Probably fish of the day, although all four bigger fish were very similar in size

With the wind forecast to be even stronger than the previous day until the evening, I had not arranged any sailings. I had taken on a shore job, which I dont really want to talk about as we did not catch the target (Bream) and when I finally realised it wasnt going to happen and pressed the bass on lures panic button, that didnt happen either. I needed something to lift my flagging ego. People think ego's are bad things. Perhaps people are right. But I like my ego. It slaps me around the face and forces me on when it might otherwise be time to be doing things that other people do. Like socialise, and sleep. Sleep would have been most welcome, but ego, with a dose of conscience, pushed me down to BIF1.

Jon and "Mud Puppy"

The conscience bit comes from my friend Jon finally bringing his del quay dory round from Chichester and needing a few starting points. And me keep putting him off. With time on my hands, and an urge to fly fish, I suggested we head out in our respective boats, to make it easier for him to mark the marks. He happily agreed so we headed out. I first took him to one of my furthest marks. Here the fishing was slow, but at least a fish per drift. I even managed to get one on a topwater, the first on BIF1 this season. And a classic approach from a wary fish, tracking it with water bulging just behind the lure. Two half hearted attempts, and then the big single ball bearing smashing away finally twisted him into fury and a huge splashy take with the fish hooked. A great scrap, and even better, confirmation that the inshore is truly on.

I then showed Jon a few spots on the way back. We did a couple of short, half hearted drifts but with no fish showing on the sounder, we continued back, as Jon was on a time limit. The two last spots I showed him both provided quality fishing, good enough to see what they thought of the fly. 3 fish in quick succesion. My first ones of this season. Then, Jon departed.

Heddon one knocker spook getting nailed for the first time this year

I carried on though, despite some very ominous looking clouds happening. A further four fish, in the 4-5lb bracket, graced the net. I tried the topwater, but could only get takes on HTO Mighty Minnows fished well in front of the boat. I could have happily carried on catching until sunset, but with the boat to refuel, and an 0400 start to take two full sailings I decided to leave the fish unmolested for the mornings clients. I suspect, and hope, first sailing is going to be a bass fest...