Just the first sailing according to the forecast. And, it has to be said, XC have been great for a while. All the winds they are predicting five days prior, seem to be happening. A good run, or maybe an adjusted model? No idea, but the problem is, they ARE forecasting winds, far too often for an English summer. First sailing was forecast to be flat calm for the first two hours, and with Steve and Ray from fly wholesalers / retailers Fulling Mill on board , I could not have asked for better wind and tide conditions.
They were forewarned that the fish were not currently favouring the shallow places though, so had bought along lure tackle as well as fly tackle. I was very pleased to see another Okuma Helios SX unveiled, as I am completely loving my ones, which are now the stock boat rod. First though, we tried with the fly. And it briefly looked as if it might come together when on only his second cast, Ray nailed a schoolie. But despite a few drifts on various spots, it was not looking good. Time to head offshore a little.
First spot, and I was very suprised that we did not contact fish, as it is usually a banker with the start of a fast tide. But the second spot, filled in nicely. Indeed, we were able to settle in for much of the remainder of the session, chipping away at fish. We managed six there, before they tired of our presence, plus some fun with cuttlefish. Its getting quite busy with them at the moment, and I suspect it wont be long before we can attempt a cuttlefish circus. We began training one persistent one today. When people say they are intelligent, they clearly havent spent enough time with communicating with them. In my opinion, they are quite stupid.
The eight and final fish of the session, fell to Ray at an inshore mark, where we had gone to consider the option of getting the fly rod out again. But the wind by now was stiff, with white horses all around. Wave heights were not big, but it was hard staying in touch even with the lures now, with wind and tide speeding the drift. The fly would have been nearly impossible. A good place to end the session, and completely in line with XC's prediction. And based on that confidence, Thursday onwards, looks like the blogs might be a bit longer and possibly five times concurrent.
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