Another fascinating day. Amazing in many respects. Especially my own confidence and how it was crushed and then boosted. A tale of two halves in every respect. Suffering the first sailing with me, Mikhail, Andre, Vova and Mark.
Winds were still strong but Northerly at first light. Truly felt like winter. Ebb tide down to low. My least favourite currently. And yet, just a few short weeks ago, the part of the tide where we nailed 77 bass with some crackers amongst. I headed to the scene of that experience for starters, after a quick try right up the shingle.
On arrival it was clear something had been happening. Gannets were cruising, Cormorants popping up, and razorbills, the Brighton Penguins, rafting and diving as a team. On the sonar small groups of baitfish were trying to find one another. And bass were nowhere to be seen. I suspect, a first light foray inshore by tuna once again. Or perhaps dolphins. Something the bass do not like.
Using the experience of the previous time tuna were around, I put the miles in and went the other way and in shallow. Unlike the previous time, I could not find any whitebait anywhere. It took until the last thirty minutes before I found some marks, and the guys put 7 bass aboard. Six of which went back, Plus squid of course. Very hard, and my confidence was at an all time low.
So much so, that I needed a rethink. A hurried breakfast and I drove home, to have a tea and to dig back through my catch reports from the last eight years. And still no inspiration. All I could do was try and forget the morning session, and hold onto the fact that we had a new flood tide, and there was always squid...
With me for this sailing, returnees Chris and Olda, neither of who have had big success on BIF1 despite a good few attempts. And new to BIF1, John and Mindy. This just added to the weight on my shoulder. I introduced the idea that, based on earlier results, it might be a very hard session. That lifted their spirits. Not. What did, was birds attacking bait, driven up by bass very close to the exit of the marina. And everyone opened their bass account. Just one for the table though, so it was off to look for better sized fish.
Which we found. Chris and Olda vanquished all demons. John and Mindy decided they liked bass fishing. I was up for a brace so we max killed ten fish very quickly. Mindy caught a BRACE of codling. Then I showed how to catch a squid. Chris and Mindy liked that a lot and a very full fish box quickly appeared. 24 bass landed in total, the 2 coddies, and I didn't even bother to count the squid.
Off now to do a shore squid job. If you are interested in squid trips, either ashore or afloat, send YOUR FULL NAME and the word SQUID to 07970 112774 to be added to a Whatsapp group where trips are assigned.
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