I chose a beach that offered comfortable fishing from the car. I left home late morning and in rainy wet weather but arrived at the mark to a glorious mild day (13°C) with even some breaks in the clouds. The wind was fresh but it was on my back, the sea was calm and it was approaching low tide.
First thing I noticed was a decent sea tout, about 2lb, lying dead on the shore - probably the result of poor fish handling
It had been dead for some time and there were a couple of hooded crows pecking at its eyes and gills, they were struggling to get at the rest of the flesh though so I got out of the car and did them a big favour, I cut the skin down the length of the fish.. my good deed for the day.I was soon set up and had 2 rods fishing, both with 3 hook flappers (2up 1down) baited with manky yellow mack; I was happy too to be christening the new Shimano reel (Beastmaster 10000 XB), it felt smooth and sturdy. I let the baits soak for a bit then checked them, in came small bundles of leaves and crap on every hook, and the crabs had cleaned the hooks 'n' all in the process. Ballix. I re-baited and cast out again (hopefully it would be manageable or would clear) upon where I heard a bit of a clatter behind me. I turned round to see a young fella face-plant the sand then roll head over tit along the beach; his horse had thrown him, bolted, and was now galloping into the distance. He was about 12 years old and of the rolly-polly type anyway and so he actually made for a nice uniform tumble, he performed it well and I initially thought that maybe he was training himself to be a stunt man. This cheered me up a little. I caught his eye and asked “Are ye all right?!” to which, between the sobs, he gave me a reassuring thumbs up. He jogged off after the horse, still sobbing, but a stronger man for it.
Upon the next reel in I saw the inevitable bundle of leaves and crap come in but this time I glimpsed a little flap of a tail amongst it; I was made-up as a nice little flounder was holding on. It made my day. 24cm. I was happy with that
After about 2 hours the rain had started on and off and so I started packing up, as i didn't fancy fishing into dark neither. I had a quick chat to the lad (of three) beside me and all that they had had between them was 2 doggies over several hours. Another fisherman arrived and drove over to me for a summary of how I had fared. In the process, he was keen to tell me about a bass that he had caught of this very beach 4 years ago, at 11lb 2oz! Jammy get
As i was driving off I saw my wee buddy getting a foot back up onto his horse, good for him. And the sea trout had been well and truly properly cleaned, with a now handful of birds nearby with smiles on their faces.
