My son has learned that fishing can be something other than an opportunity to get time with dad and eat sweets. I decided that he is now old enough to have a go at spinning for Mackerel and so as soon as I heard they were in on the local piers I planned an outing.
High Water was at 0300 today and so I had to get my son out of bed at 0145. Much to my surprise he all but bounced out of bed and got dressed (a good start)
We arrived at Roker Pier in Sunderland for around 0240 and got our gear together and headed along the pier as the sun rose. The conditions were perfect... flat sea and pleasant weather.
We set up with feathers on the spinning rods and got to work. After a few casts I hit into two mackerel and soon after a few more.
I had him casting himself and retrieving like a pro in no time.
After the sun broke the horizon the mackerel numbers increased notably. Most were taking feathers that resembled the small sprat that were swimming around the pier, others took Dexter Wedges and fluorescent lures.
I switched Xander to a lure and put a few casts out at a distance for him to retrieve. Soon after he struck into one fish but unfortunately lost it on the lift.
On his next cast he hooked into another and this time managed to land it himself!
We fished on for another 45 minutes and he landed a few more fish as did I. We left at around 0530 with a dozen big mackerel, having released maybe half a dozen more.
Xander was so pleased with himself he couldnt wait to tell his mum when we got home. He said he preferred this type of fishing (as I expected he would) and to be honest he was 100% focused on the fishing for a change. Not having to wait between casts kept him engaged and the fight from the fish kept the excitement ramped up for him.
Daddy goal for this month accomplished!
No comments:
Post a Comment