First sailing, and a bit of a re-union. Jon, and his then house share mate Benny, I think met Howard on board BIF1, perhaps back in 2018. Howard is the BIF1 bass record holder, with a fish of 12.5lb's. Now, they fish regularly together, afloat, ashore, even inland on the rivers. And with them Giles, a recent comer to saltwater lure fishing. Moods were good. Expectations were high. Despite me desperately trying to dampen them as it has been tough this week.
Took a bit of zapping around, but eventually we settled down on a reef with fish on it. Indeed, first one was a cracker, at 60 cm. In the general vicinity, a further 18 surrendered themselves. Giles was looking for a fish for food, as was Benny, and neither were disappointed. Indeed, Benny could technically have had a choice of fish to eat, as he also managed the seasons first Lure caught undulate ray, but happily for the ray, Benny was happy with the bass.
2nd sailing, and a return of Ross and Annamaria. Target was... small dinner party for 8 people. No brainer, thought I. Bream should do it. I even forewarned them to bring some squid. To make sure it happened. We sped out to the bream spot, to find lots of bream marking. But just one small problem. Bream it would seem, would not dream, to eat after inspection, a bait moving in the wrong direction. (Rap... so easy...)
This is what was happening. Tactics that were so devastating the previous day, were hardly raising a rattle. Just 2 for the table from a total of four for an hours effort. Wind backing us up over the feeble last push of a feeble little ebbing tide. I suggested we go see if the plaice were any kinder. And they were. Indeed, they were quite having it. seven plaice joined the bream in the fish well. So, mission accomplished. "Whats that love? You dont like plaice..? Have a bream instead..." Perfect.
With 30 minutes to spare, we thought we woukd have a go at the bass. And Ross nailed the only one. Considerably smaller than the beast he caught with me two years ago, and loved and released. But kudos to Ross for rounding off the day nicely. Sadly, a burst of wind forecast (and arrived) meant 3rd sailing cancelled.