Gonna Need A Smaller Boat…05/09/2013

Gonna Need A Smaller Boat…05/09/2013 Over time the head shaking stopped, the concerns dissipated, the scorn evaporated and the more enlightened of the locals realised we weren’t on a death wish…though still stupid of course, at least in the depths of winter! Mind you, I’ve known that for years and couldn’t agree more, I’m really starting to wonder why I put myself through my winter cod fishing in such a manner. Been spoilt you see, all this boat fishing this year! Dry feet, warmth, fresh coffee, shelter…but it’s still summertime now and it’s been glorious on the kayak as anyone can see. Colin could see. It was months ago that he said he quite fancied trying the bassing at Sea Palling. Such a totally different method of fishing than he’s used to. Light rods, lures, clear water, moving and following structure. Sea Palling is a strange place though, not the Shangri La it’s always made out as – when it’s right it’s fantastic but it’s easy for it to be wrong, slight wind change and it becomes treacherous and the fishing, while good, is only occasionally stunning. And there’s that huge dune…there are other places though and today we went to one of them, an easy and often productive one. I was between shifts, Colin had a day off the windfarms and no bookings on Lead Us and conditions were perfect. I failed to sleep after work and had been disturbed after an hour and a half the night before by my oh-so-considerate neighbours so of course I managed to forget the odd bit of gear, including my sidewinders which I was going to put him in so joy of joys it’d be shorts and cold wet pants. I realised while stuck in traffic with the bridge up…the day wasn’t starting perfectly! But I got there on time, picked Colin up and we set off. Sea Palling would have been good but I just didn’t have the energy for the drive, nor the time really but this would be a far better starting point. Arrived, fluorocarbon leaders tied on all rods, all three Xtraflexx 10-30g rods and LP Magnets in use along with my Vantage FX5 being pressed into service with – oh yes – my new IM10 2-16g Higher Modulus light spinning rod. I didn’t dare troll with this but figured that casting some metalwork would be fun on this. I grabbed a load of boxes of lures though I only really needed three proven bass-takers (two of which were those wonderful Eco Narrows) and then down to the shoreline dragging the Tetra and Scupper. Decisions…Put Colin in the Scupper so he could go straighter with less effort and would have more secondary stability, also easier to throw legs over the side if need be. I’d take the wider, shorter Tetra and follow on behind! A quick how to on everything and a final picture before he got wet and we were away! It’s always amusing watching someone’s first ever launch, that little wobbly moment when the kayak does its thing while they try and compensate before settling into it; a couple of small rolling swells gave a moment of instability but all that time at sea kicked in and he was off, followed straight after by me, nipping ahead with the camera. What’s that, fifty yards? Looks happy enough to me! No stopping him now! We paddled north to the outfall and dropped the lures in a hundred yards short to let them run out to the right distance before we started trolling. Water clarity was superb, the ebb had started and an anti clockwise route should in theory gives us plenty of vibration all around, what with the eddies and reflection etc. but that was for the second run, first run was straight through then down and around the inner one and up the centreline over the pipe. With Colin going ahead I waited and then followed. Nice and slow, nice and gentle, the lures nice and visible; It was hard to believe we didn’t get a take! Around and up and then my lure got hooked onto the leader so I fiddled while Colin moved on ahead. I lost sight as he passed around the outfall and, not appearing, I started to think he may have gone swimming, a photo of which might amuse his wife! So I made the most basic and common mistake here of misjudging the flow and cutting too tight; I hit the corner with the line before the lure was round. Marvellous! That paid off, that’s where the bass were, right on the corner and I was in on the 10-30g and Eco Narrow, the fish actually taking and then being pulled over the very edge! Now, I’ve had plenty before and it was Colin’s day so I gave him a shout to come and take the rod, feel a bass on the light rod and then twigged as he called back, he’d done the same as me on the following corner but with slightly less luck and the line was trapped. I paddled over, grabbed the trapped rod and passed over the slightly less energetic bass for him to enjoy! Beautifully done, one in the boat and big grins all-round. Around 44cm and a tad over two pounds by the look of it, a lovely scrapper on light tackle and the prefect size for the table; big enough to feed two nicely and small enough to not be prime breeding stock but to have probably spawned and replicated itself once. A no-guilt keeper. I found an eddy and sat in it for a while giving the 2-16g a flick or three with a light wedge. Three was the magic number and I had a fish on, slightly further way from the outfall than the previous one, same sized but a better scrap on the lighter rod! I called Colin over to take this one as well as he was still trolling; It had taken line from me and still had plenty of fight in it for him too, pulling the rod tip tight down and into the water! Well, it was obvious what we had to do now, wasn’t it! Both onto wedges and start casting…drifting a bit with the tide, paddling back, flicking them out again…there’s a maritime weekend starting in a few days so a few passer’s by gave some extras to the experience… …and then, with a banging pull down of the rod tip I was in again on my light rod! This one was for me, Colin being determined to get his own now. A lovely scrap, taking line and a few minutes later I swung it aboard. Beautiful! It was starting to cloud up now, the vis on top was still okay but I could see it was murkier below and the water was flowing harder. With no more takes for ten minutes we moved south to the harbour wall to go on the troll in the clearer water there. Colin had slipped into this kayak fishing lark nicely, no wobbling after that first fish and having no fear of getting wet he just got on with the fishing and off we went. It roughed up a bit near the top end, the water rushing round and creating some close chop a couple of feet high and as we turned and headed back down it seemed to follow us, clouding the water ahead of me all the way; I thought we’d get another run but it didn’t turn out that way. Neither of us, surprisingly, had a take but the water looked like it had cleared again by the outfall. We finished our run down and headed over there again; perhaps the fish had lost any wariness with their half-hour break and would be hunting again. Well, we tried and tried, the flow getting us out of position quite quickly but with nothing doing. The vis was okay but the flow was stronger – and strangely it was running in all directions. With little time remaining by the look of things I was about to knock it on the head when I had an idea; maybe they were hunkered down on the bottom. Maybe the wedges needed to be bounced along the floor and just above. Probably need to sacrifice them but worth a try? Yes. Worth a try. First cast, a quarter of the way back and the tip pulled down; it had paid off and I had another fish on, same size, I know because it was by the side and about to come in when it lunged and threw the treble…perhaps I’d see it again some time. Ten more minutes without a take, picking up weed most casts and with my wedge snagged up in the area I wanted to fish I had to go in and retrieve it. That seemed like the time to call it a day and we set off back to the launch point. A nice easy paddle with the flow, though straight lines were not our route for some reason (we looked drunk) and a nice smooth landing followed before loading up and wandering over to the micro brewery at the end of the road for a deserved pint of real ale. It was closed. Might as well go home then, all smiles until episode two where Colin’s luck will be in and he snaffles them from under my nose instead of the other way around!