Sandy's birthday came around and she wanted another lesson in guitar playing from Martin, her tutor, who lives just outside Bude. We decided to take a picnic lunch so that Sandy could sunbathe and play her guitar on the beach in the afternoon while Lee and I fished for mullet. I had also booked a table at 'Life's a Beach' a restaurant with a superb position overlooking the sands.
The day was everything you could have hoped for with glorious sunshine. After her lesson Sandy settled down to practice. Lee and I tracked the river and found the edges alive with fish, but these were very spooky splashing for cover every time a bird flew over and its shadow fell onto the water. We thought we would try for bass with worm, and although I caught one of about 6oz, it wasn't very productive so we decided to try for the mullet breaking surface a little higher upstream.
There didn't seem too much activity, but with polaroid glasses we could see a shoal milling about in midwater. We tackled these with floatfished flake and I caught one immediately of just under 2lb. Lee had never caught a mullet so took my rod and after a few minutes took a larger one of just over a couple of pounds. These fish give an excellent account of themselves, especially on the coarse fishing tackle we use to prevent the hook from pulling free in their soft mouths.
Once we had landed this the tide started running in at pace bringing in weed and all sorts of debris which covered the surface and brought our session to an abrupt end.
There was just time for a gentle stroll before we headed for the restaurant and had an excellent meal which was further enhanced watching the sun slowly sink into the sea. Everything had worked out as planned and Sandy had a birthday to remember.