,
Well I suppose that’s pretty obvious really, maybe what I should have said was "It isn’t easy when it’s tough"? Anyhow I’m just back from a trip away that I probably shouldn’t have gone on, and feeling it. The tides were good, the time of year not bad but the forecast was bad and.... I ignored it to my cost. So sure was I that I’d get a fish or two that would make it all worthwhile, as on previous occasions, I pressed ahead with my plans and tried everything I know to no avail. To be fair the howling NW winds would have pretty much guaranteed nothing had I stayed at home and fished but I hadn’t bargained on being caught out in some ferocious sleet, driven by 30 knt squalls, that had me hiding behind the rocks for up to twenty minutes while the beach was torrented by those tiny balls of ice some of which were still visible in crevices 10mins after falling no wonder the fish had switched off.
Can we have some nicer weather please!
,
Had a very different and enjoyable fishing session with local legend Michael Quirke last weekend. The plan was to target flounders on a rising to full tide, in the event the flounders didn’t show but we had a unique angling experience all the same. From the outset we could see into the clear shallow tidal pool almost as if it were an aquarium and when testing the action of our small plastics in the shallows they were immediately attacked by miniature Blenny like fish, sometimes smaller than the plastic themselves, that would dart out from under the rocks. Michael eventually scaled down and started catching them on crab which had been brought along as a plan B for the flounders (See above). From our vantage point we could witness some huge mullet cruising around and shoals of other smaller species that we couldn’t quite identify, or catch! We were constantly surrounded by massive shoals ever of busy sand eels.
All in all this style of light fishing with plastics in and estuary (LEF maybe?) has a lot of fun potential and would be ideal for kids as there was so much going on and all very visual.
On reflection one thought that crossed my mind was that it’s easy to blame high pressure and a biting north easterly wind, as it was on that day, for killing off the action when at our normal Bass fishing activities but from what we saw everything else in food chain was acting as normal and totally oblivious to what was happening in the skies above...
