Thin lipped mullet enjoying the sanctuary of the marina

The forecast was for the wind to appear, at some point in the morning. First light was forecast to be heavy rain. With no bookings, I decided to have a good nights sleep, and not take BIF1 out at all. I awoke at first light (an instinct I cannot shake) and heard the persistent rain, so satisfied myself with a visit to the loo and returning to bed. Next time I awoke, around 0900, there was sunlight streaming into my bedroom. I looked out of the window, to see a very gentle northerly, and a very flat English channel. Knowing the wind was coming, I dressed and headed straight down to BIF1. And for some reason, I only took the fly rod from the car. As I headed along the pontoons, huge thin lipped mullet abounded everywhere. Not a single thick lip to be seen in there this year though.

Motoring out , I pushed around to the west side. Lots of different spots around here. Sometimes the fish can be on all of them, other times when fewer fish are around, just one or two might hold fish. Today they were on all the spots.

In the next two hours, stripping deceivers up from the depths on a fast sinking line, I managed to land 25 fish. But what was very different about this session, was the sizes. Five of those fish were over 3lb, to a best of 4.5, Quite different fish have arrived. Many sporting the red tinges of dorsal damage from being released from tangle nets thanks to the current legislation on commercial fishing for bass. It makes me think, how much I might be struggling without these protections in place.