A Late Day…23/09/2013

A Late Day…23/09/2013 I had a text from Charley asking what I was up to and suggesting Trimingham while on my way home with my Sea Palling Bass; there was a message from Ian as well when I got home, same suggestion. It was expected that the catching could prove good and the mileage worthwhile. An important consideration for the time a hundred mile round-trip takes in this part of the world! Shaun was free, Colin was free, Si and Bruce might be. Weather looked fantastic – dropping tides, hardly any wind, no swell, clear water…the plan was pirks and feathers. No problem on the latter but pirks? Nothing. No bother, a quick divert via Wroxham Angling to raid Mark’s shop for some which he confirmed he had in during a 9pm phonecall. It’s good to have tame retailers! I left as soon as the kids had gone off to school and, after battling through the traffic, picked up Colin and headed north. It only took an hour and a half, shopping included, before we arrived at the bottom of a well-hidden track and started unloading. Everything was in disarray as all my lures from the previous day were dumped out on the parcel shelf to dry and I’d stuck in a second load of kit for Colin. Fortunately Shaun had a spare buoyancy aid though as that was one thing I’d forgotten. So there we are, setting up, squeezing Colin into my drysuit and tieing on this that and the other when Martin calls up – he’s out there with Ian and Charley and they’re catching; hurry it up! Shaun launches, I park up and we follow. A couple of other guys have nipped out ahead of us on kayaks and are already jigging away and there are boats out on the drift. The water, flat and clear, looks perfect and we get on the same line as one of the boats and drop down. Five minutes and Colin’s rod is bent over. It looks like it’s bucking but no, not a fish, it’s snagged. I head over to deal with it, being used to balancing a yak with a snagged rod in tide. Fingers crossed I’ll get my pirk back…well, jig…and yes, it comes free with just the loss of the hook rigged at the top on a short piece of fluorocarbon. A new one goes on and we carry on. We’re a bit far out though, past the bank in deeper water; we come in onto the other yak’s line. It’s flat! Martin heads up past us for another drift; he’s had around fifteen bass so far! It’s gone quiet though, they’ve gone off the feed since we launched it seems…then my rod bucks and I’m into a fish. Up comes my first jigged bass, a nice little scrap and a prompt unhooking and return as it’s not a keeper – sizeable perhaps but not much of a meal this year so I don’t even measure it. Colin is next, maybe twenty minutes later. Same sort of size; he’s made up, his first fish caught off a kayak, fishing totally differently in totally different water to his patch…sure, he reeled in some I hooked a fortnight ago but it’s not the same. In it goes, maybe dinner will come soon. Shaun asks to borrow or touch my lucky hat, I refuse, naturally, in case of contamination. Turns out it’s not needed though as ten minutes later he manages a brace on the same string, both keepers too. We’re struggling though, there’s not much happening. We head uptide again and drift once more. I’m chatting to Colin when he spots Shaun snag up…then flip over. Because he’s beam on it doesn’t take a lot and happens quite quick. I head over, start collecting his floating gear and unravelling anchor system while he sorts himself and his kayak out; then I spot the bass, floating; lucky he hasn’t gutted them yet! I scoop them both into the kayak. I dunno, seeing as I caught them last maybe I should have kept them? Anyway, he gets back on and I let him have them back. The next few hours pass languidly with more drifting around, slowly, while we wait for the tide. A few mackerel are appearing elsewhere but all we’re getting are Sandeels, very sporadically. They don’t attract anything either. Shaun gets a weever, Ian is apparently getting loads. Finally, while next to Ian and chatting away my rod starts to bang and the line shoots off sideways. What on earth have I got on here? Must be a better bass than the last one…but no, it’s not! One mackerel. A good one and able to fight properly as it’s not battling a bunch of others on the same string. Lovely stuff, that’s my dinner sorted and with fresh mackerel being such a rare treat for me it’s better than a bass because I ate one last night and have some in the freezer for later. Maybe not worth the time, money and effort but kayak fishing isn’t about economics for me even though it all balances out over the year. A couple more Sandeels, four in total and with the tide just starting to reappear and the bass expected to come back on the feed sometime soon I ran out of time and we headed back up towards the slip. Level, Martin calls and tells us he’s into fish by the ramp, close in. He’s just had four. We race in for a final attempt but it’s not to be and we have to head in without anything further. I race home and get in trouble for being late. It’s justified too, but then late was the order of the whole day for us, arriving just an hour earlier we might have bagged up; them’s the breaks.