Funautical: Fishcapades

Over the last few weeks I've been doing some work on Stu's new house. Stu and I decided that we had grafted hard enough this week and it was time to take some time out on Sunday and take Fortius out for a spot of fishing.

With the prevailing weather still coming from the North East the conditions on the east coast remain less than perfect. Despite this we have had an un seasonally warm break in the weather over the last few days with sunshine and light south east winds greeting us on Sunday morning.

Some loose talk on Friday about taking a trip out to the Schole bank to look for some flats, was soon put to rest after we looked at the tide table and noticed that Guernsey had the biggest tidal change of 2011 with an 0.2 low and a 10.2 high on the weekend. That meant we would never hold the bottom with our baits. (Should be out Ormering with a tide like that). So plan two was put into action to hit the Godine Bank south of Sark where the tide should in theory, not be running so hard.

Nearly missing the boat on Sunday due to Stu working me to hard on his house and over sleeping his TXT to meet up at 10 down at the harbour, I was sent in panic mode to get my S**t together and get down in time to catch the tide. Jen kindly gave me a hand and quickly packed me some lunch and a flask of coffee, so that was a bonus! On arrival I found Tuc and Phillis (Phil Ogier) loading the Peril along side the pier and ready to take the boys to the mother ship which was moored up in the pool. The trip started off with a bang and as we readied the boat in St Peter Port with calm conditions that were predicted to prevail for the next few days, the trip out to the bank was as pleasant as they can get and the excitement was rife. The journey out was an ideal time to chat with the motley crew on our prospects and the past triumphs on Fortius. On arrival on the Godine, which we hadn't visited since New Years day, I was itching to get out there to test run a new rod. Breaking out the new Kenzaki 12/20 Lbs class boat rod out of its rapper and rigging a simple boom rig with a 6/0 hook baited with a flapper of poky nose (that's Garfish or long nose to the land lubbers out there), I was soon waiting in anticipation for the twitching of carbon. It didn't take long for Stu to blow the cobwebs off and recognise the area again, once we knew where we were it was game on. We managed to time the tide just perfect, this particular little corner of the bank can produce some nice fish on the right tide. I had time on our first drift to take a look around at the other boats fishing only to see Phillis doing battle with his rod, my brain at this stage was working overtime with excitement as I knew it was early in the session for Brill and Turbot, and wondering what Phillis had on the other end of his rod after only 10 minutes of fishing time. We soon had a nice 5Lbs Turbot flapping on the deck. While we were unhooking Phil's fish on the deck Tucs rod twitched with a poky nose flapper on it, leaving us to deal with the Tub. He lifted his rod, struck, as he felt sure he was hooked into it, only for it to let go half way up to the surface, which niffed him somewhat. Baiting back up and heading up tide to the drop zone for a second run produced nothing apart from Tuc missing another fish. I say again, MISSING ANOTHER FISH. Then all went quite until Phillis landed a nice little early session bass on a green he feathered up earlier. Had a great session today, the combination of the calm after the storm and a spring tide coinciding with a Sunday afternoon, along with taking a fish on our first drift made for a great day out. Thought Tuc and I was in for an epic session after a great start, but not to be. Phillis stole all the glory and out fished us...