Its a funny old game...

It has been a funny old month and it’s only the first week!  The fish seem to be about in fewer numbers, with just a few specimen fish being landed, in comparison to the number of hours invested.  The Rays and Hounds seem to have moved on with mainly Spotted’s being the Rays still putting in an appearance.  Very few Bass are being caught, which may be linked to the lack of bait fish showing from the shore.  Notwithstanding, Drew Garrett proved somewhat to the contrary with landing his nineteenth double figure bass from Ryde Pier!  Further concreting his status as a top bass man!  It’s worth popping into Drew’s shop for a chat, Bait & Tackle, Victoria Arcade, Ryde, where he is usually happy to share how he did it.  Although shore caught Mackerel seem to be in very short supply, reports from Jason Lovell’s Sea Raider Charters indicates that things are picking up for the boats, so I think I may have to book myself a trip soon!

8lb Bass caught earlier this year from Sandown, I haven't caught another since!

So it seems to be the case that we are now waiting for Autumn, which in fairness is my favourite time of year to fish anyway.  As those who are following the group or John Popplewell’s ‘All at Sea’ will know, our cross-country challenge continues with this round requiring the catching and evidencing of a Bass in excess of 3lb.  John almost had me, but the fishing Gods were on my side, he forgot his scales!  The saga continues and who knows what mission will be next!  I am hoping we can get something into the media about our escapades, as both John and I really enjoy the challenge and we are hoping to include a home and away match too!

Only smaller hounds seem to be around now until the late run

A few friends an I (Mark Barton, Dougal Martindale and Tim Dyer) visited Totland for the first time this year, because I had a feeling there might be Sole around.  I was right!  I think all too often we ignore gut instincts when actually listening to them can really pay off.  Tim was the first to catch, after an extensive break in his fishing life and this being his first Sole, he was chuffed and I was really pleased for him too.  Mark managed to catch a couple of smaller Wrasse at last light and he was next to catch a Sole, followed by a Silver Eel.  I had a Sole just before dawn when we were just taken back by the beauty of the sunrise, quite a way to see in a new day.

 Mark Barton waits for a bite at last light.

 Tim Dyer restarts his fishing career with his first Sole!

 Mark is next to catch a Sole, a fish which he actively pursues and is my guru!

 Breaking the Blank! I managed an average sized sole

 What a beautiful way to see the day in...

The latest copy of TSF is out shortly and there are some cracking features and great reviews.  I really enjoyed reading Gareth Davies hunting hounds, Shaun Cummings Solent Ray feature the Bass How To…Also as always a spot on Editorial from Barns.

Something I have particularly enjoyed of late is trying to help a friend of mine get back into sea fishing after a break of about 20 years.  He didn’t have much joy on the first couple of trips, so for a guaranteed catch we went to Blackgang.  As those who have been there will know, it’s a hell of a trek to blank, so I hoped that something would put in an appearance.  It was worthwhile in the end, as although only Pouting put in an appearance, the look of joy on his face was humbling.  I did miss out on a monstrous bite; however, the mission was accomplished nonetheless.

Blackgang: quite a trek but aesthetically perfect

Something else quite magical to me was taking my little girl fishing down East Cowes seafront with her little pink rod.  She was casting and winding in for herself and doing a good job of it too!  She isn’t allowed to bait up as she is only 4, but I hope she will be my fishing buddy when she is big enough.  She has been trained well, she can already identify a majority of UK shore caught fish, even being able to differentiate the different Ray and Wrasse species!  Time like this with her is precious to me and makes memories we can both share.

It would appear that the disjointed and fractious relationships within our community are continuing to prevail.  This formed a part of my recent commentary in the Total Sea Fishing blogs.  It saddens me that in modernity, with all the tools available to us, such as social media and instantaneously connecting technologies, we remain without cohesion and making the most of our interconnectedness through shared interests.  I have formed the Wight Lines group around the principles and framework of zero tolerance for any behaviours indicative of bullying, or harassment towards fellow anglers.  The idea is to foster an environment which makes people feel safe and confident to post pictures, stories or queries without risk of harassment or degradation, an enabling environment if you will.  This has been mostly successful, with the majority happy with what we are doing.  With over 800 members, this is testimony to creating a safe haven for all.  Due to the ever growing membership I have had to recruit more admins to help with the sizable task of monitoring the group.

Finally, those who have been following my to-and-fro with the Angling Trust will be aware that I sent a secondary round of queries which are still awaiting a response.  I have had an interim response which is requesting a little more time in order to collate information and hopefully negate the need for tertiary queries.  I will post responses to the group for my peers to review.

That’s it for now, may your catches be bountiful!

Tight Lines

Adz