Penarth 18th April.

[keana]

Well, what a difference in two days. Same bait same times same places and not a bite all day. In fact our bait was coming in untouched every single time. Started off with the foreshore again but had to move pretty sharpish because the wind blew up and with the wind against the tide, my little boat started to get a little bit worried as the waves had white tops on them. Went into the ranny and anchored there for the rest of the day (about 3 hours). Now this is really interesting and the best part of the day, after about 2 i/2 hours fishing there I went in the cabin to brew up. When I was on my way out, I was naturally looking down-channel. About 30 yards aft of us, a black fin broke the surface. I nearly dropped the coffee with excitement, but shouted to my mate (Its not exactly a big boat, he was only stood next to me lol). As I pointed to where I saw the fin, it appeared again along with a few more. It was a school of porpoise. We were only about 200 yds off the beach too at about 4 hour of the ebb. We watched them swimming around for a while, their dorsal fins and dark grey, almost black backs, just arching through the murkey waves before they dissappeared from sight. I`m glad my mate saw them because nobody would believe me otherwise. Could account for the lack of fish around there, but could also account for the stacks of baitfish being picked up midwater on my sounder. Perhaps they were in there chasing them. Anyway packed up and came in then. Not a great days fishing but what a spectacular sight. I bet its no big deal to you guys out in boats all the time, you probably see them all the time. Thought i`d tell you all anyway because it was almost unbelievable so close to the boat.

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Shame about the fish but I must admit do get a kick seeing things like porpoise doing what they do best.

mmm is this a good sign for the channel ??

[Charter Skipper]

Must be fish around for the porpoise to be around,its great to see them in the area,we passed a couple of seals off Aberthaw on sunday.....trouble is you don`t catch much when they are on the hunt..