Cod Fishing, The Boardwalk, Dungeness

A Well Timed Brace

Dungeness, Romney Marsh, Kent TN29, UK

Live Bait Rig, Bait the small hook

After waiting what seemed like an eternity, firstly for a months worth of easterly winds to change direction, and when they did they turned to perfect strong South Westerly gales that battered the shore line, turning the water brown with mud, dislodging and smashing up worms and shellfish that then get blown into the shore and washed up on the beach which is what the cod come into feed on, waiting even more the weather changed hourly for days, and after a week the perfect window appeared on the met weather, 15mph winds with gales of 22mph and no rain, which is as good as it gets especially as the gales had been in the 40mph and even 50mph the preceding days. It was a school night and although I had work the next day I wasn't going to miss this opportunity, low tide was at 11pm which I prefer to high water, honestly its a easier fish, less weed, less tide, the only thing to consider is location, and I picked the boardwalk at Dungeness, a steep shingle beach which at low water with a decent cast can still put you into deeper water.  It was going to be a quick 4 hour fish which if went to plan should see me back at home in bed by 3am after a 1 hour 3o min drive.

A Hungry 4lb 5oz Predator with bait

I arrived at 8pm, 3 hours before low water, and conditions were perfect, light wind, no rain, and coloured water with angry swell. I fished 2 rods my 12'6" Greys Centaur TSX 4-6oz paired with my Shimanos Ultigra 10000 XSC spooled with 15lb Daiwa sensor with 15lb to 70lb tapered leaders. I fished one with a live bait rig, which has 2 hooks one smaller baited to catch a whiting, the another bigger hook just above designed to hook a cod that eats the whiting. The other rod was fished on a clipped down pennel with 6/0s baited with large cuttle, squid and lugworm combos. Within minutes of casting the Whiting were showing, mostly little pins the ideal size with a 7/0 circle hook hanging in front of their nose. they keep me busy for a few hours until the tide came to a stand still. Then the Whiting became more scarce at distance, and my rig returned empty twice, so I scrapped the live bait rig and was now on 2 clipped down pennels with 6/0s. I was watching my other rod which had been rattling away for at least 5 minutes with a Whiting clearly hooked, unwilling to bring it in, I left it out as a live bait, well I did have 2 big 6/0 hooks so a good chance of hooking any predator that attacked it. 

2nd Plump Codling at 3lb 3oz

On the other rod I had landed 2 dogs and 2 pouting which were quite large, and got the heart pumping as they gave big bites. Then the first rod which I had left out with a whiting on took a slow pull down, too big for the whiting, then again another slow pull down, not very big, but deliberate. was there weed on the line? I waited for a slack liner or big pull down, it never happened, but I knew something was not right, and after a few minutes of the same I lifted the rod and struck gently to set a hook just in case, I kept pressure on the rod till the lead broke free as it had been a long time out and been buried in the sea bed, it popped out eventually, and immediately I knew I was in, no dramas in the slack tide, I just gently slide a nice 4lb 5oz Cod onto the beach. not sooner had I landed it then the other rod baited with cuttle started doing the same sort of bite, not big enough to get you excited, but very gentle deliberate pulls, again I waited for big pull down or slack liner, it didn't happen. again I lifted the rod and immediately knew I was in confirmed by a knock or two felt down the line, a second Cod of 3lb 3oz. I was over the moon, and as much as I expected to catch another but unfortunately that was it on the cod front, as the flood tide started to gently push though, the Whiting returned with a vengeance, it was time to pack up. I'm really happy I caught one on a live bait, shame it wasn't on a purpose live bait rig, but I'm sure I will soon, It just goes to show how predatory these Cod are, they have bucket mouths and considering the size of the Whiting they eat its hard to see them as innocent fish and chips.

The Bace Together, Meet Battered Cod, & Cod Pie hmmm

Bass Fishing Bude Breakwater

Big Bass, Little Bass

Bude Breakwater, Bude, Cornwall. UK

Bude Breakwater

I was looking forward to this week away in Cornwall, for many reasons! from cream teas, BBQs, and fine food to be sampled, and then walked off over miles of the most beautiful coastlines in the UK. This place is absolutely stunning! But from a fishing point of view I was coming back a second time, more prepared and hopefully with the weather on my side. Last time Cornwall beat me up, and taught me a lesson, with 1 Dogfish to show for which I had fished in gale force winds, horizontal rain, got soaked in the surf, and impaled myself on a hook, it wasn't my finest hour,"Beach Fishing Widemouth Bay" But like I said, I was a little more experienced this time and looking forward to round 2. I kept my tackle to a minimum, just my Vercelli Sypra Fiamma continental 14" rod for beach casting and my Snowbee Sea Bass Special rod for spinning. Both light rods, which pack away into short sections and perfect for keeping in the boot of the car. For tackle again I kept it simple and light, 5 lures, a few packets of feathers, just enough terminal tackle to make up any rigs I may need, a couple of floats and a small selection of leads. The only thing I took that was annoyingly big and bulky was my tripod, a must for bait fishing on hard rock, and an ideal sand spike would of been too restricted.

Sand Eel Ready To Cast

I had a whole week in Cornwall, but had agreed to have a designated day where I could fish, of course this didn't stop me taking my spinning rod with me everywhere and having a few chucks here and there when time permitted, I even had a small 1 lb Bass on a Fiiish Black Minnow on Wanson beach, I even sneaked out after dark for a few hours and revisited my old nemesis Widemouth Beach, although no dramas this time, the outcome was the same, just a lonesome Dogfish which managed to hook himself on a large circle hook whilst playing with the Mackerel head bait which was bigger than his!!! I had formed the opinion that I would fish for a different species than I could catch at home, Rays or maybe Bream, but the reality is you only catch whats in front of you, and after some thought I realised that this is prime Bass territory, and very quickly my attention turned to them. I had decided to spend my day fishing at the Breakwater at Bude, a concrete wall sloping steeply onto a sandy bottom with a deeper gully where the River Neat and Bude canal flowed into the bay, all surrounded by big jagged rocks providing a vast array of features to fish, it screamed Bass! I had collected some bait and gained some valuable intel from the local tackle shop, and it was just a waiting game now till the day came.

Best Bass Of The Year At 4lb 4oz

It was now time, the weather was fair, no rain and quite breezy with a big swell, the only downside was the preceding days heavy rain had been running into the bay causing the water to be coloured, although this would make lure fishing more of a challenge it actually suited bait fishing better, and added an extra array of features as you could see clear and muddy water mixing in different places during the different tide state. I decided to fish Sand Eel on a clipped down rig, although distance wasn't really an issue, it allowed me to keep well up on the rocks out of the way of them pesky surging waves that come out of nowhere, and cast parallel with the breakwater to the side of the rocks at the end of it, this area interested me as I could see a big eddy of clear water covered with foaming white water as it surged around and over the rocks into the bay, and gave the added bonus of allowing me to fish up tide and get a good grip with the lead in the strong flow. On the third cast I caught my rod tip bouncing around violently, I picked up the rod and lifted into a fish, The fight was short lived as the tide bought the fish straight at me and I then slide him gently onto the breakwater, I chinned the fish and he flapped around furiously still full of energy, Yes! a beautiful Cornish Bass weighting 4lb 4oz and between you and me, I would have been dancing around like a loony except for the watchful small crowd of tourists, and now it didn't matter that this was my only bite of the day.

Gully Caught Flounder 

But fate had given me a chance to return a few days later, a kindly payback for sober nights and a hell of a lot of driving around sight seeing, and even better was the tackle shop just had a delivery of fresh Ragworm. This time the water was gin clear, the sky was blue, and the wind was but a gentle breeze, whilst waiting for the tide to come in and cover the sand, I fish the outside of the breakwater onto a shallow sandy strip edged by large rocks, as good as it looked, I never had a bite. but the tide was moving quickly, and now the inside had water to fish, remembering where the gully was, I launched a 1 up and 1 down rig baited with Ragworm out into the bay to fish in gully. The tide seemed a lot stronger today but I let the rig slowly work its way along the bottom. A fairly large bite revealed a greedy Flounder that had taken both baits on the rigs.

When Angler Becomes The Bait

As the bay filled with water I returned to the same tactics that I had caught the Bass earlier on, casting to the same area, but to no avail, I did pick up the odd tiny 6" Bass though, Changing tactics again, I used my spinning rod with a 2 hook flapper baited with small Ragworm and dropped it onto the sand at the foot of the Breakwater, immediately tiny rattles on the rod tip which resulted in a lot of missed bites and stripped hooks, I dropped the hook and bait size down from a 2/0 to a size 2 and then I started to catch the bait robbers, tiny little Common blennies, there must of been hundreds of them close in. One even decided to bite my finger in revenge for dragging him out the sea, oh my God!, they got a strong bite for a little fish, and he didn't want to let go either!!

As Small As They Come

I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed fishing the Breakwater at Bude, again very different to the beaches I'm used to fishing in Kent, but for a small area the vast array of features and how it changed during the tide and even from day to day kept me interested and constantly searching for fish, trying to second guess their routes into the bay and intercept them with the right bait and rig, It had rewarded me with my biggest and smallest Bass of the year, a new species of Blenny and a sizable Flounder, I'd made a fishing friend, and when that sun is out and the water is turquoise blue, and the surfers are bobbing around waiting for that next big wave, its easy to imagine your a million miles away from home, Cornwall is such a beautiful place, and definitely not the last time I will visit!

Hythe Beach Casting

Mixed Bag Of Suprises

Hythe, Kent. UK

Hythe at night

With Winter approaching the lure of getting out the heavy hitting rods and smashing big leads and baits into a stormy brown coloured sea for Cod is proving too alluring, well its not quiet time yet, but you have to have a line in the water to catch, and at the very least test the rigs and tackle and make sure its up too the job for when things get going. Well, early in the year as it may be, reports of a few Codling were already known, in anticipation, I had some pulley pennels and live bait rigs made up, also a freezer full of frozen lug, squid, blueys and a few crabs. Only work was getting in the way, I'd worked 13 days straight many of which were 24 hours shifts, but with a full day of strong SW winds dying off into the night, and a night time high tide at midnight, It didn't take me long well a nano second if I'm honest to decide that as tired as I was, this was a window that I wasn't gonna miss.

My Cod special

In my mind I had decided to go to Dungeness, because it fishes well after SW winds, but whilst talking to my friend Keith who at short notice was accompanying me on this late night venture had another plan, with some family camping at Hythe he had secured some fresh lugworm which we would pick up on the way, and rather than drive back along the coast to Dungeness, we decided to stay and fish at Hythe, We arrived at Princes Parade and parked randomly along the beach where we could see a gap big enough to fish comfortably without interfering with the fisherman either side. A little later than expected but we were set up and baits were in the water 30mins before high water. I wasn't messing about tonight, big baits and big hooks for Cod, 1 rod cast to the horizon with a live bait rig, a rig with 2 hooks, a small baited hook to catch a whiting (live bait) and a larger hook further up the snod designed to catch a Cod that takes the whiting. and on the second rod a more conventional 6/0 and 5/0 pulley pennal rig baited with lug and a squid head a successful combo I used last year.

Tub Gurnard, A New Species

It wasn't long before both rods were tapping away with the tell tale knocks of whiting, I left the live bait rod out confident the whiting was still on, and reeled in Whiting 2 at a time on the pennel rig, I was off the mark, and the tide had just started to recede, I decided to try a different bait and sent a bluey on a small hook pennel out as far as I could cast. At range the Whiting seemed more sparse, and the rod tip stayed still for a whole 4 minutes longer that at closer range, as the rod tip rattled away, I reeled in what I expected to be a Whiting, but to my surprise I had just landed my first ever Tub Gurnard, known as the butterfly of the sea, it was a beautiful fish, terracotta in colour with a massive head and extremely large pectoral fins, well I didn't expect that! that alone made this session for me, but things were going to get a bit more interesting. Having messed about a bit, I decided to change again whilst Keith was catching Whiting and Pouting on a size 2/0 flapper rig, I decided to have 2 live bait rigs out and use them plentiful Whiting as bait in the hope of a large Cod.

First Cod Of The Winter Season

Keith's First Ever Cod "SMILE!"

I had only just recast the 1st rod at range, and was still baiting up the second rod, when the rod tip made a quick rattle rattle like a Whiting bite but a lot bigger, then went slack line, by the time I had put my second rod down, the line was well down tide, I picked the rod up and lifted into a fish, I wasn't sure what it might be, as the bite wasn't a conventional Cod bite, I thought maybe Bass, but it was putting up quite a fight with a lot of knocking felt down the rod, I beached the fish and to my joy it was the target fish, a lovely 52cm 2lb 15oz Codling, The fish had taken the small lugworm intended for the Whiting but with its bucket sized mouth was hooked by the large 6/0 hook I was over the moon by now, and Keith wasn't going to be left behind and quickly landed himself 50cm 2lb 6 Codling himself on a size 2 hook, Unfortunately this was as many Cod as we were going to catch tonight, but the Whiting and Pouting kept us very busy.

Thorny Suprise

I was getting a bit tired of the Whiting, and whilst keeping a live bait rod out decided to fish the other with very small hooks close in and see if any Dover sole were around, they weren't just hundreds of micro Pouting and Whiting, by now I was just plain exhausted, to give me a rest I decided to try and advoid the Whiting, I decide to put a Bluey bait at far range, as earlier this seemed to avoid most the Whiting. It did, my rod stayed still for at least 5 minutes. as I watched the rod tips the bluey rod tip was slowly dipping and going straightening again, Keith also pointed out my rod tip was moving, not constantly but every 40 seconds or so, presumably I said that's a Ray, I'll wait for it to eat the bait and take off resulting in a big pull down or slack liner, it never happened, and I curiously wondered weather a plastic bag was just wrapped around my line and moving the rod tip or maybe a Dogfish was just sitting there doing nothing as they do, I lost patience after about 10 minutes, I reeled in the rod, something was heavy on the end, I kind of expected to see a Dogfish but when I dragged a small 2lb 8oz Thornback ray up the beach I was ecstatic!!

We had been fishing for 4 hours it was very early morning and now Keith was snoring away, I decided that it was time to call it a night before I felt the same with a long drive home I woke him up to pack up. This session had been full of surprises, normally you target a species and catch a few others, and if your lucky get your target fish, not only had we caught a target fish each, tonight left me never knowing what I was going to pull in next, considering Bass and Dover Sole were also on the cards and a good possibility of catching them, The decision to fish Hythe had payed off, between us we had caught over 60 fish and 9 species in 4 hours, we each had one keeper for the pot, Keith had caught his first Cod and I had caught my first Tub Gurnard. Tonight was a special trip that I will remember for while, not only was the fishing good, the company was also good, and even the rain stayed away. happy days!

6/0 Pennel Good For Two Whiting At A Time

Smooth Hound Fishing, Reculver

Double Trouble Strikes Twice

Reculver, Herne Bay, Kent. CT6 UK

High At Sun Set, The Magic Time

There are a few times in the year when timing is crucial to fishing, and unfortunately getting that just right isn't enough most the time, getting yourself on the beach when the Hounds are running though is tough enough, but getting there when all else is right is another thing. All though all venues are different, but I believe the key is knowing what your looking for, the moon state, spring and neap tides, high and low water times and dusk and dawn times. I had been keeping track and a month ago had picked a night where a high tide coincided with dusk during a neap tide, which was important as the weed never seems to be as bad during a neap and weed has ruined many a Smooth Hound session over the years, the two seem to go hand in hand. Having picked the time you still need the luck of the weather too, I'm not convinced that wind direction matters too much, as a calm and warm spell with high pressure for at least a week is perfect. Also a great indication is the fact Crabs are peeling. I had picked my tide to go hunting the Hounds, and the leading up to it, the weather was perfect for the session. Things were looking good!.

The Last Piece Of  The Jigsaw

And things just got better! Another key part is bait, and Smooth Hounds love a Peeler Crab, I was content with some live Peelers that I had bought and not used, so I delunged them and froze them, I wouldn't of minded using these Crabs as bait for the session, I knew they were good as they could be, they were ready to peel and hadn't been defrosted and re frozen ruining the quality, but I really prefer fresh bait, and divine intervention from Face Book, and a well timed post "Live Peeler Crabs for sale" caught my attention, I couldn't resist, it was a too good of opportunity to let by, and after a hour and a half wait on the motorway side stop with the wife "bless her", mind you it was us who was early as to drive home and back wasn't worth the time or petrol, true to his word the guy turned up and I returned home with a bucket of 32 live Peeler Crabs ready for the session tomorrow, putting them in a cool box with a few ice packs, with lots of wet (bottled water, not tap) news paper ripped up to be a bit like weed, it done the trick and they were all still alive the next day.

Reculver Shore Line

The time had come, and things couldn't of been more promising for a successful session, my brother Scott was to join me, all though he had a few disappointing and fruitless Smooth Hound sessions with myself in the past, normally ruined by weed or bad weather, he didn't share my optimism, I on the other hand felt 100% confident of him catching his first Hound. we arrived at low water, hours before the time I expected to catch, but there were a few reasons for this, one was to have the pick of the beach as it can get busy during the summer months. And two, it gave me a chance to view the water with my Eagle Eye sun glasses, proving an invaluable tool for fishing yet again, standing at a high point next to Reculver Towers I scanned a mile of sea at low water with the sun shining and it being calm, I could see every clump of rocks and deeper channels quite clearly with the glasses, without them I could only see half the detail. I decided to fish a deeper gully that stuck out for me, about 40/50 meters long and running parallel with the beach, it seemed deeper than the others I saw, and looked just about at casting range for myself at high water,

Double Trouble First Strike

New PB Starry At 14lb 3oz

We decided to fish straight away and set up one rod each, both reels had brand new line on them and new leaders, specially for this session, all part of the planning. rigs was a simple pulley rig made with a clear and soft 60lb mono straight through from lead to a single 1/0 Mustad Big Gun hook. with Peeler Crab peeled with bait elastic whipping it onto the hook, I cast out to the gully. we didn't get a bite for hours, but the time went quick, mostly spent picking weed off our rigs, but at least we had a chance of catching a fish,. As dusk set in the tide started to slow, and the weed disappeared, the rod had been out 5 minutes and the rigs were not being pulled round. I said to Scott, this is the time! and I wasn't wrong, after a few suspicious knocks on my rod tip, the rod slowly bent into a nice curve and line started to taken off the spool, slowly at first then getting faster and faster. I picked up the Rod with the fish still taking line, it stopped abruptly, I took the slack and lifted gently and firmly to set the hook, the fish started to run, again taking line, wow I love this! As my fish turned and swam towards me, I had to reel real fast to keep up with it to keep in contact with it, Scott said your under my line, I looked up at his rod tip and followed the line out to sea, "no I'm not" I said, I looked at his spool which was spinning as line was being stripped off it, "You got a run too!" in the excitement of my fish we both didn't see it, but now we both had hounds hooked and with rods in the air played them.

No 2. For Scotty

My Hound was close in now and as I pulled him toward the beach, it changed direction and jumped out of the water, it was big! unable to lift the Hound out of the water over some rocks by the line , I decided to grab him behind the head, but couldn't get a good grip, luckily he turned and I grabbed his tail, lifting him out the water he was heavy and a lot bigger than I realised at 1.25 meters long. now Scott had landed his Hound and we struggled to keep them both calm for unhooking on my carp landing mat, which I took as I don't like to see them put on concrete as Hounds in my opinion are catch and release species and the mat helps to stop them damaging themselves. A double hook up! and me with a Starry Smooth Hound weighing 14lb 3oz and Scott with Starry Smooth Hound of 8lb 6oz. I was so happy I had just caught a new PB and a fair specimen of a Hound, and I was even more happy for Scott to finally land his first, It was game on, we both re clipped our waiting spare rigs all ready previously baited and sent them out, with the weed still gone and as the tide turned it took another 30mins before the tell tale enquiring knock knock on my rod followed by a slow pull down then line getting stripped from the spool getting faster and faster.

Time For Home

I was in again, and like before whilst I started to play the hound, Scott's rod done the same, we were both in again, another double hook up!!, boy am I glad we only fished one rod each, or we could of really been in trouble. again we both had to land our fish by ourselves, I weight and released my fish, like Scott had done before so I could take a photo of his Common Smooth Hound, weighing 8lb 1oz, whilst mine was a Common Smooth Hound a bit smaller, weighing 6lb 4oz. We were both over the moon by now, singing songs and dancing, it didn't matter that the next cast showed tell tell signs of being hit by weed and after 10 Min's both rods were bending down tide hard as the weed started to pull the rod rounds. we reeled in for the last time and removed the weed from our leads and baits very happy boys. Sometimes fishing is luck, but I felt like this was so well planned with so many elements coming together that we couldn't fail, I think that both the double takes proves that Hounds run in packs and all though the weed dictated that we only had a hour window to catch, we had made the most of it! Hounds are fantastic to catch, hard fighting and giving such a good account of them self's, I can see why many consider them to be the UK's shore sport fish

Carp Fishing, Sky Lake, France

Lump ALERT....Lump ALERT

Sky Lake, France

Beautifal Sunset At Sky Lake

Well that time of year has come, and my yearly pilgrimage to Sky Lake in search of big water pigs had arrived. to say I was excited was a understatement, relaxing in the sun, no work, cooked for all week, and camping next to a beautiful lake with a crowd from Essex, I know it's not everyones cup of tea, who really does like West Ham fans?, but they really are a great bunch of lads, and such good fun to be around I couldn't wait to leave. We all met up at Dagenham Football club where we was picked up and made our way down to Dover, All though we were all a little concerned, we managed to avoid operation stack on the M20 and any traffic. Operation stack is where they close off the motorway and use it a lorry car park usually when the French go on strike or when the ferry or channel tunnel and not operating, again normally because of the French. But luckily with only a hour delay at the port, we hardly noticed the chaos and arrived at Sky Lake early sat morning wide awake and rearing to go after a relatively sober and bum aching journey.

A Days Worth Of Bait

The signs looked good, fish were topping from the off, and the previous lads that fished the week before had done well, my only concern was the blistering hot weather forecast which can make fishing difficult at times, but none the less was a welcome change to the normal bad weather I get on holidays, having spent a few weeks preparing my tackle for the trip I set up my new rods, 3 x Greys Prodigy GT5's paired with my 3 x Shimano Super Baitrunner XTR 8000RA spooled with new 18lb Fox Exocet mono line, I'm not ashamed to admit I asked Rob the co owner of the lake to help me pick a spot at range to fish, using my marker rod he found a spot at about 90 meters which was just on the edge of a gravel bar, the cast landed on the gravel, then pulling the lead back, up and over a little edge and onto smooth sand/silt, this was where I would fish 2 rods, one with a snowman rig with 22mm boilee and one with double 22mm boilee, all the boilees we used were Steamies "Sky Lake Specials" by Individual Baits, and I baited with 2.5 kilo of 16 and 22mm boilees and a bucket of particle over the top in an area the size of snooker table, my third rod had a stiff hinged rig with a white pop up on a choddy hook, I kept this ready and cast it to any topping big fish within my boundary.

Glugged Snowman

What can I say, boy did I struggle to cast my rods to the spot, not with accuracy but distance, falling short by 10 to 2 meters every time, yes! of coarse I used every excuse in the box, I blamed it on the rods being to soft, the reel spools are too small, the line is too heavy, the baits are too big, even the wind, the truth is although all these lame excuses would of all contributed a little I just wasn't used to the new rods, going more sea fishing recently and smashing longer stiffer rods, I had just lost the finesse of casting shorter and softer carp rods. I really struggled for the first few days and even had 18lb line cut into my finger to the bone on a cast which I believe was due to the drag not being tight enough and slipped. regardless with a borrowed finger stool and plaster protecting the cut, perseverance and sheer determination and the will to cast rather than the easy option of boating the rigs out, got me fishing where I wanted to be, and by day two all was good, I was hitting the mark within a few casts. With my camp set up, and my 2 main rods out, I put the third with a pop up over towards the corner of the lake where a few fish had crashed about 20 yards from the bank with a few loose boilees catapulted over the top. It was time to crack open the beers, and wait for darkness, although a day fish seemed just as likly as the fish were very active and crashing all around the outside edge of the lake.

Grasses Stick Together! 31lb 8oz

It didn't take long, and just after dark whilst I was snoring away after a very long day my 3rd rod tore of with a screaming bite, I lifted the rod into the fish and a very powerful fight ensued, acutely aware of my lose of carp fishing finesse and the fact I was on a barbless hook, I took things carefully and patiently, which was just as well as it took me a while to wake my neighbour Karl with gradually getting louder shouting. I couldn't believe the length of the fish and though it was a monster common, but then I realised that it was a Grass Carp, oh no I though, having in past years seen a few of these go absolutely mental once netted, but not this one, my first ever Grass Carp, and not a bad size at 31lb, it was well behaved and allowed us to weight it as it didn't thrash about, but was as calm as anything, testing the fish I picked it up and decided to try for a photo, and even then he behaved. I couldn't of been happier a new species to my list and a new PB. The rest of the night for myself was quite, But I didn't get any sleep at all, Karl had caught a few and I spent most the night excitedly running around the lake to help or photo other peoples fish, definitely fish fever running through my veins.

The Predator Got Spotted

I didn't really change tactics, I had a lot of movement in my baited area every night, either line bites, missed runs and the tell tale slow up and down movement of the bobbin which I believe is caused by big fish moving the water and weeds that are touching the line, very often a precursor to a run. I put the same amount of bait out to my spot, and recast my 2 rods. As the week wore on it got hotter and humid, and during the days the lake seemed to get quieter, I didn't mind, to keep me occupied I float fished my swim catching plenty of Rudd but hoping for a tench, and with my new polarised NASA spec Eagle Eye sunglasses I saw a pike sitting in the weeds, which otherwise probably would of gone unseen, within a minute a quick set up change, I had a small lure on a wire trace and dropped it in front of the fish, he saw it straight away and took it on the second cast, well I couldn't resist, and my biggest pike of the year at 8lb 1oz a very lean fish, which was hooked, landed, unhooked, weighed, photoed and released in record time of about 2mins.

Beautiful Common at 29lb 12oz

I had landed a few fish, a Common of 29lb 12oz and a Mirror of 27lb 4oz during the night, but when you think lightening don't strike twice, it did! A shout came out across the lake, a bad siren sound effect followed by "lump alert!..... lump alert!....." a universal call to let the rest of the fishing group aware that a big fish has been caught! first introduced when Tiddy from our group landed the lake records, a fish called Reg weighing 75lb which is still the lake record 3 years later. But John had done the next best thing and landed a fish called Jagger at his biggest weight of 72lb 12oz, weighed on brand new Reuben Heaton specimen scales, and now the second ever biggest carp caught at Sky Lake. the fish was massive and a pleasure to see. With everyone happy and excited a small celebration ensued, and a few boxes of beers were drank, but it was short lived as people disappeared one by one as receivers sounded and kept us on our toes. The fish were moving around and was only a matter of time before someone got another run.

Lump Alert!, John With Jagger at 72lb 12oz, Awesome!!!

27lb 4oz Mirror 

I took a day off from Carp fishing with all 3 rods wound in, I took a small spinning rod and wondered off to the River which runs along the Lodge bank, I found a little swim, and fished the inside bank just under a overhanging tree, All though I never got the big Chub I was after I did manage 4 smaller ones on halibut pellet, maybe time would of picked out a bigger one, but I was here for Carp and more to the point my first 50lber. Back in my swim I re baited with bollies and pop up which had spent the day immersed in glug, and recast all three rods to my baited up spot, and again boated out about 2 kilo and a bucket of particle tight on my rigs. I promptly fell fast asleep. This week, I rarely had a good nights sleep, fish captures on the good side and gnats flying in my ears on the bad side, why do gnat always fly by my ears?!? that sound send shivers down me! As the week went on I went to sleep earlier and earlier to the point where I was fast asleep by 4pm, and getting woken up for dinner. It was the second to last night, and all 3 of my rod alarm were intermittently bleeping keeping me very alert, this went on for hours I knew it was only a matter of time, and I was right, A rod tore off in the early morning just as the moon started to rise, I picked up the rod and struck into a fish and landed my 4th fish of the week a mirror at 26lb 8oz, not the monster I was after, but a welcome fish all the same.

Cheeky Daytime fish 24lb 3 oz

I awoke to the last day, still no 50lb for me, but with 4 x 30lb fish and a new species and PB I have done well enough, but was hoping. Again all three rods were cast to the same spot, fish were there every night, and to change didn't make sense. After getting all three rods out and baited up, it was time to start packing up, ready to leave at 6am the next morning, Biveys packed up we all slept under the stars on the last night, with only the essentials were left unpacked. And what a beautiful night it was, the sky was clear and you could see the stars moving as the earth turned between the large gaps in the trees, shooting stars and the eerie squawking of Barn Owls, wonderful! I even had a last and final run of the week, resulting with another Grass Carp of 29lb 13oz, what long torpedo fish these are!, would love to get a real big one, this was a bit more feisty than the first and was released quite quickly, I had finished on 5 fish, and was well pleased with myself, not only that but everyone caught and between us we had 42 fish, and nothing beats seeing a 70lb+ fish except catching one of coarse, but that was John's honour this week, top rod, with the biggest and most fish, even winning the bets and taking £40 off each of the rest of the group.

A Starry Starry Night

As always I had a fantastic time at Sky Lake, with some personal technical dramas thrown in, ruining 2 t-shirts, a pair of shorts and track suit bottom, don't ask! the rock won!! and I had caught some lovely big fish, I'd like to say a big thanks to Andy, Rob and Bernie, for making us feel so welcome, lots of invaluable advise, great cooking, patching me up after my accident, and for the birthday cake! I've said it before and I'll say it again, with out the other lads there all tirelessly helping each other to land these big fish, boating out to get fish out of weeds, or even diving in, landing fish, reeling in rods, getting torches and shoes, taking pictures, and marking out lines, without this help I would not of done as well. Thank you to Danny, John, Karl, Paul, Tony, Dodge, Wayne and Steve, for such a good crack, and fishing wise, we do all right don't we?, I mean we do have the bragging rights as a group of having the Mirror Carp lake record "Reg" and now the second biggest Mirror Carp "Jagger" ever caught at Sky Lakes,one of Frances premier Carp fishing venues. Can't wait for next time!

Tony - 46lb 8oz

Steve - 42lb

Wayne - 44lb 14oz

Danny - 37lb

Beach Fishing Dungeness

BBQ Bass and Sunday Sole

Dungeness, Romney Marsh, Kent TN29, UK

I think I can honestly say the summer has arrived, with night time temps of around 15 degrees it was time to do a over nighter, so where and what should I fish for?  I had all ready caught some Rays this year, and being May a little early in the year for Smooth Hounds, I left it right to the last minute to decide, checking catch reports and weather forecasts, I was so confused!, seriously the options were vast, and the choice baffled me, and then somehow I just decided to go target Dover Sole, how? I'm not entirely sure, I hadn't seen any catch reports saying they had even started showing, but the weather conditions and the calm coloured water was ideal for them, and If I'm honest Sarah was coming, and the hunter gatherer in me had decided that we was eating fresh caught fish cooked on a disposable BBQ on the beach tonight. I just had a gut feeling that these small mouthed flatties were happily feeding close to the shore whilst most were throwing big fish baits towards the horizon in search of Rays, 

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I had my bait ordered 40 fresh Dungeness Black Lug, BBQ and tackle ready, Myself and Sarah headed off to Dungeness, The plan was simple, to fish two rods, 1 at close range of about 20yards and a second fishing at 40yards, both with the same same Wessex rigs on, 2 flappers with short shank Aberdeen size 4 hooks to target the Dover Sole with 1" pieces of Lugworm as bait, and the bottom running leger hook, a pennel Aberdeen size 1/0 hooks for presenting a large whole lugworm to target the Bass. We arrived to a beautiful sun set, the wind was gentle, the sea was flat and the temperature was definitely a lot warmer than it had been all year or even forecast. What a lovely night! It was low water as we set up camp on the high tide mark, I cast out the rods and put the stand half way between the water and camp, and waited....... and waited.........., and waited a bit more? I checked my baits, yes they still on and untouched, so didn't forget to put bait on the hook. This didn't look good. I checked the baits several times over and the sea was well on its way in by now..

Time flew past quickly, 3 hours and still no bites? I was sitting in the beach shelter talking to Sarah, where we was considering cooking the emergency sausages that we had bought just in case I blanked for dinner. I made the statement "I'm really not impressed with this!" and as if by magic my Vercelli rod had a big pull down! running down the beach shouting "That's a big bite!"  I lifted into a fish which was a fair way down tide from where I cast, and soon landed a lovely 46cm Bass weighing 2lb 4oz, perfect! just perfect!, this fish was descaled, gutted, filleted and sizzling away on the BBQ within 15mins, Sarah had pulled out a nice bottle of white wine, cant say it gets much better that that! the Bass was delicious, the company was excellent, the scenery was outstanding and the weather was dam good for England, I didn't care if I caught another fish now, But the fishing gods had something else lined up for me, After eating our fill Sarah feel asleep and I decided to cast the rods out and fish the few hours over high tide.

It was fish from the off, well not exactly fish, but Dogfish! ranging from 20cm to 60cm, I had to laugh I took a tiny dogfish into the bivey to show Sarah who has a fondness for them, she awoke shocked as I waved the fish above her face, then as she realised what it was, she smiled and sleepily reached out to stroke it with affection only for it to bite her finger! luckily they don't have teeth! I have to say, the Dogfish tonight were all very lively, had plenty of fight and big bites, maybe the warmer water temperature had something to do with it. I fished relentlessly till dawn, apart from a handful of tiny Whiting and Pouting the majority I caught were Dogfish, Having fished later than I expected too, I was down to the last baits, The tide was about 3 hours into the ebb by now and retreating fast whilst the sun was just cracking the horizon, bites were slowing down, and the last bite was a now familiar nice firm pull down, followed by a some rattles, as I reeled it in expecting another Dogfish I was surprised to see I had landed a Dover Sole! 34cm and 15oz! get in! Could this night get any better! I really had enjoyed this session, one of the most enjoyable for a long time! I had fished close range no further than 50 yards all night long with light rods, light leads making the fishing so easy, baiting the hook with lug was a breeze compared to the messy and long winded big baits bound with elastic. I had caught lots of fish, eaten fresh BBQ Bass with glass of wine, and to top it off had my Dover Sole to take home for Sunday dinner! 

Catfish Fishing, Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery

Catfishing 

Furnace Lakes Fishery, Slinfold, West Sussex, UK.

Roaman Lake At Furnance Lake Fishery

With spring in full blossom, and daffodils, hyacinths, and bluebells appearing, my attention has turned to revisiting my favourite Fishing complex, and target the mighty Wels Catfish, this is one of my most anticipated ventures of the year, catching PB's each time I go and potentially a chance of catching the fish of a life time surrounded by beautiful scenery and abundant wildlife, I had a week booked off work, and me and my brother Scott were going for a Sunday to Tuesday 40 hour session, the weather looked good as well, 10 mph with slight gusts of up to 18 mph and sunshine with no rain forecast, and temperatures during the day of 17 degrees Celsius dropping at night to 5 degrees Celsius. Nothing was going to stop us, not even the fact my bait wasn't delivered in time for me to take. making do with some old bait, I could always buy some more on site in the tackle shop if the need arose.

What Did They Ever Do For Us?

It always amazes me how much tackle we take, and with it all ready and waiting blocking my hallway, I thought "do we really need all this?" I took stock, and the fishing tackle and bait accounted for about 1/4 another 1/4 was food and drink, and 1/2 was a chair, sleeping bag, bed, bivey and table, I thought about leaving some of the non essentials behind but without the chair and table the pile of gear just didn't look any smaller, a futile attempt, so they went along anyways. Scott picked me up ahead of schedule as I phoned and cheekily demanded he come round early as the wait was killing me, I was like a hungry dog with a biscuit balanced on my nose, and I bet he was too. We arrived at Furnace and a new tackle shop/office had been built and we discovered new owners had taken over the business, the shop was a lot bigger and a handy burger stall was now on site. We paid our moneys, and decided to fish Roman lake, unfortunately the swims we were after were all taken, but we still had 4 options of swims to pick from allowing us to fish together, and in a blink of eye ourselves and our gear were ferried by an ATV with a trailer to our homes for the next few nights.

Ever Watchfull Even Whilst Making Rigs

We decided to toss a coin for which swim we had, I won, and I picked the centre swim, I knew the other swim was more likely to produce being in the corner but I have to admit I like space and thought with an empty swim to the left I could cover more water, and with the opposite bank empty though it was unlikely that someone would pick to fish there. I set up my 3 x 12' Greys Prodigy GT5 3lb test curves paired with 3 x Shimano Super Baitrunner Aero XTE-A 8000, one loaded with 16lb Fox Exocet main line for Carp and 2 loaded with Korda Subline 20lb for Catfish. I baited an area with 250grams of small 10mm boilees as I set up and fished a single 14mm boilees on a hair rig with a size 8 barbless hook, although I was there for Catfish, I couldn't resist using 1 rod for Carp as there are more than enough big carp that would smash my UK PB to make it worth a shot, I then fished a Catfish rod on the left and right one on the far bank and the other on the inside bank margins, both running legers baited with double 21mm Halibut pellets mounted on a 40lb Catlink hair rig with a size 1 Sakuma Chinu hook, with a large pva bag of mixed smaller pellets to give scent and offer a tidy little pile of bait around my hook bait just big enough to make it worth while for any enquiring Catfish.

Snotty And Snotty, That's All

It seemed an eternity till I was settled in my camp, The mountain of gear had been unpacked, built up and sorted into a well arranged and familiar set up, with only a few hours till dark, I sat down with exhaustion but confident that it would be worth it. I done a little walk around the lake, and discovered that most the Catfish that had been caught had been on Spam (pork luncheon meat), with the known biggest of 47lb, A last minute trip to the on site tackle shop to buy the last tin of Spam and a change of tactics as I replaced one of my pellet baits for a large cube of Spam. Apart from the occasional knocks of optimistic Bream trying to eat baits that were far too big for their mouths, although I did manage to hook one of 2lb 12oz, at least I was off the starting block. I have to admit by this point in the trip, I was having a run of bad luck and planning, My camera battery was dead, Scott had asked if I had scales, which I did, so he left his in the van, but then I realised that mine only weighed up to 33lb, I'd lost 2 rigs to the island with a few poor casts, and even managed to run out of Catlink, so was unable to make anymore rigs, and had none spare now, I'd left half the condiments and food still in the fridge, anything else? oh yes, the kilo of boilees I'd thrown out for the carp rod were all eaten up by swans as I must of been fishing in very shallow wate, should of used a marker rod and checked the depths!, and all this on top of about 15 geese, 2 swans, and about 10 mallards all ferociously fighting in my and Scott's swim over nesting grounds, seriously it was like WW3 had broken out, no chance of any shy fish hanging around.

Warmongering Geese On The Lookout

As the birds settled for the night so did we, after having a small BBQ of pork and beef kebabs with salad, pita breads and fiery ketchup, washed down with a few tins of beer, I tucked my self into bed as the temp was dropping fast and we both were feeling the cold. I was immediately woken by Scott, he had a run and was into a fish, and definitely a Catfish, as the fight continued I realised by the bend in the rod and the length of the runs that this was a big fish he had hooked, the fish went to ground for almost 20mins leaving Scott no choice but to keep the pressure on and wait till he decided to move, giving me time to ask a neighbour if I could borrow some scales, which he kindly did, by the time I got back the fish had decided to move and headed back the opposite way weaving his way along the inside margins, through trees and tangled with all my 3 rods, if I didn't have had back leads on, the fish would of just gone under them but that was how my day was going, the fish then buried itself in a large reed bed to the inside left of my swim, unknown to Scott I set about untangling the 3 lines and then started untangling his line from the trees between our swims, having done as much as I could, I rejoined him where it was another long wait.

Scotty's New UK PB Wels Catfish Weighing 66lb 2 oz

29lb Wels Catfish For Me

The fish had been in the reeds for 30mins, their was no way to move him, having to be patient again, the fish then decided to make his own way out, as soon as he was on the move, Scott was able to gain line and slowly teased the fish back into his swim, I saw a flash of the fish as it turned in the water and really thought its really not a big fish, I was very wrong, as I often am! this fish was long and as I attempted to land it with the net I realised just how big this monster was, our neighbour had made his way over to help out and being a experience Catfish angler chinned the fish for us, as he pulled it out the water on to the bank using the landing mat as a slide, I could hardly contain my excitement! Scott was ecstatic, the fish tipped the scales at 66lb 2oz, a new PB for him, and a really good achievement for his second time Catfish fishing, and hats off to him, he may of lacked experience before today, but learnt fast, he played the fish carefully when he could, was very patient when he needed to be and fully deserved this fish, the 1.5 hour fight had left Scott absolutely knackered, and understandably he didn't fish for the rest of the night. I recast my 3 rods, and by now if was freezing cold, literary freezing!, 5 degrees Celsius the weather forecast said!! more like -1!! my bivey was covered in frost, the net had frozen, and I was freezing! but I tucked my self into bed and fell into a deep sleep happily knowing that this trip had been totally worth it already.

A Beutifal Dawn To Be Awoken To

I wasn't awoken till my Halibut pellet rod alarm sounded, clambering out of bed into a dark and misty cold dawn, I grabbed the rod and struck, I was on, after a relative short fight I had a Catfish in the net, weighing 29lbs, a decent fish which I was over the moon with. This day on the other hand went quite peacefully, we had got Scott's big scales from the van, stocked up on Spam, made a few spare rigs, but neither of us lost anymore for the rest of the trip. We passed the time catching float fishing for Roach and Bream on a short spinning rod, the only thing that didn't bode well for us was the wildlife, with the daylight, WW3 had restarted! with the geese fighting, splashing, squawking in our swim, I knew it was very unlikely to get a run during the daylight, even though others around the lake were catching during the day, I didn't mind though, the thought of moving was way too much effort to even consider, so I heavily baited with boilees and pellets my 3 fishing spots, and would just have to wait till night and hope I'd put enough bait down to stop any patroling fish under the cover of darkness.

My Best Of The Session a 32lb 4oz Taking a Huge Cube Of Spam

Whopping Me Again With A 34lb 8oz

The following night Scott lost a fish, but by the morning we had banked a Catfish each on Spam, his going 34lb 8oz, and mine going 32lb 4oz. and we was both lucky enough to see our neighbour catch a new PB of 69 lb with a beast of a fish, it was short but looked like it had been down the gym pumping weights and steroids all its life. This had been a very memorable and enjoyable session for myself with 2 30lb fish I really couldn't complain, even though they were dwarfed by these 60lbers, I love fish and fishing, and almost, just almost, get as excited for other people's fish than my own. I am over the moon for my brother with his new PB, taking a massive leap from 30lb to 66lb, and I will take any brotherly stick from him firmly on the chin with a big smile, it took 3 of us to get this fish on land, and when Fishing for big fish, Carp included, it is sometimes very difficult to land these big fish by yourself, and knowing the prize that could be lost, all help is very much appreciated, Its really nice to know that strangers on the bank will selflessly help each other in the middle of the night, to reel in rods, land, photo and weigh big fish, and a big thank you to our neighbour who helped with Scott's big fish, and for Scott who took some lovley photos that I used for this. Furnace hadn't let me down again! I really love this place, I only mange to get the time go once a year though, but I may make an exception this year and have a session solely devoted to Carp as it full of big specimens, and it really is time I beat my miserly UK Carp PB of 18lbs.