Blog entries

In search of a new challenge!

Matt Jones — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:25:41 +0100

The recent road trip that Nath and I undertook, taking in a few new marks around the Cornish coast, has really inspired me. It was truly liberating being out there, essentially getting closer to nature and taking in new locations and quite frankly I want more. So i've been thinking, I need a new challenge in my life and whilst doing some research this Read More...

SWSF Road Trip Day 5 – Fowey

nath richards — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:27:59 +0100

As things panned out, what with the weather of recent days and the lack of sleep on the trip, day 5 of our cross Cornwall Road Journey turned out to be quite a sedate affair.

Our initial plan was to get out on a boat - a trip kindly offered by a fellow member in possession of a Dory and holidaying down there - and fish the Fowey Estuary.

Regrettably, the weather put the mockers on our plans to fish the Lizard (Prilla) with John, so instead we chose to head up to Fowey a day earlRead More...

SWSF Road Trip Day 4 – Porthoustock Area

nath richards — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 07:16:05 +0100

Despite our plan to slowly wend our way up via Porthoustock from Porthcurno on Day 3 to Fowey on day 5, the great British summer weather kinda scuppered our masterplan. Torrential rain and high winds not only made striking the tent and packing up the van a bit of a painful affair (cue Nathans minor tentpole tantrum), but put to bed any hopes we had of getting down to Prilla and spending a full day at a hoofing rock mark. In fact, the only thing on the rocks today were our plans of a fish fRead More...

SWSF Road Trip Day 3 - Minack Theatre (Porthcurno)

Matt Jones — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:00:00 +0100

What a difference a day makes – never have two battle weary individuals ever been so glad to see the English Channel as we were today. With the memories of Hayle forcefully erased from our minds and optimism and vigour renewed, we made our way to the Minack Theatre near Porthcurno. With a little bit more kRead More...

SWSF Road Trip Day 2 - Hayle

nath richards — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:00:00 +0100

People say that if you do bad things you get sent to hell for eternity. This simply isn’t true. You don’t wind up in hell, you end up in Hayle.

I tell you, if it wasn’t for the promise of a Gilthead Bream, we wouldn’t be here at all – to be fair, its a grim old place. In fact its way worse than grim but, Read More...

SWSF Road Trip Day 1 - Tintagel

Matt Jones — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:05:56 +0100

Well here we are back at Base Camp 1 after the first days fishing on the Road Trip in Tintagel. I can tell you it has been a pretty satisfying day all round. We took our time getting up here arriving at the Headland Caravan Park around 2pm. We selected our pitch, rigged up the awning which was a feat of engineering in itsRead More...

Every cloud has a "golden-grey" lining!

Matt Jones — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 19:45:00 +0100

After fate conspired against me so that I missed a good mate's wedding in Scotland yesterday, I decided to hit the road and go for an impromptu session at West Bexington (Chesil Beach) to make up for it. Ultimately I was after another smooth hound after catching the smutt bug back at the end of May but I also fancied a bit of a species-fest and set myself a personal target of 5 different vRead More...

SWSF Road Trip: The route

Matt Jones — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The time has come to announce the itinerary for the SWSF Road Trip and compiling it, I can tell you, has been a surprisingly hard task for Nath and I to finalise. Afterall, the Cornish coast is about 300 miles long and there are so many cracking marks all along it but we can't visit them all in 5 days. There is no consistent formula behind how we have come to pick the marks on the list. Read More...

Packing light? No chance! Part 1

Matt Jones — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:00:00 +0100

Have you ever been on holiday and come to pack the suitcase only to find that there just isn't enough room for everything? Ok maybe you haven't but I bet you've all watched the other half sitting on the case trying to close it after forcing that last pair of shoes in. Well, that's exactly the situation i'm finding myself in. I have so much fishing gear and it all has a purpose so how do Read More...

Morteed en metten traveeth na dale

Matt Jones — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:00:00 +0100

As you are probably aware Nath and myself are taking a SWSF Road Trip around Cornwall at the end of August. I need to drum up some support before we commence battle as we will be fishing for the glory of our respective affiliated counties - myself for Cornwall and Nath for Devon. So I am sending out a rallying call asking all Cornish SWSFer's to get on board (and support me!)

I would walk 500 miles

Matt Jones — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:40:06 +0100

Why the reference to that irritatingly catchy song by The Proclaimers I hear you asking? Well, that's what it feels like I have done this weekend. All my well laid plans to go and explore a couple of marks near Fowey were shot down early doors by an ear infection. I didn't want to potentially ruin the day by being a wimp and coming home early if it got toRead More...

Looking forward to exploring new territory

Matt Jones — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:30:00 +0100

In my last post I told you that I was in a bit of a quandry of where to fish this coming weekend. Well after studying the map for hours this week a location finally jumped out at me. I'm heading west to Fowey. My Saturday is now planned from sun up to sunset - I intend to dig both rag and lug on the morning low tide, then i'm going to head down and scout the river Fowey for good fishingRead More...

Snowbee Fly Rods 2010 Prestige and Deep Blue

Mike Sullivan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:35:52 +0100

Well last week i was lucky enough to get a hold of a 6 and 7 wt snowbee prestige that was matched with the new 2010 Snowbee Geo reel.
Before i even picked up the rod i could tell that major changes have taken place in the look of the rod in general they have darkened the woos on the reel seat giving a deep luscious look and warmth that is associated with rods of 3 times there price.
Well time for a feel, i pick up the rod and nitice how light it is! I have been using sage and helios rodsRead More...

SWSF Competition Results – Slapton Sands 17th July 2010

nath richards — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:55:53 +0100

July’s SWSF shore angling competition was fished at another south Devon venue, Slapton Sands. Once again, support was strong with 18 of our members turning up to give it their all this time around – our best turnout yet and also our biggeRead More...

Schoolies, Slapton and a Slimey

Matt Jones — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 03:00:54 +0100

Nath has chief blogger duties in regards to the SWSF shore competition that was held at Slapton Sands on Saturday evening but I thought I would provide a brief summary of the rest of my weekend as I did manage to sneak in a couple of mini sessions as well. Saturday morning saw me stay very close to home as I decided to fish my "home" mark Millbrook Estuary, the evening was consumed by tRead More...

SWSF glory: Take it, it's yours!

Matt Jones — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 22:45:07 +0100

The time has come as the eagerly anticipated SWSF shore competition at Slapton Sands is almost upon us. Saturday 17th July 2010 will see a brave few souls venturing out onto the beach in a quest for immortal glory. Prizes are irrelevant, it’s all about tRead More...

Time to take stock, take a break and recharge the batteries

Matt Jones — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:00:00 +0100

After 3 manic months scouring Cornwall, Devon and Dorset for fish, racking up almost 8,000 miles and getting up at some un-Godly times just to get to various marks, I am taking what I believe is a well deserved week off from fishing and blogging. I'll be retreating to my summer training camp to get into peak physical and mental shape ahead of the eagerly anticipated SWSF shore competRead More...

Bass is best

Matt Jones — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:00:00 +0100

As promised in an earlier post, I want to throw a few recipes out there every month focusing on a particular species that is in season at the present time. This month sea bass is going to get the treatment as it is my favourite fish to eat. It has a clean sweet taste and a melt-in-your-mouth texture and is pretty versatile when it comes to cooking........

&Read More...

Bass, wrasse and the new kid on the block

Matt Jones — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 19:30:00 +0100

After a hard couple of months travelling to try new fishing marks in Devon and Dorset, I have decided that July is the month where I will calm it down a little and fish closer to home. It is a chance to revisit a few spots either to improve on previous performances or to try other methods to see what works best. So I took a trip up to Halton Quay with Jack and Tony (Airmech) for a leisuRead More...

Don't let a barren session turn into paranoia

Matt Jones — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:47:05 +0100

Any forum or community orientated website like this one could be a psychologists dream, what with all the differing characters with varying personalities to observe and interact with. Now I am no psychologist, and nor would I want to be one as dealing with other folk's issues isn't my cup of tea, but I am an avid people watcher (in a non-stalker point of view!). After perusing tRead More...