Once again, a single day of good weather presented a chance to get afloat. In the past I have only made the trip west when two days were on offer to make the long tow worthwhile but last year and this year I have had to settle for one day at a time. I was thinking of trying for tope but the would-be crew was otherwise engaged so Chuckaroo plus nephew joined me instead for a trip targeting rays; the tope mark was a longer trip for Chuckaroo.
Like last time out the weather and conditions were even better than forecast and the boat had just slid off the trailer when the crew arrived. We headed off in search of mackerel for bait but after trying a couple of spots we had only two to show. A couple of grey gurnard, including the smallest I’ve ever seen, small poorcod, a tiny scad and pin whiting added to the species count. With some frozen bait in reserve, we headed for the ray mark where we might pick up a few more mackerel. We soon had three rods fishing mackerel strips on the sand, I would have preferred a slightly faster drift to cover the ground a bit quicker as it is a big “mark”, more of a “region”, and it can take a while to find the fish… always assuming they are there! First bite was a dogfish which conveniently unhooked itself alongside the boat. Five minutes later a second doggie took the bait and this one came aboard to be unhooked. A while later another bite and this time it was a small thornback, 2lb 4oz. All the action so far was to my rod, was the attractor spoon making the difference? That was about it, the slow fishing ground to a halt. At this point, a surprise visitor in the form of a damselfly arrived in the boat, a long way from freshwater.
It was time for a change to deeper water and rougher ground. Swapping flowing traces for two hook flappers, we lowered the rigs and with fish showing on the sounder, we were hopeful. First to show was a small cuckoo wrasse followed by a mix of small ballans and pouting. I switched from bait to soft plastics hoping to pick out a few pollack. Although there were reasonable numbers of fish on the sounder, they weren’t feeding that hard and it took a while to find a hungry pollack. Several retrieves had the fish nipping at the worm/sandeel plastic but eventually a couple of pollack to about 3lb committed properly. Young Joe was getting a few fish, hopefully he was happy enough. Chuckaroo hauled up a better ballan with beautiful colours, his best fish of the day. As one last throw of the dice we decided to try a spot for tope, a historical mark if you like, so with a quick change of rigs and the anchor biting in the current we gave it an hour. My flowing trace fished hard on the bottom fed the crabs while Chuckaroo’s pulley rig, keeping the bait just off the bottom, came back untouched. I suppose an hour isn’t that long and we probably weren’t fishing the best time but it was time to head for the slip to get Joe back home for bedtime! With the boat back on the trailer and unloaded I told Chuckaroo to head for home while I secured the boat, ready for the road. Off they went and 10 minutes I was ready too. I had just sparked up the engine, well glow plugged would be more accurate for a diesel, when I noticed something in the passenger seat footwell; the Whiskey Fairy had paid a visit! Not such a poor day after all.
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