Out of the Fog, FISH ON

The last few days have been lovely, with warm afternoons and plenty of sunshine. Overall the change in the weather has brought on the spring onslaught of fog and an increase of angling activity with plenty to report from all corners of the Bailiwick. Unfortunately for us bottom bashers, over the weekend we had to compete with something high up in the fish food chain. As we put our lines in I had a nice run followed on the next drifted by El Capitano, fishing was poor with only one small Turbot caught by Captain Tuc and a nice sized Pollack by yours truly on our old stumping grounds the Godine Bank off Sark. The bite was slow as we were going through a slack but once the tide kicked in we hoped that the fish would turn on again but the rest of the day turned out to be slow pickings. The weekend proved to be a foggy one with the viz dropping down to 50/60 metres at times, making a visual on the radar a must when motoring up to take the next drift. The tide was on the drop with a low at around 5.30 pm, the Godine fishing best at two hours before low. So we had plenty of time to catch the best of the fishing. (NOT TO BE)

While sitting in my deck chair on the back deck of Fortius feeling a bit worse for wear after a night out on the town with the captain the evening before, we both noticed a shoal of bait fish which were being forced to the surface by predators below. The fact that they were so active suggested to us that something big had sent them into a frenzy. Sure enough about 30 minutes later, our suspicions were confirmed as in the glassy calm water were some porpoise. It didn't look like much of a group, perhaps four or five just milling about on the surface keeping their distance from us, hence no pics. For the next two to three hours the fog slowly fizzled in and out and we had another sighting of the same pod that were definitely hanging around and feeding on the bait fish. Even with the poor fishing after our little marine friends had chased them away it was a great day out on the water.

Changing the subject completly, looking at the forcast there could be a wave mid week. Time to change the rods for my surf board (sorry Jen!) ..............