Dab Fishing, Dungeness

Dab attack!

Behind The Boats, Dungeness, TN29. UK

The Lighthouse At Dungeness Guarding The Point

It's been a month a half since a serious fishing session for me, although I did manage to have a half hearted session at Hastings which was left me using a light spinning rod for beach casting because it was too painful for me to use my beach casters due to my bad elbow, it has not healed properly, but thankfully due to some taking it easy and extreme anti inflammatory tablets from the doctors, the pain has subsided enough for me to venture to the bank again. my first choice would have been Pike fishing, but the rivers have all been in flood, and with a cold spell coming, I decided it would be more sensible to go later on in the year. This actually for a change left me a bit confused as to where to, or even what to fish for. But my inspiration came from the "World Dab Championships" held last weekend. a annual friendly competition held at Dungeness where all the proceeds went to the RNLI. What caught my eye was the size limit for the Dabs, they had to be over 25cm. I have caught lots of Dabs over the years, but never over 25cm as far as I can remember. After a bit of research I discovered that this was a time of year when the bigger Dabs were coming inshore, and in hindsight I'd normally miss this opportunity, due to the fact I would be hitting big baits at range for late Cod or Bass if the sea was rough. But not this time!

Lug Tipped With Squid

Me and Sarah set off for late due to a hangover, but it didn't matter we still was going to get 5 hour fishing the ebb tide from high water until it got dark, which was the perfect way to ease myself into the new season. To be honest nothing about the timing of the session seemed to be right, the tide, and lack of wind and direction were all negative but this was more of a opportunity to just go fishing for the sake of it, and decides the only thing that was right, was a glorious winters sunny day to enjoy. I decided to fish an area known as "behind the boats" which is actually the beach where the fishing boats launch from. I picked here as this was where I had previously caught a lot of Dabs before, it's a steep single bank going down to a clear flat sandy/muddy bottom that gets exposed at low water. the tide is not that strong here and its extremely snag free which makes for a easier and quieter place to fish than towards the point.

Treble Shot! And Three Species Too!

I fished two Greys 12' 6" TSX Centaur rods, matched with Shimano Biomaster 8000 XBS reel, loaded with 15lb mono with a 15lb to 60lb leader. One was fished with a single clipped down rig with a size 2/0 hook with whole squid as bait, just in case anything big was about, this would also give me the chance to concentrate on my second rod which would be targeting Dabs, a 3 hook flapper rig with size 4 Aberdeen hooks with added bling,  5mm different coloured beads with sequins on each hook to attract the little flat fish. My bait was to be half a black lug tipped with a 7mm wide, 6cm strip of squid to flap about like a flag in the tide. With my large bait at range, I fished the flapper rig where I believed the shingle meet the muddy bottom at about 80m, as I helped Sarah set up her rod, I watched my rod tip rattle repeatedly, once I was done and Sarah was baited and ready to cast out,  I lifted up my rod which was still rattling away without striking, reeled in, by the weight it felt like a sizable fish, but even better then that and to my delight, a treble shot of Whiting, Dogfish and Dab all on the hooks you would expect them to be on, text book stuff proved right. And a good start to the session, Then out of the blue, a seal popped his head up where we were fishing, then dived down, he came up for air a few times briefly for us to see him, but not long enough for a photo, then we lost him. I'd seen a seal here before, but it is quite a rare sight, and the only place I've even seen one in Kent.

New PB Dab 14oz

I had landed a few pin Whiting and some small Dabs at range, but about an hour into the ebb, weed started to push through making fishing almost impossible for an hour, but during this time Sarah was picking of the odd dab close in about 30 to 40m out, and then she landed the biggest Dab I've ever seen, I had a bit of confusion about what it was at first because it was very dark and had a dark green colouration, but it wasn't a flounder because it had no boney knobs behind the head, it was a definitely a Dab, and we joked that it was probably the grandad of all Dabs. I decided to follow suit and kept my cast to within 40m and then I started hitting the larger Dabs, This was actually what I was looking for, the area where the shingle meet the muddy flat bottom, I could feel the lead lift out of the soft mud and then bounce into and along the shingle as I reeled in. I landed four over 25cm with the biggest being 31cm long and weighing 8oz all at very close range. after an hour of frantic fun, it seemed to go quiet, until on my last cast I landed the biggest fish of the day a Dogfish. All my fish came on the one rod, and I only got a few nibbles on the big bait rod, well I was kept busy enough not to mind, I guess there was nothing big about, except the seal.

Line Up, Line up!

I have to say this was a surprisingly pleasant trip, my arm held up, and the sun shone with a warm glow that took the chill out of the winter air enough to make it very comfortable, Sarah had managed 8 fish including a Rockling, and I managed 16 fish, with 6 keepers between us, I had gone to target Dabs knowing that it was the right time for them with the right sized rig for their little mouths, and had caught the biggest Dabs I've seen. Yes, they are a small fish where a 1lb specimen is a very good fish from the shore, with their tell tale bites, of tiny little rattles every 5 seconds or so, they hardly put up a fight, They were fun to catch, and luckily for me they got bigger and bigger as the day went on. I think Dabs are normally around most of the year, and definitely make great viable target during this quiet time of year fishing from our shores. I've also read a lot about Dabs on the internet that they went out of fashion to be eaten, due to being branded a horrible tasting fish, I have to say and believe many would agree that this is very unfair, Fresh Dab fillets in flour and seasoned fried in olive oil are absolutely delicious, and even better due to their size, they are perfect for baps, Yum Yum..... fresh fish burgers anyone??!!