A quick one, as quite tired. BIF1 out for a service tomorrow though, so no need to be up with the seagulls. I hope the seagulls realise that and fail to awaken me. First sailing, Max, Richard and Chris. There was one other, but sadly, the M25 got him en route.
Fishing was ok although a case of snatching a fish here and a fish there. Tally was ten fish landed. Highlight I suspect was Chris, taking his personal best to a fish of sixty two centimetres . I'm sure he will better it before the year is out, but for someone that came to me just a couple of months ago, I am very pleased indeed with his progress. He was jiggy jiggy tug tugging like a pro this morning.
Second sailing, and Max remained, to be joined by Joe, returning, and Maurice and Ish, new to BIF1. I do like my guy's to come back, and with pretty much just the last of the ebb, I was a bit nervous. I played a hunch and visited a spot that Max had already seen earlier in the day, with no fish on it, which made him a little concerned. But the fish had not been there because we were too early. Now, the fish were there.
Another ten landed. Four killed for the table. Chunky mackerel for back up. However, the fishing is hard going at the moment. Echoed by my commercial and shore based friends alike. Are the "restrictions" seeing the stock recover? Is it as simple as that? Recruitment would seem to be very good, looking at all the fry in the marina. And yet... Maybe it is just the extreme heat, as the downturn did seem to coincide with it arriving. A brief encounter with a shoal of small pollack added variety.
Final sailing was terrible. A real lack of tide inshore, and although some good movement further off, fish simply were not playing. Mackerel were, and the feathers were deployed for good result, so culinary ambitions were met. But as for bass, just two small schoolies. Incredible. Poor Paul, Archie, Thomas and Jacob were without the thrill of a big bass attack.