First sailing, and it was regulars returning once more. Richard, and the three M's. Mark, Mitch and Max. Good to have experienced rods for this one, as conditions were testing to say the least. Again those Northerlies, although slightly less than recently. Very chilly though, and please, all folk be aware. Especially with first sailing, think, autumn. Woolly hats and quality gloves are good things to have with you this year already. As well as sun block, of course. This crazy country of ours...
Fishing was testing, but by the end of the session we had managed fifteen bass, which was not so bad. Except... Sizes. Very hard to find decent fish, and from that many fish, just two were going up the road, for culinary purposes. Off to Cafe Zio, to contemplate for the following session.
Next up, west sussex's finest were up. Tim, Paul and Jay were on for more fun. And what was even better, the annoying wind had lulled, completely at times, which gave us much more freedom for running around on the hunt. Not that it mattered. Suddenly, a struggle. Even finding a pocket of bait fish was hard. Some fat mackerel turned up. Gurnard. But bass, through the whole session, just six fish landed. One was a cracker mind, which really helped a lot, and even made cover shot tonight.
Third and final sailing, and Mark was back, joined by Ian, and John with grandson Oakley. And the session started really well, with Mark striking first, followed soon after by Oakley. But then, that Northerly returned, and it got tough. We managed `13 bass, with two for the table, plus fat mackerel, and finished with the final hour on the plaice. Two fat keepers, from a total of 12 fish landed. Not great, not terrible. I guess you would describe it as "ok" fishing. And there was icing on the cake... On retrieving his very last drop before heading in, Oakley caught his very first shark. A smooth hound pup had seized the isome. A not uncommon occurrence.
