Fish of the day... Taken on a pink and white deceiver.

Friday 13th... I guess if I was at all superstitious, I would simply not book sailings. And perhaps I am a little. But after last Winters non-stop wind, it is still all about the catch up, and so sailings there were. Actually, there also were not, but I will get to that later... And never was a day so upside down...

0500 off, and imperative until Doris comes and sucks the mud out from our bit of the marina. Doris is a big mud sucking vacuum cleaner that is designed to keep the marina free of mud. But she works soooo slowly we now bottom out on a big spring low. Not ideal for my tight turnarounds as a knock on can leave me literally stranded... We just about got out by raising the prop. The depth sounder showed 1.3 feet at one point.

Paul with a schoolie on the shad

With me were Paul, and his boys Chris and Matt. "Have you fished much?" is one of my leading questions for new clients. "A bit" they said. But as the session and the conversation wore on, the list of what they had caught and where crept out. These guys fish as a family a lot. And the boys are proper big grown up ones. Not wee nippers. I love that. I wish my family had been like that and then my poor old dad would have got a lot more fishing done. Still, I fish for him in his memory these days. I think he would be proud of where it is all heading.

The fishing was definitely not hot, and certainly not crap. Somewhere in between. We found some smaller fish close to the marina, but I was determined to hunt down a beast for the guys. A bad plan as it turned out. We found fish most places, but nothing much more than outsized schoolies. Enough action to keep expectation running, but not enough to remark on how amazing the session had been. I guess I am trying to get to the word "Mediocre". But banter was good, and I think the guys, regular charter anglers, really digged the "different" that we are. I expect to see that fishing family back on BIF1 sometime soon.

Chris, or was it Matt...

2nd sailing, and I had Martin, who was keen to see isomes in action, and Harry, returning to the boat (he was lucky enough to be out on Sunday, bloody cod sunday earlier this year) and his friend Lee. We agreed to split the session. 1.5 hours food fishing, 1.5 hours bassing. Initially we were plaicing on the closer grounds. One small plaice, to verify the technique works, and a few mackerel. As the tide eased back I went further offshore. Here, mackerel were a menace, hitting all hooks all of the time. No plaice. A few gurnards beating the mackerel to the hooks. It was too much. We went bassing early.

And struggled... Its fair to say. A few sniffs and bumps. I had to get the fly rod out to get 2 schoolies. Very tough. But again, happy people that left the boat. Martin, a fellow boat angler gets the Brighton slant to mix up with the LA techniques. And Harry and Lee, well, they will be BBQ'ing well tomorrow.

And then on to the last sailing. It was looking like a no show, so I messaged. "No, next Friday"... Remember that tiredness I was talking about, worried I will mess up? This time, I just done myself, as I could have sold that slot several times over. But it could have been worse, and a customers booking get messed up. I think this weekend will be the last of four sailings. Back to three ahead of the daylight reduction, just to get organised, and squeeze a bit more sleep...

So, what to do with an empty boat and a new spring tide.... And what a different sea I went out into. Predators had trapped much fish into the corner of Brighton bay. Birds and fish both. As the session was supposed to be a fly session, I fished only fly. For the 3 hours, the ten fish I landed, to 4lb, were excellent fun. Had my fly clients been on board, they would have enjoyed it immensely I am sure. Lets hope its as good next weekend. High hopes for this weekend, and just a very few spaces still available. 07970 112774 to get on board....