October, for the last couple of years it really hasn’t been a very fruitful month for me. That is, if I’m counting fish caught as a measure of success. Looking back to my October 2024 blog entry, my fish caught total was one small Perch. Whilst this year was marginally better, for the rod hours I put in, the returns were pretty slim!
The month started with a much anticipated weather window to get the boat out and try for a Bluefin Tuna. I’ve written this before, but with family and work, my fishing sessions are rarely more than a couple of hours. This was no exception. So sod it, I was going big game fishing for just a couple of hours. I had to work in the morning so after preparing the boat the night before, I towed the boat to work in the half light. I finished work at 12 midday and made sure I left on time. I rarely leave on time but this was a race. I dashed down the lanes, as much as you reasonably can when towing through those winding roads towards Fowey. Launching doesn’t need to be difficult but some people seem to really enjoy hanging around on the slip using every rope. I wasn’t making about. Arrive, launch, park the car, get the ticket and go. I was steaming out of the river mouth within an hour of leaving work. So far so good.
Twenty minutes later I had three live mackerel in the bucket. Catching live bait, especially any time after first light, can be really hard work. No bait and it’s no fishing. But with baits secured I was off again. Still on track.
Next, race for the horizon and start looking for life. If this was going to work I had until 4pm to hook up. I needed to be steaming home by 6pm latest to be back on the slip at dusk. I had literally a couple of hours to hook and release a Bluefin Tuna. Unlikely? Perhaps. Worth a try? Absolutely! And it so nearly worked.
By 2pm I was about eight miles offshore and discovered the bay was alive! Enormous Fin Whales blowing comically high plumes. Minki whales that looked like sprats alongside the Fins and, dolphins that looked like fleas bouncing alongside them. It was all going off and there were a lot of boats out chasing the action. I soon spotted a bust that it seemed no one else had, so made my way over. Everything ready for what I thought would be an instant hook up. This was going to work, I was sure. How wrong I was!
In the grand scheme of Bluefin Tuna fishing, I’m an absolute novice. My experiences to dates over recent years have been positive, borderline easy. Find a fish, lob it a bait, and hold on. Nothing to it. But I’ve heard people talk about the days when the Tuna just won’t touch a bait or lure, no matter what you throw at them. It was hugely arrogant of me to think, you must be doing it wrong, I catch them easily. This was one of those days…
The fish were completely pre-occupied with tiny whitebait. I could not believe they wouldn’t take a big mackerel dangled on their nose, I still can’t. There were fish everywhere! The busts were short lived but plentiful. In between there were single fish rolling around and it was there that you could see the tiny fish they were picking off. A seemingly odd target for a massive fish. As the clock ticked by at what felt like a hundred miles an hour, the outcome felt inevitable. I never gave up and pushed the limits of my time out there but eventually had to turn my back with my tail firmly between my legs and with my belly full of humble pie. Turns out the giant eating machines aren’t always easy to catch and I have got a lot to learn!
And that set the tone for the month. I fished the north coast surf a couple of times, both in decent conditions and didn’t even have a touch. I fished the south coast after a good southerly blow and the only thing that came my way was a seal that sat right over the bait. I fished first light and I first last light. Nothing.
I did return to a spot I fished years ago that I’d forgotten about. It was so long ago I can remember finding it using an OS map (look it up kids). I found my way back and couldn’t understand why I hadn’t been back in about 15 years, it’s a little gem. Tucked out of the wind and in a lovely eddy from the flooding tide, it’s a great spot for mullet, and I must try it for bass too. But, not this month. I hooked a decent mullet that was stripping line for ages only for it to break the hook length. I can’t remember the last time a fish broke me off like that. Bugger.
I fished another spot for mullet a week later. Tucked in a small, quiet marina, I managed to fish up again a small boat that looked like it hadn’t been touched for a while (there was loads of water in it). Sods law then that that was the time the owner decided he would pay his boat some attention and bail out the water. He was very polite but you can’t bail that much water out of a boat and not expect some (loads!) disturbance. By the time he’d finished I’d given up hope of any mullet being in the area.
By the end of the month I just wanted a bite! So I took one of the boys to a club lake I’ve not visited for years. It’s very deep so four meter whips were the order of the day to help him fish anywhere near the bottom with ease. I joined him with this simple method and we enjoyed a couple of hours in the sun. We had to work at the fish. We mostly fished with maggots but I spent a bit of time fishing bread punch. It’s a lovely simple method and it picked out some slightly better fish. But, it seemed inevitable that this month, the seven year old would out fish me and he was chuffed to bits landing a lovely autumnal Tench.
The month has been rounded off in the sunshine. I’m tapping this blog on my phone on the plane on our way home from Gran Canaria. It’s been a proper lush family holiday. And as I always do, I put some tackle in the suit case and we found time for an hour’s fishing. I’ve been pinching bread from the breakfast buffet for years and with a few extra pairs of hands in the family we had a decent haul of bread. But, this stuff ain’t no Warburtons. Delicious with some cheese, but a flipping nightmare to try and squeeze on a small hook. Chunks chucked in the water though did raise an aquarium of small colourful stuff so we gave it a go. The boys quickly caught a couple and I quickly gave up trying to bait their hooks with the bread. We needed a Plan B. I knocked a few limpets off the rocks and that did the trick. And so they caught a few more beautifully coloured things. I never did get my rod out but we’d had fun and that’ll do for me.
So, October, that was fun, sort of. There’s some seriously lively weather waiting for us at home. I’ll keep fishing in the surf when I get a chance and it’ll be time to get the Pike gear out too. The Tuna season ends at the end of the month. I’d love another go but we’ll see what the weather holds for us.
Just keep fishing, just keep fishing!
