Well the weekend had been hard going but I’d at least had one good bass and a few smaller ones. Monday was a disappointment with a blank in Lake Lothing after Gobies and Smelt but had been ever so slightly lifted by the catch of a Shanny by the pier wall but nothing else and having given Brian a couple of pounds of spare ragworm that wouldn’t otherwise get used he asked what I was doing the following day as he was heading out with Andrew for a spot of bassing. I wasn’t doing anything after half eight and had been unable to join Colin on Lead Us the day before so I figured it was a goer!
Nine o’clock and I’m down at the yacht station, Brian ran up the engines and a few minutes later Andrew arrived. It looked lovely and flat inshore and with everything loaded and my rods tackled up we headed out a couple of miles to drop anchor over some promising marks on the edge of one of the banks…down went the baits, one uptide and two downtide for me on the starboard side, same for Brian with his downtide rods centrally and Andrew taking the port side where all the fish were.
It was reasonably clear so I started off with some hokkais in case there were any mackerel about but no…the kettle went on and we sat back; there was a bit of swell, being wind against tide and without waiting overly long Andrew brought in a doggie and then Brian was into a bass of a couple of pounds…here we go then!
Andrew again; a good bend in the rod, nodding all the way up…get the net…here it is, the water still quite clear but running now…nood nod nod, net down and under, the last couple of feet and the net goes under and lifts…five pound summer cod! Job’s a good ‘un!
With a nice out-of-season meal assured Andrew concentrated on sweeping the bank of bass while I sat staring at unmoving rod tips…Brian’s not moving a lot either. Mixing rag, lug, squid, blacks and herring didn’t gove me any benefit and it was a good couple of hours before I finally had a rattle; strange fight, on? Off? On? Yes, on…and here came a flounder! A surprise to me, only the second I’ve ever caught and a new species from the boat. The one I had inside the reefs at Sea Palling in the winter had been delicious, caught over sand and bled before roasting in wet newspaper, so this was also bled and went into the bucket for a fine meal. And then it was back to sitting still!
Then, oh joy, two rods going at once; Andrew is in, I’m in, which side should Brian go with the net? Umm…blindingly obvious really…
So, my second fish, a baby whiting…not yet another bass like Andrew.
Mind you, he was feeling the pressure as I’d had a flattie and he hadn’t. Not that he worried for too long:
A couple of hours more and the sea got even more lumpy as the wind picked up and the tide dropped down; the boat had been moving at the mercy of the wind all day as it was, a bucket out the back acting as a drogue had helped a bit but it really was hard work and the lines were constantly crossing each other and getting caught up. Perhaps the braid Brian and I were using was bumping the baits around too rather than absorbing the shock like Andrew’s mono…an excuse is an excuse but the fact is I was just embarrassingly outclassed by a very good angler (and I fished even worse than normal!) and couldn’t even be spared my blushes by lady luck!
By mid-afternoon it just became unfishable and with nine bass, a roker, a cod, a dab of Brian’s and my flounder aboard we headed in to clean down and pack up. I’d like to say it was a great day’s fishing but, for me, it was merely a great day out!!! Ah well, learnt some tips and tricks that should increase my catches next time.
A footnote. Down in South Africa and unknown to me at the time my uncle was out for the first time in nearly two years. No longer working his own boat, Big Blue, since my aunt got sick and passed on he’d been invited out by a friend. They steamed out to Protea Reef, their second home and he finally scattered the ashes of my grandfather, grandmother and aunt, anglers all. And then the fishing turned on big time with multiple bonito and yellowfin tuna to 15kg. So it was just me today then…
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