As part of the organising committee I was praying for some fine weather for the match but also as I had plans to unleash Jack amongst the seasoned blokes, at 8 years old now I reckoned he was upto the job but we had a massive turnout of around 80 anglers
Even the big named competitors couldn't phase young Jack lol
The weather wasn't Ideal and at times closer to shore we had some impressive walls of water bearing down on us so our attempts at getting a flatty for the heaviest flatfish went out of the window we up anchored and set our sights higher trolling diving plugs once out past the odd breaking swell (one right over us both) Jack started to nail the small Coalies before latching into something heavy which he struggled to get upto the surface I had to help by grabbing the braid but managed to bump it off as it dived for cover
Then Jacks rod pulled around as we coasted down the face of a swell and he was attached to a decent fish at least something to weigh in as he got it up to the surface I could see it was a lovely red kelp Cod around the 4lb mark and as I lifted it on board Jack was delighted his first Cod on a plug too only to hear the heart sinking sound of it splash back in as I was unhooking it to say I was gutted was an understatement I braced for a sulking and bad mood episode but Jacks response was lets get another one Dad.
So the next hour I paddled him round and round the likely looking areas skimming the kelp and rocks we were rewarded with a couple more Cod and a lovely Pollack a few PB's for him the Pollack he was convinced had got off but as soon as it saw the kayak it dived for the kelp rod hooped and clutch singing Jack did well hanging on but I made sure these ended up in the hatch safely
Just as we were on a good patch of ground I had a message over the VHF from Snapper stating he was bored of this cod fishing and how were we getting on he soon decided to join us and was rewarded with a small Coalie first drop and lost a biggie soon after
Good to meet you Snapper after many conversations on forums and facebook at last a bit of fishing together
At the weigh in Jacks Cod was his heaviest fish going 3lb 10oz putting him in 9th place and £40 better off (this changed to 11th place as there was a slight mistake with some other peoples weights)
but what an achievement for an 8 year old in testing conditions at times for him
A great turnout and a big well done to all who took part
One very proud Dad
Andy
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