A knock at the door - Three and Four!...04/01/09

Third day’s fishing on the trot - and my last chance until after I return from the London Boat Show towards the end of January. I’m sure you all realise that it is NECCESARY for me to do these things…even though you would be disagreeing with my wife on that matter ;D

The forecast was 4-5ft swell with pretty strong winds but it’s be near low water when launching so I figured Hopton would be possible (high water forget it - there is very little beach left and I flipped there before).No idea what the temperature was predicted to be but I was going Siberian anyway, my trusty Ushanka being one of the first items packed in preparation. Two and a half rabbits equals a nice warm head and without hair I need it! I didn’t notice the cold when I left the house.



Pinkfoot wasn’t coming to play, Bootster headed back yesterday and Eastangler is not 100% at present so I was expecting to be solo again - but no! Hungryfisherman (Amos) was up for a session, his first in two years and drove up from London, kipping at the beach. Not long after six I rolled up and thrust a flask of coffee in his hand. Then it was on with loading up, rigging up and chatting before rolling down the slope and heading out through the shore break.

The current was, like yesterday, pretty slow and we ended up almost straight out from the launch point with no conscious effort. It was starting to get light too, which makes a change…it was 07:30 by now. We paddled out maybe quarter of a mile and dropped anchor. Bait was frozen black lugworm and squid. I stuck out 5/0 pennel rigs on the outside rods and 2/0 wishbone rigs on the inner ones and sat back to wait.



It took a little while but then I got a couple of tentative bites, neither of which came to anything - and then a yell as Amos started battling with something. He was using a light rod and it was well bent over - a codling was coming up against the current, mouth open and thrashing around a bit - and after a couple of minutes he brought it into the yak. Not a bad size for dinner and something to make the drive worthwhile.



Now, everyone around here is always raving about cod in the wintertime but as much as I enjoy them what I really wanted was a Dab. I’d not had one since October 2007 and that one was undersize (well, apart from the micro-dab an inch long!). Dabs apparently are here in numbers in January and people are reporting catching them all over - it seemed to be all that was coming off the pier last night when I wandered down too. Well, if any rig was going to take one it’d be a wishbone…



I was happy now! Species number three for 2009 and my first sizeable flatfish for a couple of years amazingly. I haven’t even eaten one of these in fifteen years so it was like Christmas to me. (En papillotte with olive oil, sea salt and fresh lemon juice as it turned out this evening and absolutely delicious it was too.)

Next up a bit later was the old faithful, a Pouting. Much maligned I enjoy these as they tend to give an exciting bite and a bit of a pull when coming up. They also taste really good if gutted straight away (Darnsarf’s tip and a good one at that! More flavour than Whiting I reckon). That said, this one was cleanly hooked and was back in the water in no time.



Sitting back I felt that I was being watched. I was too. Fifty yards away a head was poking out of the water, looking at me - a seal. By the time the camera was up he’d dived and was at least a hundred yards away when I next spotted him (the tiny black dot in the middle).



Things were not really happening much today and the wind was picking up - my toes were starting to get cold and my fingers were icing up. I had another tentative rattle or two but failed to get anything onto a hook. Amos was still waiting for a second one too.



Then the tide slackened and that dead patch occurred. The kayak was not keeping station as I wanted and I wasn’t keeping lines tight. I put up with it for a while but as I had to be back around 10:30 today I decided it was time to make a move, feeling a bit guilty as Amos had come a long way (but hey, he was frozen too so I think he was secretly pleased to get of the water too!)



A quick, five minute paddle back in saw me pick up a wave, surf it in and forget to jump out quickly enough. As I started to swing my legs over the side another wave came in and pushed me broadside, tipping the yak to one side. Amos thought I was going in but as my nose was already on the beach there was no real chance…but I suspected he might get wet, and switched to video just in case… :D



Well, he made a better job of it than I did! Up the slope and back to the vehicles with the kayaks and it was time for the goodbyes before I raced back home to get the lunch on. Having enjoyed my smoked codling yesterday I cooked up some (bought) kippers, but they just paled in comparison…and now back to the frustration of being a landlubber again!