundraiser for Swanage Rnli and in the past the organisers were quoted £1000 for a support RIB to attend the meeting, which would have to have been taken from funds raised for the RNLI By our club boats volunteering in the past and today , they are directly raising those funds by giving their time and expense in supporting the kayakers participating. So on behalf of the 108 kayakers, and all the team behind the scenes, and the service users of the RNLI, a huge thank you to Chris, Neal, Martin, Stuie and Jim, and thanks to everyone who gets behind the clubs charity Heroes on the Water. Tight lines chaps

What an absolute stonker. + Dolphins

Didn't weigh it Malcolm Maybe 3lbs. I've had them before but this was bigger than those. I've just looked up and specimen is 4.5lb

Arrived at Swanage and met with some other local kayak anglers Anyway conditions were sh1te. 18mph sw and foggy, lumpy and cold. Fishing was slow but we winkled a few out. The Swanage bream mark was not doing the do. Gave up on it and moved out to deeper . That done the trick. A few of today's , not including the dawgs. Hope we get better weather this Saturday Ballan Bream( returned for next year) Spot GB Coocoo cetchoo Corky Ballions Topping up We're out of here Peace http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/photolofty/2015/65A10A84-A3C3-413F-A26C-538F43225D9F.jpg

Happy birthday Jim

Kingfisher at 5 minutes

From someone grateful for your long arms

It used to be owned by Boba Fett

Looked nice from the beach.Apparently it wasn't

Where to begin? The third year for us and a different one this year. Firstly without Cam, who died nearly a year ago, giving rise to the renaming of the shield in his memory. Secondly a new venue. This decision has given me some real concerns but it proved to be the right one. I've watched every weather app for a week on an hourly basis, and knowing the bay well enough to know that Southbourne would be carnage, I opted for Sandbanks as I judged it would be a calm launch and landing, and even with the strong winds we should be relatively safe closer in. You buggers headed for the horizon giving me the jitters. We were really happy to have Heroes on the Water present, as this meet has evolved into a bit of a fundraiser, and I have to thank everyone on the day for their generosity. It was also extremely kind of Chris on Kingfisher to be our guardian today, and also lay on the floating catering. I had loads of guys come up to me on the beach and ask me to thank him for his efforts.He gave 100% commitment to us and I can't thank him enough for being our safety boat. He arrived on station as the first kayakers launched. I don't have any photos of that because I was hiding in my car from the rain and 30mph winds that were gusting , pretty much all day. Well there's a surprise.Worse than forecast by all sources. By the time Starvin rocked up at least the sun was shining down on his upturned cheeks. He was our final competitor to enter, making a record 31 spring fresh kayak anglers take to the bay today. I sat on the beach with Suzzie and Shiv and the kids and it was nice to see Barto , Maver, lucky john,and Greenbanks wander down and put extra dosh in the pot. Top chaps. Then Josh from Bournemouth Canoes arrived with a nice paddle they donated to the HOW raffle. Thanks Josh, a generous gesture. Around 1 the first of the hardy returned to the beach, and I started to relax. A plaice had been caught. I had three goals I wanted to achieve personally. Get everyone safely launched. Get someone's name on the shield. Get everyone safely landed. First two of these achieved and more and more fish were bought to the table.In all honesty, although the fishing was hit and miss, some catching loads and others not a sniff,and no monsters were caught, more people had them than didn't, and in the end 6 mm seperated 1st and second place. The beach quickly started to fill up with very windswept and interesting faces, and kayaks galore . I always love to see these photos so here's a few Si Mark Trev Josh Bri The final kayaker was escorted safely in and we stood down Kingfisher The Cam Clearie Shield was won by a relative newcomer to kayak fishing, Steve McCullough from Cornwall, beating a formidable and respected field of kayak anglers. Steve Henry came a close second . http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/photolofty/plaice%20chase%202015/AC672174-3E9F-40B9-B21F-CC03480449FE.jpg and Dave Harrison winning the paddle. http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/photolofty/plaice%20chase%202015/54E9EBD3-2F1F-47A9-B3A7-6B024081A68D.jpg I tried to get photos of you all landing until you came in thick and fast. I'll post these on another thread Apologies if I've missed anyone. THANK YOU ALL. Here's to a great summers fishing Lofty

Because of the predicted surf at Southbourne on Saturday I'm moving the launch venue to Sandbanks Here is my revised post on AA All you need to know about the new launch site for Saturday The location Unbelievably I went down to take some photos and it was thick fog. No height restrictions for vans Head to the far corner. It's less busy. Please be aware that this is popular with dog walkers so please only put hooks on at sea and stow them before you hit the beach. There is good access to the beach and a shower to clean your gear. Launch by the groins( a couple of beachys fishing off the groin) And guess what they'd been catching? The parking is expensive . Nothing I can do about it. Feel free to park and launch anywhere you want but this is where I'll be signing you in and out. The sign in is from 7 and sign off the water at 2 pm latest. I'll be around so if you rock up at 12 and go at 3 that's fine. THE FISHING AREA. Pretty much fish where you want. Please be aware there is the east looe channel that many small boats use so don't anchor in it. It's marked with big red green buoys. Anywhere to the east of these is just sandy bottom and ideal for plaice drifting. On my chart you can see I've marked "danger area" . That is hook sands, and can be very turbulent and best avoided. East Looe channel. Car park shaded http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/photolofty/2015/ECD9DDA8-DEB3-4624-A852-02B54DF141F8_1.jpg The best of the fishing is along the training bank running along the swash channel. Only truly competent kayakers should fish here as it's very busy with small craft. http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/photolofty/2015/46CEE476-1886-4023-8906-5A9DD47ABAB8_1.jpg It also happens to be my favourite place in the world to kayak fish. http://i1099.photobucket.com/albums/g388/photolofty/2015/FB2F35C9-8698-431F-92C2-4E4385DE61E8_1.jpg If you want to fish along the training bank then from the launch beach head towards the ferry and then along shell bay. Don't try to cut across hook sands. Fishing in the actual swash channel isn't allowed but that doesn't stop boat owners. Stick to the sides and keep your wits about you if you decide on that. I will be happy to give you any more information to the best of my knowledge. You can always call me on 07740456081 Lofty

If you're after Dragonfly then give Simon at South Coast Canoes a try He will give you a "lofty" discount 01202 914224

Of course.

Ian Jones £80 Paid Steve L. £60 Paid+ £100 outstanding for rod/reel combo Hooky. (Pm+) £100 paid Chris E. £55Paid Nigel. £ 40 Darrell. nm £110 Paid Me. £50. Paid Chris ( kf). £30 Paid