Beach Casting, Hythe

Spring Codling

 

Princess Parade, Hythe, Kent. UK

Home Is The Darkest Blue Bit

Having being given the heads up about numerous Codling showing at various locations all over the SE of England, and having only ever caught one Cod before and then failed to catch one since despite numerous attempts, Nothing was going to stop me getting the rods out at the first opportunity this poor weather would allow, and yes, its been raining constantly since before Xmas, and now officially the wettest winter since records began, with the SE getting the most rainfall. But having the weekend off work, and a full day of no rain forecast with the winds dropping below gust level for the first time for a long time, I couldn't wait to get to the shore and just get out fishing. Having had to cancelled a 3 day fishing trip for catfish due to the bad weather, John had decided to join me in this consolation session, and his first shore sea fishing trip, We set off at the modest time of 9am, and stocked up some fresh lug worm and a box of squid from Mick's Tackle in Hythe.

The Codling Father

We fished 1 rod each, rigs were three hook flappers with size 2 hooks, these were baited with half a lug worm and tipped with squid, With the Sun shining, and the wind, which was twice as strong than it was forecast, blowing straight in our faces with a chill, we both cast out into the flooding tide, whilst John was fishing closer in, I fished further out, which helped us locate the fish, immediately my rod tip rattled away, my first 3 casts had resulted in 6 fish, 4 large and very fat Rocklings, a small dogfish, and a new fish for the species list a small Pouting, which was nice to see one, because as a kid they was all I ever remember catching, but now days they seem quite sparse with the rising sea temperature being the most likely culprit. Just as I was going to ill advise John to recast further out, his rod tip rattled away, and to my excitement  he landed His first shore caught fish, a tiny plump Codling!

PPPPPPouting

He didn't stop there, he had found his area to cast to, where they seemed to be, and proceeded to show me how to do it, and landed another 5, and I'm sure he missed and lost a lot more, I could tell by the Codling bites being very distinctive compared to the Whiting and Rockling bites that I was getting on my rod. As hard as I tried I couldn't match him, but I did at least managed to land a couple of Codling myself. We were both plagued by the onslaught of the fattest Rockling I had ever seen, I had to laugh at how quickly John was complaining about how difficult they are to unhook due them being slippery, with tiny mouths, and the Rock in Rockling must refer to their head, They're my least favourite fish to catch just for this reason, and even useless as bait or food. All in all it was a very enjoyable and productive 4 hour session, although no keepers and the fish being very small, we had 40+ fish and 6 species caught between us. And although I had to give John the title of Cod Father, I was happy to think that the numbers of these tiny Codling being caught at the moment will bode well for the future, providing they can avoid the commercial nets, I wish them all the best, and hope to see them again in a few years.

Big Smile For Something So Tiny

Beach Casting, Dungeness

Scratching Around

Dungeness, UK

A brand new year has started, with great excitement it's time to get the ball rolling on my 2014 species list. I would have loved to gone fishing, well any type of fishing full stop, but due the recent extreme rainy weather which has left the south of England flooded since before Christmas, swollen rivers are overflowing and creating newly made lakes and swamp lands making fishing impossible to dangerous. But more to the point it has cause so much devastation to peoples homes and property, businesses have been washed away, as has much of the infrastructure isolating people, and leaving them without power, and my thoughts and prays go out to everyone who has been affected.

The Vileda Mop!! aka Vercelli Fiamma

With a small break from the gusts and rain I decided that a trip to the beach was the most viable option than tackle a muddy flooded still water. I decided to hit Dungeness, I love this place, just fisherman and photographers, no traffic, no noise, and a little piece of the unique wilderness of England's only desert, dotted with unique flora and the abandoned wrecks of fishing boats. With the largest shingle bank in Europe jutting out into the World's busiest shipping lane, ever growing and reaching ever closer to France. With the surreal backdrop of the power stations, this place looks like it could be a set from Star Wars. It is a eerily surreal place at times, but that's what makes me feel a million miles away from my life, and when sitting on the beach looking up waiting for the rod tip to rattle against the backdrop of the stars on a clear winters night, are just magical!

Slimey Rockling

This time of year is often called the "scratching season" due to the size of the fish present and the lack of any of the big species, I didn't mind though, rather than sitting on big baits targeting larger species, I'm always happy to do a bit of match fishing with smaller rigs, picking off whatever fish happen to be in front of you, it has, and will again throw up some unexpected catches. Due to the very calm wind and sea not being as rough as I had expected, and the the fact it was a neap tide, I decided to use a continental rod over a conventional beach caster, A 14' Vercelli Spyra Fiamma coupled with a Shimano Ultegra 10000 XBS loaded with 20lb PowerPro braid. my rig was a simple three hook flapper, decorated with 5mm beads and size 4 hooks baited with lug worm and tipped with squid on 1lb 16 long snods, I started with a 5oz breakaway lead, which the rod effortlessly lobbed far out to sea.

Pin Whiting

I didn't have to wait long for the first tiny, and I mean tiny Rockling to undetectably hook itself and only reveal itself upon being beached, I had a few missed bites and a had few even smaller pin Whiting, but as the tide turned and started to rise, Surprisingly it got harder, and I hadn't had a bite for over a hour now even though I had tried three rigs cast far and near, but I had a plan, the current was starting to push through now, not too much, but enough to play with, I desperately searched my tackle box for a plain lead, but not one to be found!! typical, so in a improvised fisherman's way I settled for not clipping the wires into position on my breakaway leads and letting them hang loose, the idea being that the current moves the rig around searching out holes and gully's where hopefully hungry fish are laying in wait to ambush passing morsels.

Floundering Around

My first cast went out at 45 degrees down tide, with the delicate rod and braid I could see and imagine everything the rig was doing as it rolled and got dragged along the seabed in a big arc. And then wallop, a big pull down followed by rattle, I picked up the rod, took the slack and on the next rattle I gently struck, on this rod I could feel every movement of the fish, and was very exciting, I didn't have a clue what it was, apart from it was a little bigger than the micro fish I had already caught, it turned out to be my third species a plump little Flounder. I continued with success fishing with a unfixed lead until the current died down enough that even my smallest 4oz lead was  able to hold bottom, but as the tide stopped running so did the bites, but I had managed to land 16 fish even adding a few Dabs to the tally, I tried casting from 10m to as far as I could, but everything seemed quiet.

Dab Swollen With Row

The wind was picking up now and with even with a few hours till high tide and enough bait, I knew rain was coming and decided to call it a day, as I reeled in the rod for the last time, and I could feel something heavy on the end, but not fighting, I suspected weed or maybe a plastic bag, and was surprised when I saw a Dogfish curled into a ball come skimming across surf towards me, The biggest of the day and taking my tally up to 17 fish and 5 species, not a bad for a 4hour session, It was the only window to go fishing so far this year and I feel I made the most out of it. It was mild, dry and calm, and a very pleasant session all in all. but what a decision to pack up when I did, by the time I had packed up, the wind had gone from 20mph gusts to 50mph constant wind. Walking back to the van was extremely difficult in the gale force strong wind blowing straight at me, I nearly got blown over several times struggling to keep my balance or even breath properly against the wind,  and as I reached the van, out of breath and physically knackered, the sky blackened and the heavens opened with a ferocious clash of thunder and lighting, pelting hailstones and rain, lucky me! is all I can say, I sat in the van and watched the storm with oar, until the rain eased enough for me to drive home.

Both Blinking For The Shot