First sailing and it was my pleasure to welcome aboard Rob and Steve, who had chartered the whole boat for their comfort. This is available to anyone. You simply buy the other spaces where available. There was also a request for topwaters, which is now very much an option, especially on the first sailings, which are planned for pre-sunrise for this very reason.
Sadly though, this morning was a continuation of last sailing yesterday. Rock hard fishing. Plenty of fish found, but just two bass opened their mouths for a surface lure, and they both dropped off the inline singles. A price to pay for not running trebles, but ripping up small fish on those trebles is too big a price to pay for more hookups.
But even on shads it was hard to get a take from a bass. Again just two messed up. A small for Rob, and a cracker of 59.5cm that fell to my rod. And that was that... except... not quite. Everything feeds on the brit shoals and the bigger the shoal the more surprises you see. We have this week seen smooth hounds on the surface for them, with finds cutting the water like jaws. Plaice also in the upper layers. But as well as a nice bream for Steve, Rob managed what is by a long shot the earliest inshore cod aboard BIF1. Amazing. And a sunfish spotted on the West arm this morning also. This coincides with the sudden arrival of lots of jellyfish, as well as mackerel and horse mackerel that have arrived en mass...
Second sailing, and Fred, Mitch, Dom and David were on board. A plug for a local business here... It turns out David is head chef and proprietor of the French restaurant "Petit Pois" here in Brighton town. With my regular haunt BOCANA closed for a family holiday currently, I think I will be checking it out very soon, with a French friend of mine I suspect. Make a change from killing a bass for her.
I hit the easier option of plenty of action while wading through smalls to get to some food fish. And it went pretty much to plan. Smalls were there, with just two table fish from the total tally of 17 fish landed. Mackerel also. A very pleasant trip and always a tug or two happening.
Third sailing was looking touch and go during the interval as the wind breezed up to double figures from the southwest. But by the time of assembly a glance at my weather cock suggested an unforecast Northerly. A gift... With me for this very warm evening start were Tom, Mark, Mark and Tim.
A bit of a run around. I was reluctant to repeat the previous evenings routines in case of flipper and the mackerel. And yet, my gut was screaming at me to head in that direction. A few pokes along the way confirmed mackerel were around still. Flipper was again sighted but at 400 meters or so. And on flippers hole, bass were feeding.
24 bass were landed. Mark was using a home made sub surface loaded with inline singles and fish were loving it. A patchinko 100 found its way onto Tim's line and fish were loving that as well. Shads also scoring. Max kill, and lots of table fish returned also. By far the best session of the day, whereas the same area, and similar tides the evening before had been the worst sailing of the day. Bass. Quite exasperating.
Looking likely that Saturday will be the final day of sailings for June 2024 based on the current forecast. This may lead to some more shore options, especially as I have devised a method to store the bait of the moment alive. If you are a member of the whatsapp group keep an eye on the updates. If you are not and would like a guided session for bass on baits and lure, simply text your name and the word SHORE to 07970 112774
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