An Early One....

Well we were up before 'Dawns crack' with an early cod or an Autumn bass as the target for the day. After launching at 4:30 we were on our way out in the darkness and the excitement of having a crack at an early cod was in the air.
I prized the first couple off of a 5lb box of squid and got the first rod out. Before I had a chance to tackle up the next she was off with a line stripping eel....this followed suit for the two of us for the next 30 minutes and we couldn't T-bar them off quick enough to get all rods fishing properly!! As the darkness started to get a hint of dark blue signalling approaching daylight a nice continuous nod on the uptider looked promising. Winding down like my life depended on it, the rod started to load up with the weight of a fish followed by a bit of bucking and nodding........would it be a golden spotty?. YES the first of the season.....and relief as she lay in the net. Only a small fish at 5lb 8oz but it was what we came for.

Next up followed a mental bite that hit me hard, it had the weight of a small eel but fought like a bass and I couldn't quite call it until she broke the surface..........." Stop dicking about with that eel and get that net" was my next shout as Dave was wrestling with another conger......After what seemed like forever which in reality was probably a few seconds it lay in the net. This one was long and lean and looked much heavier than she actually weighed. Convinced I had a double, I was surprised when she fell just short at 9lb 8oz. Still, a stonking fish and one happy angler ;-)

More eels, dogs and pout followed until Dave had his first bass of the morning at around 2 -3lb.

I followed with another bass of 4lb and another one of those early cod!

Dave finished up with another bass of similar size to his first and we called it a morning.
Great to be out in such lovely weather and good fishing thrown in too!