Trip #132/3 – Swansea Marina and Bracelet Bay

I wasn’t actually expecting to go fishing this weekend,  as I was joining friends in watching the Manic Street Preachers in Swansea for a stag do. However being so close to Swansea Marina (stag do or not) I couldn’t resist getting a few rods in the car. I know that the marina holds mullet, bass and flounder, and as I was only going to have an hour on either day or so I’d be happy catching anything.

I arrived at Swansea Marina on perhaps the hottest weekend of the year (so far).  I located the nearest bait shop which was in Swansea Market, bought a few quids worth of ragworm and headed back down to the waterfront. In the marina I would be fishing an inline slider float and some soft plastic lures. 

I baited up the slider float and cast out,  I saw a few mullet moving and wished I bought bread instead.  Casting out a soft rubber sandeel on my second rod, I felt the knock of a bite after a few retrieves coming up through the braid. I missed it!  I continued fishing for another hour before the main constituent of the party arrived at where we were staying.  I wrapped up the ragworm and stored it in my bag knowing I would return tomorrow.

The following day I walked the length of the marina and eventually ended up towards the dock, gates, I could see bubbles coming up from the water,. A dog walker walked past and mentioned the bubbles could be eels. I didn’t have any ledger equipment so I started routing through my bag to try and improvise.  I found some fixed metal booms from a previous trip to Nothe fort, as well as some inline bullet leads.  I improvised a makeshift paternoster rig, And slung out two baited hooks of ragworm.  Before long I had a knock on the rod and on striking I knew I had connected with a fish. Pleased with my improvised rig I wound in not knowing what I had caught. Sure enough it was an eel.  It had wrapped itself up in the rig tangling it completely.

I cut short the snood and managed to unhook the fish dropping it back down to the water below, now thoroughly covered in slime. I rebuilt the rig and cast back out – I had another bike almost instantly but at the same time the dock gates opened. After this point the fishing really quietened off. I gave it another half an hour before I made the walk back to where we were staying, still pleased that I’d managed to catch on an improvised rig.

The following morning before heading back to Somerset I decided to take a trip out to Bracelet bay. A rocky venue to say the least here I would only be fishing soft plastics. To cut a long story short, despite trying several soft plastic options I saw no sign of fish and had no bites whatsoever.  I even looked in some of the rock pools for signs of life, and was disappointed to say the least. Perhaps I was pushing my luck and it was a bit early in the year. I jumped in the car, swung by the nearest cafe to grab a coffee to go and headed back towards the M4 and home.

Still quite pleased that I managed to catch an eel but frustrated that I missed that bite on the soft plastic on the first day. Nevermind there’s always next time…