Sole bash..

I got back from Spain on Thursday, checked my phone and emails and it didn't look like I'd missed much. PK had been having some decent sessions on the local rivers helped by the colour the rains have brought, I think I'll have a session with him over the next week or two. Pete had a lure caught double figure bass on the shingle, but apart from that there'd only been a few smuts caught and a few sole further south. The forecast looked ok for the sole bash and with a few showing around Lowestoft and Southwold I fancied my chances of a few flatties.

At 75cm's and 10lb 2oz, it's Pete's biggest lure caught bass. He got all orgasmic when he talked me through the scrap! The proper way to catch them and the sport well and truly maximised.

Some of the Leader lines regular contributors hold a sole bash and bbq every year down at Southwold, just a bit of a fun knock up really and a social. I'd arranged to travel with Karl, I'd to be at his house for 1530 to get us to Southwold for around 1700. The honourable Abbott was bringing my lug all I had to do was pick some rag up from Bright's in the morning and tie up a few rigs before making my way to Karl's.

I love fishing for sole, I love eating sole add to that there would be food and drink at the meet and I didn't need too much persuading to fish. Nobby and Smudge were working, PK and Johnny were doing other things. Pete and Trev were talking about fishing for proper fish at Chapel St Leonards in Lincolnshire, they've been getting plenty of smuts and a fair few rays up there.

I got to his for 1530 and within a few minutes we were on our way to Southwold. An uneventful journey with the exception of the mystery traffic jam. Just after the A11 junction of the A47 we found ourselves stuck or rather stood in traffic. A good 30 or 40 minutes of barely moving then we can move and there's no sign of an accident or any other reason for the hold up. Doesn't take much to get Karl wound up, you can imagine the rest of the journey from then, every tractor and caravan got the treatment and heaven help you if you were a little old lady out for an afternoon drive.

We got to the meeting point at the end of the North car park just after 1700, a few of the others were already there and we were quickly followed by the Honourable Abbott and the two Barry's. Southwold is a busy place, especially in the summer holidays, so we made our way along the wall further north, not as far as the wall end and the cliffs but far enough to get to a quietish spot. The bbq was set up in the middle, me and Karl fished the next bay to the north and everybody else filled in either side of the bbq.

I'd had some reliable information on how it had fished from a week earlier, Pete and Trev had managed a few and Pete had told me they were ridiculously close in, 15 yards he reckoned. That'd be a novelty, our out rods would be around 40/50 yards and are inside rods around 15/20 out. First chuck and Genocide manages a whiting, 1-0 to the northern lump.

He was actually giggling like a girl just before this picture, I don't know how he goes from that to straight faced.

I managed a poor cod just after his whiting then his close in rod went loopy. We all know braid magnifies the bites but it was a good old whack forward and springing back straight, line laid up the beach, full on slackliner. He reckoned a schoolie I reckoned a sole, the number of times i'd had slackliners off sole, hard biting little buggers they are. A few seconds later and a cracking sole of 35cm is in the bucket, going to slay em we are.

Tea for one sir? Note the "old boy" boom rig.

I was getting murdered. I was ahead if we counted numbers of fish, I'd managed a few pouts, poor cod and a couple of eels, truth is only sole counted really. There'd been a smattering all along the stretch we were fishing, some people managed 5 or 6 but mostly slips. I'd missed a couple of slackliners and was wracking my brain to come up with some decent excuses when I managed one just sizeable right at the death, there is a god. The honourable Abbott won the prize of a bottle of Norfolk poteen for the largest sole with a cracker of nigh on 39cm, some that stayed on and braved the rain managed a few, my old mate Mark Bessey had 4 good ones, pictured below. There's also a few pictures I took below, apologies for anybody that looks ugly, fat or "native" it's a camera not a magic mirror.

The Bessey's sole, nice pan sized fish.

Just to demonstrate how easy it must've been after we left, here's a picture of Aunt Bessey who managed the nice little haul above.

Has anybody seen the original film "The Hills have Eyes"? Mark and Daz, a dark alley wouldn't want to meet them down a well lit street. Mark likes both kinds of music, country and western, his sister's bald too. Mad as a box of frogs the pair of 'em, good sports too.

While I'm thinking of "locals", here's Ms Lawes looking after her banjo plucking hubbies rods, one of the prettier faces seen on the night. I forgot to bring some ABU brake blocks for Andy, he wouldn't need them if he wasn't such a wild animal!

She wanted to do her hair, I said I liked the wild, wind swept look. Note to self, don't say that again to a woman who has just come from the hairdressers.

Along with Ms Lawes, there was another pretty face which made a lovely change from the usual "ugly as sin" that we have to endure, here's the lovely Sally. Pedro's doing a little job for me, I'm getting concerned about the cost though, he picked up a pair of new Zippi's on the night, business must be good.

You can see it was a lovely night, even Pedro looks good in the light!

It wouldn't be right not to show the usual suspects cooking, here are the ladies who fed the troops. I'll admit Karl is married to a real woman, he brought this lovely little gas stove to cook on apparently its a standby oven incase of a kitchen failure. Mrs Aitch doesn't know where the kitchen is let alone have contingency plans in place to make sure she can carry on cooking.

Karl, Barry and the Honourable Abbott, that's the way to go fishing. Dan managed to avoid the lens like a pro.

My old mate Porntash was there, I think he managed a sizeable sole too. The saddest thing of the evening was a trawler hauling nets in front of us not a half mile off.

Rog "Porntash" Allerton showing us what he thinks of trawling inside 3 miles

Andy Funnel did quite well, I think he had around a half dozen when we left, mostly small but a couple of keepers.

Andy with a nice flounder and a sole, they must've felt sorry for him, either that or the poor buggers are starving where he was.

Scott fished just up from me and managed the smallest Smut I've ever seen, it must've been this years young and not long off the yolk sac.

Great sport on a Zippi! The manic grin is a permanent feature on this model.

Whilst I'm thinking about Smuts, I got a call a couple of hours into the sole session from Pete. Him and Trev were fishing Chapel St Leonards in Lincs. He felt the need to tell me that after parking the car and walking 20 yards to their pegs, they'd had 3 fish to 9lbs in the first 20 minutes. I hoped the weather would stay settled but the forecast Northerly turned up today and I reckon there's more chance of a codling than a Smut. That's not such a fanciful statement, the last couple of years has seen sizeable codling locally in summer, all we needed was a good northerly blow. I took the dog for a walk after sunday lunch today down at Cart Gap, good sea on the colour of galaxy chocolate and no chance of a smut until it calms and clears a bit, don't be surprised to see codling caught though..

Cod Ahoy!