Bump and Grind…18/12/2013

Bump and Grind…18/12/2013 The weather is shocking, strong southerlies and big tides but I’m not sitting around the house, no way. I have leftover leftovers from my trip out with Marty and I want to use them up on the dabs. Back down to the end of the road and it looks, ummm, interesting… I paddle out, reasonably dry, and anchor up fairly close in. It’s not because I’m scared of going further out, it makes no difference but dabs come in close and that’s the target. The sea wall is getting a hammering again and I‘m getting reverse swells too but if there’s one thing I really like about the Cuda is how I remain dry. A few missed bites, difficult to see as I’m being bounced around a lot and my leads (light ones) are varying between pulling and settling with big bows of line; then, hurrah! I get my quarry, a nice plump dab! Nice and plump but too small, never mind. The wind picks up, the waves pick up and I start getting the odd larger one, 3-4ft, which at this angle is crashing over my lap. I sit out there for a couple of hours and then decide that I’m not getting enough fish – I’ve not had a keeper - and have too much to do at home. I haul anchor and start paddling back. That wind is howling now and the tide is really strong. I have to really dig in to move and end up creeping along really slow until I get back to my landing spot; I am most definitely not going to miss this Cuda. Dry and stable yes, but slow and heavy just doesn’t do it for me. It’ll be gone in a couple of days though. I land.