 It's the first week of September, my favourite month for sea fishing and I'm heading back to one of my favourite venues, Christchurch Harbour. I'm determined to leave the mullet alone and target the bass with a fly rod. I tied that during lockdown. I tied on a jig head because it's very weedy and sometimes fishing in about eight inches of water that's just absolutely thick with weed along the bottom. So that's the thinking behind that, whether it will work or not, I don't And two foot up the line. I'm using seven pound line, which is very light I know, but I've got a booby on a dropper about two feet away going on to 12 and then 18. It's about a 14 foot leader and I'm using a slime line just to get beneath that chop that I think I'm going to have out on the water. A floating line is going to get pushed about all over the place in this wind. One of the reasons why Christchurch is such a popular kayak fishing venue is because you've got Mayor's Mead car park that actually has a public slipway on it for launching the kayak. One of the weather forecasts was good. I was expecting it to be like previous visits when I successfully targeted the mullet with baited spinners and more recently when I was trying to suss out the bass with lures. The weather actually turned out to be a lot more windy than I thought it's going to be. Having failed on two occasions with a fly rod, it didn't fill me with much hope. Trying to keep this boat steady has proved to be an absolute night there. I don't believe it, it actually hooks one. The leader's got stuck in the eye. Lesson learned. To finally catch something here on a fly rod, having flogged out in competitions previously. I'm over the moon with that, even though it's a tiny bite. I'm as happy as an eel of a pipe. Tied that during lockdown and I caught fish on it, which is great. It's like my warm hands, but they are wet. Barber's hook. I've done a really fast retrieve to get those takes. I can't cast in this position, it's like I'm taking this. It's still one of those flies hitting you in the back of the head or puncturing a dry suit. Instead of trying to find shelter from the wind, I have a change of strategy. I anchor up and try and use the wind to my advantage. Fish number three, a change of location and it's another tiny one, but it's cool. Worth it. Getting bigger on the booby. Horses really moving now. So we're using that current. Fish this size and ports this side. I'm trying to think. Getting bigger, it's cool. He's thrown the hook. He's right out and his spine, he was sitting down. Not a huge bass of course. Ports an incisor. Look at it. It was seriously good fun. Gave me a knuckle wrap on the reel. Sort of glasses out. Hey! Well pleased. That is awesome. Really pleased with that. And that was on that bigger point fly. Yeah, it's good. Every cast I put my pedal drive. It was a good one as well. So it's shallow enough for me to stand up. But if I do stand up, I'll probably sink into about three foot of mud. Just about a foot deep. Oh, there we go. That's another bit of rise off. Jig flies working in treat with all this weed that's coming through. Completely weed free. Must have had about 30 of these little ones now. It was me getting all excited about catching one at the beginning. The thing I've enjoyed about today is seeing some old faces as well. It's nice to share the pleasure. I've got a feeling that Sam Baxter has fallen asleep. As is his trademark. I think he's woken up though to find himself in the middle of a mud flat. With no water. Yeah, four and about four and a half. What's there? It looked pretty big. Yeah, lovely. Mario, good to see you.