Oxwich Bay

Got to be one of my favourite venues and host to the European kayak fishing Championship in July. It’s situated on the stunning Gower Peninsula in South Wales which is renowned for its natural beauty.

There is a car park right next to the beach – pay at the gate and drive straight up to the beach car park that overlooks the bay. The slipway is to the far right of the carpark with a gradual slope down onto the beach which can be busy with boat and jet ski launches in the afternoon. There is a small take-out cafe for snacks and refreshments in the car park.

The bay is one of the best fishing venues for multiple species, with a record of thirty-three species on the competition day you can see that it’s rich pickings for the species hunter. It fishes at all states and heights of tide. Take care if you venture near Oxwich Point as the tide really starts to race around there and it is not suitable for a novice. The bay itself is ideal and a safe place for novices and experienced kayakers to learn and feel safe on a kayak. There are way too many species to list as it’s one of the best venues I have fished but usual baits will produce, with mud rag being one of the best.

Port Eynon

Another fantastic venue on the Gower Peninsula in the next bay over to the west of Oxwich Bay. The car park here is a pay and display with a short walk with the kayak to the slipway. There are a few shops near the car park to get refreshments or some lunch. The bay is similar to Oxwich but smaller. The ground is mixed and there are good bass to be caught along the right hand side and around the point fishing the ledges and drop-offs. You can drift for plaice over the sandy bottom around the bay were you will also catch gurnard, Usual species to be caught here include dab, dogfish, ray, pollock, pout and many more. To the left is Horton, sharing the same bay you will catch bass along the rocky outcrops and plaice on the drift, where the same species as Port Eynon can be found. Best baits to use, mud rag being the best but king rag, lug, squid and mackeral will produce.

The Burry inlet / Loughor

My home – I grew up on this estuary and love it. Take care must here as there can be considerable force of water coming through on the bigger tides, so I would recommend a maximum of 7.6 metre tide at Llanelli to enjoy the benefits of this venue. The estuary is also famous for its shellfish, cockles and the cockle pickers which go back centuries.

This is a bass nursery and there is an imaginary line from Whiteford Lighthouse to the old lighthouse in North Dock Llanelli where there is NO fishing from a floating craft from 1st April to 31st October inside that area. Burry Port side out is OK all year round. There is another boundary at the railway bridge further up the estuary in Loughor where you can fish from upstream of the bridge at any time, but on no occasion can you fish for bass downstream of the railway bridge.

Launching at Burry port is easy, with a nice outer slipway and a car park. You can launch at any state of tide as you can pull the kayak to the river if the tide is completely out. There are also two inner slipways, one in the other mariner and another in the west dock / inner harbour, these two slips will need water on the sill for you to paddle into the estuary.

Straight out you have the Whiteford Lighthouse, no longer in use but a lovely place to paddle, and a hotspot for decent bass. Crab or spinning a lure is best for this mark. To the right of the outer slip, you have the north channel which you can see to the left of a stone wall and post and further out on the Gower side is the south channel, both areas can be good fishing for Bass flounder and plaice. Here the best baits are maddies again closely followed by lug and crab.

Further up the estuary, you have Loughor (a flatty fanatics paradise). When this fishes it really does produce some nice fish in quantity.

Just over the Loughor bridge on the east side, you will see Loughor boating club with a nice slip and car park. You may need to pay a launch fee from here if you are not a member of the club. There’ll be not much fishing time here due to the time it takes to flood but we usually got 2-2.5 hours either side of top. As per Burry port, take care with the height of tide as it can race through this section. On launching, go to the right and up the river and anywhere from the first bend you will have flounder, maddies (mud rag) being the bait of choice. There is no fishing past the motorway bridge up the river.

Amroth

Amroth is just along the coast, to the east of Saundersfoot, it is a south-facing sandy beach. Approaching the village from the Saundersfoot direction you will drop down to the seafront, there is free parking and also a toilet block. Launching is free and easy with a nice concrete slip. Fishing can be quite good along this stretch of coastline with bass in abundance along with flounder, dab, dogfish, smoothound, mackerel, tops, gurnard and many more. Usual baits as the other venues but try a3-4 ft float rig with small slithers of mackerel on a size 10 hook for garfish.

Wherever you fish, please note the new bass fishing regulations will only allow you to take one bass per day per angler from July 1st to December 31st. More venues in the next blog! Ed