That’s why I was at Hopton at 06:30 to go and have a crack at the early whiting shoals. Stinkyweim joined me too and it looked rather benign from the top of the ramp. Now a lot of people moan about whiting, say they steal baits and are a shit fish and all that but I have a soft spot for them. Whiting are always around and have saved many blanks and they taste nice too. I was quite pleased to hear that they were in so figured it was time to go and get some. As it is my largest freezer tray – the fish tray – is now virtually full with bass, codling, smoothound, mackerel and pike (the fish being variously on the bone, filleted, salted and pickled) so a bit more variety in taste/texture and something that cold-smokes well would be a bonus. Besides, I had to try out the ‘new’ old split cane rod that I’ve just re-sized to look good with my KP.
We launched easily and set off to the usual mark. I actually took my Humminbird plotter/finder out for once and even decided to fish from my Prowler 15 for the first time in ages. It was kind of one of those mornings and the hangover wasn’t that great either!
I dropped anchor and stabilised 100ft offshore from the mark I had aimed to go to – it’s a rough area rather than pinpoint-precise so didn’t try to get too exact. Si dropped down too but his anchor took a while to grab and unfortunately he drifted off the mark.
First came the wooden rod fitted with a 4/0 Viking pennel and a 6oz rolling lead on a running leger. Bait this time was whole unwashed loligo squid. Just in case there was still a smut about.
I baited up the second rod, a spinning rod with a 4 hook size 1 flapper baited with pieces of bluey and finished with a 6oz plain lead. It was screaming through at well over 2 knots and that much lead was required to hold in 30ft. A pity really, that’s a lot of lead. It didn’t take long. A matter of a couple of minutes I guess.
Sorted, they were here then. Bite after bite followed. The spinning rod and amount of line I needed out meant a lot of missed bites and then the reel started to slip. I thought I’d repaired it after Cley last week when it started to fail but I guess not. I had to carry on with it though, I couldn’t be arsed to paddle back in and grab another set-up.
There were a good few bites on the wooden rod too and finally is truck one of them and connected – rod christened! Another whiting and I was chuffed; very satisfying.
Bites kept coming and occasionally I managed to hook the fish. I swapped the spinning rod over to a wishbone that had been in the freezer, baited up. I didn’t realise that the hooks had rusted to blunt ends so missed even more bites ;D I was only out for fun though so didn’t bother swapping again. The pennel kept getting ragged though so during a spate of non-compliance I changed over to my standard cod bait – frozen black lug tipped with a ring of squid. The bite was almost instant and another whiting came aboard. It was starting to get lumpy though.
Not only lumpy but as the tide eased the wind, especially the gusts, made the yak swing around a bit. Pain in the arse it was, made bite detection tricky.
Si up-anchored and wandered over, ready to go in. I pulled up a fish to make him feel really happy; he’d had one bite, drifting off the mark had really hit his fishing sadly. As he went off I decided to get one more on the baitcaster before (probably) retiring it and then one more on the wooden rod even though the sea was getting livelier all the time.
Now, I was suffering a lot here. The spinning rod made it doubly difficult to set the blunt hooks. When I did connect though, I’d strike and the spool would slip. I had to pump the rod and wind like mad on the way down going 3 revolutions one way and losing 1 from slipping. Most fish got bumped…but I persevered, I wanted one last fish on it. And then she came, the largest of the morning.
Au revoir old fella. Twenty years man and boy. First baitcaster I ever saw, my Shimano Bantam Crestfire CR100A, bought as a pair in South Africa as an eighteen year old (the other one went in a burnt out stolen car of mine) . It’s been stripped enough times there are clearly bits missing as well as worn!
The wind was winning now and I was sitting uptide of my anchor as it started to slacken and the bites dropped off. One last missed bite on the wooden rod and I decided to call it a day. The sea was getting lumpier now too and Si looked bored on the beach ;D
I up-anchored and headed in. Some of the waves I came through, beam on, were in the 3-4ft bracket but luckily weren’t breaking properly so I came in fine to a pretty easy landing. Not a bad start to the whiting season, I’d brought 9 to the boat, released a couple and could have had 20-30 to take home easily if I’d not been so incompetent! A good little start and I’ve just bunged a dozen smoked fillets in the freezer, Si can have his tomorrow as I celebrated with a nice Chardonnay with my dinner ;D
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