Mumbles Motor Boat & Fishing Club 

 Good things come to them who bait

Hooked on Fish - Hooked on Fishing

Tight Lines All Round

 Awaiting members to go fishing

Oystercat Details

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 maneuverable.  At minimum cruising speed she makes 20 knots easily, on full throttle almost flies 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.

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 fish finder, colour GPS plotter with overlays, Raymarine radar equipment, hand held GPS, fixed and hand held VHF radios.

Safety and build quality

When we had the boat built we stipulated that it be constructed to the commercial (even though we are not a commercial operation) SCV2 Code of Practice for sea worthiness and all the safety equipment for operation under Category 2 and 60 miles from a safe haven. We do not anticipate the Oystercat going out as far as 60 miles, more likely just a few miles into the Bristol Channel.  The build to this quality will ensure the safety of our members when out on fishing trips. This proved decisive in the recent (6/11/13) bad weather incident involving the Oystercat (see the video page).

Oystercat Sea Fishing Trips

Oystercat sails out of Swansea Marina's South Dock, weather permitting, 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 in search 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 targeting 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.

The Club voluntary follows the recommended SCV2 self (annually) and external examination ( 3 & 5 years) of the boat and equipment laid down in the Code of Practice to check the safety equipment is up-to-date and working correctly and the boat is fully sea worthy.

Oystercat's equipment includes approved life-rafts (2); lifejackets (14); liferings (2); DSC digital VHF Radio programmed for automatic Mayday transmission and the GPS incorporates a Man Overboard System and records the overboard position from a wrist band worn by the angler; safety rails to sides and stern; and a fully equipped first aid kit. All the safety equipment is serviced and inspected at the appropriate interval.

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. 

There is easy access to the deck allowing partially disabled members to enjoy a day's fishing. 

External Examination

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 holidays.

Running costs for the fishing trips are recovered through the boat anglers making a donation, preferably a Gift Aid donation.

For the Oystercat these are based on a flexible overhead depending on the length of a fishing trip up to a maximum of £70 for a full day fishing trip (6-8hrs) and fuel used at £4.00 per mile.  This total is then shared by the number of anglers on the fishing trip. For the maximum 8hr fishing trip with 10 anglers the donation will be approximately £15.00 per angler (£70 + £80 = £150/10=£15).  The overhead for shorter fishing trips will determined either on

a per angler or per hour basis, but will be less than the £70.  The fuel rate will stay the same at £4.00 per mile. All the money raised through these donations is paid into the Club funds and applied for the general use of the Club.

What ever your fishing needs just get in touch and we will sort something out for you or your group of members. We are not a commercial charter boat and our fishing trips are not open to the general public.  Oystercat and the Mumbles Belle are club boats and for use by club members only.