So began the message from Lozz. The three 3-tonne steel tubes that landed on his leg smashed enough bones to put him into plaster and out of action for four months but with the cast coming off on the Monday there seemed no reason why he couldn’t fish at the weekend. Well, apart from not fitting in his kayak and not being able to walk of course…
A different kayak is duly leant and so on Sunday morning we meet up once again at Hopton; it’s been a while since we were last here together. But I shall rewind.
I woke up. It was daylight. The alarm had yet to go off. Something was very wrong. My wife was asleep next to me, the girls were asleep above; I checked the time, it was just after 7. Oh yeah, I had managed a day pass. I got up after the lie-in and went down to get the coffee on and start the bacon sizzling for the descent of the hordes. That’s when my eldest appeared, she was doing breakfast and today she would fry the bacon for the first time. And so, around 08:30, I walk out of the door and head for Hopton with a full stomach.
It’s summer. Bright sunshine, blue sky, warm and with only the slightest breeze. Indeed, I’ve had the first barbecue of the year only yesterday. I head down Beach Road and there is Lozz with Trudi by his side, ready to rock. We chat and then get the gear sorted, get kitted up and I drag the yaks down to the shoreline. There’s a slight dump now but easy to time for and with the stormtrooper boot wedged into the footwell I grab the bow handle and drag him out and throw him past me back into his element.
4th November 2007, that’s when I caught my first codling from the kayak. That was with Lozz. I’d had my first smoothounds with him too, down in the Solent. Now, hopefully, I could put him onto that shoal that has been hanging off Corton for the last four months. It’s only a couple of miles and the tide will assist us in the run down…it’s running that way after all. We’re there in a little over ten minutes.
We drop anchor, I stick 300ft + of warp out and settle into something I judge to be over 3 knots. I can’t be sure but it’s more than usual and I have to resort to 8oz leads to hold bottom – I think though I’m not sure they’re down there. Lozz is a hundred yards back, I should have stopped feeding warp out sooner. I’m swinging a bit but nothing too dramatic. I bait up and drop down; I don’t feel the lead hit but with a shallow angle I knock it out of freespool and place the first and then second rod into the holder.
It’s a beautiful day but why so few boats out? We’re sitting there amongst 8, a mixture of charter and private anglers; I’m alongside Blue Dawn, maybe a hundred yards inshore. I kind of drift, slowly, over the first hour and just creep along covering maybe 50 yards in total before the tide eases just enough to stop pushing me. I’m not getting any bites and nor, it seems, is anyone else. I’ve heard mention of a couple of whiting and that’s it. It’s great listening in to the other traffic on the VHF. Sometimes there’s some real beauties. Like the two trawlers who come out with a classic:
“There’s a dug out canoe over there mate. Probably one of them immigrants.”
I was in stitches with that one but resisted the temptation to call up Lozz with “Immigrant, Immigrant this is Dugout, Dugout over”…I would have but with not even a bite I didn’t really have anything to say. Don passes over the cliffs in his Gyro but doesn’t swoop down overhead to give us a display this time – we’re amongst others so it may not seem polite if indeed he’s spotted us there. I bet it was fantastic being aloft in such great conditions.
The tide doesn’t seem to want to slow, it’s incessant and It’s been well over an hour before I get my first little rattle which doesn’t develop. I wait another twenty minutes for the second…the third comes ten minutes after that and as the tide finally slows, an hour after high water, I get a decent couple of bites and haul in a double shot of whiting; like waiting for a bus this.
I then bring fish in steadily for the next hour until slack water, I miss some too and when I make use of my convenience zip I have both rods going as if all the fish off Corton are wanting to take the piss out of me…
…then finally, two hours after high water, slack arrives and the sea goes oily.
It would seem that of those who are talking only 3 codling have been caught. The water is getting clear enough now that it looks like summer whereas in close it’s a lot more coloured; perhaps why the beaches are suddenly improving. Boats are strung out along the coast and people are moving; Cleveland Princess steams up, chats to Lozz and then heads to a position nearby.
I drift aimlessly and then, as Blue Dawn starts to turn I pull my lines in and swing around to face north. I let the rest of my warp out to get closer to Lozz too and finally we can talk to each other. His leg is starting to annoy him now and he decides, while the tide is just starting to run, that he’s going to haul anchor and head in. I’ve just baited up again so decide to have a cigarette and catch one more whiting…
…in those few minutes the tide starts running swiftly and I have to make quite an effort hauling in all my warp. As I wind it onto the reel with the anchor on the deck I am making over 1.5mph with no wind already. I stow it and pick up my paddle, head northwest to the launch site and at an average of over 6mph I attain 7.1 with little effort. God knows what I’d have managed when it really started to push!
Lozz is hanging just out from the groynes as I come in. The waves aren’t anything to worry about today but I head in first as he’s not going to be jumping out. I land smoothly but my fish are washed out of the tankwell. I jump into the water and fling all but one up onto the beach and then Lozz runs in…as he hits the beach and slews sideways I help him up onto the sand and he gets out; he’s done it and he’s smiling though I suspect it’s through gritted teeth. Trudi is there with his crutches and up he goes as I follow behind with the yaks.
Well, it may not have been the best day for fish but we had a bit of sport, had a decent paddle and had great weather; more importantly Lozz is back.
No comments:
Post a Comment