F's for feather

You'd have thought I could at least manage to catch a bleeding mackerel. In fact you'd think I'd be able to catch a mackerel of some kind, bleeding or not.
But no, it would appear I could not.
My plan was to go to Westward Ho! for high tide and just use the feathers and my beachcaster. But, as can happen with a mid-morning weekend fishing trip, it turned into a family outing; Westward Ho! turned into Instow; and beachcaster turned into spinning rod.
I wasn't as hopeful about fishing in the estuary, but nevertheless I was undeterred. It was a beautiful day and high tide after all, so surely something would go for one of the lures. I used a set of three feathers and then looped on a set of four silver things supposed to look like shrimps...
I spend a good hour up to my waist in it, figuring that although it was the estuary if I could cast far enough out it would be OK.
But of course it wasn't.
Total equipment failure. The handle dropped off my reel. Fortunately I managed to locate it on the seabed and took it home, where I managed to fix it back on with the help of some thick copper wire.
Getting an ice cream was about as near as I was going to come to catching a fish. You're right - it is not even close.