Old ladies, penguins and...
The first of the outings, to the Abers, took place in winter conditions. A strong, cold easterly wind, gusting to 40 km/h. -1°C at launch, 5°C at day's warmest, water temperature 9°C. Full winter gear required. I wanted to go as far out to sea as possible, so as to get the last few miles under my belt, but the strong onshore wind meant I had to stay close to the shelter of the land, to be on the safe side.
I've picked up some lure colors I don't usually use and it'll be scratch fishing near the channel entrance buoys. The old ones are well present and I'll do a few with nice winter colors. At one point I see a gathering of Razorbills with a few birds flying overhead.
I decide to take a closer look, as it's always nice to come across them. When I get close to them, I see many echoes on the Garmin's screen, and I throw in a black Talashad, which has never seen water... Good initiative, it's a well-meshed shoal of sea bass. Between the alcids and the bass there's a big shoal of sprats and everyone's tapping into it...
As the easterly wind strengthens and the water remains relatively calm, I get closer to the launching beach - it's nearly midday. I decide to scrape the bottom of the channel, which is 18 m deep with a pink astushad. After a few drifts, I feel a little titillation in the tip. After a few drifts, I feel a little titillation in the tip, so I do a good job of tying the line and start off for 10/15 seconds, then stop and pick up a few meters of line until I make contact with the customer, but I can't get him to come up. He picks up the line for another 10 m, then it's all over. The hook broke clean off and he took off with the lure body. I must have hit a big ray or a burbot, given the defense, no chance...
After this last episode, back to the beach for a snack, a beautiful morning nonetheless for an icy December 12th...
Foreshore walk
The second outing was quieter weather-wise, and I replaced the 3 mm Long John with a thinner one, but kept the waterproof outfit. It was more a walk on the foreshore than a fishing session, but there was a small weather window and too much wind for the north coast. It was also an opportunity to say goodbye to my foreshore spots.
Even with a coefficient of 88, the sleepers are very present, I'll find about fifteen of them, but won't catch any, lots of females and the males were a bit tight on the mesh, and I've got my crab meat from the last tide for the Christmas verrines. It's a good sign that the 2025 tides are still to come, as there will be some very nice coefficients...
We also found a curly skate capsule, no doubt due to the shape of the horns. For those interested, the Apecs Association, through its CAPOERA program, has published a guide to identifying ray eggs. So if you come across these strange capsules and want to know whose eggs they are, read on the link .
For a snack, the small beer (in moderation) took on the colors of Christmas, and the Strasbourg salad didn't last long. See you in 2025 for outings in the harbour, as the next high tides will be in March ...
Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year, kayak fishing is winning you over, even Santa Claus is into it!
