10th January

Brighton Marina

My wife Radka and Herring

Coming back from the Czech republic, our Christmas escape finally over, it was to similar conditions to what we had left behind. At Gatwick when we got out of the airport it felt quite mild, at only -8 celcius. Waking the net morning it was to non existent winds, a hard frost and a clear sea. Looked good for some herring action (I wont call them herring and spratt as I now realise they are all herring) so I persuaded the Mrs out of the house and we headed down to the marina. Really shouldnt have done it, as the car engine was pretty frozen solid, and it led to all sorts of problems afterwards. But hey, after four weeks landlocked I just wanted to smell the sea again.

My turn....!!

I set Radka up with the tiny Sabiki's, whilst I messed about trying to get them working right on the float. In the end I had to trim them down to five feathers (I think there are ten to begin with) otherwise casting was awrward, to say the least. While I was doing this, Radka found the target. After she had caught three or so I persuaded her to play with the float rod, as the reptetive casting was tiring her arms anyhow. I managed to catch one, my first fish of 2009. Then a shout went up from Radka.

Radka with a "proper" one

She had made contact with the only decent herring of the day, holding back the feathers fished at minimum depth just alongside the wall!!

The final tally.....

After a couple of hours we had got cold enough, had both caught our first fish of 2009, and were happy to run back to the central heating in the bungalow. A very lovely start to 2009....!!