Just two on board for first sailing. Armando, and new to BIF1, Robert coming to see what all the fuss is about. I have to say, I wasnt quite sure what to do. Sailing into a new flood, on a slightly bigger tide meaning some flow to play with. Especially with very little wind, meaning mirror seas, although still sporting a reasonable swell from the previous day.

I had a little look at a very close reef, and did spot a little cluster, but not enough. And also, some colour collecting inshore, pinned by the giant back eddy created by the west arm. Early rot? I truly hope not. Somehow I seem to remember writing these exact same words every year, so fingers crossed I am just talking crap. I headed out West on the reefs that run about 1.5 miles off.

And here we quickly found fish. First run through, a Lesser spotted dogfish marked a new species for BIF1 and Roberts first fish from BIF1. It was foul hooked, but had been attacking the lure prior to the connection a couple of times. I adjusted the drift, and we had another go...

This time we hit gold. Well, silver. Two fish on, and crackers. One around 4.5lb, one over 5lb. And this set the scene. No more that sized, but several that would have been quite takeable. Some smaller also. Good action, that kept us busy for the first half of the session.

Then the tide died, and some wind pushed us across the tide. We headed off for some plaice and gurnard action. Not much of any of it, but we did find them, plus a dab, and some bites missed. And for the final thirty minutes, the obligatory cod hunt, which produced zero cod. Did see some promising marks though.

In for the turnaround. and we said goodbye to Armando, and hello to Richard, Brian and Garry, all returnee's. Now heading out, we had some nice ebb run, my favourite on the bass mark. And away we went again. Not quite so busy, but busy enough. Two lures chomped through as well, which often means bream in residence. We did have a punt around as the tide eased back, but again not much happening with the plaice, and we also had a brief look at a close mark. Couple of bumps, but nothing connecting.

Back out to the bass spot where more fell. Then again the tide eased back, the drifts ran across the tide on an ever freshening SSW wind, and time ran out also... We threw in a free rescue of a tiny little rib with two on board that had broken down in the mouth of the marina. Probably a good thing for them as it was getting quite bouncy by this time. With the tide emptying out of the marina at a pace, they had no chance of rowing back in. We did have a bit of a giggle... In the end though, a really good day. To get quality bass inshore on the 3rd April is simply brilliant, and with every tide more will arrive. Just need a good crab peel to get them onto the close inshore reefs, and summer will truly be considered here.