|
The Gower
peninsular, which is good a fishing area as well as some
magnificent scenery from the sea as well as the land, is within easy
boating distance. The dark black numbers on
the chart above relate to the numbers/marks
in the lists below. The positions are only approximate and
should not be used for navigational purposes.
1.Inner &
Outer Green Grounds
one of the more popular areas which
gives some of the bigger post Christmas cod. This lies out
towards Mumbles at the outer edge of Swansea Bay itself and is made
up of mixed ground amongst sand.
Inner Bank (1) 51 30
706N 004 06 361W. Inner Bank (2) 51 30 664N
004 06 350W
2,White Oyster trench
is another noted area. This is a deep gutter running parallel
with the shore on a line set between Langland Bay and Pwlldu Head
with a depth up to 100ft. The tide run here can be a bit
difficult and few boats bother to work this area in anything over
medium sized tides.
White Oyster Ledge 51 31
159N 003 59 325W. White Oyster Ledge (mid) 51 31 172N
003 59 210W. White Oyster ledge (midi) 51 31 189N 003 59
244W. White Oyster Ledge (West) 51 31 126N 003 59
486W. White Oyster Ledge (East) 51 31 228N 003 58
577W.
25.Kenfig Patches
to the south-east, is again sand but
can hold turbot to 4lbs with the occasional 10lb plus fish and
quality rays. The Hugo Bank and the prolific Nash Sands off the Vale of Glamorgan are part of a triangle well known for rays.
Nash Triangle. The Nash Sands run for some 8 miles from Nash Point to the West Nash Buoy and is well known as a tremendous for ray fishing, in particular small-eyed, but also thornbacks, spotted and quite a few blonde rays. You might be lucky and catch a turbot. The Nash triangle is hard to beat for the rays. Except for blondes, over the past few years both number and size of various ray species caught around here have declined. Blamed on over fishing and gravel extraction. The storms of early 2014 have changed the topography of many beaches and affected some of the sand banks. The best time to target most of the sand banks is 2 hours either side of low water. Ideally, fish on a day when the weather is settled, as it doesn't take too much wind or swell to create rough seas around the banks, parts of which are uncovered at low water. A few miles to the East are patches of mixed ground over which to anchor when the tide run is not so fast. Regardless of how you fish, uptide, downtide, modern braid techniques, when targeting rays the key factor is to make sure your bait is nailed hard on the bottom and both uptiding and downtiding with braid should achieve this. Along with a running leger gives a most efficient rig. Try tying first of all a sliding boom on the leader, followed a small bead and a link or swivel with which to attach the 4-6ft hook length. In the early days 50lb mono hook lengths were used, but now for the larger rays 80-100lb mono terminating in two sharp, strong size 4/0-6/0 Pennel rigged hooks are used. Each of the 4 ray species can be caught on a variety of baits , but squid and good quality sandeels, often fished as a cocktail, are probably the most consistent. Fresh mackerel is another good bait for rays but you can rarely rely on catching mackerel to the east of Swansea Bay. Baits should be large and juicy, a single calamari squid and a couple of sandeels being much standard when boat fishing. When fishing over these marks more often than not you will be fishing in coloured water, and rays feed almost entirely by by scent. The combined scent trail from Oystercat anglers fishing decent-sized baits will help to draw feeding fish in from further banks. Secure the bait with elastic and when you do get a bite, give plenty of time to fully eat the bait before attempting to set the hook. Also try a few miles further west between the peaks of the banks and the adjacent beaches. This is a shallow sandbank mark and the peaks of the bank lay just a few hundred yards away, its position indicated by a foaming line of breaking surf. The ground is clean and the sand forms several subtle ridges and shallow gullies - natural fish-holding areas. Rays are caught not long after the flooding tide starts to scour the bankssending puffs of cloudy water up to the surface
3.Scarweather Sands are a more distant rated location, a good
bass and ray mark. This is a vast shoal of sandbanks that lie
in a line of ridges created by the rip tides, about a three miles in
length. It is marked by buoys, and even though in mid-channel,
it can dry out at low water by some 8ft, dropping away to around
100ft either side. Having such a constructive natural bank
right in the middle of a spring ebb tide can make it a death trap for
the unwary, so take care. On neap tides in fair weather try
dropping the anchor at the lower end of the bank, in about 40ft
of water. This is usually a good shot for the main predator of
the sandbanks, the Small-Eyed rays and unfortunately, dogfish.
The 'Swansea Wrap' is a good bait to try here. Its a bait combo
of a large Launce that is carefully wrapped in a piece of
squid, held in place with elasticated thread. Skippers have
known the banks to produce up to 20 Small Eyed ray in a day's
fishing, with weights running from 7lb up to 12lbs. But, if the
rays are not taking the bait during you trip, head for the Mixon
Bank.
SCAR POINT 51.29.815N 003.45.200W
This fishes best on the ebb, particularly neaps, as the springs will be too strong. Depths run to thirty feet, and the sea bed comprises rough, broken ground. Species to expect are conger up to 30lb, bull huss into double figures, and the chance of some good smoothhound, as you are fishing close to shore. If you have to anchor near an open patch of sand you can get small-eyed rays and thornbacks. This mark also produces cod during the winter months, and black lug tipped with squid is the killer bait.
The conger seem to feed best either side of slack water, and right on slack. While most anglers downtide fish with worm and squid combo baits you can uptide for the smoothies and rays. Best bait is crab, and use a 6/8 ounce grip lead. The conger and bull huss are turned on by mackerel and squid combo baits. This is an exposed mark in a south westerly, but any wind off the land is ideal. Another mark quite close by this one is the Scar weather bank, for rays, and the inevitable dogfish. The downside of the Scar Point mark is when you put a bag of mashed chum on the anchor rope to attract the conger. It also attracts the doggies, lots of them!
On the Scar weather bank try either fresh or frozen sandeel, anchoring on the outside or south side of the bank, in about 100 feet of water. Get yourself a good chart as the whole area has sandbanks in it.
4.
Offshore Wrecks
can give excellent fishing (Pollack) at
times with fish well in to double figures. This can be a high
summer sport, and the wrecks also produce out of season cod, huss,
and big conger. The wrecks are not normally targeted in late
winter periods due to the weather, but you have to wonder just how
big some of the resident cod grow to on these.
Other Marks
St. Christopher
Knoll: Just past Mumbles Head towards Worms Head. The
superb coast land scenery can be ejoyed during the boat trip, live
stock on the cliffs, tiny figures of people walking one of the most
famous coastal paths in Europe. Also, passing small
boats trolling lures in the hope of catch, such is the enthusiasm of
the anglers in the Swansea Bay area. The mark is well known for
Rays and Smoothhounds. Try uptiding with squid and lug
cocktails or sandeel. Or downtide, with peeler crab or ragworm.
St Christopher Knoll (1)
51 33 277N 004 06 265W. St Christopher Knoll (2) 51
31 228N 004 06 265W. St Christopher Knoll (wreck motor
vessel) 51 33 217N 004 11 936W.
KNOLL BANK 51.33.180N 004.06.300W
This is located slightly west of Swansea in an area known as Three Cliffs Bay. It is a large sandbank that rises up over a very large area. Anchor on top of the bank and drop your baits over to the downtide side. Depths shallow up to about 25 feet on the top, so fish neap tides as the flow gets to heavy on a big spring. This is a fairly safe bank in all winds as it is only about a mile from shore.
Very good for smoothhounds, thornback and small-eyed rays, gurnard and it’s currently a dab hotspot, as he has had catches of up to 80 in a session from here on small baits and light traces. The bank fishes both states of tide, but remember when the tide changes, to move the boat to the other side otherwise you’ll be trotting your baits away from the hotspot. This is an ideal bank to run out a battery of rods, downtide on light leads, plus uptiders out from the side.
Mixon Bank:
located right out side the Mumbles Head lighthouse. The Mixon
dries out on low water spring and must be treated with respect,
especially on an ebb tide, when the natural flow of the Bristol
Channel is boosted by the waters of Swansea Bay emptying past the
Mumbles Head. Marked by a buoy, the bank drops away to 100ft on
the outside, and around 50ft on the inside. When fishing on the
top of neap the depth is about 25ft and there is enough flow to make
it fishable. We've hooked rays on uptide sandeel and it's not
unusual to get several Small Eyed in a session.
Mixon Shoal 51 33 004N
003 58 002W. Mixon Bouy 51 33 N
003 58 008W
Swigg Buoy
East of Swigg Buoy (51.56675°N, 3.934917°W). Physical Environment: The seabed substratum is a stable large and small boulder and cobble habitat. The seabed is generally flat with some areas of pebbles and had little silt. This site is exposed to wave action and tidal streams.
Stombus (Inner & Outer):
Strombus Wreck (51.576667°N, 3.416667°W) Dive study
Physical Environment
The site was studied between 2.4 m and 4.4 m below chart datum. Wreckage of the “Strombus” was strewn over a seabed of sand and broken shell. The site is exposed to wave action and tidal streams.
The wreckage is encrusted with attached animals but no plants.
Whiteshell Point
View from Whiteshell Point across Caswell bay to Pwlldu Head 
Slade:
Langland Point
Langland Reef (inner & outer
bream marks)
Bream mark 51 33 745N
003 59 938W. Langland Reef (inside) 51 33 724N 004
00060W. Langland Reef (Outer) 51 33 209N 004 00 633W.
Pwlldu Point
OXWICH POINT 51.31.470N 004.08.000W
This is about ten miles to the west of Swansea, and can be a very good tope mark. Depths are about 80/90 feet, and it fishes best over the slack water period. Neap tides are also favoured to get the best from it, as springs tides will see you piling more lead on, even with braid, and the fish just don’t seem to be there. Being further west and deeper, you will notice the water is cleaner than up at Scar Point, and you can even get mackerel and garfish at anchor if you hang a chum bag over the stern. Putting a bag of mashed fish on the anchor rope increases the chance of a tope, for which you should fish something like a 6/0 hook, six-foot leader, and running boom. Use just enough lead to hold bottom. Rob favours the latest cannon ball shaped leads for trotting back downtide.
It’s a good mark, and he has had conger, bull huss and smoothhound among the tope, the heaviest tope he boated going 60lb. Best season for this species runs June to August, smoothies go well in August but are gone by September. There is more chance of a bass hitting your feathers here than a pollack, and around this area are many sandbanks about a mile from Oxwich Point where the boats can hammer 20 to 40 bass in a day. These have increased in numbers over the last few years, and anglers nail them on live sandeel on a long flowing trace, or the local favoured method is to bump a set of three paternostered small shad lures over the bottom.
The backup method is to jig with a set of ‘Silver Dream’ Shakespeare mackerel feathers. The bass banks drop from 20 feet at the top to 25 feet, and the shoals are generally clustered just on the back edge of the bank. Some of the banks are long, and face across the tide, so work different areas of its length with short drifts until you locate the fish. Blue and silver is the top bass colour.
Oxwich Bank
Paviland Reef
Mumbles moorings
Diamond Bank
Spoil Grounds
Helwick Bank
The Helwick Bank, a long, shallow subtidal sandbank, is unusual in being highly
exposed to wave and tidal action. The animal communities here are therefore adapted
to high levels of disturbance. Other extensive areas of sediment in relatively shallow
waters within Carmarthen Bay support an interesting range of species (including
bivalves, shrimp-like amphipods and worms), many of which spend most of their time
wholly or partly buried in the sediment. These areas are also significant in providing a
rich food source for birds and fish.
| 
