Im guessing a lot of people suspect I am no more. That BIF1 is now a planter in a pub garden. Three months is a long time to be without her. Especially frustrating as reading between the lines of other floaties catch reports, it appeared there could be a spring run of coddies happening. The replacement of my fuel tank ran two months over schedule, and I'm not sure I have ever been so frustrated. But finally, after being dropped back in yesterday morning, today BIF1 went to work once more.
Joining me on first sailing, also desperately waiting for her to be back in the game, was Max, Dave, Lee and Mark. I couldnt have asked for keener and more experienced BIF'ers for her return. And it showed in the results. A properly great mixed bag. Were the cod there? Yes, they were and I nailed both of them. Were the bass there? A couple of bass at every spot with the total being 8 fish. Interestingly, lean and liced, as if just returned from spawning. Which perhaps has happened much earlier than last year. And no sign of those nasty infections, as perhaps spawning in colder water is more to the advantage of the tightly shoaling, to the point of rubbing each other, spawning aggregations.
But not just cod and bass. Mark managed a pretty male bream, and Max pulled out a pollock. A great way to start the day. And would it continue? Would it feck. Second sailing, with Mark, Damo and Colin we went straight onto the plaice. They were there, with four landed, but small, just one for the table. However, it didnt matter, as we had cod and bass to move onto. Except of course, the cod and bass had moved on, and just a couple of whiting in their place.
Third sailing, and it was Wayne and Alfie returning, joined by Chris and his brother Simon. Chris being my marine mechanic, which always makes me that little bit more relaxed when he is out. Happily the boat is running nicely now, so those skills werent required. Just his fish catching skills, which he did deploy well. Indeed , we all missed a few chances, but the end result of these three hours was just two bass, a pouting and a mackerel.
Why so poor? Everybody out today felt the "switch" just as the ebb tide got going. A lot of green water out there also, but also positive signs of the may rot dying as well, which seems quite early. Lets hope it is yet another light year, as heavy may rot on its own can lead to not being worth lure fishing on the inshore. Certainly the tight spaces are not conducive to good bass fishing just now, which is a shame as the winds are not good for sailing this coming week, but are good for getting a lure a long long way from the shingle.
