Amazing. 29th July already. And with our amazingly autumnal summer continuing, six days since my last sailing. That really shouldnt be happening at this time of year. My thoughts to working forever in another country are ever more to the fore of my mind. The wind, consistently from the SW, and often coming despite not being forecast, being my absolute worst friend at the moment. How it all changes. Back in my shore guiding days, a week of stiff SW winds in the summer would have had me frothing with excitement. But these days, I would rather be sailing.
And so we did today. Well, two out of three. Which, according to a ballad which made a position in the popular music charts quite a few years ago, apparently aint bad. First sailing and it was my 60th birthday gift to my very good friend John. Along with him, was his son's good lady, Lauren, who had effectively never fished before, although she did come with sea legs, as sailing has featured in her youth. John cracked on while I taught Lauren how to a) Hold the rod properly, and b) Cast. With no bad habits to get in the way, I would say it was perhaps ten minutes before she was fishing as if she had done it all her life. Very impressive.
And it showed. The grand total for the three hour session was just 7 bass, and a gurnard. But of those seven bass, four were for the table, with the biggest being a 50cm creature, to my rod. The final hour we went on the plaice, but, shock and horror, we didnt even manage to foul hook one, which suggests they arent even around at the moment, as when they are there but dont wish to feed, we usually manage to hook a few sideways. The only fish that came to this technique (frolic and isome) was actually only the 2nd ever bass I have caught on an Isome, a small schoolie.
2nd sailing, and it was another first for BIF1. The idea of this charter, was to enable some spear fishing for my very good friend Aurora's action man boyfriend Dan. But sadly, despite running all around my patch, I couldnt find any viz suitable for him to have any success. It was still an interesting experience, and we now have some routines and some signals worked out, that when the viz eventually does become good again, we might try again. I did manage to nip out two bass for their tea whilst he was diving, so not all was lost. And I find myself eager to enable Dan to get in the water again. I would love an eye witness account of what lays beneath...
Looks like a full day tomorrow, and then, likely nothing, or just about managing a couple of early sailings, for the next seven days. This Summer, Autumn began in the end of June, and seems ready to eat up August whilst still picking the teeth of July... If you ever used a can of aerosol in the eighties or nineties, apparently this is all your fault...
