Brian took pity on us. He’d said the other day he’d been fishing Tuesday and had invited me along. I’d mentioned this to Shaun before our epic session yesterday and he’d been up for it so I’d texted Brian to see if he had a space still as he’d posted up on the sites; he had, but he was going with Andrew again…so Paul was doing the trip. This set the scene for a competition. Paul wouldn’t be there until nine but this suited us two better anyway; we saw Andrew and Brian briefly as they set off and got ourselves readied while awaiting Paul who soon arrived. And then we were gone.
Beautiful sea, flat calm, ten minutes to get to where we’d paddled an hour and twenty the day before; we had catching up to do as they others had already had three bass. Paul moved around and then dropped anchor, positioning us on the edge of the bank so that one side fished on tip and one down on the slope. We baited up with a mixture of black lug, unwashed squid and herring and cast our lines. I’d left my uptider at home so fished downtide with 12oz leads, the others with a mix of up and downtide rods. Normal running leger rigs, I figured I’d only change to wire if I got bitten off.
Over on Wader Bay they were pulling bass up again on top of the bank, they were on seven by the time we began fishing. Catch-up time! Paul put the kettle on…
I missed the first bite. Paul brought up a couple of dogs. Then Shaun connected, bringing up his first ever roker! He was over the moon, the trip was worthwhile already. A decent fish, around the six pound mark and beautifully marked…the phone went, why was the net out?! The pressure was on!
Paul was next with one of his own and then I had my first dog after missing a couple of bites. Up it came, kicking and bucking and skimming across the surface.
Shaun’s in again, a 42cm bass! Lovely eating size.
A roker for Paul…
… and another for Shaun…
…and another
…and a dog…
And then…paul tells me to get the net. He’s got a definite bass and a good one…I get in position, he’s keeping it down low and tells me to wait with the net, wait until he brings it to the top and then get it straight in…here it comes, nice and easy…now! It breaks the surface with a flash of silver, the net goes down, under the tail and I scoop it up and pass it around the rods; good fish, great fish…wow!
Out came the scales, an eight pound female; we thought it was bigger, maybe a ten, as fat as it was. Photo time…forward, up, this way, that way, make it look its best…just one more…and it jumps out of Paul’s grip and the world stops…it hits the deck and we breathe again. That’s enough photos!
I’m lagging severely here, a couple more dogs. I get the scotch eggs out and then the sarnies – I went and got a fresh crusty farmhouse loaf and some decent ham the evening before, a bit of butter and a bit of mustard and we were away. I never take food on the kayak and never remember on the boats either but made a special effort and figured I may as well make for everyone! Then my rod bucked…
Hell there was a weight on here! Nodding, bucking, spinning. There was a delay as the net got caught up on something and I had to keep it down. Then the scrap became harder and I was watching line going out…this felt really big. The fish was causing me problems…I had to walk back, then forwards while winding, back again, then wind forwards…the net went under and another roker around 5-6 pounds came in. Then the problem was found. One hook deep down, the second caught in the body, curling the fish. Still, everything held.
I rebaited, Paul caught more bass, Shaun had another roker, Paul had a roker, I caught dogs, Shaun had his third roker, Paul had a flounder, slack came…
A whiting came up on Paul’s rod and I lip-hooked it on a livebait trace. I still wanted a spurdog, especially after seeing Paul’s photos of the one the other day. Besides, bass take them too and my double was caught in that way. But no.
Paul was really doing the business, five bass and six roker he had, Shaun had two of each and then I struck, wound and felt something on the other end…both lines crossed, caught up with weed, a hell of a mess that saw me cut the line on one once tied to the railing and then my bass came up, around the four pound mark. At least there was some point in me being here other than waitering!
A herring fillet saw me land a hermit though, a nice big one to go in my tank so I was happy! Paul had a large edible drop off at the surface which was a pity though, nothing like a pair of claws to stick on a plate.
As the tide started to ease Brian sent a text to say they were heading in around six. We baited up the last rods and cast in. Half an hour passed and then Paul’s rod bucked, up came a roker…then Shaun’s rod bucked and he brought one in. Mine too and I brought up my squid bait. Oh well, one more line to bring in. I started to wind and felt the rod bend; roker! Brilliant, all three of us ending on a fish.
The anchor came up and we headed in, Paul gutting while I drove without crashing. The Wader Bay came up and roared past, cameras snapping on both boats. Nicely done! Good fun bouncing through the wake…
Back in the harbour we could see a nice selection of silver fish on the jetty, who had won? Well, we had nineteen keeprs and so did they. Brian’s 14lb blonde was the biggest ray, paul’s 8lber the biggest bass. Weight-wise it was probably pretty even. Our split was around half and half bass and ray, there’s was all bass apart from the blonde. No spurs today but what a day! They reckon they won, we reckon we did, I reckon it was a draw and I lost on the individual side…best we have a rematch then!
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