First sailing and it was all frequent flyers. Armando, Ziya, Mark and Damien. And actually initially a bit more of a struggle to find fish than I expected. But a couple of hops westwards, and we found some. And some more. Table fish for Ziya and Armando. And some nice wrasse also, which pleased Mark greatly. He recently caught what was almost certainly a british record Bailion wrasse, (that is not a mis-spell of ballan, although it might be a mis-spell...) but had never heard of the species (me neither...). When I saw the picture, I just thought it was an amazingly coloured Corkwing. Turns out, it was a very special fish indeed. I think he is looking for it again...

2nd sailing and more regulars. Ian, Matt, and another Ian. Fishing was slower, with only two table fish for three fish eaters. But happily a few mackerel showed also, so there was food for everyone. Small bass, we found plenty. Well, not smoking hot, but certainly enough action to keep the smiles on the faces, which it is all about. Otherwise, I have to do my happy feet dance. You dont leave BIF1 without a smile. Indeed, we actually got a bit of a show on this sailing, as a pod of perhaps 12 large adult dolphin traveled past us heading east.

3rd sailing, and it was a 70th birthday celebration. David was the birthday boy, with sons Chris and Toby along to make his day very special. Which was just as well, as the fish were playing very hard ball. There were very few times we were drifting without bass below the boat. But they simply refused to take well. Sharp tugs, very difficult to hit. Last time this happened, the fly rod sorted it out... something to consider next sailing. But for this sailing, the total was just five schoolies landed.

Which left me apprehensive about the final sailing, with Mark and Damo returning. However, such is how the sea works, it turned into the best sailing of the day. With Neptune very much playing his irony game. I train people to be uber focused as to what their lure is up to, to make sure every sniff has a chance of being converted to a hook up. We were running through a shoal, but I really needed a pee. I didnt want to waste time reeling up and dropping back down, so I left the HTO Mighty Minnow hanging down there, a foot off the bottom, popped the rod in a holder, and turned to attend to the call of nature. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.... biggest fish of the day...

Then, a bit of a struggle, and with very little of the session to go, I threw open the throttle and blasted east side. Into carnage. Topwaters deployed, we smased a lot of bass. Fish everywhere. No beasts, but plenty of action from quality fish. A fitting end to a long day. I was just a bit miffed with Neptune for not letting birthday boy David into the action earlier. Hopefully, they will return that Neptune might apologise and make good...