Fish of the day for Steve
A day of two halves today, quite literally. Hosting a local firms team building day, I was hoping to get three sailings of four out hunting whatever was about. With plaice not really playing recently for me, I was hoping Bass would be ok. Turns out, they were just fine. On the first sailing, Dean and Graham were returning after very much enjoying a fairly fish filled outing last Summer. With them, were Kevin and Steve.
And we were on the bass quite quickly. For the first time this season, one of my favourite spots last year actually had bass on it. And they didnt move for a good hour and a half. We were able to pick away at them once I had briefed the guys on how I like to see this hole fished. With half an hour of mackerel madness, and a few pokes at less populated spots, the first sailing finished with ten bass in the 2-5lb range, a gurnard, and enough mackerel to make families back home happy.
2nd sailing, I was with Jack, Chris, Shawn and Mark. Not quite as good as the first sailing, and we had to poke different spots to get the ball rolling, but end result was 7 bass, to 2.5lb, plus mackerel for all. Not bad, considering none of them were anglers previously.
3rd sailing, I had Louise, Chris, Steve and Derek out with me. But not for long sadly. We headed out into a strongly flooding tide, being agitated by a stiffening SE wind. We stayed out for fifty minutes, but the bounce was getting a bit much, and with the guys also all newbies, it seemed sensible to call it off early. I made them promise to get very drunk on the refund on the way home...
4th sailing was on the ebb tide, and the seas were quite fine, despite the still stiff breeze. But what a difference. Marks were there, even in the hole, but it was difficult to get them to bite. Just 2 schoolies to will, while David, son James and myself all blanked. We did have one spot where we got stacks of bites, and lots of missing tails from the minnows, but we didnt hook one up to see what was responsible. A real struggle, but still enjoyable, with a sky full of colour on sunset.
