A couple of days in August

Where should I go on an early evening tide?  The beaches have been slow and there’s a stiff south westerly today.  If I fished that spot on the river it would be blowing over my head and I’d be sheltered by an embankment, also there’s a chance of catching on lures which is enough motivation to make the long walk.  I was fishing by 1620 with rag on the light rod and squid on the heavy rod but I had to fish both close as drifting weed was a nightmare.  I used the lure rod too, fishing around my lines with jigs, spoons and spinners and wandering down to the snags every now and then but nothing was at home today.  For a while nothing much happened but the signs were good, there were fry congregating in the calm water in front of me, Terns were diving and surely the Bass would be hunting them?

I had a few rattles but my first proper bite came after an hour but it wasn’t a proper Bass, just a little one.  This wasn’t the start of a feeding spell though, I was getting the odd rattle but just one more Bass landed before high tide at 1840 but this wasn’t unexpected.  By 1900 the tide was going out and gathering pace but in truth the fishing action wasn’t.  Bites did come more frequently but not as many as last time I’d fished and I had nothing at all on lures, not even the snags produced any fish.  By the time the sun was setting I was fishing both rods on ragworm, I thought the bites might stop with darkness but I did get a few more, a couple that I don’t know how I missed plus another Bass, my sixth and an Eel.

I packed up at 2130 when I ran out of both bait and energy.  This coincided with an invasion of tiny bugs which covered everything but at least they didn’t want to suck my blood.  Then came the walk in the dark, by the time I got back to the car I was blowing a bit but more than anything I was bored of putting one foot in front of the other.

One week later...

It was supposed to be my day off but an emergency shift popped up so I was up at 0630 and drove north for a busy day in the tourist heart of Broadland.  Wroxham, it is what it is but it’s definitely not what comes to my mind when I think of the broads, this was more like Yarmouth on the Bure.  When I agreed to the shift I arranged to leave early as I’d already bought my bait and had a beach night planned.  I got home and switched the radio on to TMS while I filled the flask and sorted bait and tackle, I happily heard the last four wickets of an England win before the gear was sorted.

Twelve hours after I’d got out of bed my feet were crunching shingle as I followed Giles towards the sea, we dumped our gear at the top of the slope and looked down at a cauldron of boiling water.  This is an area of bars and gullies with currents that would take a life time to work out.  We’d decided to brave the ‘tricky beach’ and having arrived just before low tide we found the water racing out towards the open sea.  From what we’ve learned about this area we expected things to get more manageable once the tide turned, then we’d fish the tide all the way up to the next high point which would arrive in the early minutes of tomorrow.  The sky was clear but a north easterly wind blew in our faces, as usual it was stronger than forecast but as usual it would drop away as night fell.

To begin with any attempts to fish at range saw the rig dragged down tide before the lead had a chance to hit the seabed.  Baits fished closer held for a while until drifting weed added weight to the line and pulled it round, a problem that occurred on and off throughout the night.  With the tide on the way back up the fishing became more relaxed.  I fished my usual methods; Ragworm on a running rig which I dropped in very close and bigger tubes of wretched squidy stinkiness were fished at whatever range the currents would allow at the time.  Time passed and it seemed to get dark quickly but our tips had stayed stationary, I began to have my doubts, the beaches have been slow lately.  As the sea crept up the slope so the waves got bigger and louder, beach fishing is rarely quiet.

About two hours in with the sky fully dark I was watching my tip jag up and down on a whole squid I’d managed to keep pinned to the bottom for a while.  It looked kind of fishy but I figured it was probably just the lead shifting slightly in the tide.  Then two sharp downward pulls convinced me it had to be a fish!  I picked up the rod and wound into a decent weight, I wondered if it was a ball of weed but no this was definitely pulling back.  It seemed to take ages to bring it to the shore and several times the unseen sea creature pulled the rod down with force.  With a good fish in close I’ve learnt to be patient, I can’t pull against the outgoing wave but the next incoming one will help me.  I was expecting to see a decent Ray but something long and pale emerged from the dark water, a Smoothound and my biggest by a distance!  The bigger they get the more impressively shark-like they become and I was chuffed as nuts, the best thing to happen to me in saltwater this year.

Eventually I calmed down and resumed fishing but this wasn’t the start of any kind of feeding spell.  The fluctuating currents meant a lot of recasting on the heavy rod but seeing that fish had motivated us and we were up for it but for an hour nothing happened.  Then it was the light rod fished close in that gave a positive rattle and I wasn’t surprised to wind a small Bass up the beach.  At no point did the fishing become hectic but in the run up to high tide we both had regular bites on baits fished only a few yards behind the waves and we caught Bass steadily, what’s more they seemed to be getting bigger.  A slight tremor on my light rod brought another species, a tiny bloody Eel.  The fishing was interesting enough but we really wanted one of the big fish baits to go.

By the time high tide arrived the stars were spectacular but the ragworm was running out so I swung out a bundle of odds and ends tipped with one small lively worm.  I was starting to tidy up when I glanced up to see the light rod being yanked down violently, a good fish had hooked itself and felt powerful as it tried to head down tide.  It had been hooked on a short line but I had to be patient again and use the tide to my advantage.  I was sure I was playing a good sized Bass and so it proved as a lovely big silver bar was carried in on a wave.  For the second time tonight I knew I was looking down on a PB.  Mind blown, this was surreal.

The changing tide brought a new breeze, we knew things would become unfishable soon.  I left the remaining couple of ragworm for Giles and mounted a small squid on a big hook and plopped it out, big fish or bust.  Giles caught another decent Bass, by now it was approaching 0200 and we were knackered so commenced tidying up.  As usual I left one rod balanced on my chair for as long as possible while I stashed the other gear, this was the squid fished close and I could have sworn the tip just gave a rattle?  I wound in to find another fish attached, my seventh Bass of the evening was another decent sized fish but was nothing like the last one.

Dog tired but happy, we were quiet on the way home but Spiritualised sounded great.  Back home I sorted out a few bits as quietly as possible then washed and head upstairs, I lay down twenty one hours after I got up, today was a good day.