A Dozen Different Species

This is the second 'Friday the 13th' I have found myself out afloat in the boat this year but the weather was too good to ignore. With a half day at work we were launched around 2pm to catch the last half of the flood and have a go at catching our first bream of the year.

The fishing was very slow on the bream front...we had a bite each, that thankfully we both managed to convert into the target species.

The lack of bream though gave us a chance to catch a few other resident fish. The first, and very nice to see was an early chunky mackerel! Surprisingly, this had ignored the feathers and taken a squid bait fished on the bottom!

Wanting a few more I started to impart a bit more life into the feathers that had been sat over the stern fairly motionless......they soon produced but only came up with our old friends - the herring.

A localised move after a slow spell found us a few more species for the tally...incidentally all falling to light line, small hooks and baits to match. The next fish, and probably the most notable came in the shape of an exquisitely marked 11lb undulate....these rays are really benefiting from being left alone by the netters.

The next fish to hit the small baits took off like a train......quite surprised with what eventually came to the boat!

Minutes later....a spotted ray hit the same rod just after re-casting! Half a dozen species and counting!

We had a few dogs and pout between us before species number 9 came in. I must admit this one had me guessing until it came into view!

With no more interest from the bream, we had another move and fished with bigger hooks and baits! Here, Dave managed to pull one out the bag, the third species of ray and 10th overall....a nice painted.

I followed with another shortly after....

We joked with each other that all I needed to do now was find a thornback and a blonde to complete the grand slam. As darkness settled in, it became a real possibility!!!

So, eleven species down and we were desperately trying to find a blonde. Then, right at last knockings my rod very nearly left the boat......species no.12 but this wasn't a blonde. The big old bruiser was called way before he came to the boat. This one stayed in the water for photos tonight!

Slow on the bream and not quite what we were expecting but nice to see some variety at last with a dozen species.......summers coming!