Never fished (Swansea)

[laughing gravy]

Hi, OK, I'm going to start with a confession....I'm 32 years old and I've never caught a fish. I'm not confessing to being a rubbish angler - I've never been fishing. I realised this shameful fact a few months ago when I was planning what to do on a visit to Cornwall with my son and girlfriend. Despite being determined to remedy this whilst on holiday it appears that fate was against me. The first day I tried to book a fishing trip it there weren't enough other people interested for it to be worth the skipper going out, the second day the boat was full and the final day of my holiday I managed to get out, but after about 20 minutes the skipper turned back as the sea was too choppy. Since then I've been doing some research into fishing as it seems right up my street. Also as I moved to Swansea about 18 months ago I'm in a pretty good location as there seems to be quite a good choice of sea and freshwater fishing about. So a few questions: - I'm not sure how fussed I am about freshwater fishing but is it a good place to start? I presume there are places I could hire equipment to see if I like it? Does anyone know a good place in the Swansea area to do this? - I'm planning on chartering a boat at some point soon for a fishing trip for a group of mates. Does anyone have any good recommendations for good boats/skippers? - Where is a good place to start if I decide to try some sea/beach angling? Mumbles pier seems to be popluar on a lot of the fishing forums. I guess what I'm looking for is somewhere that's nice and easy to practice the basics rather than somewhere where I'm going to catch big. - If I do decide to try sea angling, would it be worth buying a cheap sea fishing starter kit? If so do you have recommendations? Or would it be better hiring some gear (not sure if this is possible...) in case I find it isn't for me. Any advice would be most welcome!

[Spahill]

Hi LG



Swansea pier is as good a place to start as any, but not cheap....
this thread tackle box basics for beginners may come in handy to make a list before you go to the tackle shop (don't know of any places that rent tackle).

There is a tackle shop at the start of the pier, they should be able to tell you what you need for a day.
Not sure what budget you have so could not advise on tackle. If you can drop a couple of hundred without blinking then do so, but you really want a basic 12 foot beachcaster & a fixed spool reel to start with (as you have never fished before). If you say you are a newbie Hopefully the tackle shop will setup the rod/reel line & provide weights, rigs, bait, disgorger & even tell you where to fish!
Put everything (if you catch anything) back on your first few trips, then you won't take anything undersize.

If you can pop round to Port Talbot one morning - drop me a PM to sort out a decent tide & weather & I will show you how to fish a beach, you can use 1 of my rods/reels (not necesarily well) - fish are starting to show.

best of luck & welcome to the forum.

[Portland Pirate]

Hi Laughing Gravy.

There are quite a few good anglers that live and who know how to fish in your area. Spahill has already introduced himself and quite impressively offered to loan you some kit.

MRG2000 has the inside knowledge on boat fishing in your area, so I think you could be in for a great summer of fishing

[Stevey916]

Hi Laughing Gravy,

Welcome to the forum. I'm in Swansea, As Spahill said the west pier is a good place to start, it's easy fishing, with a good chance of fish! I tend to go there when I have a few hours to spare! I can always let you know when I go so you can pop along, I have plenty of gear you can use if you want to wet a line. It might help you decide what you need and how much to spend. Check out the threads on here, I've put a few for the west pier.
Best of luck

Steve

[MRG2000]

Hi Laughing Gravy .

Plenty of charter boats operate out of Swansea ,take a look here .....


http://www.charterboats-uk.co.uk/port/swansea/

Most will supply bait and hire tackle at a nominal fee, and all the skippers will be willing to show you the ropes .If you fancy going further afield , come down to the Penarth/Barry area ,lots of great skippers operating .

Your also in a brilliant area for shore fishing , mumbles pier is ideal for a novice angler ,plenty of variety of fish around ,and you have Basstatstic right at the end of the pier for advice on tackle and baits ... then you have the gower ,there are lots of good fishing spots , take a look back thro the Welsh catch report section to see what can be caught localy ,again travelling a bit further afield , you get lots of differant species .

myself and my fishing buddy Lazyhooker are always out and about ,in the S.Wales area ,your more than welcome to tag along and see what its all about ..

[Mozlongtime]

I'm astonished to see such wonderful offers of advice and loaning of tackle to total strangers - amazing. I wish you all the best laughing gravy - you will love it.

Moz

[barbelblanker]

I lived in enemy territory as us Cardiff boys call it, for a year while doing my best to get a rather boozy degreee and in my third year in college(not Swansea Uni' , I do have some pride :). I loved it. I am going to get rejected now by all my old mates by saying Swansea was a bl@@dy great place for an angler and I hope you enjoy living and fishing there. Swansea bay is pretty rubbish (if memory serves me right and I was mostly pickled at the time) HOWEVER from Mumbles westward is some of the loveliest fishing you will find.

This is definately the friendliest forum on the net and I hope you get to enjoy such outstanding places as the Gower, God built it , on the sly , on day 8. After he practised everywhere else first. Like the rest of Wales ;) No I mean he built Wales on day 8 too , not that he cocked it up then learnt. Having said that , there's always Llanwrst I guess. Llanwrst RBL , oh God help us all....proof maybe that he has to leave some mistakes...

[laughing gravy]

Wow. Thank you all so much for your kind offers and words of advice. If I had any idea that the fishing community was so welcoming I would have taken it up a long time ago!

I have an extraordinarily busy and expensive couple of months coming up with moving house and a couple of weddings and stag do's etc... coming up so I won't be able to do much until around June. I do have a rare free weekend coming up this weekend though so weather permitting I may take a nice long walk from my place in Sandfileds to the Mumbles pier on Saturday or Sunday morning/afternoon and see if I can pick up any tips.

Thanks again for all your kind offers and I may well take you up on them once my life slows down to a more manageable pace!

Andrew

[chazyboi]

first hi mozlongtime nice to see a fellow brummie ,,,,,second Laughing gravy have a decide what sort of fishing you want to do beach boat lure av a look on fleabay some good cheapo deals if you like it upgrade i got 2 beach rods reels for 50 quid for my nephew hes upgraded now ,,as for advice these lads on here are dynamite and will put you right ,,but if you fancy a trip to the north let us know lol

[KKK]

As I remember its a very long walk from sandfields to mumbles