I can’t explain just how good it was to be out fishing again after what seemed like an eternity. Even if it was just to take the rod for a walk and have an excuse to potter about around the coast it’s all good and I’ll certainly take every chance I get! England have got all this to look forward to tomorrow. Anyway I thought it would be worth just giving a quick update of what I’m hearing and what is and isn’t being caught.
I’ve had 3 sessions since the islands restrictions were lifted, some of us have still got to work you know! The first was a trip up north starting at Ballaugh beach throwing some lures for a Bass with a nice early 5:30am start. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much from this and that’s how it turned out. The weed was a real issue and if I hadn’t been waiting so long to wet a line I would have headed straight for the other side of the island. But I didn’t and instead enjoyed the nice 4-5 mile walk in total peace and quiet. Saw some dolphins, missed a single take on the Toby spinner and that was about as good as it got.
The next trip was a session float fishing off the rocks at Niarbyl, easily one of my favourite places to fish on the whole island. Just using up some old bits of Mackerel I managed to land my first couple of fish of the year, a small Coalfish and a slightly better Callig. No records broke. I was there for nearly 4 hours and it was only really over the period of slack water that the fish came on the feed, I missed a couple more bites but like I say everything was in the space of half an hour. The rest of the time was spent getting p****d on soaked, sun burnt, blown around…it was just one of those types of day.
Finally it was a trip to Peel and Fenella Beach with the trouble and strife. You literally could not have picked worse conditions to fish where I chose to fish. Crystal clear water, barely a breeze, baking hot sun and the upper end of a very big tide. Brilliant. But what a place to spend a few hours chilling out watching a float. Absolutely nothing doing at all, I even switched down to try on the bottom with size 8 hooks in the crevices to save a blank but no joy. Still it was a great way of spending an afternoon and with the area being so accessible it meant a bit of dinner on the breakwater and a walk around the castle to finish the day. All in all I’ll take it over being stuck in the house any day.
What about everybody else? I follow a lot, I hear a lot and I’ve got plenty of friends that fish. The general consensus is it’s still really early in our summer season. The water is still only 9 degrees in Peel. Generally this means you’ve got to head south to stand a chance of having a good day catching fish. I did OK at Niarbyl, around Scarlett is fishing well, the sound is loaded with Callig. But as soon as you start getting north Peel/Douglas then it really slows down. This is nothing new, it’s always been like this around May. The northern beaches it’s more a case of luck than much else if you pick up a Bass before June. I still haven’t even seen a picture of 1 yet this year? That will all change around TT when the Sandeels start to show in proper numbers closely followed by Mackerel. Talking of which it’s always the case that the east coast get them first, you always stand a far better chance off Douglas or Laxey in May than Peel. That goes for the boat as well, there are usually plenty of Mackerel to be caught off Douglas head this time of year but a waste of time of Peel unless you want to get way down towards the Calf.
And that is pretty much the state of play. We’re back in action, just waiting for the fish to arrive. Hopefully the boat will be back this time next week and if not I’ll definitely be dusting off the kayak. I could do with a couple of fresh Mackerel for the freezer anyway and know just the spot. In the meantime I hope everybody is making the most of the great weather we’re having and at least getting the chance to get out there and lash the water.