First sailing, and no less than the Illustrated Angler came to play, with squid in mind. And joining him, that man Mark, enjoying a week of furlough. Mark is pretty easy going, as squid and bass are often to be found on the same grounds. Often. Not this morning though. Just a single pouting to Mark being the only rewards. So, we all agreed better to hammer plaice than nothing. Except... Today was TOUGH. Just 4 plaice to join the pouting, with two of my best rods fishing. A real struggle.
2nd sailing, and again the bass word was used. With it being over the low tide I managed to swing it to 2 hours on the bass, and an hour on the plaice. With me for this trip, two individuals, Sarron and Ryan, both BIF1 virgins. My all time worst scenario, as I do rather like to hook my virgins with outstanding fishing, as that is what tends to turn them into Biffers.
It actually started really well. I tried a random spot that I havent fished yet this year, just as a starting point. Early season bassing is all about finding a shoal, and trying to hang onto it. And as I pulled up, neptune allowed me to relax a little. The biggest shoal I have seen inshore so far this year. And we held onto it for 2 drifts, and four bass, with two in the 46cm size. Hopeful that we would hang onto the shoal, sadly, as I began the 3rd drift, the tide began pushing towards the East. And a change of tide, often sees a change of behaviour. We lost the shoal.
Onto the plaicing, which remained challenging. Not only numbers down, but sizes down also. But Ryan went up the road with a bass, and Sarron with the only chunky plaice. And both guys understood that early season lure fishing is a long way from easy. Other than the tough fishing, we actually had a ball, with a lot of laughter. A theme that continued on the 3rd sailing, when Grant and Gavin joined me for the final sailing.
Happily, Grant and his lovely girlfriend joined me last August and experienced a good sailing. I hastily pointed out that level of fishing would not be available for a couple of months, but I was told to relax. The guys just wanted a nice afternoon floating about. Catching wasnt important. Except, to me catching is everything. If I wanted to just cart people around on a boat, I would buy a bigger one and do windfarm trips. With that in mind, I determined to find the most fish possible. We had plenty of water, although there are signs of the may rot (algae) colonising this afternoon. We cracked on.
Some close drifts produced some plaice, but small. We did manage table plaice, plus a dab, and too many whiting on a deeper bank I reserve for desperate situations. We tried for squid, for no squid harmed, and enjoyed a bassless hour bassing also. But we did laugh. A lot. And I'm pretty sure I will see the guys again mid summer. For the worst day since I returned from Portugal, it didnt turn out so bad in the end.
