Harrys first trip

 Now that he had the gear Harry was keen to get out and have a go. The first job was to check the tide table and see where a suitable location would be. With a high tide of 12 metres (Weston scale)  at 10.15am it was decided that Kingston Seymour sea wall would be a comfortable and fairly easy venue which would also offer a fair chance of catching some fish. The bait of lugworm and squid was ordered and collected and at 8.00am Harry and Jansen were stood on a damp sea wall setting up there kit.

Jansen’s first tip to Harry was that rather  then tying his pulley rig direct to the leader he should firstly tie on a Gemini rig link and then attach the trace to the clip. This would allow Harry to bait a spare trace whilst he was fishing and swap traces as soon as he wound in thus maximising the time he had bait in the water.

Harry’s first few casts were a little wayward to say the least. A couple of quick tips, keeping his left hand up at the start of the cast, punching and pulling the cast and looking up at 45 degrees, soon had him putting the bait about 80 yards which was plenty far enough to find the tide run. Jansen then explained that it was best to cast slightly up tide rather then straight out so that the tide run pulled the line straight to the rod. Harry finally had time to sit on his box and open the flask but Jansen soon got him on the move again as he said that with the tide in the channel the scent is soon washed out of the bait so it is important to recast every 20 to 30 minutes.

The flood proved very disappointing and at slack water Jansen said that when the tide started to ebb it would run the opposite way so it was important to now cast to the right rather then to the left as before. A change of tide can often be a good time to get a few bites so with the first hint of the ebb pulling the tips round fresh baits were prepared and cast out. Within minutes Jansen’s rod gave a couple of knocks and sprang slack. As he jumped up he explained that when you get a slack liner you should wind down until you feel resistance and as soon as you feel the fish move off lift the rod and reel in to keep the fish under tension. A 3lb codling was soon swung in and as Harry glanced at Jansen’s fish he saw his own rod spring up slack. Remembering what he had been told Harry reacted quickly but alas his reward was just a small whiting.

Fuelled by a few bites the pair fished on but the fish no longer wanted to play and with an onshore wind picking up and the light drizzle giving way to heavier rain it was decided to draw Harry’s first trip to a close. Although he was a little disappointed not to have caught a few fish Harry had turned his only bite into a catch and he is looking forward to his next trip