29th April

First float and prawn session

Ians PB Ballan Wrasse

Ian and Stuart came down for the day to have a crack at the Brighton spikey's. On paper, it all looked good for a session on the float and prawn, with the East arm being the chosen venue, inshore. Off to gather prawns first, which were hard work to get any of decent size. Possibly a bit early, but we have been spoilt in recent years by mild winters and early prawns. On arrival to the East arm, all looked well, with some colour but overall reasonable visibility. I dropped the guys off, and parked the car. By the time I got back, Stuart had already had a bass, albeit a schoolie. I cast, and the float buried within seconds. Fish on, a good scrap, and a fish of about 2.5lb's awaiting the drop net. I also had my french tenant Hugo down there with us, so I asked him to pass the net. Unfortunately, Hugo is here in part to improve his English, so there was some communication issue. With the fish still flapping on the surface, I decided to lift it, with in hindsight, obvious results. Still, all looked well. But then it went pretty much dead, for all the rest of the flood. Ian nipped out a nice wrasse, and followed it with two more. One small one, and the cracker pictured above.

Not really what the boys drove down from Essex for. Stuart and a wee bass.

The colour had thickened up, and I began to suspect this was the reaosn for the lack of action. But when the tide eased back, we suddenly started to get bites again. I landed a schoolie, and Stuart took the fish pictured. I thnk that, in the coloured water/fast tide situation, the prawns were shooting through without being discovered. Once the tide eased off, the prawns were in any given area for longer, giving more time fo the fish to find the bait.