Coffeed-up I drove to Steve’s for 04:00 and followed him the wrong way to sea Palling. We were there in just over half an hour as the sun was creeping up over the fields.
Reversing over the slip we dropped the yaks and then drove down the road to find some free parking as neither of us thought to bring any change. We Assumed our gear would be safe though as the only other idiot likely to be about was Onmas and he was already on the water ;D
Dressed, we crossed the dune and walked the few hundred yards south to the yaks. The sea inside the reefs looked alright but we could see it was a bit choppier outside. We launched and I trolled out. Things took a turn for the worst as I inadvertently cut a corner due to the strength of the current and got hooked up on the reef with one of my rods. This was of course the one with 60lb braid and I had to slip it into free spool and paddle out a bit to avoid being caught in a dangerous position as it was quite a bit lumpier out here and the corner of the reef that I was hooked on was where the swell was hitting. Luckily I managed to break out of the snag and although I lost a lure I didn’t lose the rod that I managed to get entangled in the line while paddling out...the one I’d not got leashed.
I started to run down the reefs, as close in as the 3-4ft swell would allow, and waited in vain for a bass to hit. The sea was stirred up a bit so I figured it would be a case of patience and/or a blank. I got down to the end with no mishaps and joined up with the other two – none of us had a fish yet. I stowed one rod and decided to stick with just a single rod with 30lb mono on a fixed spool towing a blue Rapala J13. There was plenty of action with this even though I was only making minimal progress against the full force of the tide but no action n of the fishy kind. Of course, Steve had a strike behind me and landed himself a schoolie that was almost sizeable.
We carried on and with Steve hanging back and exploring one reef Jason and I chatted as we pulled our lures through the water. Then I felt the rod start to pull – I was in with my first lure-caught bass! Being above the (official) MLS at 41cm it went straight in the hull to be enjoyed later – yum yum ;D Can’t say I was impressed with the sporting abilities of the fish though but they certainly are beautiful looking.
We trolled a bit longer and then headed inside the reefs to try there – I figured that with the waves breaking on and running through the bass could be hanging around the inside to ambush anything washed off or through. Sure enough there were some fish about and I got another take. Again a disappointing fight but a 43cm bass graced my lap before getting the last rites. This was me happy as I was off to my parents that evening and I figured that these two fish were just right for three adults to eat (my mum doesn’t eat fish) and two children to try. A pity, then, that my mum had already prepared something else so one went into their freezer and ours went into the fridge.
We fished on a bit longer but being about to run over Onmas’ lure I stopped and hung back. This had the unfortunate result of catching my J13 in an eddy and sweeping it into a snag from which I couldn’t recover it. To say I was p!ssed off by this would be putting it mildly as these are great pike lures as well as being bass food.
We headed into shore to make the sand wet. This ended up with a 7am p!ss-up, some taunting of a nosy seal, gutting of fish and general tomfoolery before we dumped the fishing gear and went for a play in the waves. Some reasonable sets were coming through at times and we caught a fair few on my Scupper and Steve’s Islander which he fetched from the car. Jason was still valiantly trying for a bass but sadly had no joy. Steve was also empty handed as he’d returned his small one and lost a big one while paddling out from the reef to avoid being swept onto the rocks. He’s not much of a fisherman that Steve ;D
Well, what to do now? It was about 9am and about the sort of time when we should call it a day. We figured the best bet was for me to tow the Islander behind the Scupper while Steve followed in his (he’s not much of a kayaker that Steve ;D ) and Jason filmed and snapped from his Trident all the way up to the shore by the ramp. We came in through a pretty settled bit and dragged the yaks up to the edge of the concrete then set off for the quarter mile walk to retrieve the cars. This allowed us to reverse the vehicles down the ramp, load up and shoot off to the car park outside the café...
The sausage, bacon, black pudding, egg and toast set me up well with protein and the coffee woke me up again before I made my farewells and set course for home – late and in the sh!t again ;D
Mind you, the Bass helped a bit. We didn’t eat them straight away as we were invited to my parent’s house for dinner and to watch the football – the first England game which I thought might be fun for the girls. The plan was also to sleep the night and take the Keas they got for Christmas out for the maiden voyages. It was good to take one of the bass for my dad – the smaller one as my mum doesn’t eat fish. However, that night we ate home made Cornish pasties before settling down for the football...
‘Stick that up your Obama’ indeed! ;D
Next morning, bright and early, we hopped into the car which was loaded with Prowler 15, Scupper Pro and two Keas! 4 straps were sufficient but I wished one of them hadn’t been a short one. We got to Beccles and sorted ourselves out, getting on the water in about ten minutes.
They’d been waiting patiently for this!
We sauntered downstream a bit before having a picnic and going on the playground and then, being short on time, headed back to the launch point.
Eloise was doing well but headed into the reeds at one point. Back-paddling she overbalanced and went in. I thought she was crying but it turned out to be laughter ;D She got back on with assistance and begged to be able to do it again...so back at the launch point she was allowed to.
A nice gentle start to the summer’s paddling for the girls...did they enjoy it? Judge for yourself:
Back home I got the barbecue going...I had plans. These involved bass, slashed and rubbed with rock salt, olive oil and lemon juice cooked slowly over charcoal. This was to be served with fresh Norfolk Asparagus. Does life get any better than this?
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