Finally, the weather backed down enough to let us go and play. After cancelling our bookings for a whole seven days, we begin to see that this charter boat malarkey isnt all plain sailing. Perhaps BIF10 with be Bahamas Inshore Fishing... In the meantime, we simply have to tough up to it, as all the other skippers do... This morning we wanted an early start. The planned reef can be popular, so we wanted to get there briskly. 0515 meet up, and by 05:30 Bruce, myself, and our two guests for the day, Arif and David were on board, and we were heading out. A beautiful morning indeed, with nice calm seas and rising excitement in all on board.

Arif hits the first fish of the day..

We arrived at our spot. The wind was suggesting we would get a fairly straight drift, and I had an inkling after recent events of exactly where the fish would be. I set the drift up that I might get five minutes instruction with the guys, before we hit the good spot. And the plan worked like clockwork. Both David and Arif were working the lures nicely as we came across some good marks on the sounder. My HTO mighty minnow got banged but dropped, but Arif's got engulfed and a nice bass showed him how much fun they can be on the 28gm gear... Smiles guaranteed... The rest of the day proved to be somewhat slow, but enough wrasse, small bass and plaice to keep us occupied and fishing with anticipation through every cast. David kindly reviewed the trip and you can read this on our Facebook page.

Barry with schoolies

Fishy Rob dashed in mid afternoon to catch a flight to Russia ( guiding out there for the salmon season) and I took over the boat. I plan to have an easy going summer fishing for fun and experimenting with new places and gaining experience on the old favourite marks. The rest of the week was taken up with an engine niggle, buying a brand new auxiliary, sorting out and refining the tackle on the boat, before. finally getting a couple for days fishing in. The results were larger numbers of small bass. Like peas in a pod, 2lb schoolies one after another, inshore in the warmer water, east and west side. Lovely enjoyable fishing on the light gear, with good company, good conversation and popping back to Weatherspoons for a cold beer when the mid day sun got too hot. The fish remained active through slack water and in the bright light which was encouraging. Many friends such as Get Walton, caught their first bass on BIF 1 this week, and many others their first bass of the year. Smiles all round, but no trophies, no monsters,,,

Peas in a pod.

Noticeable though was the lack of bigger fish. They are around, but Robin has a knack of catching a disproportionate number of these larger fish. By 'larger' I mean fish in the 3-8lb category. This is due to his fearsome concentration, pace and attention to detail on every cast. I fish in a less intense way and its clear that the results reflect this. Robin also works the crew on board harder, driving everyone on to fish harder and longer. I think I've got to find that middle ground that works for me and the crew. Pleasant as it is to catch a lot of fish for a while, sooner or later you want to feel something that really pulls back. I've got a lot to learn, and so much of the three mile boundary we work within is to be explored, it's early days still. If you want to come out exploring, you can book on a Captain Bruce Exploratory trip for a reduced rate of £15 per hour through July www.brightoninshorefishing.co.uk. I'll be adding a direct phone line to the website in the next few days to make bookings easier. I do't quite trust and automated system, sometimes you just have to speak to people..

Jason day's first bass of the year.

First ever bass for Mr Walton. But he has a phobia about touching fish, which we hope to cure him of.