After a minor success at the squid competition, I thought I’d make use of the decent weather and take Alex along for a shot at the squid. So we were up early the next day and shot off to Brighton Marina before the crowds descended. We were on the East arm by about 8am and shortly after, the float was in the water.
I’d set up a 9′ sea spinning rod with a 5000 size baitrunner for Alex and this seemed a perfect match for him, nice and light, easily controlled but with enough strength to handle a squid.
It was a glorious morning, bright sunshine, clear water and no wind. It would have been perfect apart from the fact we were on a very low tide and there was hardly any depth at the spot I wanted, so aimed for a higher bay but even then, we would have a wait until there was sufficient depth to fish.
I set up the gear and after a few short refresher lessons on casting and explaining that it was different from casting off the beach, Alex set about with gusto. There were the odd misfires but on the whole, he did pretty well and was soon into his stride.
After a couple of hours, the breeze began to pick up a bit and it was soon proving difficult for Alex to cast into the wind. There had been no signs of interest on the jig, so I set another rod with the same sliding float rig, only with a size 2 hook replacing the jig. I baited with small slivers of mackerel and had that one out in the water too.
Due to lack of action, impatience was setting in and Alex found new activities to amuse himself – cutting up mackerel into small strips. Surprisingly, his knife skills are pretty damn good and so he proved to be an excellent bait provider. In between doing that, made numerous runs back to the cafe to obtain snacks and drinks.I think the most widely used terms that morning were “Do you need another drink?”, “Can I get you anything from the cafe?”
It soon began too feel like a hopeless mission on the squid front and nothing was showing any interest in the floated bait either. We decided it would be better to pack up and go home to cook the squid I’d caught the previous day.
All in all, a nice to day to be out and although nothing was caught, Alex at least had an opportunity to practice his casting. The bait cutting should see him in fine form if he ever decides he wants to be a pathologist.