New years day fishing

Long night early start.

Early morning new years day saw a early start for 2011, 6.30 alarm call woke me as the sea called our names to head off to Sark fishing.Had to cycle down to the pier with the skipper (el Capitain Stu T) in the dark to catch the tide on the Goudin bank south of Sark for a spot of banking for flats.

Early morning fishing....... is it really necessary?

By 7.30 Fortius was cutting through the tide like butter and we were off to dabble in some winter Turbot and Brill fishing.We had seen a dull and cloudy start to the day but the forecast did look promising for later in the day with the winds dropping to promise us a beautiful flat sea all the way out to the bank. I tackled up with a long strip of garfish as bait, while Stu positioned the boat on the crown of the bank for the first drift.The tell-tale tapping's of the rod tip after the second drift saw a nice tub gurnard landed by the skipper, followed by a small brill which we threw back.Then the fishing went slack for a few hours. As we were all hung over from the night before the tell tale knockings of a flattie sucking up the bait are not always noticed .Early session rustiness or perhaps lack of sleep from a night on the beer saw the skipper miss the first bite on his rod.Then all hell broke lose as a second tape on the rod tip woke us all up, jumping to his feet and clutching his rod Stu shouted, fish on, with a big grin on his face.The skipper reeled in and landed a nice 7Lbs Turbot. It is said what you do on the first day of the year will determine what you do the remainder of the year,so it looks like good catches for 2011