| Oystercat Fishing |
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Boat yard during annual service & inspection
Awaiting members to go fishing
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Members of
the Club have access to the Oystercat
and many boat fishing opportunities. You could be
a trophy hunter; or children and beginners having their first
chance of success feathering for mackerel or even plumbing the
depths to tempt cod or flatfish and as you become more
experienced you learn what rigs to use and what baits are most effective. The more experienced angler will have opportunities to fish the wrecks and marks on the sea bed increasing their knowledge of how these should be fished to best effect. Oystercat is designed and coded, to MCA standard, for carrying 12 anglers and two crew (Skipper & crew). Oystercat skippers and crew are trained and experienced to take members out on fishing trips, weather permitting. Oystercat fishing trips usually go out 3 times per week, weather permitting. The estimated cost, per person, for a full complement of anglers will be approximately £15 for a 6-8hr fishing trip.
Having read this page you can see why our members like to book the Oystercat for their sea fishing sport.
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Oystercat Details
 Oystercat
is a stunning blue hulled Blyth 33 (10m) Workcat fitted with twin
Iveco 330hp diesel engines. On first sight first it is her sheer size that impresses the most.
For a boat of only 33 feet long and 16 feet wide she looks
enormous! So there is tons of room for the 12 anglers as you can
spread right round the wheelhouse. On the drift everyone can
move round and fish one side and the stern. The boat stays steady in a
sea and the covered area can accommodate most anglers on board. Inside the galley we have a heated hob and grill, kettle, cups and cutlery; so hot drinks and snacks can be made available. Other facilities include toilet, bait tanks and safety rails.
The Blyth Fisherman Workcat is the best catamaran in her class. She has a raised foredeck, offering a spacious wheelhouse, galley, ample storage space, toilet and helm station. She has a spacious fishing platform and stability that out-performs most mono-hulls and speeds of up to 30 knots. It is hard to find a boat to match her for comfort, durability and reliability.
Due
to the good boat building and advanced technology Oystercat is
smooth, quiet, stable and very manoeuvrable. At minimum
cruising speed she makes 20 knots easily, on full throttle almost
flys at 28-30 knots and at 1800 rpm we have had 2.3 gallons per hour,
per engine from her on fishing trips. Even in breezy and
gusting conditions across Swansea Bay she is delight. Oystercat is hard to match
for her comfort, durability and reliability. Even so, Oystercat
will not normally go out if a Force 6 (22-27knots - Strong
Breeze) or over is forecast for Swansea Bay. This is for
the safety and comfort of the people on-board. |
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Oystercat Sea Fishing Trips
Oystercat sails out of Swansea Marina's South Dock, weather permiting, all year round and offers a verity of Bristol Channel trips to suit every member from the complete novice to experienced angler. Oystercat is a modern boat offering a safe, stable ride and fully coded to Coastguard Agency standards. Fitted with full galley facilities and toilet. Members have to provide their own fishing equipment, but invaluable advice is free from a skipper with years of experience of fishing this coast. We can arrange a variety of fishing trip durations: The 2 hour fishing trips for would be ideal for the novice and less experienced angler, this is a popular Spring and Summer trip. A 4 hours fishing trip is also suitable for the less experienced as well as the more advanced anglers, this is a slightly more adventurous trip insearch of more and larger fish. Our 5 hour fishing trips are suitable for all anglers, trips that primarily involves bait fishing at anchor, but may include drifting over reefs. A wider variety of species is likely to be caught - mackerel, pollack, pouting, codling, whitng, huss.dogfish, gurnard, wrasse, ray, conger, bass, smoothhound, tope, ling or flatties - depending on season.
Full day fishing (8 hours) for our more experienced anglers fishing marks that may include sand bank marks and various reefs and wrecks. Commonly targeted species are mackerel, pollack, cod, bass, coely, wrasse, ray turbot, tope and smoothhound. We can also do specialised trips targetting bream, ray and shark type species. An exciting air of anticipation builds as you wait for one of these spectacular creatures to strike. Our ray and shark type fishing is operated and a catch and release policy.
Evening fishing trips
Quite often a good fishing session is called for after the toil and trouble of a day at work, slogging away without a break wandering when you're going to fit that fishing trip in... For that reason we can make Oystercat fishing trips available in the evening. A few hours afloat of an evening blows away the cobwebs, other times to just get a few hours relaxation in before the next day of work. For some excellent general fishing, late fishing trips can be catered for on most days where a day sail has already taken taken place. Another good one is an early season evening smoothhound adventures, sailing out about 6pm and having 2 to 4 hours of fishing before returning to the marina.
Late afternoon fishing trips are available for junior members just after school hours. Special trips for junior members can also be made available during the school hilidays.
What ever your fish need just get in touch and we will sort someting out for you or your group of members.
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| Her Vital Statistics |
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LOA 10m 33ft
Beam 4.87 16ft
Draft 0.9 3ft
Displacement 7 tonnes
Engine (twin) 330hp
Cruising speed 20knots
Top speed 30knots
Fuel capacity 350gallons
Water capacity 100gallons
Wheelhouse (Electronic Equipment)
To enable Oystercat to the fishing marks and for the fish to be located quickly Oystercat is fitted with the latest electronic equipment including;
colour fishfinder, colour GPS plotter with overlays, Raymarine radar equipment, handheld GPS, fixed and handheld VHF radios.
Safety
Oystercat is subject to external examination to ensure the safety equipment meets the MCA Code of Practice for a vessel operating up to 60 miles from a safe haven. She therefore, carries all
the necessary safety and navigational equipment that is always in good working order.
Equipment includes approved liferafts (2);
lifejackets (14); liferings (2); DSC digital VHF Radio programmed for
auotmatic Mayday transmission and the GPS incorporates a Man
Overboard Syetem and records the overboard poistion from a wrist band
worn by the angler; saftey rails to sides and stern; and a fully equiped first aid kit. All
the safety equipment is serviced and inspected at the appropriate
interval.
There is easy access to the
deck allowing partially disabled members to enjoy
a day's fishing.
MCA Coding
All UK vessels in commercial use, upto 24 meteres load line length, which go to sea and carrying no more than 12 passengers and/or cargo, are required by law to comply with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) Small Commercial Vessel and Pilot Boat Code of Practice andbe issued with Certificates by an Authorised Certifying Authority. The number of passengers that the vessel carries can be no greater than 12.
MMBFC is not a commercial organisation and therefore there is no legal requirement to comply with the Code of Practice, but in the interest of members safety we vouluntarily comply to ensure we have all the required safety and navigational equipment and Oystercat is surveyed on a regular basis by an approved external marine suaveyor to ensure it is sea worthy. The Authorised Certifying Authority is notified of the resutls of the inspection results, but no certificate is required to be issued.
The code requires each boat, to be assessed for
its stability and to undergo a full, out-of-the water
survey, in water survey and a check of its safety equipment prior to
certification.
A full out-of-the-water survey and check of safety
equipment covers the structural soundness of the hull, deck, appendages and
rig, plus an inspection of machinery, fuel, gas, electrical and steering
installations. All the safety equipment specified by the Code is checked to
ensure it meets the required minimum standard and has been correctly
maintained. This includes fire prevention and fighting equipment and life
saving appliances such as lifejackets, liferafts, etc.
Oystercat complies with the Code of Practice relating to Category 2 - 60 miles from a safe haven.
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