Bill and I have fished for years - since we were about 16 - and have many a happy memory from the '96-'98 period when we went chasing Carp around lakes in Essex and Kent. We were bloody good too, and fishing every given moment (weekends, evenings, revision weeks, between exams etc) meant we gained a huge amount of knowledge in a very short time. But then came University, and 'life' got in the way. Our fishing expeditions became less regular, until eventually we realised we hadn't fished together in years.
Fast forward to 2008, and one day we were chatting and both made comment that we were interested in getting into sea fishing. A plan was hatched to bring back the good old days and add further chapters to the fishing chronicles. 2008 saw us spend a week in Wales, and in 2009 and 2010 we fished from Maldon.
The 2011 Boys Fishing Week took place last week (11-17 June), and since Bill bought Reel Grumpy last summer we decided to be based from Brightlingsea and make the most of the fact we had a boat at our disposal.
So on Friday I frantically tried to pack for Alfie and I in a bid to beat the M25 Friday rush hour traffic.We cruised down to Bills, were joined by Tash before 6pm, and then enjoyed the traditional 'Friday night Chinese round Bills'. The remainder of the evening was spent putting rigs together, loading line onto reels, and formulating a plan of action ... and of course cursing the typically unpredictable British weather. We were in bed before midnight though, there was an early alarm call around the corner and with a good forecast there were fish to catch!
We were up early and on our way before any other traffic had turned a key in the ignition. We rolled into Brightlingsea by 6am, and soon had the tender in the water.
Only the ring-ding-ding of the two stroke outboard motor broke the complete silence of a wonderful summer morning ... and withing a matter of minutes we were left to enjoy said summers morning, as once again we ran out of fuel and called upon Oar Power to get out to the mooring.
With the tender tied up, the cover off Reel Grumpy, and the anchor raised we were soon on our way. This was to be an all action fishing day - checking bait every 10-15 minutes, and raising anchor as frequently as was needed. This was something of a new approach for us, as during our Friday night pre-fishing discussions we came to the conclusion that maybe we were taking too much of a 'carp approach' with our sea fishing. By that I mean we were leaving baits in the water too long whilst often anchored up in spots where there was no action to be seen. As we chugged out to our first stop we got the mackerel feathers out in an attempt to catch some bait for Tuesdays Tope session.
The highlight of the days catches was this gorgeous looking starfish!
Feeling happy with our approach, and a little unlucky with our results, we headed back to the mooring by mid afternoon. Our next session on the boat would be in three days time, our much anticipated Tope session, and we felt confident we had the right approach.
Sunday rolled around, and in a typical British Summer type of way we had a pretty miserable forecast. We opted to make a trip out to Southend to fish from the pier for a few hours, and then spend the afternoon/evening watching the Grand Prix. The wind had really blown up overnight, and Southend was a totally miserable place where no-one seemed to be catching a thing.
I had plans for Monday afternoon, and needed to drag everyone to Ilford for the afternoon. With the wind still blowing, we decided to try and get a few hours fishing squeezed in at Tollesbury, a local place to Bill that we often fish when casting from the shore. It has a handy sea wall which gives us something to duck behind, and out of the gusting winds it actually seemed remarkably pleasant.
Sadly though, another few hours were spend drowning worms and another blank session was chalked up. After such a promising start on Saturday, our fortunes had gone downhill in a dramatic fashion.
Still, it was now Tuesday, all 'other duties' were out the way, and for the next four days all that was left for us to do was to fish. We made our way out to Brighlingsea once more, the forecast being fantastic and this looking like the best opportunity for us to get out into deep water. The deep water where the Tope live.
It wasn't long before his squid rod was doubled over, and Bill struck into his first fish of the day.
So we had to raise the anchor. The process works as follows. 1) I climb up on the front of the boat 2) I point Bill to which way the rope goes to the anchor 3) Bill manoeuvres the boat over the anchor 4) I lift up the anchor. This is quite an easy and well rehearsed gig, however doing it in rocky seas was something new to us. Every time Bill got the boat over the anchor the waves were knocking us off, and every time I went to haul the anchor we'd drop over the top of another wave I'd be forced to let go to save myself falling overboard. After what seemed like 10 or 15 minutes I realised there was no way I was going to be able to stand and drag the anchor up, the power of the sea was simply too great. I sat down, already exhausted, and took a moment to work out what to do. At the very front of the boat is a channel to run the anchor chain over, and i decided to line the rope over this channel. I sat down, braced myself against the rail at the front, and as the boat dropped I hauled and as the boat rose I hung on for dear life. After taking and losing line from and to the sea it became apparent I was never going to haul up over 60 feet of rope - the saying 'one step forward and two steps back' comes to mind. Sliding back a bit further I exposed the tie down points on the top of the boat, moved the mooring rope out of the way, and started again. Every 10/15 feet tying the rope off before hauling once more for all I was worth. With us not able to get the boat over the anchor it made my job even harder, but eventually the rope became chain and shortly after the anchor was raised. I have to say this absoluely killed me, and really drilled home just how powerful the sea can be. For 3 or 4 minutes I was unable to move from the front of the boat, totally drained from the efforts involved.
With the anchor hauled, and a strong current behind us we motored home hitting 8 knots - nearly double what Reel Grumpy usually cruises at! It was all worthwhile though, we had an amazing days fishing which was capped off by a gorgeous evening.
We were in Brightlingsea for the night, and got out at a good hour again on Wednesday. This time staying closer to the mooring in search of Bass. Bill had a new travel spinning rod and little shimano reel that he wanted to try out, and it wasn't too long before it was doubled over!
We dropped the Bass in the fridge back at the house, enjoyed sausage and chips on the hard, grabbed some more bait, and set off for our afternoon session.
We tried a few spots and had a great afternoon with a few more Bass amongst our catches. Sadly all were too small for the dinner table, this one saved by being just 10mm too small!
Thursday arrived, and with it a miserable forecast. We were leaving Brightlingsea to head back to Maldon, and so went for a quick fish in the morning to use up the remainder of our bait. As we pulled in a few Eels we could see grey clouds approaching, shortly followed by an amazing lightning display that we watched work its way around the coastline in front of us.
We had joined at the top left of the lake and wandered down the left hand side. Clearly we didn't realise that the large lake had ended, and we were now fishing a pissy little pool at the bottom! Soaked through we opted to knock this on the head, head to the pub, and then wander back along the canal dangling a rod as we wandered.
We enjoyed a pint and dried off, before heading out into the elements once more.
So Friday turned into another blank, but that's OK. We had such a fantastic week not even the comprehensive soaking - nor my four hour drive home - could put a dampener on things!
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