A morning tide

Another day off with time to fill, I suppose I better go fishing!  The cold spell has broken now, the Tench and Carp should be feeding so the obvious choice would be a morning at ‘The Valley’ but my heart isn’t in it.  Heading due east, the drive on early morning country roads was eventful, I met with a closed road and typical for East Anglia, no diversion in place.  I had to rely on my sense of place and a general inkling of direction before I eventually made it to the main road.  A few miles later I made an inspired decision to follow a signpost and try what looked like a short cut, in theory it should have worked but I ran into another closed road.  It was like one of the dreams I often have the night before a fishing trip, these are never the same but follow the similar path in which everything conspires to prevent me from actually fishing.  Still relying mostly on guesswork my detour through heathland was pleasant if slow.  It took so long I had to stop for a leak, pulling over in a gateway I could see Deer feeding amongst in the bracken and scrub, only twenty yards or so away I can’t believe they weren’t aware of me but they certainly weren’t bothered.  I eventually made it to the coast half an hour later than expected, just one other car parked up.

Today I was fishing on the steep beach, eventually setting up around 0830 with the usual two rods and my normal methods.  A big bait for a big fish hurled out into the grey soup along with a smaller bait fished close in for whatever swims.  A juvenile Seal watched me with interest for a while before eventually heading southwards and disappearing.  The tide had just turned and was coming in, the day was gloomy and grey with a light breeze from the north but for once the temperature was comfortable.  The waves were bigger than I’d expected giving the rod tips a rhythmical nod.  This nodding was interrupted at least twice by definite bites in the first few minutes but I was still half asleep and missed them.  Sea fishing is much more active than sitting behind buzzers and I feel like I need to find some kind of rhythm myself.  It took me about forty five minutes before I felt I was comfortable and fishing properly and another three quarters of an hour before I managed to hook anything.  This first fish was a modest Whiting as were the next three which came in quick succession, all on the close range rod.  Then it went quiet again, perhaps a shoal had moved on?  Should I drop the big bait close in when the Whiting are about?  Maybe something large will be hunting them…

Things were relatively quiet for a while, for half an hour or so I was still getting bites which were easy to see in the conditions but few of the really positive ones I can strike with confidence.  Then when I did get a proper slam on the big bait I somehow managed to miss it! But by now the tide was climbing high up the beach and this bite signalled the start of almost constant action.  Mostly it was the close range rod that was getting the interest, firstly with a decent sized Dogfish then followed a few minutes later a baby Smoothound.  The rod had barely settled before another Smoothound pulled it round, I love these mini sharks but I’d really like to catch a bigger one.

After four hours fishing finally the big bait showed signs of another bite and I struck into something with a bit of weight to it.  Would this be a Thornback?  These fish are the best chance of a real proper lump at the moment but the one species I have so far avoided.  As it got closer so it started to feel smaller, although it did pull a bit in the surf it was outgunned by the heavy gear and soon a decent sized Dogfish was being unhooked and returned.  Next bite was on the close range rod again, the result a fat Pouting making it four species caught so far.

The close range rod is a simple running leger with a three ounce lead and a hooklength of about three feet.  On the end of this is a size 2 Kamasan but I’ve added a couple of bells and whistles in the form of a flashing blade and a buoyant bead.  I don’t know if this adds anything to the attraction but it doesn’t seem to put fish off.  Bait on this rod today was small strips of squid bound on tight with bait elastic.  My big bait today was either half a bluey or a whole squid, this mounted on a two hook Pennell rig and once again bound on with loads of elastic.  This is attached to a pulley rig which I will let google describe.  What I will say is with a few minor tweaks this would make an excellent rig for long range deadbaits.  I seem to be getting the hang of catching the smaller fish but the novelty is starting to fade and I get much more excited when the big bait gets taken.  What I’m doing seems to be working and I feel comfortable but maybe I need to do a bit more reading, to learn the best ways of catching these bigger fish, a good sized Ray or Smoothound must be an impressive sight to see.  I’m also getting more confident in hurling five ounces of lead out, despite the sloppy old glass fibre North Western.

The tide reached its peak and I added another Dogfish on the close range rod but after it had turned things slowed down considerably on this one.  I still saw the odd fishy rattle but the only proper bites came on the big bait and got me wondering, maybe a Ray?  Not today, the first brought another Doggie and I finished off with a third small Hound.  I would loved to have carried on fishing and I’m sure I’d have caught another fish or two but time had already run out and my energy was fading quickly.