[fishingtheusaandcanada] Raindrops keep falling......

 

Hello there

 

I haven't been fishing for some months. The weather does not encourage it.

 

Back in May I had an exciting incident. This is the story. You may enjoy it. I hope so. Reading again about your exploits is a lot of fun.

 

They (the fish) will soon be back --- Denis (and why the font keeps changing, I don't know)

 

07/07 WEST BEACH , LITTLEHAMPTON, ENGLAND

 

Fishing off the West Beach side of the Arun river-mouth is not always productive.

 

 I arrived there at 8-30 am. on May 30. The West Beach side is the one adjacent to the reserved area which includes the sand dunes. To get there you pass the Littlehampton Golf Club, the Arun Yacht Club and the Littlehampton Sail and Motor Club. You know when you have arrived  because, fortunately, there is a Snack Bar  named The Ship's Galley and, unfortunately, because you have to pay to park the car. 

 

The sea was heaving: grey/green in colour.  It was raining. No, it was pouring -- like in those tropical countries where the rain  jumps up at you and soaks your trousers.  I had lost a good bass here two days ago. It escaped as I was lifting it. I had been thinking about it during the night. How did it get off?  Was it ever on? Should I use bigger hooks?  You know the thoughts we have.

 

As I said, I was there at 8-30 am. I bought two fresh mackerel on the way.  It was  abandoned. The sea was roaring in -- high tide was about 10 am. I believe there was a storm out in the English Channel . I cut some of the mackerel for bait, fitted up a line and dropped it in -- right at the side of the sea wall. I had two more rods in the car, but the weather discouraged me. With one of those rods I usually do a bit of spinning, but the very rough sea put me off. I have never learned what conditions are appropriate for spin and what are not. My son, Matthew, who is knowlegable about such things,  once told me that spinning in murky water was a  waste of time because the target could not see the lure.  I suppose he was right.

 

But the fishing went on. Three more cars arrived with enthusiastic fishermen. Within fifteen minutes they had all retreated.  There comes a point in all these mini-adventures when you have to finally decide whether to quit or stay. So called 'failure' in fishing is common to those of us who like this activity. If this outing was to end in one of those 'failures'. So be it. I was staying.

 

The rain and the wind continued.

 

This may sound strange,  but, for the next hour and a half, apart from some time I checking the bait,  I watched progress through the windscreen -- with the wipers on.

 

Then it happened. The line went wild. What every fisherman hopes for: the line was alive.  Sometimes people ask me how I know when there is a fish on the line. I could qualify my reply. There are fish and fish. There are the fish you want to catch and the others. On my line today I had one of those I wanted to catch. As soon as it surfaced I knew it was a sea bass and I decided to bring it up hand over hand -- ignoring the rod and reel. The 'lift' is about four metres. It worked. 

 

The only witness was Jane who runs the snack bar.  I think she was as surprised as I was.

  

 

__._,_.___

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___