Giving new angler Nartan fish of the day, for this 4lb+ bass

Today, I finally got my main fly boy, John back on board. Not only that, somehow, since he last visited BIF1, he got himself a girlfriend!! Her name is Nartan, and she is quite lovely. She was there on just her second fishing experience. My favorite material. Unblemished with bad habits. Also on board were frequent flyers Mark and Garry making it a full boat on first sailing.

It was another bass safari. So many fish showing themselves, both on the sounder and physically, by following or attacking but falling short on surface lures. There is something of the "not hungry" about these fish. There are three main food sources available to them at the moment. Endless spider crabs moulting, whitebait, and something else Possibly baby sprat but no more than 5 mm long and it is in our waters en mass. I also have seen this week huge numbers of sand eels on some of my favorite plaice banks (Plaice not been playing AT ALL these past few days for me). Combine this with bright sun, clear seas, and a huge surge in personal watercraft, and it makes for challenging bassing. But BIF1 likes to rise to a challenge. Surface lures made for some connections. And by speeding a shad through, you can make even the most stuffed bass unable to fight its predator instincts. Much like pike, if you trigger their "What is it? Must catch it" response, you will get more than just a follow.

We ended the session, with Nartan a very straight and competent caster, and with her first bass ever. John only managed a couple of schoolies on the fly, but John is an angler from the soul. Just the sight of five and six pound fish following his fly to the boat, made his session for him. Garry and Marky both caught, and also marveled at the wonders below us. Sometimes we are in five feet of crystal clear water. While the surface is calm. it is better than a glass bottomed boat. And we got a free display from the Swiss air force, returning from one of the weekends tatoo's.

2nd sailing, and it was just Mark and me. We tried for bass, we tried for plaice, but everything was tough. A strong flooding spring, with the wind behind it made for very fast drifts. I tried a spot out of the flow, and here we finally hit jackpot. Snag was, there was only 20 minutes left of the session. But Mark is one of BIF's most loyal supporters. I couldnt possibly leave on time, with feeding fish in front of us, after 2.75 hours of not finding anything. We over-ran by 30 minutes, which saw half a dozen bass to the boat.