november-2026-free-line-part-2 - Flipbook - Page 88
FREE LINE / FIELD JOURNAL
JAMES COTTEE
FIELD NOTES
The previous night, another angler had been out on the boat finding a spot
and putting bait in on the island past the corner where I was fishing. There
were no bites through the night or early morning like the previous night,
and the bite didn t come until one o clock in the afternoon when he had left.
That might just be me overthinking, but I really didn t feel confident on that
rod for the night ahead. A good fish showing up to the wrist of it s tail in a
little alcove amongst the trees on the island was more than enough too see
me skip that rod and move it onto it.
After a couple of attempts with the wind coming across me, I managed to
sit the solid bag in front of the alcove not super tight, but close enough.
As the evening wound in, and after not seeing much other activity, I decided
to top up the spot on the corner of the island, this time just with a kilo of
the golden grains and a kilo of the Supa Fruit just in case they had cleared
me out.
6am came, and unfortunately the only alarm that was waking me up was
the one I had set on my phone after another full night s kip. The morning
passed and I hadn t seen any activity in the area, so I decided I was going
to sit it out until the afternoon after having a bite at lunchtime the previous
day. Luckily I didn t have to wait that long, as at around 11am, the alcove
rod sprung into life! Another good strong fighting fish was on, and Callum
was walking round to do the honours again. Textbook situation again the
fish came close to the shallow water, and we got a quick look at a lovely,
scaly mirror before it was charging at a rate of knots back out into the deep.
It didn t take long after that, and Callum had slipped the net under another
one of the Quarry s gems. A beautiful 24lb scaly was held up for a couple of
shots and then sent on her way!
I was a great way to end my first session on the new syndicate with a double,
two 20s, a 30 and a 40. I was absolutely buzzing for the rest of the year.
Let s get spawning out the way and get chasing some more chunks! Thanks
for reading, and good luck to all on your next adventure. You never do know
when you re going to get lucky.
FREE LINE
88
