I’d been looking forward to this session all week. I’d planned it, researched the wreck, worked everything out and got the right gear together. Conditions were about as good as they get and things were a go; it was a bit of an advanced session both in terms of distance (around ten miles all told) and technical considerations (deep water, tide times and hopefully large fish) and so I really had to go with this window. I got set up at home and wandered down (no, the yellow house is NOT mine).
The Tunisiana, a 4,220grt, British merchant steamer, was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-16 and sunk on 23rd June 1915 off Lowestoft when on route from Montreal for Hull. 360ft long and 48ft wide she lies in 22 metres to the east of the Barnard Buoy. Lying in a hole I’ve been looking at for many years it seemed the ideal opportunity to go and have a look for her and see what I could catch. Detailed planning commenced a couple of days before with chart work backed up by other information:
Full Moon: -2
First Light: 05:14
Sunrise: 05:50
Low Water: 02:36am 0.4m
High Water: 08:57am 2.4m
Low Water: 14:51am 0.8m
05:54 1.8 kts Flood N-S
06:54 1.5 kts Flood N-S
07:54 1.1 kts Flood N-S
08:54 0.5 kts Flood N-S
09:54 0.8 kts Flood N-S
10:54 1.9 kts Ebb S-N
11:54 2.0 kts Ebb S-N
06:00 Swell 0.5ft NNE Wind 7-12mph WSW
09:00 Swell 0ft NNE Wind 6-9mph ESE
12:00 Swell 0ft NNE Wind 2-5mph ESE
Start: 52°28.001N 001°49.001E South Beach, Lowestoft
Mark: 52°25.198N 001°47.210E Tunisiana Wreck, Kessingland. 22 Metres Datum
End: 52°28.001N 001°49.001E South Beach, Lowestoft
Distance To Mark: 4 Nautical Miles, Straight Line
So, it looked easy enough. Get up, walk to the end of the road, launch, paddle out, drop anchor, fish, wait for the tide to turn, paddle home, have lunch. What could possibly go wrong?
Up I got, not the easiest thing to do after the week I had and off I went after a coffee. The sea was flat, no wind at all and the only effort on the four mile paddle out was in keeping straight by paddling across the current (adding on distance) and staying upright by the banks where the flooding tide was creating standing waves. I punched in the mark and set off.
Eventually, after 45 minutes or so I reached the East Barnard Buoy and headed off in search of the wreck. There were fish about, I’ve never had so many or such good returns – my sensitivities are knocked down too so I don’t chase shadows and I rarely get any fish show up.
Well, it wasn’t where the wreck guide said and nor was it where the chart said so I got close and dropped anchor in 82ft. My large reel, a DIY job courtesy of Richi (thanks mate!) was employed for the first time with a 2.5kg anchor and down it went, for quite a while. I shuttled it to the rear and waited.
…and waited. There was a hundred yards of line out and still I wasn’t stopped. The kayak was yawing from side to side, rocking, tilting and accelerating backwards whenever the line started to tighten. A good ten minutes of dicking about at over 1 knot with the anchor downstairs started to get annoying and then when it started to get decidedly iffy I felt that I had no choice. I wasn’t comfortable and I certainly couldn’t fish like this nor did I know where I’d end up and so I decided to call the session off. There was no way I was going to try and turn to retrieve it as there was a good chance I’d be in the water in a flash if I did and so my knife came out of my boot and sliced straight through my anchor trolley. That’s why I keep a knife in my boot that is sharp and that is why I use an anchor trolley that is thin.
Now I was four miles from home with a tide running way faster than predicted from that direction and so I set off, partially into and partially across and soon passed the buoy.
I paddled for around half an hour before I got bored and decided that I may as well have a go on the drift. I never drift – I hate bouncing leads and the confusion it brings and it’s usually too fast anyhow but I wasn’t going home without wetting a line. I baited up, cast in and a few minutes later was rewarded with a doggie, some whiting following on later. I missed loads of bites as I was fishing large hooks due to the intended mark but got some in anyway so it was okay. It was like I had arrived on a lake here though; there was no tide at all and I sat for well over an hour in the same place; it was uncanny. Fish were constantly moving under me on the finder, seals popped up throughout the morning and fish jumped and splashed all around me at times.
Eventually it was time to go and so I reeled in and paddled home. A few flat spots that stank of fish were encountered amidst the ripples here and there but I didn’t stop, I had a date with another coffee.
Video to follow when it’s done. It’s somewhat indicative of the day ;)
Video added - don't watch if bad language offends ;)
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