Fishing!

~Monty guarding the camp~

~My Fishing Rod~

~MSC Olga~

~Dad and my little codling. (Dad was holding it so close to the camera because he was trying to make the cod look bigger than it actually was) ~I caught a starfish!~ ~My biggest pouting~ ~Monty after another rainstorm. He wouldn't come in out of the rain as he couldn't guard from inside the brolly~ ~Fishing Trawler~ ~Dad baiting up~

~Monty still guarding (but by now he's drying out a bit)~ ~Dad enjoying the sunshine~ ~Me, hopefully reeling in (I shouldn't have got my hopes up)~ ~The storm that almost blew me over~

~pouting and crab~ ~Me having an awesome time~

~Crab that had no claws! a safe crab!~

Fishing was FANTASTIC!!!

Dad and I set off at 9 yesterday and plotted a course for felixtowe. After a short walk, we found our spot, a beautiful section of sandy beach, unpacked and set up camp for the day. I have found out that I actually cast better into the sea than on a casting field!!! dont ask me why, because it is certainly worse conditions than on a field! Yesterday however, Dad and I reckon I was casting around 150ft! that is 20ft better than usual! (Dad was doing his trademark long distance casts and joking that he was fishing the belgian quota!)

The weather yesterday was so very confused! One minute sunny and warm, the next minute, Heavy Rain, freezing cold (about 39'F) and incredibly strong winds! I think there must have been gusts of up to 40mph and almost blew me over and blew sand across the ground in drifts at one point!

Not surprisingly, Dad was the only one catching sizeable fish. I caught a few, but all sub legal and my biggest pouting was only half an inch undersize! My most bizarre catch of the day was a starfish! the stupid thing ate the bait off my hook and got hooked itself! That was one thing I didn't expect to catch. I also caught a crab with no claws! the hook got tangled up its legs and it got dragged up the beach. This crab is now officially owned by Kim! I didnt think it would be very tasty though Kim so I chucked it back.

After a while of catching nothing but Pouting and Whiting, (all good fish but not what we wanted)Dad and I decided to try a new tactic. We therefore butchered one of the greatest songs "all you need is love" and turned it into "all you need is Cod!" to see if it would lure any Cod in. Sure enough, IT WORKED!!! Two casts later, Dad reeled in a 3lb Cod and I think the Cod song will be sung more from now on!

Fishing near Felixtowe means there are always great views of ships coming and going. I am always amazed at how those huge ships like the MSC Olga can get in and out of the Orwell river. The water hardly looks deep enough to take them without risk of them going aground! There is a wonderful mix of Fishing trawlers, Container ships, and sailing boats so you never get bored when you fish at Felixtowe.

So! After a hard, cold day on the beach, what do you need most of all in the world? why, a McDonalds Milkshake of course!!! why go for a warm cup of coffee when you can have a shake that freezes your sinuses! When we arrived back home there was the cleaning of rigs and reels and then thankfully, the promise of a hot shower after something good and warming for tea. I am going to make some more pickled pouting tonight as I enjoyed the last batch so much and there is a definate surplus of pouting in the fridge.

Thats it from me for today, I hope you all enjoyed your weekend whatever you did!