Albert Pier 3rd Aug 2006

Map Ref: 647,477
Tide: LW 6.45am / HW 1.00pm :
Weather Forecast: Fine with sunny periods 20^oC. Wind NW 16mph with gusts to 29mph

Got up at 4.30am ... which was a real struggle, just felt like turning over and going back to sleep, especially since I could here the wind outside which seemed to be doing a good impression of gale force 5 or 6!!!!
Rang Chris to get him up, and arrived about an hour later... grabbed his gear and set off for the Albert Pier... it seemed to us to afford the best protection from the wind, and still offer the chance of fish...

Arrived just after 6am, and swiftly set up on the lower landing of the steps, having flicked out some groundbait first… and showed Chris a nice easy way of tying a powergum stop-knot for a sliding float rig, rather than just trapping the float with a couple of small shot… at this point we were joined by a local chap who just wanted to watch, and who'd obviously been watching Nigel the day before….

With the water being low, we decided it would be best to fish shallow (about 4 to 6 ft) and out about 20 to 30ft into the ruffled water zone just out of the lee of the pier wall…
Not long after we had a series of missed bites that took the floats right under, but couldn't be hit on the strike… the local chap said his goodbyes and left us to it…

6.55am… my float shot under the water, and my strike was met by a considerable resistance… I gave a shout to Chris that I was in, and quickly moved myself on the steps to get into the best position to play the fish…. And up it came, a much bigger fish than we'd had the day before…. And then it crash dived.. first straight towards the pilings to the left, real heart stopping stuff, as it almost made it before I was able to angle the rod and turn it away, (I think both Chris and myself really thought I was about to lose it there and then).. then off it surged again going deep, but away from me, and out towards the harbour….

But no sooner had I brought it back under control, than it raced towards me and dived deep, with the heart stopping head shaking so familiar from the day before (along with a flood of memories of lost fish to this particular characteristic that many mullet exhibit when hooked at some stage..)… I held on and suddenly realised the true danger, the fish was heading directly for my feet, the submerged granite step-work, and the flowing wrack that covered it, I gave out a curse and thrust the rod outwards to try and steer the fish away… somehow the tactic worked, and the fish came up on the surface… I decided to waste no more time and try and get Chris to land it, which after a couple of attempts we managed to do….. and wow what a nice fish… we started guessing its weight, and went rapidly from 3lb ish straight into the 4lb bracket when we saw its girth… this was one fat mullet…

I quickly unhooked the fish, measured it - 21” from nose to fork, took a couple of pictures of the fish in the landing net (Chris tried to take a couple with me holding it - but they didn't come out for what ever reason - I must show him how to use it properly before the next fishing trip!!!!), adjusted the spring-balance for the sling, weighed the fish - 4lb-10oz, the best Jersey mullet I've ever had… I was one happy bunny!!!!

Slipped the fish back into the water, and held it until it could slowly make its own way off the submerged steps…..
YES HOW MY HEART WAS PUMPING… had to sit down and have a cup of coffee, and live the moment over again in my mind, and again, and again…..

Chris suddenly gave a shout as he'd been startled by two mullet cruising under his feet, whilst he was changing the hook bait….

Things settled down a bit, and I started fishing again by about 7.20, but still a little preoccupied by the previous events…. Chris gave a shout, and his rod had arched right over.. he was in… but no sooner had I retrieved my tackle out of the water, than the fish suddenly surged, and the hooked popped out, and the Chris's tackle came shooting out the water in a tangled mess…. He was not best pleased, but in his usual way, took it very well… more so than I would have!!!
I gave him one of my fluro hook lengths with a size 10, and he re-tackled up.. somewhat consoled by the fact that he'd had a bite and hit on a fish, which was more than he'd had the previous outing!!!

Things went a bit quiet after that and around 8.20am or so, I was just saying the very same to Chris when a small bird landed on my rod, and sat there for a good 30 seconds…. It flew off and then my float shot under with a superb bite… I was so stunned with the bird landing on my rod, that I failed to react to the bite.. Chris fell about laughing .. you just couldn't make this stuff up it you tried!!!!!

After that it was really a case of short periods of missed bites, with longer periods of waiting…. We were disturbed by a Shag that came up onto the steps next to Chris and then dived off after the small bait-fish nosing around the ground bait….

Around 10.30am or so, we had a spell of intense activity, but neither Chris nor myself could connect to the fish.. until Chris hooked and lost one all in the same motion… but at least he'd connected if only for the briefest of moments..

Things got worse after that, with less and less activity, and just went dead around high water…. Again we hoped it would pick-up afterwards, but it didn't… although Chris did go and get a couple of steak and egg rolls to lift our spirits at lunch time…

A local chap turned up around 1.30pm with his two children, and struck up a conversation with us.. it became very clear that he knew what he was talking about in terms of mullet, and so we chatted about tactics, baits, and marks around the harbour .. we got the impression that this was considered one of the less favourable marks, but we explained that we understood that, and that it was not a holding area, but that it did offer us some protection from the ravages of the wind and would allow us to fish, whilst other areas wouldn't have…

By 2pm we'd had enough, and decided to call it a day…..

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