Bruce with a typical reef pout

Sailing again already!! Four times in one week. Summer is surely coming. But it wasnt just wind we got this winter. It was also low temperatures that still refuse to accept that Summer is coming. As such, the sea temperatures are very low, and the usual migrations of fish, are seemingly delayed by as much as 4 weeks. Much chat on the fishing pages on Facebook. One statement seemed particularly to explain things. The lowest 1st April sea temperatures since 1981. Just as I was beginning to enjoy global warming. Last year, with a private boat, we found bass January, February and by March we were fairly in swing. This year, its still a case of finding the fish that put smiles on peoples faces.

1st sailing, we were full. Frequent flyer Gary, who enjoyed the cod action last weekend, was back for more. And new clients Julian, with his father in law Kola. Kola is Russian, over visiting his family. He does not have much English. Destiny I call it. From three years working the summer on the Kola peninsular as a salmon guide, I had picked up enough Russian language to help Kola with the fishing, put the occasional big grin on his face, and happily enough language to cadge his most excellent russian made Winston cigarettes. And also, after a long absence due to pressures of business, my friend and business partner Bruce made up the full compliment. On a fairly flat sea, we made a nice 27 knots. There was only one spot I wanted to go. Julian and Kola were fishing for the pot. We would go look for those coddies, knowing full well that chunky, and very tasty pouting would be there should the cod not be. Add a string of herring feathers above the lure, and you can always find a herring or two, with many big shoals showing on the sounder.

Kola with Herring. Kola, Мне было очень приятно, что ты на борту

And that is exactly how it panned out. Zero coddies, but a Pouting of 2lb plus on 35gm lure gear, still brings a big smile. And I think we nipped out half a dozen herrings as well. So, it was a smiling Julian and Kola that left BIF1, with perhaps 15lb's of quality fresh fish to share with their family. Which left just Bruce and me to go play for the afternoon. We went and fished some rock marks, that this time last year were bulging with fish. No action. We went back to the cod mark. More jumbo pout. We finished off with a few drags for Plaice on isomes, but we had missed the best bit of the tide, and it wasnt happening. So, we bought BIF1 in for a shower down. The flip side of fishing for jumbo pout, almost always they do their business as soon as you swing them in. And you do not want pouting poo left to do its own thing....

Currently, it is looking like around next weekend we might get what we all desperately need. Some genuine spring weather. Some sites claiming 20 degrees. I will wait till mid week, as forecasting has been struggling since December, but quite possibly, we might be at it again. Watch our facebook page or call me on 07970 112774 for latest planned sailings.