26th June - a.m. Rough ground

Four get sun tanned..........

I must admit I had tried to dissuade this party of four from coming. Originally planned with surf bassing in mind, the hoped for winds were far away when the day finally materialised. The guys had decided to come down regardless, to pick up the techniques if not the fish, and as the morning progressed, my weather station kept telling me to head East to Seaford. My eyes saw a different story as we drove alon the cliff tops, with reasonable colour along the rough. We diverted to the rough stuff. On reflection, maybe plan A was better. We will never know, as fishing is like that. We went through the motions for four hours, but unsuprisingly with the rapidly clearing water and bright sunshine, without incident. There is a happy footnote though.......

Using the same tactics scaled down, as I advised whilst waffling on to try and ensure some value was taken from the trip, trip organiser Stuart did go down to the surf, in excellent sufry conditions, and hammered the bass, so he was very happy, and that made me very happy. Blanking with clients leaves me with a heavy heart, and a dent in my confidence until the next client success, so to hear that the trip resulted in a bumper session for the guys was very nice indeed!!

26th June P.M. - Brighton Beaches

Bruno and 6lb 5oz bass

The dreaded Easterly wind had dissapeared, and instead a light south westerly airstream bought with it very mild and calm conditions. Back on the rough with Bruno, it all felt good. I do tell my clients that on the rough ground, three takes is a very good night. We had a very good night!!!! Bruno's first take was connected with, but the fish shot incredibly quickly to the right, screaming line off the drag. Not quite sure what happened, but I suspect that it made the edge of the stone breakwater to its advantage. Whatever it was, that very powerful fish managed to throw the hook, and the line went slack. I'm not sure who was more upset, Bruno or me. But it also does make it rather exciting to lose a good fish every now and then. Its what keeps us coming back....!!

Bruno's second take was a rod wrencher without connection. Nothing more to be said.

Bruno's third take resulted in the 6lb 5oz fish pictured above. I think the true beauty of seeing someone catch a personal best bass is the transformation in the persons face. Look back through the pages of the diary, and you cant fail to notice the expression of every single person who holds that big bar of silver. I love my job........!!! oh... and confidence restored....