Looking forward to hearing his tales

After a crappy week at work, I finished early so I could catch a couple of hours with the lure rod fishing the tide down. Conditions on arrival were not great to be honest, with an eager scamp of a cross-wind that was going to make presentation tricky. But, this mark is new to me, so I wasn't too bothered as I'm still in the process of learning its moods during different times, tides and conditions.

I'd been fishing for about 20 mins when I noticed a young lad turn up with a small amount of kit, rod and tripod. He set it down, noticed me in the distance, and then with the eagerness of youth charged along the beach until he realised I was aware of his enthusiasm. He then slowed down to a more manly pace.

'Any luck?' he asked

'No nothing yet, and the conditions aren't looking hopeful either', was my reply. I had instantly warmed to his charm and was surprised how talkative I was.

'You are not going to believe this, but I was up at 3 o'clock this morning and had over 30 pout off the pier in the harbour. I then came down here and caught 10 stingray, all very small, and all caught on pout, as they won't take ragworm here for some reason', was his speedy reply.

Over the course of the next 10 minutes or so I listened to his youthful stories, but there was enough there to tell me for someone so young he knew how to fish, plus his face was sun beaten and along with his missing front teeth, showed he was a young lad who spent a lot of time outdoors. Initially I was a bit concerned, but looking at his designer label clothing and reasonable tackle I hoped all was okay.

I gave him some of my lures and hooks, and showed him how to rig and work them, and I must say he made a decent job of casting out a Dolive with a 11ft beach caster. In fact, for the next hour he was like my shadow, but I didn't mind and really hoped he was going to get lucky. However, lady luck wasn't on our side today.

Sitting down to rest, he sat next to me and told me he was knackered casting with his rod (I'm not surprised!) and tomorrow he was going to buy some more of these lures and bring his ultra-light with him instead of his beach caster. Later when I left, I shook his hand, said goodbye and wished him the very best of luck. 

I have a feeling I may well see him again in the future, and will be very disappointed if he doesn't have loads of lure-caught bass stories to tell me.