Fishing from Beachley / Aust

[jasper2447]

Hi Folks

Name is John, live at Severn Beach, just outside Bristol.

Just bought a Seajeep with 25HP Mariner and intending to launch at old ferry slipway at Beachley, near Chepstow. Looking to try around bridge piers at Severn Beach for Conger and sandy flats at Aust for flatties. Could also do Welsh Grounds and nearby wrecks for cod, bass, etc.

Wife and family hate boating and fishing so looking to find a "fishing buddy" to share fuel costs, help launch and recover and generally teach an old dog a few new tricks.

Got a good tide this weekend if anyone's interested???

John

[fishypaul]

hi jasper welcome to the forum,it would be a tempting offer if i didn't live so far away

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Welcome and looking forward to your posts

Im only up the road and would def take you up on the boat buddy but waiting to get my back sorted in sept so after that fingers crossed it would be great to fish with you and of coarse half a beer afterwards

Have you lauch in the channel before ?

[Norfolkboy]

Welcome to the forum

Looking forward to hearing how you get on on your boating trips

[jasper2447]

Hi Richard

Thanks for yr e-mail, also yr welcome to forum

Good luck with the back - been thro' that, got the scars, got the T-shirt - look after yourself.

Have not launched here before, previously kept a boat at Portishead Marina, till fees got too huge. Then kept it on a trailer and fished mostly out of Brixham, where launching much easier.

Have spoken to SARA guys at lifeboat station by Beachley slip and they calmed my worries a bit (also nice to have them at hand) saying that at slack water esp around high water it was dead easy, the worst times are at full flood and ebb when the currents are a bit fierce, also at low water when the slip is a bit long !!! They do get people dropping off the sides apparently !!

Have once got caught on sandbank between Cardiff and Portishead so am aware of issues - have now got both chartplotter and depth guage/fishfinder so hope to stay out of trouble.

Best regards

John

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Well sorted then there are guys here who boat the channel alot and Im sure they well give some pointers when they pop in

Looking forward to mybe dropping a line with you John

[the boss]

hi john.
i dont live to far away from you, and although i have done numerous boat trips, i'm still learning.
but would be happy to share costs and fish with you.
cheers,
steve.

[howie]

Originally Posted by jasper2447

Hi Folks

Name is John, live at Severn Beach, just outside Bristol.

Just bought a Seajeep with 25HP Mariner and intending to launch at old ferry slipway at Beachley, near Chepstow. Looking to try around bridge piers at Severn Beach for Conger and sandy flats at Aust for flatties. Could also do Welsh Grounds and nearby wrecks for cod, bass, etc.

Wife and family hate boating and fishing so looking to find a "fishing buddy" to share fuel costs, help launch and recover and generally teach an old dog a few new tricks.

Got a good tide this weekend if anyone's interested???

John

Hello mate and welcome to the forum
let me please stress this to you PLEASE BE VERY CAREFULL IN THE BRISTOL CHANNEL the channel can be your best friend or your worst enemy as the channel has the second highest,fastest tide,current in the world.fishing in the channel is so different than fishing the open watwers say around brixham etc etc.It dont matter how much experiance you have with boats the channel is a killer mate.your best bet is so either buddy up with someone who has the experiance of fishing the channel from a boat or go on a course (cant remember the name of the course sorry)but this course will teach you all that you need to know about launching,retriving,boat skills on the water its not cheap but 1 day this might save your life on the channel(god forbidd)and it will put your mind at ease get in contact with either portishead docks they will/shoild be able to help you out.or get in contact with the rnli or phone up swansea coastguard they will help you out.But please also inform the coastguards what boat you have what time you will be launching and what time you will be coming back to shore.once back to shore then phone them up and tell them or they will be out looking for you.sorry to go on about the channel but i have lost some good mates in the channel due to them fishing out in their boats
tight lines mate
be safe
howie

[Greenheart]

Welcome to the Forum John. I used to live at beachly & have to say that I don't envy you trying to launch a boat in the current there. That part of the severn estuary takes no prisoners LOL... Like you said, it's re-assuring to be next to the lifeboat station, also theres a good pub there to have a drink or two, to steady your nerves at the end of a day on the water. Good luck

[jasper2447]

Oh well, went out on Sunday and thought I'd post as few recollections of what turned out to be a brilliant day.

Memo to self 1 - do not put lifejackets in boat next trip - put them in the car and put them on immediately you get out of the car
Memo to self 2 - do not step on what loks like a weed-encrusted rock on the edge of the slipway - it probabably is floating weed!
Memo to self 3 - take some dry clothes in the car with you.!!!

After that dunking, the day got better.
Launching at failrly high water (8.00 AM) was quite easy, as was recovery on a rising tide, if approached sensibly. There is good quiet water (deep too - I know) either side of the slip to hold the boat until ready to motor off.
Be careful of the area and be sure you've done as recce at low water to suss out the rocky outcrops etc.
The tidal rips thro the bridge piers are awesome and it's well to avoid them unless you want to find yourself going rapidly backwards!

We went downstream with thetide as far as Clevedon Pier and caught three very nice conger at Ladye Bay. Two more broke the snoods but we were fishing first on lighter tackle without conger traces until we saw what was happening. Everything happened on lugworm - nothing else worked at all.

What was astonishing was how swiftly the tide turned around. One minute we were sitting with the stern pointing downstream towards Weston, five minutes of "confused water, whitecaps and wild swinging", then we were turned completely thro' 180 degrees and were stern upstream towards Chepstow.

Later we motored up to Portishead and fished off Battery Point, but blanked out, so we went on upstream on the rising tide to Aust and fished oof the sandbanks, near where I live actually, just by New Passage. Lots of guys were setting up alog the sea wall so we thought we might get some action. We did catch lots, but only silver eeels unfortunately. Somehow my partner knew that it's illegal to take eels from this stretch of water without t Fisheries licence (spawning grounds maybe?) so we ended up throwing them all back. No-one on the beach was catching, the big bass wre being eleusive, so we decided to call it a day, absorb the lessons learned and try to catch a bit of slack water to recover the boat, which we did successfully, geting back to Beachley at around five PM. Had to wait offshore a while for jet-skiers to reover their craft - again, astonished at the speed of the tidal rips past the piers of the bridge and the transit lighting towers. Double-check that memo to self re lifejackets on as soon as we arrive !!

All iall a good day - very pleadsed with new boat - a Seahog Seajeep- obviuosly designe by a fisherman with fishermen in mind - found the engine a little underpowered at 15 knots top speeed and would love to repalce the 25HP Mariner it came with by something a bit beefier like a 60 or 75, but that costs money, not only to buy but to run, so guess I'll do the sensible thing andf settle for the compromise of economy and speed.

Heard over the weekend that Portishead Marina ahas re0-opened a slipway ???? Does anyone know if this is true??

Rambled on enough, so will say
Tight lines everyone

John B