Maiden Voyage - Swanage Ocean Classic 2012

After running around all of Friday night, I rigged up the last bit of my fishfinder and battery, made a couple more scratching rigs and loaded the car ready for the trip across to the Swanage Ocean Kayak Classic competition. This was going to be my first trip from my new Ultra 4.7 and it was equipped enough to give the competition a real go although it was far from a finished project. With all the running around setting the kayak up, I forgot to pick up my bait that night, so hope was hanging on Swanage having some spare worm and with 140 people entering, I wasn't too confident!

I arrived nice and early and set everything up and then went to have the briefing from the organisers. The safety brief was actually very interesting as I learnt a few tips I didnt know such as waving the paddle vertically in the air is the standard 'SOS' signal.
The format was explained and the competition was to be decided on the most number of species caught, you photograph the fish next to your card, then release it alive. This was a great way of doing things as it must have saved hundreds of fish and kept kayak fishing in the 'good press'. If things ended up as a draw the first person that weighed/signed in would win so if you caught alot of species quickly, you could come in early but would also gamble that no one had more than you or managed to catch more in the extra time they had at sea.
I set off around 10 and dropped down with some small course hooks and pulled up a Shanny (or Blenny) on the first drop. Next I started drifting after breaking my anchor trolley and picked up a Garfish and a Mackerel.

A tip for anyone making an anchor trolley is not to buy the style of elastic bungee in the first photo below as the cord is only stapled and this is very weak, this is what broke during the competetion. Anyway, lesson learnt and the next photo shows what I have now done which seems a lot stronger than my original idea. I will do a write up in my next post about the whole anchor system.

The next plan was to target Wrasse and after a 1/2 mile drift I finally landed one. I knew one more fish in the next half an hour would put me up there so I paddled straight out into the deep water, dropped anchor with a load of rubby dubby and was soon graced by the for once, elusive Dogfish. I can also add this was the first time I have ever netted one of these!

I had around 45 minutes left so the decision was made to head in. This proved to be a wise choice as I made it in as the joint highest species after one other person. That is also how it stood, 133 people landed and I sat in second place.

I was over the moon at this and ended up winning a Prowler Elite 4.1 which I will review and post at a later date. I was still amazed how only 5 species won it, especially as 19 were caught between everyone on the day including Brill, Bream and Undulate rays! Two lessons I learnt during the day that I would recommend to any kayak fisherman is take your wallet out of your back pocket BEFORE you launch and dont wear a hoody under your drysuit, it was extremely uncomfortable all day to say the least!

The kayak itself was the first time i had used it, compared to my old perception freedom, it was a dream to paddle. The kayak cut through the water even in a bit of chop and it was weird to think how a heavier and bigger kayak can be easier to paddle. The flip centre hatch was amazing, so much storage which is what solved the main problem I had with my other kayak. This along with my dry vittels well, worked wonders.
Finally, I will add a bit on the safety of this event. It was second to having a personal lifeboat crew. The two safety boats did extremely well monotoring everyone and the communication over the radio was brilliant. All in all a wonderful day to be involved in and a huge thank you on my behalf for what I must say was the best organised fishing event, especially of this size, I have ever been to.