Not In My Back Yard…04/09/2013

Not In My Back Yard…04/09/2013 Nah, not here. They’re southerners. And westerners too. Not easterners, not good old Anglians. Nope. Well, on occasion, rarely, accidentally, apparently. Never seen a picture or a real one from less than an hour’s drive away. Doesn’t mean I can’t pull one out like a rabbit from a hat though does it? Besides, there’s something else that’s known to have come from there in the past and something else that could well do. I’m talking about that most beautiful of species, well, a few species of it, that barely edible pest with the big crunchy teeth, the rockfish of Victorian times. You know the one. Been maybe five years since I’ve had one and that was way down south. I’m ahead of myself. Didn’t need to be super dad today, Eloise was off to her first day at high school – her last day of childhood being filled with upside down high-g and extreme suspension at the local theme park – and Abigail was off to spend the day at the friends. I was due back on shift so would need to be in bed early, this gave a window of a couple of hours or so. I dropped Abigail, stopped at Angling Mad which I visit far too infrequently as I rarely use fresh worm. Great service, great chat and he broke the rules and only sold me ten lug which was more than enough – thank you! Home. Yak off the car and onto the trolley, walk down to the beach, launch and paddle and drift with hokkais. Nothing. Kiddies corner coming up, the ebb has begun, gentle for now. That’s where I’m going, those rocks that form the breakwater. Drop anchor, release line, get in nice and close. 6 small hokkais, bait the bottom two with a pinch of lug, drop down, cross fingers, cast the second rod out with a 6bb float, a size 12 and a pinch of lug while I try to get some live prawn in the drop net. I’m in 6-8ft of water, it’s quite calm and quite clear. There’s a bit in no time, then snagged, then it comes free with another bite, up it comes: Surprise pout and even more surprisingly my hoped-for rarity – wrasse! I look at it, no black smudge in front of the tail but the back of the eye does have a darker patch. I’m thinking ballan but I’m not certain, could be corkwing; it’s a wrasse anyway, new species locally and point 29 in the comp, level with Cam again…down to four behind mark. Drop down again, a few minutes pass…bite and up… Black smudge, definite corkwing! Maybe number 30, maybe not, I’ll go on the consensus for the first one here…I’m chuffed anyway. Hmm, float is looking funny, let’s take a peek…oh yes, something here, what is it? Aha! Looks like a baby wolf fish but it’s not that, it’s some kind of blenny, a tompot? No. Yarrels? No. Common? Yes – common blenny also known as shanny…a definite number thirty and my first ever. Some serious gnashers on this fella! Tide starts to flow some more and the sea picks up slightly, I start to lsoe hooks. Paul texts me, I tell him what I’ve had and that I’m running out of hooks; he’ll bring some down and fish from the pier – sweet! Great mate to have is Paul! Another corkwing. Someone shouts my name from the pier and waves, he’s just arriving to fish. I wave back – haven’t a clue who it is from this distance but he must know me and I him! Paul arrives, gives me hooks. I paddle in then change my position, get nothing more, down to my last worm, move again and I flick it backwards in the hope of rockling or sole, had no prawns in the net. Paul gives up. I have a velvet on the float fished pinch of lug. Okay, I’ve done what I came for, never fished here before but will be back for slack in a couple of days to see what moves out from cover if the sea’s right. I paddle home grinning, what a result for a playful dabble! I head back in past the groyne and go home.