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Week 6 Cast of the WeekMay 2nd. One of the first real days of spring so Casting for Gold decides to do some research out in the estuary, hoping to spot a bass, a mullet, anything with fins! We know we’re too early but, of course, fishing in an environment like this is about more than just catching fish. Just as important is becoming familiar with the tides, the currents, the effect of the wind and just what is happening where. In truth, the water hasn’t warmed up sufficiently to attract big numbers of these predominantly summer species and, at present, it’s still a bit too cloudy to work a fly or a lure effectively but the day was still a massive success. We locate our wreck. We find it’s possible to fish it with chest waders effectively at low tide. The whole area around it positively screams fish at you. There’s more than a mile of brilliant, wadeable surf which simply shrieks to be fly fished or spun. By working out our tides and hitting the wreck at low water, we’ll be able to get out of the boats and fish in a real, positive, hands-on, intimate sort of way. We drift back with the incoming tide. It’s possible to investigate several of the creeks which begin to fill up rapidly. The mullet aren’t here yet but when they are these places will be prime. We do actually see a couple of bass speed past the boat – one quite a big fish. It’s also interesting that now the seals lever themselves off the sandbank and begin to fish with a purpose. It’s off putting, of course, being watched by two or three hundred of the creatures but again – as we say at Casting – the seals themselves aren’t here for a haircut. They’re here because this particular piece of the coast is just about as prolific as it gets. A lot of fish will be coming their way this coming summer and it will be good to think that we can cream off a few percent for ourselves. We’ll be out a lot more before the summer really hits us, getting to grips with this ever-changing, miraculously beautiful coastline. We promise that by the time the fish arrive in numbers, we’ll be ready and raring to go. But, hey, fishing isn’t always about catching and this is one of the most wondrous parts of the British Isles imaginable. It’s a wilderness that hasn’t changed for centuries. The skies are mesmerising. The marshes literally teem with birdlife. The only engine you’re going to hear powers a fishing boat coming in to this haul of crabs and lobsters. Far away, churches stand tall on the mainland. Windows in the cottages flash in the rising sun. It’s a beguiling landscape all right and when your rod is bent over to the power of a running fish, you’ll agree with us there’s no better place to be. |