After Wednesday's manic session, me and The Whittler, this time accompanied by The Mighty Turdster, decided ( that makes it sound like we considered not going. We didn't, we couldn't wait to get back down there ) to fish Friday night, to see if there were still a few roker about.
Me and The Whittler endured the long walk, to be greeted by Turdy who informed us he'd just had a run in with a big dog fox that had crept up on him and came up to within a few feet of him. Despite being 6' 2" and sixteen stone Turdy is a bit of a "Scaredy Cat" and pulled his knife on the fox before asking if he could fish next to The Whittler in case it showed up again.
As we were tackling up, I heard shouting from the Turdster's direction and as I looked up a nice roker slid up the beach. Good to see this early in the tide. My first cast and it'd only been out a few minutes and I had a slackliner, resulting in a double shot of roker.....another first for me, although they weren't very big. The next few casts produced whiting, lots of them, most just undersized.
We were all catching well, mostly whiting, with codling, roker and dogs thrown in. Not as busy as Wednesday night, but good fishing nevertheless. High tide came and went and, it being getting towards 2 a.m, The Turdster laid down, had a smoke and nodded off. A few minutes later an almighty crash and his rod rest had collapsed, as a roker dragged one of his rods seawards. Turdy managed to grab the rod and beached another nice one of around 5lb.
It was time to go ( although The Whittler, being a hard, hungry bastard fished on for another hour ) and the final scores were, me, 6 roker ( not as big as the other night, most 3-4lb ), 6 codling to 2lb, one big dog and lots of whiting, including a few good'uns. The Whittler had 4 roker, plus codling and whiting, but the honours just about went to The Mighty Turdster with 6 good sized roker, plus codling and whiting.
Another very enjoyable session. Looking forward to the next one already.
Tales from the Tendring Flatlands
Summer Bassing
Saturday 25 October 2014
Thursday 23 October 2014
October Madness
No photos on this one I'm afraid. Me and Conan The Whittler had intended to fish the local beach on Tuesday evening, but due to the arse end of Hurrcane whatever the feck it's called, we bailed out and decided to go the following night.
I had a crap afternoon and by 8 in the evening almost didn't bother going, but as I knew The Whittler was already down there fishing, I thought I better make the effort.
I turned up at 9.15, Whittler told me he'd had a few whiting and on my first cast the rod pulled over, was met with firm resistance and a few minutes later a 6lb roker hit the beach. Nice start. Cast out out again and a minute later same thing happens. And again. In the first 45 minutes I'd had five roker. That is ridiculous for shore fishing anytime, but October ?
The Whittler was catching plenty of whiting but remain rokerless. Then suddenly I heard a shout and his rod hooped over and he was in.
This continued all night, until we packed up at 2.00, knackered and covered in slime, bait and sweat.
The final tally was Whittler, four codling, two big doggies, 40 plus whiting and four roker. Me, a dozen whiting, three codling and twenty ( yes 20 ) roker.
Most of the roker were caught at very close range, maybe 40-60 yards out. There's definitely a gully in front of where I was, me and The Whittler were fishing pretty much the same and it was obvious there were more roker in front of me.
Herring outfished squid three or four to one this evening.
After our buckets were filled with fish we were chucking sizeable codling and 5-6lb roker back......there was no way we could have carried them for a mile or more over the shingle. As it was, the walk back took twice as long as normal, as we kept stopping to "change hands".
A ridiculously good night's fishing that I don't ever expect to see repeated.
I had a crap afternoon and by 8 in the evening almost didn't bother going, but as I knew The Whittler was already down there fishing, I thought I better make the effort.
I turned up at 9.15, Whittler told me he'd had a few whiting and on my first cast the rod pulled over, was met with firm resistance and a few minutes later a 6lb roker hit the beach. Nice start. Cast out out again and a minute later same thing happens. And again. In the first 45 minutes I'd had five roker. That is ridiculous for shore fishing anytime, but October ?
The Whittler was catching plenty of whiting but remain rokerless. Then suddenly I heard a shout and his rod hooped over and he was in.
This continued all night, until we packed up at 2.00, knackered and covered in slime, bait and sweat.
The final tally was Whittler, four codling, two big doggies, 40 plus whiting and four roker. Me, a dozen whiting, three codling and twenty ( yes 20 ) roker.
Most of the roker were caught at very close range, maybe 40-60 yards out. There's definitely a gully in front of where I was, me and The Whittler were fishing pretty much the same and it was obvious there were more roker in front of me.
Herring outfished squid three or four to one this evening.
After our buckets were filled with fish we were chucking sizeable codling and 5-6lb roker back......there was no way we could have carried them for a mile or more over the shingle. As it was, the walk back took twice as long as normal, as we kept stopping to "change hands".
A ridiculously good night's fishing that I don't ever expect to see repeated.
Tuesday 7 October 2014
Summer Over - Official
We gave it a quick go, but with no real enthusiasm. Summer's gone.
Wednesday 1 October 2014
One Will Do
I had some ragworm left and although the tides were not ideal today, with low water falling at 11.00 a.m, I decided to have another quick session. Weather was about spot on for a day tide, being dull and breezy, so I thought I may have a chance or two.
As soon as the tide started to flood I worked my way along the ridge, a cast here and there before moving on, until I got to the ( current ) favourite spot. First cast and within seconds the float shot under and I frantically wound in the slack as the fish bolted towards me. When I finally made contact with it it went mad, firstly thrashing on the surface and then stripping several yards of braid off the reel, before eventually being beached on the mudbank.
A thick set bass of around 3lb, in perfect condition. Worth making the effort to "use up the worms". It'll be interesting to see how long the bass remain in the estuary before disappearing for the winter.
As soon as the tide started to flood I worked my way along the ridge, a cast here and there before moving on, until I got to the ( current ) favourite spot. First cast and within seconds the float shot under and I frantically wound in the slack as the fish bolted towards me. When I finally made contact with it it went mad, firstly thrashing on the surface and then stripping several yards of braid off the reel, before eventually being beached on the mudbank.
A thick set bass of around 3lb, in perfect condition. Worth making the effort to "use up the worms". It'll be interesting to see how long the bass remain in the estuary before disappearing for the winter.
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