Out with regulars John, Armando and Ian for a single sailing, with the last of the ebb tide. I was quite optimistic to find herrings, and bass. But actually, it turned into an 8 species day. It began with a trickle of herrings, and a few schoolies. A jump further west saw some better bass, including, ironically as we are now into close season for bass, several that would have made perfect table fish.
Jumping around found us pouting. And then a couple of surprises in short succession. I am thinking the lack of cod action recently is due to them heading offshore to spawn, as I seem to remember crewing aboard Grey Viking around this time of year, when we actually dropped in on a spawning aggregation. We landed a huge amount of cod, half spent, half roed up, suggesting that was the day they were doing their thing. A long time ago now, 2010 I seem to remember. However, some I guess are simply too small to bother going along for the ride, and Ian managed to pop a cutie out, to bring the Cod Accumulative Total to a nice round 60 for the season. I expect it to finish at well over 100 when the spring run kicks off, towards the end of February.
The other surprise was also to Ians rod. Two nice table sized mackerel. Happy new year... Thats how much the warmer water this winter is making a difference to the inshore fishing. Long may it continue, as the current high pressure refuses to leave us, meaning plenty of sailing opportunities into next week.
A dab to Johns frolic also made for some fun. A wrasse to mine. Jumbo pouting and plenty of whiting keeping the species tally ticking. But with the bottom of the tide fast approaching, and light winds, I was keen to get back to a spot where the bait has been accruing over the slack. And there it was. Mountains of it. Happily for the herrings, time ran out just as we counted 112 landed. Sounds a lot, but with them being tasty, and fantastic bait for a variety of species including Pike, divided by 3 anglers is not so many really. They certainly will not be wasted.
Still some spaces. 2 on tomorrows 1145 available. A full 4 on Saturday's 1145. 2 on the 0745. 1 space on Sunday's 0745 and 3 spaces on the 1145. 07970 112774 if any of these interest you.