Neil from Baitdigger’s Blog reports:
Walking swiftly to the area I wanted to try I notice another lad who was flinging lures into the grey water. I met up with him after about an hour to find he had managed slightly less than me as I had taken a kittiwake off the surface on a popper. My walk the dog style was good enough to fool a gull but not good enough to entice a bass. Although clear the water carried suspended weed but no sign of life.
On the way back to the car park there was a third angler, imagine, meeting two other lads on the same day. Not a fish on the baits either.
I decided to follow the advice of a certain sheep worrying journalist from the South West of England who told me not to worry about what I cannot catch and concentrate a bit more on what I can, so the surface lures were swapped for a soft plastic and jighead and the beach swapped for some deeper water and rocks.
Even for a bank holiday the next mark was busy enough but not overcrowded and there was enough room for Pete to be targeting pollack on the fly with considerable success.
I dropped in beside him and we chatted away as we fished and soon I was getting the odd knock but had to revert to stopping the retrieve dead to make the fish take the dirty silver savagear sandeel slug.
Pete kindly offered to take a few pictures of me, which I gladly accepted to give me something slightly more tangible than memories when I return to the UK and from a vantage point up in the rocks the location looked impressive, a perch, as Pete put it.
I was getting hit in the same place of the retrieve every time and new it was a fish rather than a snag. I guessed from the savage rattles that it was a small wrasse and had decided to change lures to a smaller green senko but on my last planned cast I managed to hook the wrasse on the sandeel.
There were a few shots of me holding the fish but it looked like I was cracking a smile in which case I think I look slightly unnerving and I also would not want to give anyone the impression that I was enjoying myself.
Thanks to Pete for taking the photos and I hope I find time to fish with you again in the next few weeks.
Neil
