Anne with her very first Bass...

A very interesting day. It began with weather that had not been forecast. A stiff Northerly wind, yes. But bereft of the heavy rain that had made me cancel the mornings bookings. So, I headed down to go out single handed. On my way down though, the phone rang with my friend Dave asking if there was any chance he and his friend Craig could come out, to test a sinking fly line Dave had "created".

Even 3lb fish are simply amazing on the fly...

The sounder was bereft of marks, and for the two hours we were out there, we had just two pulls. I was concerned, as I had some friends coming out in the afternoon. The wind continued to howl, and when I went back in to meet the first of my friends, Dave and Craig decided the pub was more interesting than the fishing. which at that point in time, was a fair point.

So I headed back out with John. With the tide just peaked, we went east side, and fished hard for an hour for four fish, including one slightly better one on the fly to me. Then it was time to return to port. I met with the lovely Sarah, and John departed to pick up his sister in law, whom I had not previously met. The whole mission was to get her to catch bass, and test her sea legs. Everything went well, and by 18:30 we were on our way out. The wind had dropped to perfection, the tide was just an hour before low. Everything perfect really. We headed west side, and I began to instruct (quite shyly, John never warned me his sister in law was gorgeous...!!!) Anne in the art of "one knocking".

Sarah in action...

I also had a fiscal interest in the results. I had put a wager on with John (a whole ten quid...) that Anne would catch more than John. This was mainly because my ego is way bigger than my brain, as John fished very well indeed and raised fish after fish from the first cast. I did, however, do an excellent job, as Anne was casting superbly well within my predicted 20 minutes. And she did find herself attached to fish twice, so mission was accomplished. The final tally on the day was 16, which shows how prolific the last two hours were. The lovely Sarah also fished very well, and made a large contribution to the final tally. A lovely evening with lovely people. And tomorrow, first light, two more lovely people, who I think do not quite believe that their floating lines and popper flies are going to be inhaled by many hungry bass. But they will. The forecast, and the tides, are excellent. I cant wait.