The Brill is one species that has fascinated me for some time. Like all the flat fish native to our seas, I find them rather interesting creatures. I have made a few trips out to the offshore banks off of Sussex in the last couple of years but never managed to catch one! I had been lucky with turbot and rays but a nice brill had always managed to avoid my hooks...........Until now!
I got a call from Steve at Brigand Charters in late October
saying there was a weather window approaching and that he was doing his last
run out to the banks for the year. I shifted my work schedule around and made
the time available. It had to be done, the conditions were looking good. A
perfect little slice of high pressure wedged between some big lows. Last chance
saloon on the banks….could I find my Brill?
The weather on the day was more like August than late
October, it was perfect. Flat seas, clear skies and warm sunshine. It was a
pleasure to be out and we had a great crew on board. We made many drifts that
day and the fishing was steady enough with some nice turbot coming up, some
greater weever, gurnard and small rays. It was more than enough to keep
everyone interested.
It’s a real lottery out there, you never know what’s going
to get caught. I got a typical flattie bite and gave a little line to allow the
fish to get a good hold of the mackerel bait before steadily winding down and
lifting into the fish. It felt like a nice one and we were all debating what it
might be as I gingerly wound it up through the depths. I explained to Steve the
skipper that I’d never caught a Brill before and was hopeful that this may be
my chance.
It was my lucky day. A fine, bin lid of a Brill came into
sight and made a couple of final, heart stopping lunges for freedom before
sliding into the net. It’s nice when a plan comes together and to achieve my
target on the final ‘banks’ trip of the year was the icing on the cake. Another
one ticked off the list.
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