Well what a winter is has been….it seems that ever since
January we have had constant easterly winds and really cold weather… and this
has made for the latest arrival of spring that I can remember. Still there are
now signs that things are on the up at last, the winds have shifted around to
SW and it’s almost starting to feel warm.
The sea temperature is still way too low though, 7.3 degrees
today but that’s a whole degree higher than this time last week so hopefully
within a few weeks we will get to that magic 10 figure!
The net result of all this cold weather is that I have not
even considered going lure fishing yet…by this time last year I had already had
several trips and caught 6 bass…this year not a chance so far but it can’t be
far off now surely. I have to admit that with the sudden end to my season last
year, and the late start to this one it has been six months since I last caught
a bass on a lure (from the shore) and I am itching to get back out there again.
Still, I have not been totally idle during this period; I
managed to get my first bait trip in for two years…two of them in fact! Both
trips were to Chesil in search of plaice, the first at the beginning of March was
hard going and I had just had one small fish, the second a week or so ago was
more like it, and with the first warm day of the year I winkled out four
plaice, no great size to any of them but after bass I think plaice are my
favourite fish to catch so that counts as a pretty good session in my book. 
I’ve also been rod building again, inspired by last years
Red Dragon rebuild I have invested in a couple of battered Daiwa TDXS133pm’s to
rebuild. I’ve also bought a rod dryer and made a rod wrapper so I’m expecting to
do a really smart job of these this time around.
Progress has been slow so far, as I’ve been really busy at
work and at home but I’ve stripped one down, and sprayed the tip black (as it
was originally) and now have to wait 10 days for this to fully cure before I
can apply lacquer and carry on with the build. The spray job has come out quite
nicely to be honest I’m so really looking forward to finishing it off and
seeing if I can create that “as new” finish.
Other than that, house chores are mainly done….so roll on
the good weather and regular blog updates full of catch reports!
