I realised that I have been avoiding the rocks since I have had the new yak and I really need to get the first scratches over and done with (first cut is the deepest and all that).
Arriving before the sun came up, the conditions looked perfect, so why would you bother to take sea sickness tablets.
We hung around in the bay hunting for squid until the light came up. Simon found a nice one but the slippery little suckers evaded me yet again.
With the light coming up, it was time to head out around the cliffs, Simon had headed out 10 minutes earlier and had radioed to say it was a bit bumpy. Surely not.
On rounding the headland I get hit by the wind and it is all whitecaps with a about 1m of swell. WTF
Not on any forecast I've sen and I know Dave and Gary are sitting on a lake at Longy.
Anyway, on with the fishing, I can see Simon about a k away chasing birds, so I toss out a repala and head his way. I can now see 3 lots of birds working and head for the closest.
On approach these disappear, so i head for the next lot, on approach these disappear, so I head for the next lot, on approach these disappear, so I head for the next lot.
I could go on but I think you are getting the picture, this was turning into a bloody good work out but so far, I hadn't got a single cast into a school (plenty of casts that fell short).
I decided F the school, who needs them, I'll be my own man.
I headed back into the cliffs to get some shelter from the wind and have a breather, sure enough the trolled lure goes off and after was was really a pathetic fight a nice bonnie hits the deck. Thank god for that, Ive got some food, I've sold the doughnut, I can relax, except for the fact that bleeding the fish had made me start to feel a bit green.
Back on the troll, I decide to head up to magic point, there have been birds working there for 30mins, I'll pretend I'm not interested and they may stick around.
The zing of the reel is a bit hard to here over the wind, so it takes be a while to figure out what is making the kayak drag a bit.
This one felt different and the fish couldn't wait to jump out of the water and show me he was a salmon. I wish I was trolling lighter gear as he doesn't stand a chance but big repalas are too expensive.
After getting him to the yak, bleeding him etc, with have a quick check to se who is looking the greenist and then into the bag he goes.
The birds are still working, so I keep paddling. This school has been up for nearly an hour and I arrive to see the last of the baitfish being picked off by torpedo leaving very impressive bow waves.
Amazing, I grab the rod and the water is dead, they've gone.
I start the paddle back and although I could see schools dotted around the place, I've moved into the cold sweat faze and decide to head straight for the shelter of the bay.
Out of the wind and swell, I try again for squid, I still needed a starter, deep, shallow, fast, slow, it wasn't going to happen, so when Simon arrives with a lot of mileage but not a lot of fish, we head for the ramp.
By the time we get to the ramp, we notice that the wind has totally died and the sea has glassed out.
Ho hum.
Getting back home I found a cure for the scratches, Hang the kayak the other way around.
And if the scratches are really bad, coat them like this:
