Who caught who?

It was calmer than we expected, maybe too calm as they say.  About half an hour from our chosen launch site Jamie checked the forecast, still looking good. There was a change in direction around mid-day with an increase in strength for an hour. It was forecast to drop off again late till afternoon, all was good. This spot is better left to the smaller tides when you’re on a kayak, even today, with next to no wind we were drifting 1.5-1.8mph and with a sketchy looking swell against the tide the big guy let me have the honour of the first drift through. I opted for an FBM with a 25g offshore head which looked and felt about right. The first fish of the day thought so as well, a solid start.

I was just dealing with unhooking the fish when I heard Jamie on the radio saying he was hooked up behind me. I had a look round and could see him playing the fish which he had hooked on the troll.  I took a pedal over for a look and to reposition myself for the next drift.

It was feeling like the choice of venue had paid off. The next couple of hours were busy, Jamie mixed it up with trolling and casting and picked up another decent fish along with some Pollack and a few Bass.

The bait at times was thick on the ground

Bass snacks

Bass at work. I picked two of these off from below the Revo

I was having a lot of success sink and draw so stuck with that, great fun mostly 45cm fish with a sprinkling of mid 50’s the radio banter was in full flow. We could see in the distance the sheets of rain heading our way, we debated how long it would take to hit us. It just happened that these black clouds were bang on que with the forecast change,you could feel the conditions changing, bigger swells, more wind and a few white caps. After about an hour I decided to check the forecast update and got Jamie on radio, we need to go, sharpish. He agreed, we both knew it would be a rough ride. XC Weather was a nice shade of yellow, in the mid-twenties, for the foreseeable. The squall we could see coming earlier and expected to pass, didn’t.

The journey back for me was a lot faster than Jamie’s. His was clearly more comfortable but harder work. The difference between the boats was noticeable. When you’ve got tide and waves building out of deeper water into 5-8ft in depth it gets nasty. I also had to take a longer route, with a view to spending less time side on when making the turn to the launch site approach. Jamie was about ½ mile behind me as I did my first surf landing on the Revo. It was edgy, that  trip back was the absolute limit for me. I wouldn’t be keen to be doing that again in a hurry. I was glad to be back on the beach, I’m not going to lie.

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