When Everything Goes Wrong... But The Fishing Still Works Out
Every angler has done it at least once.
You've checked the tides.
You've planned the trip.
You've sorted the bait.
You've packed the gear.
And then you arrive to discover you've got it completely wrong.
That was exactly how this fishing adventure started.
The plan seemed simple enough. Connor, Aaron and I were heading over to Shellness Beach on the Isle of Sheppey for a day of fishing.
Everything was organised.
Or so I thought.
When we arrived, it quickly became obvious that something wasn't right.
The sea was nowhere near where it should have been.
Instead of arriving to fishable water, we found ourselves staring at an enormous stretch of exposed ground with the tide still disappearing into the distance.
The uncomfortable truth soon became clear.
I'd completely messed up the tide times.
As fishing disasters go, it's not the worst mistake in the world, but it certainly wasn't the ideal start to the day.
Rather than waste the trip entirely, we decided to make the most of the situation and search for fresh bait.
Turning over rocks around the shoreline, we soon started finding a few live crabs that would hopefully come in handy later.
Then we spotted something even better.
A sand eel.
What followed turned into an unexpected comedy show.
The little fish seemed determined not to be caught and repeatedly escaped every attempt to grab it.
At one point Aaron confidently lunged forward and announced he'd got it.
Unfortunately for him, what he'd actually grabbed was a crab.
The crab wasn't particularly impressed and immediately pinched him, which provided plenty of entertainment for the rest of us.
Eventually Connor managed to catch the sand eel, bringing the chase to an end.
Sadly for the eel, it was destined to become bait.
With our original plans no longer viable, we decided to change venues entirely and head over to Ramsgate Harbour.
On the way we picked up Aaron's cousin Dan and hoped the change of location would improve our fortunes.
Thankfully, it didn't take long before things started happening
Shortly after getting our rods in the water, Dan landed a lovely bass.
That immediately changed the mood.
Suddenly everyone was feeling optimistic and expecting more fish to follow.
A few dogfish soon appeared, and before long Aaron also joined the bass club with a smaller but very welcome fish of his own.
The session was beginning to take shape nicely.
Then came one of the highlights of the day.
Aaron pulled in a magnificent spider crab.
These fascinating creatures always attract attention and this one was particularly impressive.
Not long afterwards, Dan managed to catch a smaller spider crab of his own, adding another interesting species to the day's catch list.
Meanwhile, Connor and I were struggling to keep up.
While everyone else seemed to be finding bass and unusual catches, we were firmly stuck in dogfish territory.
Dogfish after dogfish seemed determined to remind us that fishing has a cruel sense of humour.
Safe to say there was no doubt who lost this particular session.
Me.
Still, that's fishing.
Some days you're the hero.
Some days you're the bloke watching everyone else catch the good stuff while you untangle rigs and catch dogfish.
The important thing is that everyone enjoyed themselves.
Despite the disastrous start, the day ended with bass, spider crabs, dogfish, plenty of laughs and some great memories shared between friends and family.
Looking back, it actually turned out to be one of those sessions that perfectly sums up why we love fishing.
Things rarely go exactly to plan.
But sometimes those unexpected twists end up creating the best stories.
And this trip certainly gave us plenty to laugh about.
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