What a morning! Calm sea, no wind, bright sunshine, blue skies and a nice spring-like temperature. Couldn’t be better…
Made me feel quite snap-happy it did!
Set up, we launched for the paddle out to the Stanford buoy, more or less straight out and a decent mark. A couple of hundred yards out and the sound of throbbing acme from inside the harbour, soon followed by those lovely chaps in the orange boat
I imagine they wanted to do some practicing as they opened up in front of us and gave us a bit of white water to play in – which passed cleanly under the Trident and cleanly over the Elite!!
The current in the bay is pretty mild and we had an easy few hundred metres before getting further out into the tide. High tide was in 3 ½ hours so we were in the thick of it then. Steve was looking rather photogenic and so I snapped a couple of trophy shots
I think about halfway to the buoy he’d made up his mind to get a rudder sometime as I was going more or less straight while he was having to correct regularly and therefore losing a bit of speed – although to be fair as leader you do set the pace. We were in the full flow by now and quite a way out
On arrival a bit further south than the intended buoy (actually the next one along, South Holm) we dropped anchor and tried to fish. I dunno, it didn’t matter where I positioned the anchor warp, the lines were moving around, the leads were bouncing a bit and the yak was turning here and there. I guess current and wind were at odds with each other. And what a current!
At least I was holding bottom at just under 30 feet of water. Full fathom five. Steve had drifted quite a way down and so I headed down to stay with him, nothing doing where I was in the preceding time and hard work detecting a bite if it came. Good reception out here.
And he’s got a phone on it too – tables turned!
We drifted down a bit more, past Pakefield and the Newcombe buoy and eventually after a couple more pulling anchors managed to ‘get a grip’ off Kessingland just short of the East Barnard buoy. That’s the last one for a long way! I actually had in mind recently to fish a Y-shaped hole the other side of it that drops down to 22 metres but because another boat was there and we’d finally managed to hold bottom I decided that I’d stay where we were in 36 feet.
So we sat there.
For a while.
The current had eased off.
So we sat.
And waited.
Until finally I had a tap on double squid on a 4/0 pennel. I grabbed the rod, finger on the line and waited for it to develop.
Tap tap.
Okay, he’s still there. I don’t want to bring it up too early.
Tap tap.
Okay, up you come…
All I can see is squid.
It felt good against the current and from that depth.
And it was alright, sizeable and with a full belly
Beauty, first saltwater species for the year, a nice east coast codling of a round a couple of pounds. Now it was Steve’s turn.
Not that he was in a burry mind. So we waited.
And waited.
For about an hour, when
Winding it in, he was rewarded with a 4lb+ Lowestoft codling, the best I’ve seen off here from a yak to date. It was pleasing to know that we’d both avoided a blank especially as the bites were very, very rare.
About an hour later I decided it was time I had another and no sooner had I said this then the rod went down again. I picked it up, let it develop, then reeled in. I could feel the fish on for about ¼ of the way up and then
Nothing.
It’d taken the head off the squid without getting hooked and so my second bite of the day failed to bring me a fish.
Slack tide came and Steve drifted closer
And away again
And after another half an hour of slack, moving lines we decided to head back towards the earlier buoys. The fog had rolled in over the coastline by now and we up anchored and secured stuff down for the paddle back to the Newcombe buoy.
Wherever the hell that was. We were now getting fogged in.
It appeared briefly and we made a beeline for it, quite a paddle and I saw my old mate the harbour porpoise again, just a couple of glimpses 100 yards away, which made me all excited in case I got to see him close up again but alas he didn’t stay around and we carried on for the buoy, anchoring up just short of it to have one last try in 40ft of water.
As an idea, we were maybe 300 metres at most from it
Even the gulls were sitting it out
Then Steve was in
It was big. It wasn’t a snag as it was moving, slightly, but was very heavy. I tried to keep an eye on things but I appeared to be moving around a bit. I checked my warp and it seemed to be at a funny angle. I put two and two together and gave it a tug. Then another. Steve appeared happy that at least he was getting a fight from what must be a fish after all. Then he twigged that I was tugging my warp and watching his rod tip bend! I hauled in and unhooked him but ended up a bit further out when the anchor held again. I’d had enough now, the fog was no worse but wasn’t going to improve and it was now 3pm so we decided to head in as I’d told the coastguard we’d be in around 4. We could actually see bugger all and I turned on the GPS for a quick double check on position and direction (low voltage warning had come up earlier so I was using it sparingly, I suspect wet leads had drained the battery somewhat quicker than usual). We headed in on the compass, going off course on occasion when nattering (look over your left shoulder when you paddle and you will veer left. Try it.) And the fog started to improve slightly with distance, enough that I could see my way home after a while. Glad I fitted that compass, wish I’d brought my spare battery as an emergency reserve. We were never in ‘danger’ or anything, and with 2 mobiles, VHF and flares plus spare anchors each we were well provided for if we had to call anyone, but had it been a week ago then it would have just been the mobiles and anchors so now I know that it was money definitely well spent.
Halfway back we swapped paddles, me using the Simply Magic while Steve had a go with the Enchantment Carbon. Immediate difference – not so much in the pulling power from my seat but in the length of the paddle – mine is long, Steve’s was short and took a few minutes to get used to. The blade difference was noticeable too, as a tourer the Enchantment likes wide strokes where I could dig vertically with the Magic and move just as well although I would imagine I’d find it harder work over distance and the additional weight started to tell after a while. We went a bit north of where we wanted to be ideally and had to come in the last quarter of a mile against the current. It was starting to get boring now as we were chatting and thus paddling gently making little headway. We got cracking instead and headed in.
#Coming past the groyne where we were going to beach, over the stern of Steve's yak I saw a seal - the closest I’ve ever seen one here! At least I think it was a seal, maybe a porpoise as it was very dark, but it disappeared and I didn’t spot it again. I thought of phoning my wife to come and have a look with the kids but it wasn’t actually necessary as it turned out…
I was rather chuffed as it’s only the second time they’ve been there when I’ve come back in (last time was the October meet when the sight of 5 yaks coming in together was apparently really good!). The girls were happy too as they were able to see our fish as well as the landing (very undramatic, very slight swell). My mum was also with them and being used to seeing my auntie’s boatloads of tuna etc was rather under impressed with my codling! Yeah mum, I don’t have twin 150hp outboards and a tropical reef to fish…still, time to load up and go back for coffee.
With fish pics first of course
That one deserved a closer pic
Now, who mentioned relief zips? We felt like Dorado after that day out!
And no matter how hard I tried my codling just wouldn’t grow…
Back we went, coffee, children, noise, smoked codling, smoked cod roe and deep-fried battered codling with chips and then it was time for Steve to head back down to Essex. Thanks for coming up mate, I’ll see you down your neck of the woods soon!
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