14th May

Early a.m. The good ship "Jester II"

Steve and the first fish on "Jester II"

I have been accused of burning the candle at both ends on a few occasions. I guess this was one of those. I had originally planned to go out with Steve on Wednesday morning, on his recently acquired craft "Jester II", an 18 foot micro-plus. Having given it some sea trials, and ironed out the electrics, he was satisfied it was ready for its first use, "in anger". Trouble was, Wednesday bought with it nasty NE winds, and we abandoned. But with the wind abating, I popped out for some prawns, grabbed some crab from the fridge and met Steve for 02:00 at Shoreham slipway .Steve already had the boat in the water, so off we went, to check out the "jenny" grounds. Some interesting bottom out there that's for sure!! We tried float and prawn, and crab down the bottom. First away was Steve, with a decent pouting, appropriate that the captain of the vessel should capture the first fish to come aboard his craft. Something tells me it will be the first of many to follow. Just hope they aren't all pout......

My first black bream of the year

There is something about Shoreham this year that the black bream are loving. I don't mean the tiny ones that are partly a pest due to their numbers and hunger a little later in the year, but decent fish. The biggest I have heard of this year from the Shoreham wall is 4.5lb!! Plenty over 2lb both at Shoreham and the marina. Very strange but very welcome. The one pictured above is my first one this year, and I must admit it has put me in the mood to have a serious shore based bash at them very soon. Some more pouting followed, but the bass left the prawns alone. The one bait sized pouting I caught got pretty much filleted by a cuttlefish before a bass could find it, and the same destiny befell a couple of prawns. But, owing to a client booking, I had to be back in my car by 08:00. Which is where more fun and games ensued. Due to the nature of the River Adur, there was no-where firm to put me ashore. ONly soft mud, and I only had trainers on. Problem solved with a little ingenuity. I put Steve's waders on, walked the tackle to the shore. Came back and collected a long rope and a plastic bag. On return to the shore, I popped on my trainers, bagged up the waders and tied the rope to the bag. Steve then slid them across the mud back to the boat. Job done, and only running a little late!! Thanks Steve, for an excellent adventure. I hope it is the first of many!

Normal Morning - Float and Prawn on the East arm

Typical float and prawn bass. Stunning!!

After fighting through the rush hour traffic, I managed to get to the tackle box only five minutes late, where I met Dan. He had come down to attempt to catch his first ever bass. With the exception of poor Paul's session on the 11th, I have been finding some reasonable fish for my clients of late, so felt pretty confident, with absolutely perfect conditions for the float and prawn. This was the problem for Paul's trip, in that the forecasted conditions hadn't happened, resulting in no fish!! Today, everything had promise. If anything there were only two potential problems. The sea was VERY clear, like tap water, and the sun kept threatening to come out, despite a forecast for miserable heavy rain. First stop was to the prawn pools, where the prawning was very hard indeed. Very few large prawns. Luckily, I still had plenty from the mornings fishing, so there wasn't any pressure as such. But the bigger prawns are very reluctant to come inshore at the moment. Either that, or there are so many bass they are getting massacred!! As we walked across one reef, there was an explosion in the water of a gully next to us, as we spooked what I suspect was a bass creeping in with the flooding tide looking for crabs to feast upon. Prawns secured, we were off to the marina for the fishing, on the East arm. Dan showed he was a pretty competent angler straight off, with no issues to iron out. And with the marina walls devoid of other anglers, we were able to cover plenty of ground. It was slow to begin with, but as the tide increased and the water deepened, so we began to get a few bites. Dan was set up identically to me, and was certainly paying attention, but a classic case of luck set in, as I began to catch bass in the 1.5 to 2lb range. Dan in this time didn't get the lightening fast float bury of a bass at all, instead finding wrasse. Nothing really to explain why, which is very frustrating, but I think he had begun to resign himself to not catching his silver scaled quarry.

2lb 8oz - A cracking first bass and biggest of the session

The tide by now was dropping, and with the receding tide the end of our session crept ever nearer. I had every part of me that moves crossed for luck, that Dan would experience the ultra fast take of a float and prawn bass. With my role as guide, I do take it very personally if my clients wishes are not granted. But I should have realised the guiding gods wouldn't let me down. A shout from Dan, and I looked up to see his rod bouncing in a way that suggested bass. And then I heard a clutch screech, a very encouraging sign of a bass that is able to pull back. I ran over with the drop net, and after a short battle was very relieved to hoist up Dan's first bass, pictured above. I could also see that the fish had made Dan's day, the pride in his catch beaming through. Extremely well deserved, as after so long without the bite you are waiting for, it is easy to drop the concentration that is essential for catching these silver spiked beauties with this technique

Personal Best Ballan for Dan!

Not long after, I thought he had done it again, as another decent bend in the rod developed. Clearly a net fish, I deployed it and hauled up not a bass, but a nice wrasse of over a couple of pounds. A wonderful end to a very enjoyable session. Thank you Dan, for making my job very easy, by listening and absorbing the little tips and tricks that make all the difference between catching bass and not.