FIsh of the day and current CLOVEN HOOF rum contender... Bill Morris with 7.5lb of Sussex Brass...
A full days sailing... First sailing, Mark, Garry and Chris all onboard. My current strategy is to hammer around to lots of little isolated reefs until I find one with fish on. Sometimes, we find fish on the first one. Sometimes, we do not. This was a "do not" morning until pretty much the last couple of reefs. There some pride was restored, with I think 7 fish to perhaps 3.5lb
2nd sailing was very cool. Just Richard on board. Another one that went to the line, but then we got what we wanted. A quality fish, accompanied by a few a little smaller. Plus the chat and life dissection that I feel Richard and I do very well. A very relaxing session for me.
3rd sailing was a bit more stressful. Robert, a keen angler, had booked his work crew on for some corporate fun. However, the wind had swung to the South east, and it was quite bumpy on the new flood. Plus some of the crew had not fished since children, so instruction on casting and what to do from a pitching platform made for some interesting moments. But the guys made me proud. They stuck to it, Rob, Craig, Cameron and Harrison. Harrison especially was amazing at how he picked up casting. The fishing itself though, was much harder. They didnt want to take fish for the table, so mackerel were not an option. And with the wind it left bass from what would not be my first choice spots for the time of tide. We did however, drop in with a shoal a couple of times, and bagged a couple, and had takes from many more.
4th sailing I was actually sort of looking forward to, and sort of dreading. There are two other operations that I suppose I could call "competition". I don't actually use that word for these two. I used the word "Inspiration". Without Austen Goldsmith and Justyn Amwyl's operations to show a living could be made from lure/fly only vessels in the UK, perhaps the BIF1 project would not have happened. And my guys, Bill and Ian, had fished with both of them. To top it all, I discovered on arrival that Bill is a major distributor of fishing tackle. Trabucco perhaps being the brand many will relate to. And they were coming to fish with me after having had a successful trip with Austen just last week. I delayed the start to 18:00 to allow the ebb to get away, as the Easterly breeze was still a problem, took a deep breath, and headed out.
It began less good. A few spots we visited before the first fish, which came to lures. Ian got his first lure caught bass. I love firsts and BIF1 grants many to clients. The fly approach was abandoned for one spot, where strong tide and a need for distance made lure the most productive method, and this spot produced the goods. But we continued. Next one, Bill nabbed a quality fish, which relaxed me a lot, as the trip down west had yielded numbers of bass, but not so many big ones. Sussex at the moment, is the reverse. Not so many bass, but many quality fish around.
It was on the final destination, a place I have deicded to name "Cheese Rock" for reasons I will leave you guessing at. A very productive place, it even threw up a John Dory for us last year. More bass we hit here. Crowned by the very last fish of the day. Bill patiently played out a very good fish of 7.5lb. The current cloven hoof contender, and a cracking fish to close a great session with super company. With a double fuelling and the boat clean, and the late start, it meant I was very tired indeed when I finally got home. But I fell asleep with a smile on my face. A most excellent day.