First sailing was sadly a casualty of the weather. The forecast I had made my decision form had suggested very strong winds and lightning until 0700. I awoke at 0700 and, although the wind was not there, I could see the sea state was telling me it had not long abated. Indeed, even as I took Mark, Damo, Tim and Jason out to sea, it flashed through my mind that it might be too bouncy. Right on the edge, we turned hard inshore, to get a feel for what the weather was likely to do. Happily, the wind had dropped, and most of the swell was the fairly big tide flooding hard. Based on that we proceeded with the bassing.
We found a few, but nothing special. As we were fishing, Tim and Jason mentioned they were interested in the plaice. Hmm... Mark and Damo's eyes started twinkling.
They love a bit of plaice on lures. So, we headed out to the bank where some nice ones had showed earlier in the week. And they were there. As well as mackerel in good numbers, a small hound and a gurnard. Plaice sizes though, were on the small side with no lumps at all. After half an hour and a dozen fish, all agreed it was time to return to the bass fishing.
And it was now quite good fishing. I think we only found 7 bass this sailing, but all the ones on this part of the tide were good ones. Mark had two pushing towards the 5lb marker. Happy days.
Next sailing, and family time. Jay and Shay were binging their kids Keyaan and Javed out to play. Straight out to the plaice banks, where a steady stream of plaice and mackerel were harvested, plus a random cuttle that got hooked on a frolic.
All were enjoying, but it did slacken off a bit. Time to have a look for a bass. Mostly it was fathers doing the casting, and the catching. of bass, while the kids worked small frolics, happy for a mackerel every five minutes.
With the tide nearly at low, we had to move a couple of times before Sheeyan found a nice fish. And nothing to back it up with. quite surprising for that mark at that state of tide. But, with the trip almost over, the timing could not have been better, and they guys went onto the marina walls (hardcore, they wanted more fishing) with big smiles and a weighty bag of fish.
Now, although I have stopped doing the 1800 sailings, a last minute call for help from a client who sailed with me two years ago, changed that for today. A skipper had let them down at the last moment (seems like q common theme at the moment. When will skippers learn, that letting people down means those customers are likely lost forever, in an industry where repeat custom is the key to success...?? ) and they really wanted a trip out.
So, here we were on the young flood. I had high hopes, and actually, for the 2.75 hours we were out there, there was rarely a minute without some kind of action. We actually only tallied seven bass and some mackerel, but with Chris having a 4lb fish, and Robert one nearer 6lb, and always someones line twitching, either to bass, mackerel o Cuttlefish, there was plenty to keep the interest. And two people, happy for the fact they had managed to find a space on a sunny high summer Saturday in Brighton.
