Could have had a burger…06/03/2014

Could have had a burger…06/03/2014 I’m going to call Bruce Bridget for this report to save him the embarrassment. Bridget turned up around nine for a planned jolly up to Sea Palling in search of flounder and rockling (and a dab which I still needed for WSF) and after expounding on his annoyance at not being able to find his trolley it occurred to me that I had a third one I wasn’t totally sure was mine…it made sense, we’d last fished from Gorleston, travelling in my car, back at the end of the autumn…this was now being borrowed by Andy so my second one went with as we set off back to his for his drysuit… And so on towards Sea Palling as the southerly wind would make our part of the coast unfishable. An hours driving and we were there and unloading onto the beach. While reconsidering staying off the water and going to get a McDonalds instead. I paddled out and slightly down to try one in to the reef and one in towards the shore. Both snagged and one set of gear lost…the 11300 Maxixmus and Vantage FX30 were swapped to the Nano 10-20lb rods today so I could use heavier leads and worked really well as a combination. ] Bridget was a bit further down from me after having a good paddle around and sat there with no bites. Which was what I had until eventually, on leftover lug from the boat that had died, gone watery and sloppy, produced my first knock…rockling? Flounder? Dab? Whiting? That’s all I’ve had here…no. Cod. They’re following me! Half an hour passed, I had some bites that amounted to nothing so we moved to where I’d had my exotics the other week in a patch of deeper water further up towards Eccles…first cast, five minutes and…whiting! I had a few of these before the first of the dabs put in an appearance, needed him! I was pulling small whiting and dabs out every few minutes while Bridget didn’t get a bite. In desperation he snagged my anchor warp, pulled me loose and stole my spot. I registered my displeasure. Then a green dab. Then a double shot, dab and a smaller cod This has to be the smallest cod I’ve ever caught, in fact I’ve probably had bigger chips! Still, it was more than Bridget had! Followed by, without doubt, my smallest ever whiting! The wind started to build, the tide reversed, Bridget got cold and snagged up, losing his gear and after finally getting a dab I could tell time was short. I continued to hurl abuse but got it back in spades when he called over “What the hell is this?” From that distance I couldn’t really see but from the squat little thing he was holding aloft I had an inkling it was a long spined sea scorpion…an uncommon catch from the yaks and totally unexpected today and over that open ground (I’d been hoping for one over the rocks at Lowestoft the previous days). He was pleased, I wasn’t and he rubbed it in, getting a couple of hours revenger; that’s a great catch for the competitions! Half an hour later Bridget had ice blocks for feet and called over he was having his last cast. I rebaited both rods with each rod going mental while dealing with the other and proceeded to catch more small whiting and dabs before he wound up his anchor and set course for home. I’d catch one more on each rod and then head in…could I get my flounder or rockling? No. Just dabs and whiting. So I pulled up and…what? A weight and trace on my anchor warp? And a fish? Bridget had caught another dab! I took it in for him to see before it was returned to the water with no ill-effect. We loaded up and set course for home, our stomachs growling once again as our thoughts turned to burgers… Another pointless but pleasant play and the best option with that wind direction and speed. For me that’s it for the week, four days on the trot but tomorrow I have to work. What will Monday bring? One week to go on the rivers so I suppose the sea will have to wait.