I recently got the bug to catch my first cod as you do, so where else was I going to go? Dungeness! I had roped my girlfriend Sarah and good friend Simon to come along with me. This might not have been much of a task, except it was 22mph winds, 2 degrees Celsius and meant fishing into the night! and on top of that we all had the extra cost of buying a rod each for the session, but then again maybe it was all about the cod!?!
Squid stuffed with lug worm
First stop was Micks tackle in Hythe, where we bought 3 cheap
beach casters, two boxes of squid, 3 score of frozen lug, our aim was to fish whole squid, stuffed with lug. big bait for big fish! The lady in the shop was extremely helpful and gave us good advise, even thought I got the impression she thought the three of us were completely bonkers and didn't have a clue, maybe she wasn't far wrong either!!
The first of many
Upon arrival, it was clear how windy it was! I though what the hell am I doing!, but we had come a long way, and spent too much money to let the weather stop us. On the plus side the sun was out, and with a hour till sunset, with high tide an hour after that, and we planned to fish up to two hours of the ebb tide, so it was only going to be a short session anyway. We took the shortish walk along to the point which I worked out from the road and light house positions on google maps, I was accurate and we ended up straight where I wanted to fish, then to amazement, 1, 3, 6, 12, 20 30+ rod rips appeared from behind the last high tide shingle bank, It was busy! As we reached the top of the bank all I could see anglers one after the other, each about 8 meters apart! I was surprised knowing what the weather was like, I'd never seen anything of this magnitude sea fishing before, but then I realised they were here for the good fishing and cod, and my plan didn't feel so mad after all, all these people wouldn't be wrong? luckily we found a space large enough for us to fish about 30meters down the beach.
Pulley pennel
It was pulley pennels rigs all round, size 3/0 hooks, with 6oz grip leads, I had made up all the rigs the night before and was keen to see how they actually fished. Whole squid stuffed with lug was the bait, and we set about fishing. strangely as we were setting up everyone to the left and right started packing up, giving me a false sense that we were fishing the wrong time, but no, it was just getting dark and late, a few remained into the night with us, but we now had lots of beach to ourselves! And alot more bait as the other anglers were kindly giving us their unused bait as they walked past.
whiting with weed anyone?
It wasn't long before the first fish were caught, whiting followed whiting followed whiting, you get the drift? they were small, and I was surprised that we were hooking them on the size baits and hooks we were using, even a few times catching two at the same time one hooked on each hook of the pennel rig, but it was fun! and the anticipation of that big cod was too much! The pulleys rigs worked well, very few tangles in the rough weather, and using tapered leaders 15lb to 80lb for the first time meant we didn't lose any tackle at all. Although I think we would of been fine using straight ledger rigs rather than pulley rigs, I was unaware of the bottom at this time, It was very snag free, shingle/sand even 80 yards out, as far as I could tell.
Dungenes power stations at night
Before we knew it, It was time to pack up, we had nearly 35 whiting between us, and about to keep as they were big enough or were deep hooked and died. I had spent most my time baiting up hooks and unhooking fish for the three of us, a very busy little session! the whiting were prolific, and we had nothing else but, unfortunately no cod, but you know what? that's my excuse to go again! It was my first time to Dungeness, and it lived up to its reputation. it was beautiful! looking out from the point was a panoramic view of the sea, and I swear you can see the curvature of the earth, the warm glow of light rising into the air from the power stations to the right, and standing magnificently behind the point, the light house, and like a guardian, occasionally sounding its horn, just to let us know he was there. I cant wait to return!
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