Cod Accumulative Total (21/22 season) 11
Just the one sailing this morning. Indeed. looking at the current forecast, the last sailing for the foreseeable future. It would seem that the last fortnight, will soon be just a beautiful memory, as the reality of autumn living on an island nation kicks in. South westerly air stream, bringing not just wind, but moist air keen to condense and dump down on us. Some quite heavy deluges possible on the longer range charts. Great time if you are a barbel angler, or even a bait angler. But suddenly, tough pickings when lure and fly are you preferred tools of the angle.
I sometimes really like autumn. Certainly, I used to love the autumns of my youth, where way before Halloween, a few heavy frosts had finished off any leaves on the plumb trees, and they lay in their dying yellow and orange colours, littering the green lawn, itself studded with endless worm casts. But, in this gas warmed world we live in, such things rarely happen anymore. Grey and wet is the replacement for searing frosts, that we would enjoy sliding on, where they covered some of the pavements on the way to school. And it affects many things. The rivers flood more often, carrying the sediment into the seas, ensuring visibility is poor. The seas themselves are surging masses of weed ridden energy. Opportunities do present themselves, but are brief, and rarely sustain. A good time to be somewhere else. Like Hawaii...
Regular readers will know where this is going. When I waffle the tits off you, its because that first sailing didnt go how I would have liked. Welcoming back Max, and also onboard, Tom, his daughter Roisin, and brother John. John and Roisin had zero fishing experience. And actually, the more I think of it, it was not such a bad session after all.
I headed offshore a bit to begin with, as the tide wasnt ideal for in close. First job, demo for Tom, and then he and Max cracked on. Then, a quick five minutes showing Roisin and John, casting. It really was that quick. Clever folk that listened well. And fish were soon flowing. Too many, and of the wrong species. The mackerel glut continues. Lots of concern about huge bags of fish from local beaches at the moment. Guys, don't worry. They are thick from top to bottom, pretty much everywhere in the channel currently.
On the third location, we finally hit a bass. Well, Max did, and a cracker too. Likely in the 8lb region, the big, dark fish rolled twenty feet from the boat, and managed to sent the hook flying back at Max. A quietness descended between us. But you cant keep a good man down.
Very next cast, Max was away again. This time a very determined battle from a fish that stayed deep. In between the screaming runs, there was also a lot of that cod nod we all love so much. A nice fish, in the 6lb bracket. And one very happy Max.
And that was the best of the action, as the sea state steadily got worse. But the guys were all very happy indeed. Max for his cod, the guys for the whole experience. And they all want back on. BIF1. Fishing heroin. If you havent tried it yet, you have until the 29th of November to get on board.
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