Well I’ve owned Fish Ardour for well over two years and the missus still hadn’t stepped aboard for a trip yet. Following a meal with friends one evening it was decided that we’d get baby sitters and head out for a Friday eve jolly in the boat (and I thought it’d be rude not to bring a rod or two along)…
Friday arrived and thankfully the weather gods were on our side, as I think it would have taken some convincing otherwise. I arrived home from work to find a cool bag packed with all the essentials for a trip to sea, selection of finest cheeses, plastic wine cups, picnic rug, bottle of red wine and some beers!! Anyhow I also had Ben and Kat M along for the trip. Kat was after catching a fish of any size and Ben was looking to beat his PB plaice of around 3lb (I was confident!!)
We launched the boat with Jane and Kat going ‘carnival queen’ down the slipway & Ben borrowing my waders. I launched for the first time ever in flip flops & was pleased the water had warmed up in recent weeks.
Due to conditions I motored slowly to the mark for the comfort of the passengers, aware that this was make or break for another trip like this!! Soon enough we arrived and I stayed well inshore where conditions would be more comfortable…we stayed shallow in order to be able to fish effectively due to the tide strength about 30ft. Jane started off in the cabin by pouring a glass of vino, which amused me when we started hitting a few small waves when positioning for the first drift The others readied the gear, bait and deployed! It took a drift or too to locate a patch and locate them we did! Kat was first in & I was pleased to see the first fish welcomed aboard – nice plump plaice but not sure she was too happy holding it for a pic though!
After a few more smaller ones, Ben's rod was soon showing a healthy bend and I knew I needed the net for this one…sure enough a decent fish and once aboard had no issues beating his previous PB, a real thick fish of – 5lb 8oz
Jane’s competitive side soon got the better of her and she wanted in! I set her up with my Suveran uptide rod and before I could turn round the gear had been lowered and her rod was bent double with a decent one thumping about on the bottom – I told her to reel slowly and quickly tended to another fish on the other side of the boat, knowing this could take a while!... Seconds later I heard a scream and turned round to see the rig had been wound into the tip eye and a dustbin lid was hanging half out of the water!! A quick lunge for the net in the holder on the top of the cuddy, a quick scoop and she was ours! I could see the fish had a massive profile but could have been thicker. On the scales it went 5lb 12oz – reckon it would have pushed well over 7lb if fully conditioned.
We called it a day shortly after and was well pleased with the result – Ben was made up with his PB, Kat was pleased to have caught a couple, and I think Jane may even come along again sometime soon!!
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