There has been a pattern all this week, of winds not quite being as strong first light, as predicted by the forecast. Additionally, the morning winds seem to be a true NE, slipping around to the East as the day progresses. This is a significant difference for my tight inshore routines, as a NE is often fishable. E often not. After observing this pattern again yesterday on an early morning session on the shingle (just a single fish landed) I decided to call just this mornings first sailing on.
And it was a good call. Although the wind strength was considerably stronger than yesterday morning, it was a true NE and straight off the land, without any swell. Fishable, although only really on surface lures. Which was great. As we had plenty.
On board, John and Max returning, Lam and Ivan, both new to BIF1, and both new to fishing in the UK, having previously been enthusiasts of the handline in Hong Kong, where good hauls of Grouper can still be found. But they were both using the rod well enough to catch fish within ten minutes of instruction. Clever guys.
Fishing was consistently good. But not quite at the same pace as previous first sailings. Sizes pretty good though, with a max kill. When I say a max kill, I dont mean that Max killed. Max only occasionally kills, so that would be unfair. I mean that all those that wanted fish took their legal maximum. Although actually, John only wanted one fish thinking about... That's how we roll on BIF1. Point is, plenty of legal fish were also released in our 14 fish total. Biggest to Max at 63cm. A really good session.
