First sailing, and the return of Anna Marie and Ross. These guys have a knack of encountering special fish, and today was no different. Anna Marie had asked for a foodie slant, with mackerel, bass, plaice and squid required. No pressure then...
First the plaice. I decided to hit these first, as we had the strongest part of the ebb tide that we were going to get. And they were feeding well. We were only really after fish too big for a frying pan, and we managed the one. I had loaded Anna Marie's rig with feathers as well (the hoover rig) and this did bring the mackerel required. Onto the bass.
I knew where I wanted to be as the tide died away. And it was very worth the visit. Just three bass. Two were nice table fish, one around 3lb, one around 4lb. The other, at 75cm, was a full 16cm over my maximum kills size on BIF1, so the fish, which according to the weight to length chart is around 10.75 to 11lb, was of course released. We didnt see a double last year, so to get that monkey off the back so early in the season is very pleasing.
Onto the squid, where we completely tanked. A total surprise to me, although the reef we had been doing so well on, was quite may rot loaded. A shame, but three out of four aint bad...
2nd sailing, Tom, Terry and Dean, all new to BIF1. Which was a real shame as it was a bit of a grueller. Just four fish landed, and just two 45cm fish for the table. Marked lots of fish... Sounds familiar?
3rd sailing was almost just as bad, bar a 4lb fish nipped out on the top of the tide. Henk and the boys listened and really did give it everything. A few bumps and bangs, but nothing committed. A real shame they did not get just reward. And as for the rest of the weekend, and even next week, its looking like wind says no. Some optimism for Monday, but thats about it...
