Well, that little weather window this evening stayed where it should have done and although it was a blowing a force 7 this morning by 4pm we were afloat making the most of it! We decided to fish the last of the ebb inshore before heading out a little further to fish most of the flood with a bit more depth beneath us.
The anchor went down after a few passes over the mark and we were soon fishing just as darkness began to fall. There were some large fish in residence but unfortunately the wrong variety.....these were long and vicious and made a mess of our carefully tied cod traces! We had 3 eels here in the space of 45 minutes, a couple of which were knocking on the door of 40lb and certainly tested the terminal gear! We were tempted to chin gaff one and bring it in for a photo but we both agreed to save that day for one that looked at least 50...that would be worth the effort and carnage that might follow should one slip the gaff in the boat!
A better looking bite just as slack tide was approaching did look a bit coddie and initially felt that way but just didn't have the fight or the weight. This turned out to be a spotted ray and marked the end of the ebb tide fishing.
Surprised not to find at least one cod here we were still hopeful of finding one or two on the flood and after a 2 mile sprint we were sat at anchor once again. We had no problems with eels here, instead we were plagued with dogfish. They were thick on the ground and picking up big cod baits within minutes. After perhaps a dozen each, I had a better bite uptide and wound down quickly to catch up with the weight nodding at the other end. It felt like a cod but lacked the bulk and weight of one. It was at this point that Dave wound down like a madman and announced he was into a similar fish....two's up then! As mine neared the surface I could see it was a cod....a small one but a cod none the less. Dave was still busy with his and with out my 'net man' I took a gamble and lifted mine up over the gunnel and safely aboard! With the first cod flapping about on the deck I grabbed the net from the holder and scooped up Dave's fish as it came into view! Two peas in a pod with Dave's fish at 5lb 12oz and mine at 6lb.
Filled with confidence of perhaps finding one more we were made to wait until last knockings. With 15 minutes to go my uptider once again gave the nod of approval and this time the fish felt much better. She was bucking and nodding around in the full run of the tide and was eased up very tentatively! Eventually a big old head broke surface and was steered towards the waiting net. At last, the fish I had been waiting for......a much better one going 17lb 4oz :-)
It really felt that we could get another any minute as the fishing was really starting to switch on with a couple more missed bites but we were running out of time. On the big tide tonight we had to be back at least two hours before high to have enough beach left for the retrieve. Reluctantly, we called it a night......made up with the fishing though, a cracking night!
No comments:
Post a Comment