First sailing, and the first of all full boats over this weekend. With the last sailings being a bit less than I would expect for the time of year, I must admit I didnt know what to expect. Or even what we might find. I did know I had Mark, David, Tim and Paul on board, all frequent flyers all now finely tuned to the technique of the coiled spring. If you believe catching fish is all about casting out, counting, and retrieving, perhaps you should come pay me a visit. On BIF1, the most important piece of tackle, is your index finger. So, I knew if I could put us on some fish, it would happen. And that is pretty much how it worked out. We left the marina into a pretty big swell, in part from the big wind the previous day, but amplified with a new spring flood just getting away.
First stop, Paul was away with a couple of bass, but no sign of the cod I was hoping for. Same at the next stop, where a few more bass were feeding. No beasts, topping out around the 3lb mark. Then heading inshore, where we found better fortunes. A nice coddie for Ian. Followed swiftly afterwards by a smaller version. Bass all round. And the beginning of a battle that never ended all day. Our lures V mackerel. By the end of the session. I counted fifteen bass for the three hours, plus the cod, and endless mackerel. Mark of course also had a wrasse. Not too shabby.
Thats is, until you compare it with 2nd sailing, which was absolutely stunning. It started with a tip off just before the end of the 1st sailing from a friend in a rib. "Lots of birds working over my way". I decided to check it out, once we had said goodbye to David and Ian, and welcomed aboard Nick and Tim. Wow. Did ever a tip come good. There are birds to go to, and birds to avoid. Masses of birds can mean various things, including bad things, like feeding dolphins, or a stack of discards. But they can mean good things, like so much bait, that even the whiting come up to the surface to enjoy the easy pickings. Dead silly, Herring gulls dont exclusively eat herrings, while the black headed gulls excel in snatching the small fry, despite their outwardly clumsy smash down. It's all about results, not appearance.
The final tally was around 55 fish for the three hours fishing. Which is quite something. But most exciting, was that for a couple of drifts, we found those better fish that had made July so interesting. Cracking fish. I weighed one at 6.5lb, but we had a few reasonably bigger than that. So nice to see that quality of fish back in town. Hopefully numbers will increase again. Could the session get any better than that? Well, kind of did in a way. I was very happy to see a wee coddie fall to my HTO inshore shad.
3rd sailing, we said goodbye to Nick, and hello to Jon. And back out to the fish. Except... Nothing lasts forever in fishing. If it lasts for a session, its a great day. We found the dregs of what was, including some good fish. But the numbers, were not happening. We had a really good look around for perhaps a dozen fish. So, off to do something different. An actual look for a cod. Which went rather well also. I bumped one, and a nano second later Mark finally nailed his first one of the season, a nice fish in great condition. After a few more fruitless drifts, it was time to finish off on some fun. With the tide just flooding again, in to a close reef to finish on a flurry of action with smaller fish. Lots there, coming to surface lures, shads. Probably floating crust if we had tried. An absolute mash up of small bass and mackerel. Its all kicking out there.
Still a few spaces for next week. Following weekend not announced yet, but plenty of availability. 07970 112774 to get on board.
