Just the one sailing happening today, as the forecast had wind increasing around lunch time, to a stiff SW by late afternoon. Ahead of another week of absolute tosh winds for running BIF1. I thought initially big shame, as I had a squid only charter scheduled for the afternoon, but I am not sure if it wasn't a silver lining as you will see below.
Full boat for the first sailing. KT, Carina and Loz all returning, and Loz bought along Liam for his first look at BIF1. I think he liked it. With the freedom of the entire sea pretty much, I was hopeful for good action on the early flood, and worried for the first hour. And that is how it went really. Up until the flood tide we had amassed the grand total of two small pouting (one foul hooked) and worryingly just the one squid for a fairly concerted effort. I decided to check the squid situation after I had dropped the guys back, as I was expecting plenty.
But once the tide moved, the fishes were very happy to play. As well as the 27 bass (max kill, but biggest only perhaps 4lb) Neptune decided to gift Liam a "WELCOME TO BIF1" present. with what I think is likely the biggest John Dory we have seen aboard BIF1. Tiny compared to the beasts caught in Croatian seas, but awesome for Brighton. A really good session.
With the guys away, I went for breakfast at Cafe Zio, and then headed back out. The forecast said I had perhaps two hours if I wanted it, and I felt I should do a dummy run of the now cancelled squid trip. Not a single squid fell to my jig. I swapped one rod to a squid jig / Shad combination hoping for a cod, and at least ticked that box. I had another drop on route to the surface. Although growing fast, they still aren't touching 3lb, and seem to be the only age class passing through. A good sign for next season, genuinely. They just need to survive.
About the squid... One thing that occurs to me, is how early they arrived. A full month. Last year they appeared to leave the inshore on the full moon in December. We just had the full moon for November. Could it be, that's all folks for Brighton squid, until the big Forbessi return end of March?
