She has a point. Eloise, two years older, is strong enough and confident enough to jump on a kayak and go fishing for a couple of hours without getting bored. Perhaps I need to fish with something solid beneath my feet now and again. Besides…
“I’ve never caught a fish from the sea. I want to catch a fish to eat.”
This was a couple of weeks ago, a couple of weekends have passed of strong, cold winds and quite frankly the idea of sitting on the pier for them did not appeal. With the wind dropped and the sun out though it was the ideal opportunity. I’d been out on the sea in the morning but for the pier we needed to approach things differently.
We pull up around the corner from Angling Mad in Pakefield. It’s very rare that I use fresh worm but these fellas are local and deserving of my support when I do (and the worms I’ve had there are always decent). We walk in and knee-high Abigail says “Can I have ten lugworms please?” as she fishes in her pocket for some coins. Well, what can I say other than thanks very much lads? They found her a dozen good worms and let her have them with their compliments – that made her day!
A few hours later and wrapped up we arrive on the pier, pulling in to a random spot. I’ve tied her a wishbone rig with size 1 hooks – we’re after scraps, as long as we catch it’s a result. I’ve fitted my old Shimano fixed spool reel onto one of my longer boat rods even though it’s knackered and with a small rolling lead on I cast into the sea. Things feel kind of wrong with the reel…I tighten up and we watch. That’s the second thing gone wrong; camera is dead, will have to use my phone.
A couple of minutes later and Lead Us comes steaming into the harbour – I smile at the irony of having seen this boat coming out as I finished this morning’s session and in as I started this evening’s. Abigail waves of course, and to the other boats. We go back across and I see a bite.
I get ready to strike, wait, they’re gentle bites…again…agaiSTRIKE!
The reel is in a worse state than I thought. The spool is now way forward as the ‘axle’ has come sliding out of the front quite a way. :D I give her the rod and she reels. For ages. I twig that nothing’s coming closer and wind the line around the spool by hand, devoid of fish. Fair enough, I get one of my kayak rods out of the back and tie her trace onto the end of the line and cast out again; she’ll have to use a multiplier.
Loads of little nibbles, little taps, little nudges but nothing conclusive. I stick another rod out with 4/0 booms as it’s already rigged up. We wait, getting cold and watching. Then a repeated bite…we get ready…I strike…
…I hand her the rod and she winds in her first sea fish, a lovely little flounder. A fish I’ve not personally caught! She’s chuffed to bits.
A couple of pics and back it goes as I cast out again for her and we try to hit another bite in time.
The sun’s going down now and we’ve not got long left before we have to head home. A few little rattles, all missed and then we wind in, the boom rig getting snagged up and lost right at the end. Never mind eh, Abigail’s happy.
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