Spring was very slow to exert its influence but Autumn shows no such reluctance as the days shorten, the evenings draw in, red berries adorn the roadside shrubs and leaves begin to yellow. But the sea is still warm and the weather permits a few days out.
Tuesday, 4th. I have found mackerel hard enough to source for bait this year but today was different; the top feather hadn’t even entered the water before I felt the shaking of mackerel on the lower hooks. A dozen decent mackerel were collected within a minute and that was plenty of bait. First drift on the sand produced a bite almost straight away which caught me cold and I missed it. An encouraging start but luck was playing with me. The rest of that drift was quiet and the second drift produced 3 dogfish but no hoped-for rays. The freshening breeze combined with the swell was providing a bumpy ride with little return; Regular Readers may Recall that I’m Reluctant to Remain in the Rough especially if the Rays Refuse to Respond so I decided it was time to get my “Rs” out of here and try elsewhere. The move was a good one as three thornbacks around 5-6lb came to the boat. The weights were estimated as I discovered I had forgotten to pack my scales, something I was to regret when I connected with a fourth ray. This was a big one; in fact it just fitted into the net which promptly snapped as I lifted the ray into the boat. This could well be a new p.b., currently 12lb, but I’ll never know. By now it was time to head in.
Wednesday, 5th. A fresher breeze with a bit more swell required a different launch site to get some shelter. I might as well have stayed at home as I had probably the worst day’s fishing for a long time. The weather didn’t help as there was a lot of rain though it wasn’t cold. A couple of drifts produced not one bite apart from a mackerel which intercepted a bait on the way down. This spot produced thornies, spotties, dabs and tub gurnards last time I fished it. My father always maintained the best way to get a bite was to “get the teabag on”, perhaps coffee doesn’t work as a fresh cup failed to induce a bite. A move further out to deeper water wasn’t much better as only a few small dabs and 2 small whiting appeared. The water was very dirty with lots of dark red-brown gunge collecting on the line when reeling in; I took some recordings with my underwater camera and it was almost impossible to see anything. Returning to the first drifts in shallower water (25-30ft) the clarity was better but the bottom was littered with fragments of seaweed, I wonder does this deter the fish as they were scarce, though I did pick up one dab following the camera through a bed of seagrass. A move to a rocky area was thwarted by the number of potmarkers festooned over it so I cut my losses and headed home. There’s always next time.
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