Probably best fish of a hard day to Nick
I had been looking forward to this day for quite a while. Today was the day I took Dick. James, Paul and Will out fishing. They had bid ludicrous amounts of money for the event (2 x 3 hour sailings) at the LOVE GOSH charity ball in 2017 (Great Ormond Street Hospital. We donate a voucher each year). I wanted this to be a perfect day, but although the weather was perfect for sailing, something else was bothering me. An old adversary...
The May rot (algae bloom) is back in town... Sadly, quite badly, and it is affecting the inshore fishing on lures. Not completely. It has become a game of cat and mouse. Some areas clear quite well for part of the tide. And then fill up with gloop and pea soup water on other parts of the tide. I am actually beginning to work out patterns for this slowly. Perhaps after next years bloom I will have it sorted. Until then, a learning curve.
From the right... Will, Dickie, Paul, James. I think they had fun...
First stop, was to see if we could get a plaice. In actual fact, I wanted to see how the guys got on handling the gear, and after a few pointers, I was happy that they were perfectly capable. The plaice are one of the fish that seem to shut their mouths the most if the water is green, and they were not playing. A quick stop on route to some rocks, and we were off the mark with a few pouting coming on board. Then, at the mark, I stopped short and showed the guys how to vertical jig with a frolic. "Dont worry, this isnt the mark. There isnt any fish here". With that, two of the rods doubled over. A chance encounter with a shoal of mackerel.
A nice plaice for Paul
Onto the rock, but no fish marking. Which kind of set the tone for the rest of the sessions with these guys. I could hardly find any fish anywhere. I did find one small shoal of bass, but they didnt hit the lures and I didnt see them again. Mixing it up with plaice drags was a good idea, as a couple of smallish gurnard and one decent plaice did give up to us.
We lost Dicky to a wedding reception on the interval. Heading back out, it was again chunky pout which rather saved the session. Basically, a really not good day. But the guys seemed to love it all. I guess to someone that doesnt fish a lot, even the beauty of a pink, gold sheened pout is a marvel. Plus the camaraderie aspect of being out with friends on a small boat on a glorious day. I half suspect I will see these guys again. I would love them to experience Brighton when the seas are dark with clarity.
I also took a late booking for the last sailing. My good friend Rob, and his dad Nick. Both very accomplished anglers, I totally tried to put them off, qouting the may rot and terrible fishing. But they werent having it. "Take us to some wrasse rocks" said Rob. So that is what we focused on. The fishing was far from on fire, but three nice wrasse popped up along with a few bigger pouting. I managed a nice reef pollack. And we all had plenty of taps. The fishing, had definitely stepped up. And I was happy that I had been pushed into helming into the sunset. I am now more confident for my guys tomorrow. And I have a plan...
Still some availability Saturday and Sunday. 07970 112774 to get on board.