Dover Sole Fishing, Hythe

Bass Fishing Gone Wrong

Hythe, Kent, UK

 Rocks Atract Fish And Swimmers Alike

Just a short blog for a short session, having had a few hours spare to fish I decided to take the light spinning rod out and try for a Bass, I headed to Hythe, having picked up a score of Lugworm just in case, and glad I did, I had been given advice from the local tackle shop to try around one of the rocky outcrops. The tide was about half way down by the time I arrived, the water was more coloured than I expected, but I carried on with the plan. Using my Snowbee Sea Bass Special and Shimano Stradic 5000 loaded with 20lb Power Pro braid with a 15lb flourocarbon 1 meter long leader I systematically went about using the whole contents of my lure box giving each one at least five casts, from spinners to hard lures and rubbers to spoons, the only excitment I had was nearly falling off the slippery rocks.

New PB Sole, On A Spinning Rod?!?

Due to swimmers deciding that the 2 miles of empty beach wasn't good enough for a swim, just like fish, they headed to the features to bath and scare any bass away from your swim, never caught a swimmer before but I could of. With the loss of emthusiasm I headed for a burger van and had a cold coke. I decided that it was too much a nice evening to go home early, so decided to move along the coast to the next rocky outcrop. And apon arrival, guess what? I drove 1 mile along an empty sea to get to the next mark only to find a fluff chucker (fisherman fishing for mackerel with feathers) casting in and around several swimmers! I have to admit I started to walk back to the car, when I changed my mind and decided to bottom fish as far as out as I could cast with the light spinning rod, just to outrange the swimmers. I used a 3oz lead on a running ledger, and pennel mounted a single Lugworm on size 1/0 hooks. With a almighty cast with the short spinning rod I managed an impressive 35meters. and set the rod down using the exposed rocks as a improvised  rod stand. About 5 minutes later I had my first bite, reeling in to find a 1lb 6oz Dover Sole on the end of the hook, not a Bass but even better eating, some would say. After a few missed bites I conected with a bigger fish that put a big bend in the tiny rod, another Dover Sole and my biggest ever at 1lb 14oz and 44cm long. At this, I decided that was enough fishing for today. I didn't get my target species, but I ended up with 3 Dove Sole, a new PB and enough of the best eating fish I know, to make myself dinner for 3 nights! Funny that's exactly how long the Mrs is away, fending for myself in style! ;)

5* Eating A Fresh Dover Sole!

Catfish Fishing, Furnace Lakes

Fish Aint Heavy, That's My Brother

Furnace Lakes, Horsham, West Sussex, UK

Camp Catnip

Thinking ahead to an upcoming trip Carp fishing in France and sorting through and maintaining my tackle got me all excited, I've mostly been beach casting this year, and although I'm thoroughly enjoying the thrill of trying to catching as many species as possible, the lure of trying to catching a giant freshwater powerhouse was too much, of coarse I mean the Wels Catfish, I had landed a 27lb last year, and as happy as I was, I knew this was a just little one, but now I wanted a bigger one! With only a few hours notice I set about making some some rigs and getting the tackle ready and even buying a day fishing licence online for my 3rd rod as my licence only covers 2 rods. Tackling these big fish with 3 rods in the water can be tricky, and I was concerned that I would need help, so was happy that my brother Scott was able and wanted to come, a keen fisherman himself, I couldn't wait to spend some time with him at my favourite fishery, knowing that he would have a very good chance to beat his PB which stood at 9lb, I was just as excited for him as myself.

Space Filling Picture, That's All

We left early to arrive early, Scott got a swim straight away, whilst I waited a few hours, for the swim next door to become available, which gave me a chance to spend some time talking to other anglers, and find out what, where and how fish were being caught, all seemed good, with Carp and Catfish coming out all over to the tactics I was prepared for. I decided to fish 2 rods for Catfish, and 1 for Carp. The Catfish rods had 20lb mono mainline and the rigs were made from 40lb catlink braid to protect against the sharp rasping teeth of the Cats, with a size 1 pellet hook, baited with 2 x 20mm Halibut pellets, or donkey chokers as we like to call them. The carp rod was 15lb mono mainline to 18lb soft braid and size 8 hook baited with a single 15mm innovate cream crunch boiley. I decided not to bait to much and opted only to use a pva bag of assorted mixed size pellets each cast for the Catfish, and catapult 10 or so boileys out every 20 mins over my Carp rig, both tactics had worked well in the past, and it seemed like a logical starting place.

Fish Hooked, Well Done Bro!

It wasn't long before we was getting action, frustratingly I had 2 clear runs on the Catfish rods but didn't connect with anything, and Scott had the same on his Carp rods, I had said to him earlier to only expect to catch 1 fish, and possibly loose few, I could sense his frustration, and thought that the missed runs and quick bites were probably little Bream toying with the large baits, I was wrong!, as we watched his bobbing repeatedly bounce up and down once again, I shrugged my shoulders and said "why not, hit it", he did, and the rod pulled right round into a big arch as he connected into a large fish on his Carp rod, but adding to his frustration after a 5 minute fight the Catfish's teeth cut through the braid. A little later I had managed to connect in a fish after a big run, but as big as the run was, it only resulted in a small 5lb Catfish, but at least I wasn't blanking. Then almost immediately my Carp rod tore off, with a screaming run, I struck and played a very large carp which I estimated at over 30lb only to have him spit the hook on the 4th attempt at landing him, No! was this my one chance missed? It was getting late, but I was still confident as we had dusk, night and dawn yet to come and there seemed to be a lot more runs than on previous trips.

Wakey Wakey, Not A Dream!

Just before dusk Scott had hooked into a big fish, this time it was on a Catfish rod so there was little chance of him loosing this one the same way again. and he didn't. After a very careful fight, he had landed his first ever Catfish, jumping from a 9lb PB skipping all doubles and twentys going straight into a new PB of 30lb 4oz. Whatever happened now he was one happy man! Optimisticly I refreshed my baits and recast all 3 rods just before it got dark, but I had noticed that it had gone really quiet and it stayed that way without a bleep from the bite alarms deep into the night. I had just fallen asleep when I was awoken by a slow gradually run on my Carp rod , bolting out of bed in sheer panic mode probably still somewhat asleep I struck and hooked into a large fish. It seemed to be a Catfish, and didn't seem to know or care it was hooked, and swam about 50m  into the corner of the lake at a ridiculously slow pace taking line at 1cm per sec, I've seen faster snails if im honest. I just couldn't stop or turn him! putting as much pressure as I'd dare on the lighter Carp rig, I played this fish for nearly 20 minutes very tentatively, and had visions of the fish cutting through the braid like a mincer, I wasn't wrong, ping the line went, and once I reeled in, I could see the splaid end of my braid rig which was now half it's length, sods law!, and angrily I thought out loud "couldn't you of picked up the baits on either of my 2 other rods?" Although my luck was being kept at bay, Scott's wasn't, and during my fight had hooked and landed his second Catfish weighting in a at 22lb. luckily having just about finished re baiting and casting all my rods, the heavens opened up in a torrential downpour, not only dampening my spirits, but forcing me back into my sleeping bag and closing the door of my bivey, seemingly ending the nights fishing.

37lb 14oz PB Wels Catfish, And My Biggest Ever UK Fish

After 4 hours sleep, I awoke to full daylight, the rain had stopped, and the rods seemed exactly as they were before I went to sleep., I Reeled them in and found they were all still baited, at least I hadn't missed anything. With only a few hours left to fish,  for the last time I refreshed and recast all three rods. I had taken a stroll to Scott's swim to use his cooker and make myself a morning coffee and a tasty porridge, when I could hear an bite alarm "Is that mine?" instinct just made me start to run with porridge in hand, galloping along still unsure whether it was my alarms, but when I realised it actually was one of my bite alarms, I speeded up into a 100 meter sprint that Linford Christie would of been proud of. Still with porridge in hand I struck my rod, which had been deftly cast underneath a overhanging willow tree. I was on! I knew it was a Catfish straight away by the way the fish was in no hurry and the occasional pinging of the line as the fish curled and spun in the water. and I was confident now as this was on a Catfish Rig, but I wasn't in any hurry, this fish didn't want to come out and play, opting to sit at home under the overhanging tree, and I wasn't going to bully him out, so patiently I waited, just keeping the pressure on, even having time for Scott to spoon feed me the rest of my porridge like a baby, because my hands were busy holding the rod., cheekily saying "Feed me, I need my strength." personally I was just grateful that I actually got to eat it whilst it was still hot. It took about 10 minutes before the fish decided to move out from hiding, and as he attempted to swim along the far bank, I was able to slowly tease him across the lake and into my landing net. I had done it on my last cast a new PB weighing in at 37lb 14oz, and the biggest fish that I have caught in the UK, and yet again I have left Furnace Lake with a new record, and even better, 37lb is still just a baby, so I still got a perfect excuse to return! Hmmm.... and don't think I've let you off Mr Carp!

Goodbye From Me, And Goodbye From Him

Dover Sole Fishing, Dungeness

Sole Searching

Dungeness, Romney Marsh, Kent TN29, UK

Not A Bad View

It's been a very long time  since I last caught a Dover Sole, which was back when I was a little kid, being taken to Dover by my Father and fishing off a sea wall throughout the night, happy memories of not being able to see over the wall, and having the fights of a life time, only to realise that you had caught a plastic bag, the constant hissing of a ferociously burning Tilly lamp eerily sending long scary shadows adding to a uncomfortable feeling, and of coarse the big scary Lice which scampered all over the concrete structure making you wonder what may crawl over the sea wall next, and at times, nearly freezing to death in high winds on stormy winter nights with the relentless ringing of rusty bells, attached to every rod tip with a stinky bait stained wooden peg. It's really quite amazing that I still remember those sessions from so long ago, and the memories and images those trips instilled in my mind, all exaggerated by my young inexperienced mind, are something that I'll never forget. And to think that's not even mentioning any fish!.  So with a few reports of them showing around Dungeness, it was time to reacquaint my self with one of the most expensive flat fish around, and attempt to add another species to my list.

Little Hook For A Little Mouth

I arrived at Dungeness at 8am, just in time for the bait shop to open and picked up a just score of black Lug, plenty of bait for what i needed, for the 6 hours session. I had decided to only fish 1 rod, my 14' Vercelli Spyra Fiamma coupled with a Shimano Ultegra 10000 XS-C loaded with 20lb Power Pro braid, I wanted to just be able to concentrate my effort on the one rod, which makes for a easier fish, as I was feeling quite tired from work. My rig was a simple 2 up 1 down flapper, which would ensure my baits were firmly on the sea bed which is most likely to attract a bite from a Sole, and to match their tiny mouths I used short shanked size 4 hooks, baited with a 1/3 of a Lugworm. Using a breakaway 5oz lead would help me hold bottom and keep the bait still allowing the Sole to pick up the scent and find the bait as they are not visual hunters, the only chink in the armour was that it was daytime, and these fish are normally nocturnal, but with a spring tide and coloured sea combined with a cloudy overcast day, I felt confident that I would be able to catch one.

Shingle Camo Dover Soles

I was into the fish from the off, tiny Dabs, Flounders and Whiting by the pair, flicking the bait gently out no further than 60 meters, I had caught about 18 fish, the tide had turned and was on the rise, I was struggling to hold bottom in the current, the colour of the water started to clear, even the sky had cleared to reveal a scorching hot sun, this didn't forebode well for catching a Sole, but then a bite that was clearly very different to the rest, and again the rod tip violently rattled into a big curve, thinking a Bass bite, I picked up the rob and gently lifted into a fish, I knew something was on, but what?, it felt bigger than normal, and I couldn't believe my luck when I saw a flat fish skimming across the sea into the surf, Yes a Dover Sole! and not a bad size either weighing 10oz and 35cm long it was a plate sized keeper, my target fish caught, and just in time, the water was now crystal clear with the sun burning down and now the tide was in full flood, all the fish seemed to disappear, leaving me searching near and far for bites. I even tried feathers for Mackerel over high water, but alas no more fish, not even a bite. It had been a lovely day compared to the incorrect weather forecast, and the lack of bites for the most part gave me plenty of time to enjoy the peace and quite, relax and catch the sun, of coarse I didn't mind, I had already got what I came for, another species for the list, taking my year tally to 17 species caught from the shore of Kent, and a dinner that would cost a staggering £20+ in most restaurants, happy days :)