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Fort D'Auvergne 18th Aug 2001
Map Ref: 656,477
Tide: HW 6.56pm (10.8m)
Weather Forecast: Wind and rain clearing to a SW F2, gusting 3 at times.
Collected Chris and then parked in the Car Park off Route Du Forte and made our way to the Fort D'Auvergne rock around 4.45pm ….. tackled up and waited for the rising tide, and then started ground baiting……
Chris took up station on the end of the rock, whilst I fished in the position above….
The sea was some what choppy, and the wind was more on the force 3 side, making life that little more difficult with the cross wind , two lines, and unable to see any fish due too the surface disturbance!!!
5.45pm ….. float bobs under and I strike …… hits home, it’s a fish…..yes , but not a very big fish… in a very short space of time, manage to land an 11” mullet ..….. take its picture, and pop it back for another day…….
6.00pm…. again another bobbing bite… and again I’m rewarded with the sensation of a fish on the other end of the line … it’s a better fish, but within a matter of moments, its off, so we shall never know :-(
6.25pm…. whoosh .. under goes the float .. again …. This fish goes off like a ROCKET … its small, but powerful….. yup it’s a mullet … Chris very kindly nets it when I manage to bring it in …. a golden grey …. This time 14” .. take a photo and again return it….
6.45pm ….. slight bob in the choppy sea, strike before I realise it .. just a reflex action …. And meet resistance …… Chris looks up and smiles as if to say “not again!!”….. yup … but it’s a small fish ….. easily beaten and landed ….. yet another golden grey….. only 10” this time…..
6.55pm .. no sooner have I returned the golden back to the water, rebaited and cast out, than my float goes down .. again a reflex strike, whilst I’m thinking this is too soon, I’ve only just cast out …. But soon realise it was the right thing to do ….. this is not such a small fish … give Chris a shout, who rolled his eyes, and look up at the sky …. “no Chris, this is going to need netting”, and as if to prove my point , the mullet gave a surging power dive, that really put a bend in the match rod, and made the fixed spool sing as it gave line on the low tensioned drag… spurred Chris into action, and grabbed the landing net, and waited…..
Well I have to say my heart was in my mouth, this mullet was not going down without a fight .. time and time again it surged off, forcing me to give line that moments before I’d managed to retrieve … and every surging drive that bent the rod, had me wondering if it was about to part company from my size 10 hook!!!…….. Eventually the mullet came to the surface, but then the real fun began…. Every time I started to bring the mullet in towards Chris, it would go shooting off in the opposite direction, and I was forced to hold it back on a number of occasions as it tried for the rocks on the left handside ……. Slowly as my arms started to feel like lead, the fish began to tire .. and I brought into the righthand side of the platform and Chris with the net .. but the mullet had one final surprise … just as Chris was about to net it, it dived to the left, and swam round the front of the rock, and into the side gully ….. this gully has two channels … I told Chris to net the closest channel, and guided the mullet up the furthest … when the next wave came down the gully I applied pressure so the head of the mullet was facing down the second channel… when the wave ebbed, the fish went with it, and straight to Chris and the waiting net ….. YES….. phew …. I was drained… got the fish up to the top of the rock ….
Unfortunately it had taken the hook down …. Must have literally gulped the bread and hook down on impact, when I cast it out, some 15 minutes before…. Managed to get the hook free with the aid of a disgorger, measured the thick-lipped mullet (18”), weighed it in the sack (3.02lb), took a photo and got it back in the4 water….. took a little while to recover .. but soon powered off…….
7.25pm ….. another bite .. struck home.. but the line snapped and I lost my float and tackle… must have weakened during the previous fight and I’d not noticed …. The float bobbed up and drifted out of reach … as it was cocked, the only good thing was that the fish was free from the loose tackle .. still I’d like to have had a shot at landing it!!!!
The wind really started to pick-up and make life more difficult .. by 8pm we decided to call it a day, as it was impossible to tell if one had a bite or not …… I was disappointed that Chris had not had a single bite, but felt elated by the 3lb’er ….. YES.