Well, what can I say ! Went fishing yesterday on the spur of the moment Myself & jnr who not so junior any more at 23 !. No early morning tide plans just go when & where sort of thing.
Spoke to mark about opening up some of the untreated bays while there and took a green jacket with me. I opened the east to bay 40 advising anyone using the untreated bays that should any water get on the bays they would be immediately a risk as wet.. case was proven later when a wave splashed up at 31 around the wires making it more like an ice rink.
If you see open bays while we haven’t treated them be aware it only takes a few drops of any liquid to make them super slippery.

Im told someone had caught 3 herring over the high yesterday on one of the low >10 bays and on chatting to people already there that truly seems like they were the highlight of the day.

You may note I avoided saying how we got on so here goes very little info & loads of waffle(you were warned)
First thing was to move the barrier down to bay 40 for the duration we were there and advised everyone using the bays that when I pack up we would have to move anglers back below 25, as it turned out that wasnt going to be an issue as when we left there were only 2 guys left on bay 17/18.
Michael & I set up on bay 28, water looked shiny green but lower 12 bays were quite milky from chalk sediment most of the day. Now, while the sun was out , bright & hot the wind on xcweater claimed to be 12 with gusts of up to 16, well I can tell you it was more like 16 gusts to 20 and was quite chill. Now the irony of that was not only were we both sand papered with bits of sand blown on the wind but that sun also managed to do a number on us !

For those that havnt yet been out in the sun for long periods be advised you may want to take some sun cream. My forehead is just shy of burnt ! as well as raw from the sand blasting. Just to add more injury my hair is cropped quite short on a no2 trimmer, it seems that my scalp has also been cooked while we were on the wall for 5hours or so. SUN & WIND in April is I now realise is VERY DECEPTIVE & my scalp is also just shy of burnt and a little bit tender for the next day or so.

So how did the fishing go ? fairly much the same as the other 25 or so that fished the wall yesterday (granted many just took feathers , prob at least 15 of them) yup a big fat blank and very few nibbles to be honest although I wasnt using any fresh bait (frozen black, squid & sand eel). The weather bar the wind was great and having not fished for over 6 months it made me realise how much I missed just chilling on the marina walls.

Today as I type it looks glorious out there and based on tree movement around the house Id say the wind was less than the forecast of 10-14 mph.

we still lack water to get the jet washing done despite constant promises of the supply being sorted out so all we can do atm is make a judgement call on opening up extra bays to get some foot fall on them when conditions allow.
Which bays & how many I can say/predict nor when it will happen as the duty wardens or mark will call it based on the conditions of the day, jes we are still subject to the safety of all wall users and knowingly opening up bays that could become a risk to users mean we have to take extra care doing this.

Contractors keep fafing with start dates on the west and im beginning to think we should have taken the time and expense of jet washing the west and get it in use prior to the work starting but, its damned if do , damned if dont situation. Mark could take a week and jet wash the west only for the work to begin the very next day resulting in wasted money and time.
YES they should have started 1st week of March and we are almost mid April looking at a situation that has become super frustrating not only for mark but for all anglers that could have been using the west had we known the scheduled work would get delayed starting.
Ho hum, if wishes were kisses eh,
Well thats me done for todays essay, hopefully the fishing will pick up rapidly in the warmer weather. Until then….. I bid you all ADIEU
F