Plan C

Saturday came around again and I looked forward to sitting comfortably behind a tripod once more.  The lure fishing had been an interesting diversion which will be repeated but I do prefer relaxing behind rods.  With high tide scheduled for around 2200 it meant I had a lazy day apart from a couple of odd jobs and a TMS soundtrack which helped move the hands of the clock.  Rain brought an early tea with NZ on top so with no cricket on the radio and it was a good time to hit the road.

I had a destination in mind but when I got there the car park looked busy, no matter I continued to plan B which is near by, basically another way of getting to the same place but this one was even worse.  Trying to find a space in either would be more hassle than I could be arsed with.  What should I do?  In the end I went for plan C, back to the steep beach.  Here I managed to find a bit of space but there were anglers coming and going all night, at one point I could see over twenty spaced out along a couple of miles either side of me.  People tend to keep to themselves, there is plenty of room and rarely any disagreements but the ambiance was spoilt somewhat.  By 1630 I was sitting comfortably staring up at two rod tips framed by sky blue.  The day was bright with a moderate south westerly, the sea was a bit lumpy and looked murky.  There was also a fair amount of weed drifting around which was bound to be a pain at times but I was there, doing what I’ve grown to love.

Three hours later, I was blasted by a wind that was coming from an unexpected direction, not the westerly I’d been promised, the crabs had been feasting and stripping hooks but at least the amount of floating weed had decreased and I hadn’t seen a sign of a bite.  Still I was content because anglers either side of me weren’t winding them in either and I know the best time was yet to come.  As usual I used a heavy rod blasted out and a lighter rod which I varied, in other words the methods that usually work but tonight they weren’t.  More time passed, the tide reached its highest, the sky grew dusky and an angler close by caught a small Ray but still my rod tips hadn’t registered anything overtly fishy.  As usual the wind died away at dusk and the evening became suddenly warmer.

Head torch time and by now the sea was going backwards, will the darkness make any difference?  I chucked out a lump of bluey intending to only leave it a few minutes while I whipped up another disgusting squid/crab sushi nightmare.  Then it happened… Rat a tat tat followed by a slow steady pull.  I was on my feet and attached to something with a bit of weight which allowed me to haul it back.  After a bit of tugging in the surf I pulled it up the beach, my first Ray of the year!  It was just a small one but that didn’t matter, it was one of the sea creatures that motivate me most and was a little beauty.  Blank avoided, confidence restored there was time for another one.  I fished on for another hour then suddenly felt fatigued, time to get home to a comfortable bed.

It’s mid June now so I suppose spring has now become summer.  My diary reveals I’ve fished ten times in the brine this year catching over sixty fish of nine different species.  It feels like I’m starting to get amongst the more interesting fish even if they are only small ones so far but the next time I fish I’ll be doing something completely different.