Quick to the marks... More fishing time... Continuing the testing of stamina, I had arranged to meet Mitch at 05:00. Mitch is a very lovely guy who's enthusiasm for fishing is immense. And a lovely story as to how I got to fish with him... A few years ago, the parking charges in Brighton pretty much doubled. An incentive to reduce traffic in the city on paper. But of course, actually a revenue raising exercise. I got very vocal about it online, as suddenly a fair chunk of my operating costs had increased. A guy called Paul Woods responded. Turns out, he has business premises right on a prime stretch, and I could park there I couldnt believe my luck... "Whar can I do in return" I asked. "Take my lad fishing" he replied. No brainer then. That was three years ago. I still park there, and it is my great pleasure to take Mitch fishing. The plan was to once again get out for the main run of ebb tide to the outer reefs, to again look for the elusive bass. Again there was fog around, but already there was at least a mile of viz, and the fog was clearly being burnt away quickly. I was happy to head out, and suddenly excited as we would get the full bore of the early ebb. We got out, in about eight minutes on the glassy calm. But again it was hard work. Mitch was very good at absorbing what I was telling him, and after about thirty minutes I could see he was getting it spot on. And he was rewarded quickly. Not with bass, but with two nice sized wrasse (although perhaps an hours fishing for them - very hard going. We skipped around a few other reefs but it wasnt happening. We came back close for the last of the flood, but more importantly, to stop for a break, get some more water, a coffee to sharpen up, and a change in tide. Pretty... Last trickle of the ebb and we were back out again. Inshore. A few small schoolies, but not happening how I expected. Once more time to head out, and fellow pirate owner Iain was around, and also came out. The only significant difference on the flood, was cuttlefish. Plenty of them there. Happily, Mitch did nor want to keep one, so unhooking outside the boat was in order. Yuk... This whole thing, taking people out on a daily basis, is to spot the holes in the routines before we start selling the product. We want to sell a polished product. We must sell a polished product. We cannot do the impossible. When visibility is a problem, expect a postponement. But small tides, with reasonable viz, we need to find routines for, and match the customers to the results. All part of the fine tuning we feel we need to effect, to keep the smiles on faces. In fairness, Mitch had caught his personal best wrasse, twice over. And he was very happy. But I know I can do better. More practice required. And there was a smile as Mitch departed. And another pretend "turnaround" to practice. This time my very good friend Dave Lambert. Possibly the best angler I know. On a quiet day, these are very welcome... Always battling well above their weight Dave hadnt been out on BIF1 before, and I have been itching to show it to him. Shame on such poor tides for bass. I decided to do something I often do when struggling on the shore. Go somewhere completely different. I headed for some very shallow but very heavy broken ground towards Shoreham. Shallow because Dave had bought his fly rod to play with. First fly caught bass approaches BIF1 As expected, pretty slow. But Dave did get his bass on the fly. Which makes it the first caught bass on the fly on BIF1. I also fished the fly, and deliberately put myself at the stern, where most issues are likely to show themselves. I found one... And I have the huge bruise and bloody scab to prove it. Whilst giving it everything to impress the guru effortlessly casting a zinc shooting head over thirty yards, I managed to smash my arm into the backrest of the console seat, ... Happily, it is removable... Once removed, I confirmed that it is quite comfortable fishing two, although we will supply a stripping tray for the person fishing the stern, as there is less foot room compared to the bow position. A stripping bin will be forward, as with a tossing boat, without one too many casts will be lost by treading on the line. But as for snaggy bits, there really arent any in the forward position. A perfect fly fishing platform. Cant wait to get Dave back out again before I go to Russia (and at the same time, he will be going to Siberia chasing Taimen... he always has to go one better... or in this case, 800 miles further east....)

Something very calming about fishing in fog... Today, I was mostly testing endurance. My endurance. And handover periods, as we needed to get our heads around what a reasonable gap between sessions might be. I had two excellent anglers on board, and after the previous outing, I was very excited indeed at the prospects. Neil Perry, my drone man, who is returning the favour by getting involved in the promotional phase of the BIF project on my return from Russia, I have fished with many times. Clive Hodges, is the genius that solved my wrasse dilemma. Thanks to his frequent invites aboard his 19' Orkney Day angler out of Littlehampton, I bought the tactic back to our reefs, and suddenly was catching the wrasse that I knew had to be there, but had mostly eluded me on lures. Today I had an excellent plan. Early start, out with the first trickle of ebb, onto the outer reef whilst the tide was ripping across it, and bag quality bass after quality bass. For a shore guide, as I am in heart and soul, it hurts suggesting we leave fish of these caliber to go look for something bigger... It was a great plan. So great, that it was clear Neptune was going to do something about it. After all, we cant even take one for our tea at the moment. So, he thought about what options were available to him... "Hold back the worms from the bait beds... hide all the mackerel and pout"... ah... they dont use bait... So, instead, he dug into his spell bag, and cast "SEA FOG". Very effective, as I HATE sea fog. I watched the commercial boys slip their lines and head out, and I have to admit I was VERY tempted, as I really wanted that first rush of strong tide. But the fog was pretty heavy. Clear enough to creep out and fish close in, which of course is BIF1's specialty, although in a live "customer" situation, I would not even be allowed to do that. "Fair weather" is the only weather we can set out in. Our CAT 5 20 mile coding states "Area Category 5 – to sea, within 20 miles from a nominated departure point named in the certificate in favourable weather and daylight.", (winds to force 6... sod that...) . But this wasnt a live situation, the plan was perfectly safe with visibility at 200 meters, and we did it... The bug, is in the tug... The fishing was actually really quite good. Plenty of fish there, up to maybe the 4lb mark. Big smiles all around. An then, the sun finally broke through the fog. There was a bit of a battle for the next 20 minutes, but ultimately nothing can mess with a huge ball of ignited solar gases , and suddenly we had three miles viz. "This is great fishing, and we can sit on these fish for the next 2 hours" I explained.. "Or we can head to the reef where its likely we will find 5lb+ fish". "Reef please" came the reply. I am not suprised, as both have had plenty of big bass on lures. But in the "live" situation, I think perhaps I would not venture to move with less experienced rods on board. Especially as how the rest of the day turned out. Goldisny... A first for BIF1 We headed out at 25 knots. Less than ten minutes later, I was back down to stealth mode, and creeping into position. I knew we were on the ebb, and the wind was non-existent, so we would get a pretty straight drift. Well, as much as the currents on these reefs allows. Its quite frustrating sometimes. Just as you think you are on the perfect line to intercept a really sexy bit, "La Manche" burps and sends you fifty yards off it. Netpune up to his tricks once more. "Ok guys... the fish are often focused up this end" I explained. We all went in... Bouncing nicely along the top, wandering occasionally off the drop, and back on the top.. the perfect drift for prospecting. As we went off the drop, I cast one long, to bring it back all along the drop off. But it didnt get far when it was slammed. A very spirited 6lb fish regretting its sushi snack. Apologies for not displaying this one better. Best one of the day...... Released, we carried on. We couldnt have asked for a better start. We continued to run along the reef, but no more action or marks. So, we went for a second run. Right on target, marks showed. Bass chasing food up through the layers. But zero takes. Third run, no marks. Already the tide had dropped from 0.9 on the first drift, to 0.7 on the second, to 0.6 on the third. The tide had lost its bite. I hope to find where they go to when they leave at some point. All further R & D projects... Thank god for our emergency services... We continued to drift in hope. Odd nice wrasse kept us on our toes. Bangs and tugs from bream and pouting kept us focused. We went through a pouting tower on one occasion, and it did bring smiles to faces as 12oz pouting threw themselves willingly onto our shads. But something that was interesting, is that if you unhooked the pout with a flick, everyone will swim back down. I think a lot to do with the fact that, on the light gear, even a 12oz pouting needs to be played instead of just hauled to the surface as is the way on lead gear. So, in its battle, it is likely decompressing a lot more, and also the fairly shallow water means its chances of recovery on release are quite high. I have noticed before when I used to livebait from the shore, that a pout handled to unhook, would live a fraction of the time of one shaken off the hook into the bucket. The same would seem to apply at sea, and now our advice will be to shake pouting off the hook if possible on BIF1. Why? Pout are bass food, and we want our bass to grow BIG :) But in all seriousness, the sea gets enough abuse. If we can get fish to go back with a good chance of survival, we will do what is necessary. I also managed a new species for BIF1. A Goldsinny. And my first ever one on a lure. It was clear it wasnt happening. We popped in for elevensies. Its amazing how a coffee and a quick bite can revive the appetite to get back on the rods. By this time, the tide was almost bottomed out. We tried a few drifts inshore as we waited for the new flood, and found a few more bass. Next, we headed back out to the outer reef. It wasnt happening. The fish had gone. And were not coming back on the new flood. I guess as the tides drop smaller and smaller, there isnt enough flow to make whatever is special for those fish special at that location. More food for thought. I also needed to end the session at 4pm. As I wanted to time how a turnaround might work. I had arranged for my postman James to meet me at 5pm for a session into dark. So, we cruised in at 25 knots. Eight minutes later, I was saying goodbye. Whilst tidying up, I heard chatter about a medivac, and after I popped home to grab a rod and reel for James, slurped a cup of tea, and headed back, I saw the Coastguard chopper in the emergency landing spot at the bottom of my hill. Its nice to know such people are looking out for us, and are clearly extremely efficient in what they do. I just hope the casualty is in a good way. I would say an hour is about right for a turnaround, especially if I dont pop home. So, now we begin scheduling better, important as the order book steadily fills. Simply wow... The session with James was dire. Very few small bass around inshore. Some wrasse offshore which was something at least. And one inshore, as happened earlier with Clive getting one. This is really good news as in the last three years with Scooby I had only ever caught one on that spot. Seems like some kind of recovery. Tough fishing though. . However, he did get to witness an amazing sunset on a mirror sea. Its an incredibly spiritual thing. And he was very happy for his speed boat ride. And I was left scratching my head about what to do with neap tides...

Approaching "Proteus" Today was supposed to be a write off. As I finally got to sleep last night, it was to the sounds of a storm, and at some point in the night I woke to hear a howling wind on the house. So, when I got out of my bed at 08:00 (actually to go fish on my mate Steve Green's Cat "Proteus") I had my tea and was inspecting my email when something occurred to me. The trees were not even thinking about moving... I hastily swallowed my tea, texted capt Bruce, and rang Steve with my apologies. Every day that BIF1 can be out, she must be out. We are learning so much, and so fast, and our results with the May rot mostly out of the way are rather proving that. And today I wanted to check out my "L" or "H" shaped reef a little more, even if there was only an hours window before the wind came in again. First fish of the day... Very hungry... Sadly, Capt Bruce was preparing for a family trip to Ireland (where he will be continuing R & D in similar depths from the shore) and unable to attend. I thought about who to drag along, but decided that, with the wind due at any time, it probably wasnt worth it. I even skipped Mcdonalds, instead grabbing a couple of sandwiches, and far more importantly some superglue, before boarding BIF1. I must admit as well, every time I single hand on BIF1 my confidence grows. Which is very important as post Russia I will be absolutely responsible for peoples lives on board. On leaving the marina, with the early flood, I decided to just make sure my inshore bass were there. And they were, plenty showing on the sounder. But once more, I could not get them to take anything. I am thinking two things. Either the constant boat traffic on a perfect weather bank holiday weekend was unsettling them, or they are feeding obsessively on something and refuse to look at anything else. Unlikely actually, as bass are such adaptable creatures. Part of the reason I admire them so much. But they do react to boat noise. I have seen it often. I decided to push offshore (...) and begin mapping out my new discovery. More bronzy... First drop down, on the ledge, and a fish of about 2lb. It was to be the smallest fish of the day, bar a solitary pouting. And very encouraging. With zero wind, it was very straight forward to plot a drift. Indeed, with the new flood, I could run all the ledge AND push across the north to south reef. I was quite excited as I reached it. Would they be there.. would it still be there or was it simply a plug of seaweed built up... It was still there... but the fish were not. I was suddenly sad... They love their food... I lined up the same drift, but one of the things that I suspected,, and was proven in the absolute windless conditions. As the tide hits these ledges, the water is sent all over the place. I caught a slightly different current, and mostly ran along the shallow side. If I was only able to fish under the boat, this would be a problem. But the beauty of shore luring afloat, is BIF1 can be up to sixty yards from where we suspect the fish are. Our standard approach, especially in shallower water, IS to stay at least 30 yards off. Boat shadow can make them twitchy, and onboard noise can make them scatter. Please remember that if you find yourself out with us. We would much prefer you to be wearing trainers, than stilleto's,,, Pretty... Pretty much bang on target, another fish, maybe four pounds. And on the same drift, a very pretty wrasse. The casting wasnt quire going to plan. With a very big tidal coefficient, I should really have swapped over to a heavier shad. But with my confidence in the HTO Mighty Minnow sky high at the moment, I adjusted, and by slipping a little line sometimes as the lure dropped, to reduce the tension and by default lessen the parachute effect, I was still able to get it down. Best fish of the day Next drift, and what was to be the best fish of the day. I didnt bother weighing it, but it was somewhere over 6lb.. I checked my North-South spot again. Still nothing. The next three drifts, another three fish, all in the 3-4lb range. And then, I lost the pace in the tide. It was suddenly much quieter. But not without takes. I knew exactly what they were, as they left their tell tale calling card. My shads were coming up without tails.Black bream. I was suddenly very happy for the spare bodies that come with it. Especially as I had remembered to bring along some Superglue. I also had an incredible thirst as despite having bought along a large bottle of lucozade, the intensely humid conditions left me parched. I could see Steve and "Proteus" out the back breaming so made the decision to hang out over there, having quickly called him to see if he had spare water...(cheers Steve.. it was either come beg or go in... and I was having fun...) until I got a bit of ebb going again. The fishing there was mad. Every drop the sharp taps of bream. Perhaps ten spare bodies forced into duty. Just one wrasse landed, but one fish that the hook pulled from as I tried to stop it diving. I suspect a nice reef pollack. Bass poo... They seem to be loving the squat lobsters... Then the GPS showed the speed of drift increasing, and to the west. Time to get back on it. Another plus of BIF1. We can skip around marks very quickly. Part of the reason we feel we can offer quality fishing with some degree of consistency. The fish have to be somewhere. If we dont find them initially we will find them on another mark. With travelling time at an absolute minimum, it leaves plenty of time for fishing. As I thought about where to start my drift, I decided to get the North South out of the way. Without expectation, I set up to cross it, and brush the ledge further down. I began the drift, casting a good sixty yards up the tide, to get two stabs at the sweet spot. Keeping the lure attractive as it came down the tide, it got hit savagely, really catching me quite by suprise. Not a huge fish either, at around 3lb. But every fish scraps so hard on this mark, desperate to get back to their rocky refuge. I unhooked, returned, dropped down almost in one flowing motion, as I could see the sweet spot coming quickly upon us. I tapped bottom, lifted, and got slammed. By a wrasse... Not a bad one, but I felt robbed of an opportunity. Warrior Wrasse... I set up for another drift. Nothing casting ahead this time, but slammed by a 4lb fish as I passed over it. Nothing on the ledge this time. I ran back up the tide to set another drift, when I noticed something not quite right... the horizon had vanished... As I carefully studied ahead, I noticed a fog bank rushing in from the Newhaven direction. Having experienced sea fogs many times, and although I both know my bearings back to the marina and have GPS, I decided I wasnt comfortable. I also wanted to check out the inshore bits again. So I headed back to the marina. A fish first cast on the first one, so I left that spot to check on another. One drift, and the fog really caught up. With much colder air in attendance. Time to return to dock. Total for the session was 12 feisty bass,to approx 6lb, and those lovely wrasse. Had I bought bream lures on board, I am sure it could be have been a much bigger fish count. But, I think if we can deliver that kind of fishing to a customer, he will be a very happy customer.

The affordable lure/bait hybrid that smells like the bottom of a hamster cage and, as it turns out, makes Bream go banzai. Rob and I made the decision to make BIF 1 a ‘no bait boat’, largely through pig headed determination to try and do things a it differently and enjoy our inshore fishing to the max on light gear, with those instant hits of adrenalin lure fishing provides. Doesn’t always make life easy though. Take bream for example, we've all had the odd one on shrimp feathers, and I’ve had a couple of fluke catches on metal jigs, but catching them consistently on lures has never happened for us… till now. ISOMES - Great for plaice... less interesting for bream.. We’ve been catching all sorts of fish on Isomes, especially plaice for a couple of years now. Isomes being a hybrid of bait and lure (Japanese starch based bio degradable worm imitation that smells of blueberry), it could be argued that this is just glorified bait fishing, but best results do require movement, and if you lob Isomes out on a flapper from the beach you don’t get much action. They do need to be worked like a lure…. But hey, I’m not a purist, it’s just more fun fishing with Isomes than rag worms for me anyway. But Bream strangely don’t seem overly impressed by them. I’ve tried several times in almost ravening hoards of bream on Kingmere, but never even got a bite. When I was recently at the HTO HQ in Littlehampton I asked George Cunningham how he’d fared fishing using bait from his line of ‘stink pots’. George said he’d caught all sorts using them for LRF. I peered at the one-inch paddle tails in a handy plastic pot. There certainly were a lot of baits in there. I took a sniff… phew! Smelt bloody awful. As I am really into the idea of running some of the first boat LRF charter trips on BIF 1, I bought a couple of pots to try them out, put them in the tackle box and promptly forgot all about them. A happy accident... which got us thinking... Last week I had a couple of hard days on BIF 1, perfect drifts over perfect reef, on perfect tides. No bass. I could see bunches of fish on the sounder, Rob kept getting the tails on his shads bitten off by something, and unaccountable bangs which didn’t connect until he the rod finally hoped over. Was it mackerel, scad, wrasee, an early pollock? We whooped with joy when we saw it was a medium sized bream that had taken the shad fair and square in the gob. Ignored the ISOME - went for the paddle tail stink pot EVERY TIME Down went 3 stink -pot grubs on a micro rig on my rod to see what they made of that. Whallop- bream straight away. Rob tried some tiny white shads. Nothing. Rob tried isomes again- nothing. Down went the stick pot grubs. Fish straight away. ‘You’re bait fishing ‘ said Rob accusingly. No I’m not I said. I’m lure fishing I’m practically drop shotting, the hamster cage aroma has nothing to do with it. Rob said nothing which kind of made a point that hung in the air like the smell of the stink pot. But I didn’t care I was having fun. A few days later I took my mate Jonny Booth out. He’s a complete novice and I just needed him to catch a few fish so I attached him to three sabrikis baited with the green stick pot grubs. Jonny caught Pollock, several bream, gurnard, pouts, mackerel and a nice schoolie bass. This of course went to his head immediately - but he's actually got the least natural ability of any angler Ive ever met by quite a margin. This makes for easy and varied fishing Tim's first ever bream... he won the smile of the day award. He was so chuffed... Since then the stick pots have given another angler, Tim, his first ever bream, and provided reliable bites on slow days, and Ive had the small hooks bent and broken with bigger fish. I’ve developed another more 'sporting' dropshot rig which is more in the spirit of LRF fishing, and on slack water I can get down 20 foot or so to drop shot with 10 grams weight. I’ll keep a record of catches and keep you posted on results. "Stink Pots". Suitable for both sexes....

Two painted males... I left my shore based client at 05:30, after a less than satisfying overnight session, and headed down to the marina to meet Bruce. BIF1 was all ready to go, with fuel in her tanks. But where to go was the issue... We exited the marina on the last trickle of ebb, and decided to poke around the inshore reefs until the sea got a bit of a push on... Pretty slow as is to be expected, although one great thing was that Bruce caught a wrasse there. Thats two in a week now, at a spot where I have caught just one in three years, despite lots of fishing. Capt Bruce fine tuning the drift. Precision is everything.... With a bit more pace to the tide we headed offshore. Our mission today was twofold. Keep finding little niches where fishes like to hide, and enjoy the boat and each other. Strangely I think I might have gotten more time fishing with Bruce before the boat project came along. And with both he and I busy with other business also, progress has been made more via text and email than the cozy pub meetings I was rather hoping for. Poor little warrior... but certainly feisty... The latter is never a problem. When I first met Bruce, I think around 2005 or 2006, we developed a rapport instantly. To this day I am not sure why. Bruce is kind, and patient. I can be quite cold, and very direct to the point. Bruce has had the midas touch with everything he enthuses about. My touch tends to turn things to stone... But one thing I know, is that when I am going fishing with Bruce, it puts a spring in my step. Which has been a very good thing today. As we headed out, it occurred to me I had been 24 hours without sleep... so far... I dont understand why my friend J didnt recognise me... The former, is very much like shore fishing. When you are restricted to a 150 yard strip of often barren water for your fishing kicks, you very quickly learn how to tell the more fishy bits from the far less attractive, or possibly repugnant to fishes, bits. Without perhaps even realising it, the last three years I have effectively been shore luring afloat. And it is no bad thing. A kind of "through fresh eyes" approach when mapping out decades fished out (according to some) marks is finding us real quality fishing, especially with the standard boat set ups of 7-28gm rods making the whole experience a totally sporting one. I have had my friends squealing like pigs with excitement, as a largish bass tried and failed to eat a Heddon one knocker time and time again on Scooby a couple of years ago. Just one example that springs to mind. And I think today, neptune smiled upon us... Sleek... Apprentice bruiser... It seems to always happen like this. A drift affected by wind pushed us off our usual mark. I had snapped up and was re-tackling with half an eye on the sounder when I noticed an unexpected rocky outcrop, well off the reef we were fishing. I put a flag on it. Once I had sorted out my tackle, Capt Bruce took us round to go back on the reef. As we passed fifty yards from the first mark, another unexpected outcrop. With fish marks. I could see what it was straight away. Many of the fissures inshore, run North to south. But most of the ledges and fissures that make up what I tongue in cheek call the offshore reefs run East to West. We have just found a sub ledge that runs North to south, a kind of L shape at the end of the drift Actually in an area where I had previously caught bass without explanation or reason. We agreed to check it out with a drift. And my rod was the first one over, a bar of silver responsible. Bruce retrieved unscathed, but had the sense to cast behind the drift, as we had already shot through the outcrop. Bang. Bruce had his bar of silver. Locked up and regretting its HTO Mighty Minnow lunch... But we had other areas to try as well while we had the precious tidal flow. A jaunt inshore, to visit a very heavy piece of ground that my friend Steve Smith had initially showed me a few days prior, grabbed Bruces imagination as much as it did mine that first time. A fishy mecca, and Bruce confirmed it with a smallish warrior of a bass, that had signs of having been in a net at some point. Wrasse loving them as well... Wrasse were particularly keen today. I think in part as we are experiencing rapidly warming seas now. Although the Greenwich bouy is recording 12 degrees, our sounder is saying consistently 15.5 plus inside 3 miles. Although as we have discovered to our great delight, the wrasse, especially the bigger ones, feed all through the winter, what we have now is late Spring, and a time of wrasse coupling. The increase in violent takes makes me suspect, as with lure caught bream which have to date been exclusively male, that the lures are being taken as a territorial response, rather than coz the wrasse fancy a sushi supper... The bream are now a complete pain, Very expensive paddle tail shads are coming back as sticks... Rough out there... Bruce had family commitments and we returned to the marina for him to hop off. I thought about finding a boat buddy, but on such a stunning afternoon, I imagined everybody would already be doing something. So I headed out single handed. East side, not a lot happening at all. Still some rot in the water along there. West side, heaving with personal watercraft. Perfect boating weather on a bank holiday Sunday. I did manage to hook two bass, before a kayak and a rib moved right over the fish. With a blast of exhaust bubbles to show my disgust, I headed back to check out that L shape. (I found out later it was a very good friend who had come over to say hello. But I was not wearing one of my conventional hats, and currently have the colour of a non-british national, coz thats what being in the sun all the time does for you. Last time I saw J, it was on the shingle of Dungeness in the depths of winter... he didn't recognise me so he didnt say anything. And was totally unaware he had parked on my shoal of spikey's.. :) ) I missed it on the first drift. Another thing I am learning is that where you have a ridge, you also can experience a variation in both current and direction. This is significant for two reasons. One, it makes setting up the drift I am always praying for very unlikely without a miracle steady NE breeze. And it also must have an affect on how the fish are laying on the reefs. That one is a work in progress. Thanks to quite a few hours on BIF's helm now, it did not matter that I missed it, as we can correct a missed drift by as much as 60 or 80 yards instantly. With a cast. That's shore luring afloat for you... And even before it landed, I was attached to 3lb of silver. Followed by a second on the very next, slightly adjusted cast. Next cast a 2.5lb wrasse did a great impression of a bass... I really wanted to keep going. The wind swung to the East, and it reminded me that this wind was due to freshen. I also reminded myself that is was over 36 hours since my eyes were last closed. A whole load of fishing is how I work out my frustrations. After a day out with Bruce, and single handing myself onto some hard scraping spikeys, I no longer have a care in the world... And now, after some sleep, I will be letting someone else take the strain. Tomorrow I will be enjoying a day aboard Steve Greens super cat PROTEUS (Brigand Charters). I've wagered Steve will be a nanofil convert by the end of the day. Todays lure of choice... Once again... HTO Mighty Minnow....

Capt Bruce gets today's "Smile of the day" award... Capt Bruce and I arranged to meet at the boat late morning. Not to take her out, but to address a few things we had so far failed to address in our eagerness to be on fish. Some more fenders to be purchased from the chandlers. A full tank of fuel. Most importantly, sort out the tackle and get it into airtight and watertight boxes. Why not out? The forecast was for a stiff SE wind all day, and SE is about our worst wind for getting out on. Except... as we drove down, we thought the sea was very flat for a big SE wind. And that was the case, because the wind was ESE... How does this make a difference? Seaford head. and the cliffs all the way back to Brighton do not face South, but more SW. If the wind has enough east in it, there is an element of shelter from the bigger swells. And that was what we found ourselves looking at. Bumpy for sure, especially around the mouth of the marina. But once through that, perfectly safely fishable for BIF1. We of course headed out. Tide was just beginning to ebb, and we fished for about an hour. However, we really needed to go out onto the offshore reefs, as the Easterly had bought the remaining May rot back hard against the east arm of the marina. With the ebb, this stream of gunge was an issue. It is so nearly almost gone it hurts. But those days it re-appears, are rarely good fishing days. And so it was to be, with just a single gurnard for Bruce. Time to return in, and get all our original targets achieved, which we did without incident. I said goodbye to Bruce and headed home. When it occurred to me I had nothing to do at home. I determined to head down to the marina and bag one off the wall. With the time now at early flood, I set off. Driving down though, the sea looked even calmer. The breeze was now completely Easterly and dropping. I rang my friend Luke who lives in the Marina. "What you up to?" "nothing..." came the reply. Fifteen minutes later Luke and I were aboard BIF and heading out for the last hour and a half of daylight. Luke made a big attempt for the title with this smile... There was still a lot of may rot around, and not so much bait in the places I would have expected. I spotted some marks on the sounder that screamed Bream. Luke was game to fish a bream rig. Snag is, those marks were not Bream, but Pollock... Nope... more of a grimace... The light dropped and I was thinking there was not much point in being out, when my rod was almost dragged out of my hand. A very spirited fight from a 2.5lb fish. Next drift, a repeat, but from a 3lb fish. Next drift, the wind built, the darkness was worrying me, and we headed in. I said goodbye to Luke and headed to my car. But I still wanted one from the shore. It was now pitch black as I found myself wandering the marina arm with a rod and a drop net. The tide was absolutely perfect with pace just beginning to back down. First cast, and the HTO Mighty Minnow was rammed on a slow retrieve. A nice fish of about 3lb. Another ten casts, and a chat with the main marina man David Grinham later, and it occurred to me how tired I was... Time for bed. Well, a blog update, then bed. Although,.. the tide is right for a spot on the river in an hour. And I do not know what to do with tomorrows shore clients... James, if you are reading... dont get up too early.. you might have to have a long night... and I have to have two to confirm they are there. So, actually, blog update, three more hours of fishing, then bed... Not even trying to smile.. and I can see, I actually do need a new hat... Loser!!! FOOTNOTE - HTO Mighty minnows are a very basic, very simplistic, very cheap and very devastating shad. At £3.99 for one complete, and two spare bodies, and with over sixty bass in three days on them, I can happily say they get the fishyrob seal of approval. But do not overwork them. They are not a SG sandeel. Subtle bounces and straight retrieves work very well. You will know if you are putting too much action into them as you will retrieve your lure with the hook through the paddle tail... See the Magic Minnpw peeking from the fishes mouth? They hit them hard...

Smiles... Guaranteed... Another early start to make the most of the flooding tide. Anybody used to regular charter fishing who books BIF1 is in for a bit of a shock. We time our trips around tides, and fish. We don't do nine till five. And we reserve the right to change the start times according to the previous days trip. Our aim is simply to put you out there at the very best times for catching, according to your criteria (i.e which species you wish to target). And to give you the most fun you can have with a rod. Which is, shallow water light line lure and fly fishing... With this in mind, I had decided the best chance of fish were when the tide had the most pace. Which is why I was removing John from his comfortable abode at 05:45 this morning... I had two other things to investigate. HTO Mighty minnows which I had recently heavily invested in. And finding the better fish when the small ones are creating havoc. I have been doing much thinking about this situation, and had a solution I wanted to try. First fish of the day.. He certainly wasnt complaining when less than 2 minutes after we slipped the floating dock, his rod slammed round to the first fish of the day. A schoolie, but the first fish is always a big relief. Another plus of BIF1. The combination of fast boat and excellent marks within close proximity,might be the ideal solution if your regular charter trips phase you with the often lengthy travel time. Proper one on for John We had half an hour of fun, with fish up to about 1.5lb, before I called it. We could have followed that shoal all day, and ended up with a fish count into three figures. Not the reason we came though. So, a little reluctantly as it is very hard for a guide to leave feeding fish, I put phase 1 of my solution into practice. This particular reef, I think of as three reefs. Although it is all hard rock, there are three areas where the rock is much more lumpy. Much more obstruction in the flow. Much more where bass like to take advantage of the break from the flow, whilst able to put that big tail into action the moment breakfast is swept overhead. My theory was simple. I have learned over the years, that large shoals of small bass positively force better bass to other areas. Too much competition for food is possibly the reason, although to find out for sure, you would need to ask a bass. I simply moved to another lumpy area. And first cast, again Johns rod arched over. The bending rod revealed a super fighting fit fishy... The first of a dozen fish in the 3 -3.5lb range. And in 20 feet of water, with a 28gm lure on (thats 1oz if you were still thinking of getting into the metric system... do we still have to do that now?? ) they go like crazy. The rod and reel balanced to the fishing enhances the affect. Truly excellent. We were giggling like children. And then... I called it... because I wanted to test phase 2 of my plan. Get out to one of the offshore rocks while the tide was still racing in. The plan had failed. We spent too long on the inshore, and the tide was down to a dribble. A dribble that did bump our fish count up to 33. With John one fish in front of me. And a dribble that did give us the best fish of the day, at a little under 5lb which headlines this catch report. Happy for that action, I wanted to try a spot much further east when the ebb was running a bit. We headed over there, and I was delighted to find many times the screen filled with bass marks. But could we touch them? No. Well... yes, John managed one, to bring the final tally to 34, and John winning the morning two fish ahead of me. But whatever those bass were obsessing about, they mostly refused the minnows. On the way back in John said to me "Thats the best days bass fishing I have had in 18 years of fishing for them". We think that is going to be a fairly standard six hour session... UPDATE: It has been great fun practicing "Skipper". But with the massively increased running costs of BIF compared to SCOOBY, it is time to take advantage of the legal situation regarding accepting payment in return for boat time. We are very close to being fully qualified and legal, and able to charge our business rates. Capt Bruce is complete, and awaiting his endorsed certificate to be returned. I have just the sit down radio exam to complete (3rd June) and then I will also be in this situation. In the meantime, not charging has meant a much bigger hole in my Russian trip fund than I expected. Future "guests" can legally pay £40 towards the days running costs. For this, you might, as Steve Roberts did yesterday, get as much as 15 hours boat time. The cost for that once we are up and running would be £300. If I know you, and we consider each other friends, and you are prepared to tolerate my sometimes strange requests to simulate potential situations, please do drop me a line, as I have many other solutions I wish to test.

Smiles... Guaranteed... As promised, the musings now BIF1 is "online" will become much more catch reports. And today's one, will be a very quick one, coz after 15 hours on the boat I am shot... Today's plan was to get as many people on the boat as possible. Daft? not so... It is very much the case that whole boat charters with four clients plus the skipper of the day are popular. So much so, that we have zero availability until the middle of September, factoring in that everything falls on Capt Bruce whilst I am away in Russia, where I have a three month appointment as head guide for the Belousiha River Lodge. And so, we needed to see how it works. This morning began with a meeting in Mcdonalds, with regular client Steve Robers, and Saltwater Boat Fishing Monthly editor (among many other roles... Tim takes fishing very seriously...) Tim Mcpherson. Tim had already been out on BIF1 on a very may rotten day to film some sequences for a project he is working on. But today he had come back to fish, and I was very excited for them both, as with excellent viz and perfect tide state for one particular inshore mark, I simply knew we would be into fish from the off. I predicted a 5lb fish within the first hour, which was way off the mark. But we were into fish straight away, if only small. Steve Roberts was particularly relieved for his first schoolie, as it was his first of this year. Steve Roberts with his first bass of 2017 It became apparent there were a lot of small fish. A good thing as they have been very much missing. But after five fish to the boat and no signs of anything bigger, I made the decision to leave the feeding fish, and go chase something bigger. We chugged out to the outer reefs. If 25 kts is chugging... That man Steve Roberts adding to the BIF1 species list The first mark was slow. Bruce had left a rig baited with HTO stink pots on board, and I asked Steve if he had caught black bream before. When he replied to the negative I passed him the rig. "Try that" and instructed him how to fish it. First drop down, and his rod was arched. Not a bream, but the first Horse mackerel aboard BIF. And another important food source for the bass. A couple of drops later he got his bream. And then we lost the rig... That man again, with a typical outer reef wrasse We took a few drifts on the mark, but with little showing on the sounder, and nothing coming to the rods other than a couple of wrasse, it was time to bounce to another patch of reef. This is the beauty of a boat such as BIF1. Its very similar to how I shore guide. You make a decision. If everything comes together, then great. If not, you attempt to assimilate whatever clues you have, and try another spot. The big difference from the boat, is the sounder tells me if I have got it right quicker than I can tell from the shore. We moved further west. The pair trawlers came to say hello. Pair trawlers dragging chains on the softer side of Looe Gate When they hauled their nets later in the day, the noise from the seagulls was quite deafening. At least something is happy with this ultra destructive method of extracting black bream. A short move added pollock and pouting to the species count for the day. Then it was time for a crew swap. Off went Tim, on came my old mucker Steve Smith. A quick re-fuel (BIF1 is about a zillion times more expensive on fuel than Scooby. And far less manouverable. But also far faster,happier in a sea, and the best laid out angling boat for fly and lure fishing that I have ever come across...) and we were back out. I fancied with the ebb tide a look at an inshore reef to the east. Still issues with sediment here, although more dredger related than may rot I think. Just one take, but at a little over 3lb it raised spirits rather. Steve Smith with his first fish of the day,.. nice way to start... We tried a little longer, but with not much happening, after another port call to add Luke Fenelon to the crew (now all four fishing. More room than on most charter boats I have fished on...) we headed offshore once more. We went as far west as I have been, to find plenty of fish marks but very little prepared to attack. The tide had dropped to hardly anything. Steve mentioned he knew of some very heavy ground in shallow water. We went to have a look. Amazing. And stacks of fish marks, although most likely pouting. And with bright sun, clear seas, and less than 7 feet of water at times over the top, not much happening. A place to investigate another tide for sure though. The flood had begun while we were messing about. I knew I wanted to go back to the inshore reefs when the pace got going. But with only a light flow, we went back to the offshore reef that had showed zero signs of fish on our first visit. The difference was amazing. The place was lit up with baitfish. And we began to find quality bass, one or two per drift. Not just bass... However, I really really wanted to check out an inshore reef whilst the tide was ripping. So, we flew back in to test the theory. The theory was good, and one or two fish a drift was happening. Not just bass either. I was very happy to land a good sized, proper old warrior looking wrasse. Only the second time I have done that here. The fishing continued until a large (40') gin palace came into the marina entrance at perhaps 20 kts. That rattled the fish, and they moved. The sun was setting. It was time to come back in. Inshore Wrasse...

So, finally, after some last minute delays due to coding issues (the biggest one being the inspector off sick...) and some miscommunication about the sign writing, BIF1 was lowered into Brighton marina on the morning of Tuesday 9th May. Sadly, Capt Bruce was otherwise engaged, enjoying his Marine First Aid training, and subsequent certificate. Which meant I had to helm her single handed for the first time. The shaking in the video below perhaps sums up just how nervous I was... BIF1 gently lowered into Brighton Marina... It didnt seem right to take BIF1 out without Bruce on board, so I fueled her up, and tied alongside Scooby to transfer a few personal effects. Then, I put her on her new mooring, right under the marina office. That evening, Bruce popped by on his way home from the exam. We went down, and of course could not resist having a quick thirty minutes on the rod. On the very first cast, and very inshore, my rod slammed round with a small schoolie attached. That is was not a big fish did not matter. The fact that a bass had been caught on the very first ever cast from BIF1, seemed to be a great omen. The only fish of the very short session, although Bruce did have a better fish chase his lure to the surface. Assembling the TetraDock... The next day Bruce and I went down to meet the very nice man from www.tetradock.com. We had put much thought into which way to go with avoiding organic build up on BIF1's hull. The options were three fold. 1 - An annual haul, blast and scrape, involving painting chemicals onto BIF1's hull. Not always completely effective. And I had recently been experiencing the power loss and increased fuel consumption on Scooby, that occurs when a lot of nasty stuff grows. 2 - Have a very expensive copper based antifoul put on the hull. The manufacturers claim ten years protection. However, people we spoke to said this is not always the case. 3 - Have a floating dock, and power BIF1 out of the water onto it each trip. This was the most attractive option straight away, but after investigating, price once more came into play. It was looking very likely option 1 was the way forward. Powering BIF1 up and onto the pontoon And then, a friend, Matt Bedding, mentioned he was purchasing a dock from tetradock.com. Bruce chased down the firm, and found the price was way less than half the nearest rival. Further investigation showed the docks had a good reputation. Bruce put in the order, and here we were a couple of weeks later lamely attempting to assist the very nice man... It was assembled in less than two hours, launched and tied into place. A couple of additional fenders were hastily purchased, to keep the pontoon away from the finger, and then, Bruce and I were into practicing launch and return. Its actually not nearly as difficult as it looks. You bring the nose up to the center of the pontoon, and use the engine at low revs to straighten up. Just as you are central, you straighten the engine up very quickly and push the power on hard. And she goes up. You can adjust her angle using the engine all the way up. Coming off is very easy. You simply put the power on full astern, and as soon as she starts moving, come off the power. She drops nicely off the pontoon. Much more practice requited, but we will be mooring like dons by the time of the first paying customers. Holly with a giggle inducing gurnard... Next on the agenda was to get Bruce with more experience of running around after people. Bruce appreciates that there is a big difference with going fishing on a boat, and taking people fishing on the boat. With this in mind, he invited a couple of his friends as guinea pigs. Neither have much fishing experience, which meant Bruce would need to do everything for them.Not just tackle, but also in making decisions as to when to move, when to start a new drift. The whole shebang. And he came up absolute trumps. Our happy guests, Holly and Andy, caught Plaice, Gurnard and bass, as well as squid which they had declared were their number one aim. I also played, and found all of the above, plus a nice wrasse who's beauty impressed Texan Holly very much. So pretty and so strong... the wrasse obviously... It was time for Holly and Andy to go ashore, and Bruce chose to join them for a cup of tea and an hour of stability. I elected to return out to sea, to continue familiarizing myself with BIF1. I was quite nervous. I had become so confident with Scooby and her peculiarities and now I have to learn BIF1's from scratch. I went to a spot eastwards for a few drifts, and quickly managed five schoolies to sg sandeels. Then I spotted the famliar outline of "Proteus" my mate Steve Green's catamaran about a mile further out to sea. I gave him a ring to see if anything was happening out there. He mentioned he had his camera on board... a mutually beneficial photo session was planned. He took some great shots of me and BIF1, and then I went alongside and retrieved the camera, and returned the favour. After all of this, Bruce rang to say his car keys were still aboard. I went and met him, and we went out for another hours familiarization. Pretty much the schedule until the 1st June, when we will officially open for business... BIF1 leaving a swell at a little over 30 knots....

Gurnard in kind conditions in early April Excitement and anticipation. Two of our most amazing emotions as human beings I think. Two gifts of creation, that in childhood enter every day of our lives. But, as we get older, less so it seems. It takes something a little special to get the flutters back in the stomach. Such a shame. Why shouldn’t we wake up with the buzz that used to come from say, going out on a boat in the morning. What is it that takes this away from us? The pressures of living in modern society I should imagine. Stresses weighing on the shoulders. The requirement to work, work, work, every day. Bills… life... living up to expectations… Why didn’t we know about this when we were young? In fairness, my father used to tell me very often indeed. “Enjoy it while your young”. It’s just I never worked out what “it” was until I made It past thirty years… Bass arrived much earlier than expected this far east... I think it is fair to say however, that for Bruce and I recent events have most definitely rekindled both emotions. Ever since we clapped eyes on BIF1 in Wales, already a month ago, we have looked forward to getting to know her. But she must come as a coded vessel, otherwise she is useless to us. We originally planned to not have an “A” frame, to maximise rod stroke space for fly anglers. Unfortunately, due to needing to have a radar reflector to meet coding requirements, we had to have one. This had to be made, and as such delayed the delivery, from last Monday, to next Tuesday. Capt Bruce showing he can fish as well as helm. So how do we spend this time. Kicking our heels? Absolutely not. Every day we can get afloat on “Scooby” is yet more time practicing what we want to offer our customers. March was a write off. To be expected really. April was kinder, enabling us to get out half a dozen times or more.. Squid were very prevalent, as were the plaice to Isomes. We had one good hit of bass, with 25 fish inshore, and most trips we found some bass, five or six per trip perhaps, but some good ones, as you can see from the picture below. 8lb plus of early season silver... And then, towards the end of April, the may rot came, and fishing has pretty much shut down for floating operations. As I write this, you need to be past six miles to find anything clear enough to consider fishable on artificials. Likely to be around for another few weeks as well, although we will still be taking BIF1 afloat when she arrives, to fill up her GPS with all our favourite spots. And some days, wind direction will allow a break in the slime I am sure. Time will tell. And it is not that all fishing has stopped. I am quite busy with clients, with the same dilemma. And my location gives me great access to four very good tidal rivers, which do offer chances of avoiding the algae, and also offer some very good bass indeed. Such as this one my client Michael Wood caught today, weighing in at 7lb 4oz. Michael with his excellent early season river fish. All being well, the next blog update will be to announce the arrival of BIF1, at the same time as Bruce and I conclude our training, and send off our certificates for the all important commercial endorsement. This plan, seems to be coming together. And with it, hopefully, we can return to you also, the feelings of excitement and anticipation. Hopefully, these will return the night before you are booked to come out fishing on BIF1…

My son Leo working the push net LRF (Light Rock Fishing) ... Light Rock Fishing (LRF) is a style of fishing in which anglers use very small hooks and lures to catch mini species which are found around the British Isles (although other larger species may be caught as well). I’ve just returned from a trip to see my folks in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. I squeeze in a bit of fishing and his trip was no exception to that rule, but I now approach every trip as inopportunity to learn something that might be applied afloat when we finally get B.I.F 1 in the water. In this case it was to be lure fishing for flatfish, using isomes, gulp bait and miffle worms. I’ve always found the single -minded pursuit of big fish a bit joyless and I don’t like the notion of ‘competition’ in fishing- there’s enough of that in real life thanks. My favourite days are those where there is some variety, experimentation and silliness. Best yet is when a hair brained scheme turns out to actually be a winner. So in Scarborough I had one day fishing off the rocks (north east rotton-bottom style) with peelers and cart (edible crab meat) finding a pleasing amount of undersized codling in the kelp. Assured that the next couple of seasons look promising I decided to spend the next day experimenting with LRF in the more barren shallower waters round the piers and south bay. Typical push net catch I always carry a large prawn push net when on holiday. It keeps the nipper amused for hours, and me too… I can never just sit about. The interesting thing about this is how localised the pockets of flat fish are that show in the net. It’s the same at Pevensey bay, you might find 6 sole in one 100 yard push and nothing at all on similar patches of sand nearby. In Scarborough there were a stack of small dabs up to 8 inches or so, around the fish pier in 4 foot of water presumably feeding on scraps from the commercial fish landings. ‘Ah ha’ I thought, ‘perfect subjects fro an lrf experiment’. So on the next flooding tide I was back on the fish pier flicking out a jinko rig (I’d just read about this in sea angler- an ingenious rig designed to keep the lure hard on the bottom). I’d scaled down to a single sibiki and a tiny bright orange isome on the hook, the ‘lead’ was a 5gram shiny chrome drop shot weight and some varivas PE micro braid which made the whole thing feel balanced. I’d love to say I caught a few but I didn’t. Nothing. Frustrating as I knew I must be bouncing the lure right over their noses. I’d caught plenty of dabs on isomes in Iceland too. I went round the corner and tried the same tactic in the harbour. My boy had had nothing on baits the day before, not a nibble, but quickly I picked up a few tiny coal fish. I felt like I’d landed a double figure cod. Silly I know, but it quickly became very addictive, feeling out bottom with help of the uber responsive braid and looking for structure and tiny fish holding features. I moved to the end of the pier where I knew there was a sandback holding plenty of dabs and allowed the tide to move a 10 gram drop shot weight over the sand in a searching motion. I tried a selection of isomes before finally getting a bite on a berkely gulp lugworm. The culprit was a micro dab, but again it was like I’d won the lottery. Or at least a tenner on a scratch card. Movement as the key- although the isome and gulp baits are supposed to be fully edible, fish don’t seem to buy the idea readily unless there is the right kind of movement too, a combination of tide and tiny twitches worked for me. So what’s the potential on B.I.F 1 for this style of fishing afloat? Well we have caught scores of plaice like this now, along with all sorts of other species. We know isomes and miffle worms work at least as well as bait, I think we can afford to scale down our lines and therefore weights and we’ll probably pick up more fish as a result. It remains to be seen how close the shore we can go in the early hours when others are not around. We’ll pick up bass gurnards, mackerel and scad of course, but what about top knot, sole, turbot and brill? (small turbot are surprisingly common in the push net locally) and although a fish of a pound or so can really make your reel scream with this sort of gear, there is every chance of quality fish if one is angling so quietly and lightly, especially in clear water. The way we work the lures will change with experience I’m sure- as will the variety of our rigs and bait from drop shotted minnows to corn bead micro hopper worm rigs its all to play for. But of course all this is so little understood. We are all complete beginners in the grand scheme of things, and there’s a whole new world of fishing emerging here which we have an opportunity to pioneer On B.I.F 1. Follow the blog to see how we get on through the summer.

I was first shown how to shoot a straight fly line by my biology teacher, Mr John Sappwell, in the school field during lunch hour one school day. I was very lucky to have him as a teacher. Not only did he run the farm unit, which we more feral kids really loved, he also introduced us to shooting by having us volunteer for beating duties on the local wildfowlers shoot, and he also was responsible for creating a school fishing club, to which I somehow found myself quite addicted to. Hence learning to cast a fly aged 14. Not something many kids from my part of Essex got to do. Matthew Roberts controlling a good fish onboard his old Orkney Strikeliner From there, I enjoyed the occasional dalliance with reservoir trout in Hanningfield reservoir, as well as frequent visits to Stambridge Trout Fisheries. All venues around my Essex home. When my friend Nigel moved to Queenborough, in the Kentish swale system, I was a frequent visitor. Nigel would anchor us up and slip us back to where two big mud pillars caused a big wake as the force of the tide left a small creek. At first, we would use big king rag we had dug at another spot, only accessible by boat. Endless bass. So many, it became boring. And then one day, I bought my fly rod along. Suddenly, schoolies were no longer boring... Matt adores different species on the fly. He is the only guy I know who has caught a turbot on the fly. Squid and cuttle are frequent bye-catch. I managed to replicate that success with the fly on the River Crouch, at a place where the narrow river turned and suddenly widened. A crease of tide would run from the near bank out into the suddenly expanded width of the river. A lesson about what happens when two tides meet, and an awesome spot to trick a bass on the fly. And sometimes they were as big as 3lb... Quality fish respond well to quality flies... Then the move to Brighton. Some limited success on the River Ouse, but the open beach frustrated me. Sometimes it was very easy to catch schoolies, and it was often very easy to catch garfish, mackerel and Scad. But bigger bass eluded me, despite being quite catch-able on lures and baits. However, Neptune, or whomever it is that seems to take a shine to me, once more sent luck my way. Its was about this time that Matthew Roberts entered the world of Fishyrob. I get a lot of online requests for information. Quite often people seem to forget that this information is what I sell for a living. But I am quite a soft person, and a terrible businessman. Sometimes, I give it away for free. Well, never actually. Usually sewn into this information is a little hook... I think the look of contentment sums it up perfectly. Tough, but rewarding... "Im really keen to catch a bass on a fly" he said via a facebook messenger request... A quick stalk of his profile, and I could see immediately two things. 1) He was fly obsessed and 2) He already had a great number of cracking fly caught freshwater fish to his credit. I also noticed he had caught bass on lures inshore on the marina walls. Respect. I thought only I did that... "I got a perfect spot for you" I lied. Well, not completely. I had been fishing a spot 40 minutes drive west of Brighton. With great results on surface lures, deep wading as the tide dropped away, and walking back to shore as it flooded. And from working this ground, I had also identified very similar ground closer to home. "Go to this pub. Park, walk across the road, wade out till your legs are completely underwater and fish a popper" I said. With great authority considering how few bass I had caught on a fly. I would have to credit Matt for doing all the groundwork on what works off the Brighton reefs. I had completely forgotten about this exchange when, about four days later, I got an excited message. "Thank you so much...." PING... a photo of a 3lb bass balancing in the hands of a very excited young man, a popper hanging out of its mouth. Incredible.. and also, smugness on my part. I KNEW there would be fish there... "Its a shame you dont guide fly on pike" Matt continued... "I guide pike on fly" I said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world... Again, not a complete lie. I do guide pike. And just because I hadnt been asked for it ever before, doesnt mean I dont guide pike on fly..... The culmination of two season determined pike fly fishing on Sussex rivers. Matt with his very well deserved 31lb beast. Which is why, a few months later, we found ourselves enjoying an idyllic day casting fluff along the River Ouse. I was very impressed with Matt's accuracy. And guiding pike on the Ouse is very straightforwards. With the lures, just keep working the edges, as on this tidal river, there are many undercuts for perfect ambush feeding. With the fly... well... I didnt really know but it made sense to recommend working the edges. Matt worked the edges, and caught pike. He was happy, and so was I. He was so happy he invited me out on a boat he was borrowing in Brighton marina, and Orkney fasliner 16;. How could I say no.... Gurnards can be problematic at times... This in many ways was the beginnings of the Brighton Inshore Fishing project. I just didnt know it. I was still way too scared of the sea to think I would ever find myself skippering a boat. But this is around the same time that "Scooby" was offered to me, to use and keep in running condition for the rare occasions that the owners came to use her. Everything for the reason... We would take it in turns on the boats. Both were exceptional craft for what we were doing, but "Scooby" perhaps had the edge for the fly fishing, as in anything other than perfect conditions sitting and casting reservoir style was the only option on the striikeliner. During these trips, I would almost exclusively fish lures, and Matt would fish the fly. A little competition was born. In my logical head, it should have been the lures giving the fly a complete trashing everytime. But that was not how it actually was. Often it was neck and neck, and often fly would win. One memorable session, by about twenty fish... And often, the fish were good sized. We have yet to see a double on the fly, but that is still Matt;s aim. And he is a very committed, focused, and determined young man. And he too skippers a Pirate 21 cc. I will be very suprised if Matt does not find his double this year (2017) John Cremer with the best fish of the day on his first shore session with "Fishyrob" I cant give Matt all the credit for awakening the interest in the fly, and the desire to make it available to customers. I would share the accolade with another friend, John Cremer. He booked me for lure fishing off the shingle. We went out and he caught some great fish. And he made me laugh. A lot. And then, suddenly when I found myself short for crew on Scooby, I found myself contacting him, remembering he also had a passion for chucking fluff. Another determined guy, I have watched as he has slowly worked it all out, and his catch rate began accelerating with it. Sizes also, as he slowly began to accept what Matt has already worked out a couple of years prior. Big flies for bigger bass... John Cremer with his best fly bass to date, although we both watched open jawed last season when a good double inhaled and instantly spat his popper... Capt Bruce is also a very competent fly angler. He outcasts me on the several occasions we have enjoyed a day together on syndicate waters. He has yet to enjoy the thrill of a spikey on the fly, but in the sea trials period, that is something he is busting to get in on. And for me personally, it has become my mission to persuade everybody that enjoys bass on lures, to give it a go. It is worth the pain of learning something so different to much of what you do now. A bass on the fly, is a most incredible experience indeed. . #Fly