Fishing Report: 4th November 07 - River Colne, Essex

Despite a terrible return fish-wise on the long hike to the spot on the River Stour the previous day, I decided on a short session on a local mark using some of the Stour Ragworm that were currently lodging in my bait tanks. The sight of the gulls working the previous day had turned my mind back on the subject of Bass and I thought there might be the odd one or two to be had from my home patch. I had noticed that the water was clear when I had visited the previous evening to get fresh water for the Ragworm in the bait tanks, so rather than use the standard beach casting gear I decided to have a go with my 3lb tc Carp Rod and fixed spool and fish light-line tactics the same as I would in the summer. As I had plenty of it, bait would be bunches of head-hooked Ragworm fished on a "popped-up" 3/0 hook, in an attempt to avoid the attentions of the local crab population.

When I arrived at my chosen spot at about 4:30pm, four hours before high tide, the water was flat calm and the weather was clear. Despite the fact that I had summer tackle with me it was obvious that it wasn't summer and as the sun started to drop in the sky the temperature dropped with it! The river had taken on a distinct winter feel to it and after quickly setting up and casting out I settled back to watch the rod top with the sunset in the background and listen to the river's "winter song"; the calls of the flocks of Brent Geese which echo across the river valley, letting us anglers know that it is time to put summer methods aside and prepare for the winter gales and the Codling.

The first recognisable bite came about half an hour later and resulted in a tiny Schoolie which was only just about bigger than the bait. It was followed about ten minutes later by it's twin brother and I began to think that a lively evening was on the cards. Just as I was getting used to the idea of a fun night with the baby Bass the firework display started on Mersea Island and for about forty-five minutes the fishing died as various rockets exploded in the sky and bangs echoed across the creek, causing great upset amongst the Geese and the flocks of waders.

By the time the fireworks died down the fish seemed to have been well and truly put off and the initial flood of the tide up to the rocks I fish from, when the best chance of a sizable fish is to be had, was already over; my opportunity had gone and the atmosphere had been spoilt by the fireworks. I fished on until about 7pm managing another small Schoolie and a small Whiting before finally the chill started to get to my feet and I decided it was time to call it night and headed home for a very welcome plateful of Sunday dinner.

Fishing Report: 3rd November 07 - River Stour, Suffolk

Fishing pal Stuart had said he was a bit bored of doing the same old kind of session and wanted to try something a little bit different so we had arranged a session after some Flounders on the Suffolk Stour. The plan was to meet early and then head to a spot that used to provide some fantastic sport with big, pre-spawning Flounders, digging bait nearby to add to the basic rations of Ragworm purchased just in case the digging was poor. It was a bit of an adventure in many ways. Stuart had never dug for Ragworm before, it was about a two-mile walk from the car and, if that wasn't enough, the general opinion seems to be that the Flounder in the river have gone, apparently all trawled up by local commercial boats to use as pot bait.

Stopping off to dig on our way we found there were plenty of Ragworm around and it didn't take Stuart long to get into the swing of things with his new fork. We managed a couple of pounds between us in about an hour and moved on earlier than expected, finally starting fishing at our venue at about midday. The weather was far from ideal for Flattie bashing. The fish generally feed in close and like a bit of colour in the water but there was very little in the way of a breeze and as the water started pushing over the mud we could see it was gin-clear, which wasn't going to do us any favours whatsoever!

Although confidence was lacking we set to it, piling on big Ragworm baits on three-hook paternosters and fishing them at various ranges to see if we could contact the fish, but despite sticking to it the Flounders were either not there or, because of the clear water, were not interested in our baits. While Flounder were not putting in an appearance the local Bass population were quite obviously feeding high up in the clear water and at least three or four times during the afternoon there were huge flocks of seagulls working the surface on one part or another of the river, picking off the bait fish that a shoal of Bass had pushed to the surface. With the settled, warm weather and the clear water it actually seemed more like summer than a lot of the summer itself and I commented to Stuart that we would perhaps have been better off bringing the Bass spinning gear.

We persevered on through the afternoon, catching only the odd crab here and there and in the meantime just enjoying the peace and quiet and watching the spectacle of the huge flocks of birds that have gathered on the river for the winter. Finally just as it got dark Stuart managed to get a fish to save our honour (well his honour anyway); only a tiny Schoolie, but a welcome sight all the same. After fishing about an hour of darkness with no further action we decided enough was enough as we both had other places to be and we headed back on the long journey back to the car.

So where were the Flounder? I've heard so many rumours that the River Stour Flounder population have all gone I could perhaps be forgiven for believing it. I'm still not convinced though. These are pre-spawning fish and, just the same as on my home patch on the Colne, it will take a certain combination of triggers to preempt them into gathering in the tight shoals that they form at this time of the year. The food is there for them, so that isn't the reason for their non-attendance. But the weather is still warm (as is the water), there is still a lot of the summer weed about and the prevailing winds of late have allowed the colour to drop out of the water; all these factors, in my experience will delay the Flounder's urge to head downriver and spawn. My hope is that some strong winds and a bit of a cold snap will see them gathering up over the next few weeks, ready and waiting for my return.

A Weekend Without Fishing

Last weekend was my worst nightmare really; good tides forecast for the weekend and no chance to actually go! Unfortunately one of my bikes needed some urgent repair work and I finally had to deliver on the promise of tiling my Mother-in-law's kitchen (well she has been waiting six months) so getting to the beach was a non-starter. However, it did give me some time to get some other little fishing-type jobs out of the way.

My rig wallet got a spring clean and a sort out, which was well overdue, and it gave me a chance to tie some replacement rigs for the various worn out ones that I had been stockpiling for the last few months. The break also gave me the chance to replace a dodgy whipping on the beloved Tip Tornado with time enough to take step-by-step photographs of the exercise which should enable me (when I get a bit more time) to put together a simple tutorial on how to do the job; a lot of people are needlessly shy of this kind of job.

Much to my wife's disgust, I have at last also had a chance to get round to ordering the blank and components for a new beach rod as well; I'm pretty sure the endless list of jobs and the frequent fishing passes were part of a cunning plan on her part to deprive me of the time to buy "another rod", as she put it. If that was her intention she failed miserably as the credit card has again been well and truly "flexed" and in a few weeks I will hopefully be diving into building myself a Tip Tornado Sport. As with the whipping repair previously mentioned, I'm intending to put together a tutorial which I'd like to think will encourage a few people to have a go at rod building as it's really not that difficult and you can get a huge amount of satisfaction out of catching a few fish on a rod you've built yourself.

As for actual fishing, operations resume as normal next weekend and a cunning plan is already hatched which involves a two mile walk, bait digging on arrival and then hopefully pulling out a few Flounder before they head out to sea to spawn as they do every year; fingers crossed it doesn't rain!

Fishing Report: 22nd October 07 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

With 90 Lugworm left over from last Saturday nights session sitting in the bait fridge I decided to have a short evening session at Bateman's Tower. High tide was at 10pm and with work the next morning it was only ever going to be a quick few hours, but it did at least get me out from in front of the telly and give me a good excuse to knock off work early.

It had been raining during the day but just as the beeb had forecast the cloud had started to break and the moon was showing it's face as I arrived at about 6:30pm. Although it was a bit early to fish because of the risk of snagging on the wooden breakwater at the base of the tower, I was keen not to waste any time and got my baits in the water within 15 minutes as I was hoping that there would be a fair few Whiting in the river shoaling up early on in the tide keen to get after the shrimp that gather in the light around the Tower. Normally I don't waste Lugworm on this type of session and would simply have bought along some Mackerel to cash in on the Whiting's normal autumn pre-occupation with fish baits but as I wanted to use up the Lugworm and I had limited time there seemed little point.

I was hopeful that there would be plenty of Whiting around and to be fair there was; unfortunately they all seemed to be about 4 inches long! As soon as my baits hit the water the rod tops were knocking to the attentions of very small fish or crabs. The first cast on each rod resulted in a Micro-Whiting on each rig and that is pretty much how it carried on for the rest of the night with only an undersized Bass and a small Rockling to break the monotony. The only strong bite of the night came about two hours before high tide and resulted in a seriously slimed rig so clearly the Eels have not yet completely disappeared. Luckily the 2/0 hook I was using prevented me having to deal with the slippery little bugger.

I eventually ran out of bait at about 10:30pm and packed up. Although the fishing was not a patch on the previous session at St Osyth I had been kept busy all through the flood and had lost count of the tiny Whiting I had caught. What was also nice is that not a one had been deep-hooked and so all had swam off strongly when put back; all too often, this kind of session turns into one of watching dead fish drifting away on the tide, which is not my cup of tea at all.

One final point to note is that the summer weed has yet to disappear completely and the leads came back coated in slimy tufts of weed on every retrieve. In fact, I would say that it doesn't seem to have dispersed at all since my last session on the Tower on 28th September which may cause problems on the next set of big tides or immediately after a good southerly blow; definitely one to miss as it will make fishing in the river a complete nightmare!

Fishing Report: 20th October 07 - St Osyth, Essex

Having persuaded mate Stuart to join me for a disastrous nights fishing in the rain recently at Brightlingsea it was his turn for choice of venue and, after a few emails back and forth during the week, we finally decided to see if the good fishing I'd had at St Osyth a couple of weeks back was continuing. As it turned out, it wasn't a bad choice of marks at all. The weather forecast was for bright sunshine which didn't bode well for fishing prospects during the daylight hours (St Osyth is notorious for "switching on" as the light fades) so we arranged to meet at 2:30pm in Hutley's car park and take a walk towards the bird reserve end. As high tide was at about 7pm, the intention was to fish a few hours of the flood in the daylight, with the hope that the fishing would pick up as the light began to fade towards the top of the tide and on the ebb.

By the time we had met, walked to our chosen spot and got baits in the water it was way past 3pm. As usual the beach was pretty much deserted except for the odd walker and one other angler (who we assumed was fishing with light gear for Bass) and we sat back to watch the rod tops for a couple of hours, waiting for the action to start. As we expected, it wasn't until the sun began to drop in the sky (by which time the other angler had disappeared) that the fish began to make their presence felt, however, once the bites had started they came steadily throughout the rest of the flood and the ebb, with only a slight break in the action over the top of the tide.

My night was completely overwhelmed by the Whiting and it seemed no matter what distance I cast I always seemed to end up catching one. In the end I managed about 15 of them to Black Lugworm, Blow Lug or Mackerel strip, with only one or two undersized; the rest ranged in size, I would say, from 8 to 12oz. Stuart's night was just as busy with him managing a steady stream of the ever-present Whiting plus a couple of undersized Pouting and one Codling. Not surprisingly, with some Ragworm in his bait-bucket, he also managed a few Bass, the biggest of which went about 1.5lb and came on the ebb.

While the catch may not seem astounding we were kept busy with fish and bites throughout the evening and ended up calling time at 9:30pm with both of us completely knackered. The only mishap of the night was when a loud ripping noise echoed across the beach. I looked round to see Stuart killing himself laughing as he inspected his trousers which had turned themselves into a skirt as he bent down to bait up; I suppose you have to expect these kind of things if your favourite food is kebab. All in all it was a very enjoyable session. Although the walking involved to reach this venue is a bit of a pain, especially when you start to have to take the warm gear with you in the autumn, it does at least guarantee that you won't suffer from crowding problems and crossed lines as you do at some venues and we couldn't knock the weather or the fishing.

Fishing Report: 13th October 07 - East Mersea, Essex

I'd originally been invited to fish at Frinton by mates Stuart and Paul but pressing commitments at home had conspired against me, not least my Daughter's first birthday, and in the end I decided to decline the invitation and grab a few hours at a relatively new mark for me across the river, by way of an experiment. With the tide at about 2:30am there was no way I was going to get away with fishing over the tide so instead I chose to fish over the bottom of the tide and the first few hours of the flood to see if this deep water mark would produce a few fish while the shoreline on my side of the river was normally high and dry. The theory was sound enough but as is often the case, it turned out not to be such a good idea in practice.

After a lot of rushing about I finally found myself with the mark all to myself and was fishing by 7pm, one rod out at range with Lugworm baits, the other fished at medium range with a mixture of Mackerel and small Lugworm baits in the hope of discovering if anything was actually about. Things were very quiet over the bottom of the tide except for the crab activity which was unbelievable but as the tide started to flood back into the river at about 9pm things started to look up with the odd bite missed and a small Whiting of about 3oz. Unfortunately at about the same time as the bites started to appear so did the weed; tons of it!

Although I fished on till midnight I really should have saved myself the bother and in the end I was forced to fish both rods at short range simply to avoid the worst of the weed. The only other catch of the night was a number of sea anemone, what the old-timers affectionately call "Fisherman's Arseholes", which always seemed to take the Mackerel strip; I may have caught a lot more of them but a Fox stole the Mackerel from right behind me at about 10pm.

Despite this session being a bit of a bummer I'm encouraged, I think, to return when the weed dies down a bit. We used to get a lot of fish from the main channel of the Colne in the dinghy at one time and an 80 yard cast will get your bait into extremely deep water. There are also a number of boils here when the tide begins to move which look extremely "fishy" so I think further investigation is required.

Fishing Report: 6th October 07 - St Osyth, Essex

With high tide at St Osyth of about 9:30pm it was an ideal night to fish over the tide at my usual spot up towards the nudist beach. Although generally fairly happy this time of the year with Frozen Blacks and Mackerel as bait (which I keep stocked up in my freezer), as I had time, I also dug some Lugworm from an upriver bed on the Colne around mid afternoon, then packed my Rucksack light and rushed my dinner down before heading off to arrive at Hutley's Caravan Park at about 6pm. On the way there in the car I had wondered if perhaps I might save myself the walk and fish amongst the groynes to the left of the car park, but by the time I got there the decision had already been made for me; every bay was being fished already and so my usual hike towards the nudist beach was the order of the evening if I wanted any space or solitude.

By the time I had walked the mile or so to my spot and got my gear set up it was about 7pm and the light had started to drop, the time when the fishing normally "switches on" at this spot. The first rod went out with three hooks baited with Mackerel strip and almost immediately I got my first bite, before I'd even had a chance to get the second rod baited up. Having baited up the second rod with Black Lugworm and Fresh Lugworm on a Bomber Rig and cast out I then reeled in my first fish of the night on the Mackerel Strip, a nice little Whiting of about 12oz. As a bonus when I reeled in the fish I discovered that I also had a lost set of gear attached which turned out to be one that I had lost on my Bass Rod some weeks back; one of the benefits of fishing the same venues regularly I suppose.

Sport with one species of fish or another continued pretty much constantly through the remainder of the flood with either Whiting or Pouting falling to the Mackerel Strip and both types of Lugworm but it was at the top of the tide that the fishing really took off. The Tip Tornado was very nearly dragged down the beach but on reeling in everything felt very light and it seemed as though I had missed the fish. It was only when it reached the surf line that I realised the fish was still on and after a short tussle at very close range I was very pleased with the result; a Bass of 2lb 2oz which had taken a Frozen Black Lugworm. Not big by any standards but much better than a Whiting. The next cast was almost like a repeat performance but this time the Bass was smaller (about 1lb 8oz) and seemed a bit of a strange shape, almost as if it had the head of a bigger fish.

The ebb tide saw the sport tail off a bit. The fishing slowed down, although there was the odd bite to keep me busy, but the weed became an awful pain with the leader knot totally coated in huge amounts of thin, tightly bound weed on every retrieve. Finally at midnight with the tide starting to disappear I decided enough was enough, packed up and headed for home. Final score for the night was ten Whiting (between 6-12oz), two undersized Pouting and three Bass, only one of which was undersized. Currently this spot seems to be producing some reasonable fishing for me and has the added advantage of plenty of room (most anglers can't be bothered with the walk) and less snags than the rock-groin end of the beach. It will be interesting to see if perhaps a bigger tide later in the season will produce any sizable Codling.

Fishing Report: 4th October 07 - Halfpenny Pier, Harwich

I managed to con the wife into combining an evening trip to Harwich to get chips and watch the harbour with an hours feathering off Halfpenny Pier. It was far from a serious session and was really just an experiment to see if I could catch some of the Herring I have seen swimming around the Pier on feathers. We got chips (very nice!) and then, having finished mine, I left wife and daughter to admire the lights of the harbour and headed onto the pier with my Whychwood 4lb Spod and a set of Owner Gold Rainbow Skin Sabiki feathers on size 12 hooks, hoping that the Herring I had seen on a previous trip were still there.

It was a flat calm evening and sure enough, the Herring were feeding near the surface under one of the pier lights. As I dropped the feathers down near the shoal and began working them I was getting bites almost immediately, though I seemed to continually fail to connect; judging by the general size of the fish on the surface they were just too small, mostly about 2 to 3 inches long.

After a bit of perseverance I did eventually manage to connect with one of the "tiddlers" and then promptly lost it to a small Bass of about 1lb as I lifted it to the surface. The next drop down resulted in a small Bass of about 2oz but then everything went completely quiet so I assume the Bass had spooked the Herring. After another fifteen minutes of fruitlessly trying various spots around the pier I was unceremoniously summoned back to the car for the return journey home; my time was up. Last time I was here the Herring were much bigger and though this particular session was (except for the chips) a bit of a waste of time I will be back at some point to try again.

Fishing Report: 28th September 07 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

Every now and then we all have stupid ideas which, when they pop into our heads, seem perfectly sensible; the idea for this session was one of my most recent stupid ideas. It started with an email from Stuart during the week, "What you got planned for next weekend fishing-wise?". With hindsight he probably wishes he had never asked! The equinox tides were upon us and this meant big tides, strong currents and, if past seasons were anything to go by, the chance of a decent size Bass from the Tower. I suggested a night session over a 2:15am high tide and Stuart couldn't resist.

We arrived at the Tower at about 11:15pm just as the rain started but the winds were light and we were still confident of a good night. I set up one rod with Ragworm fished at range for Bass (though I wasn't confident of seeing one till the ebb) and the other with a three hook paternoster baited with Mackerel strip and Black Lugworm, hoping for maybe a Whiting or two. For the first two hours of the session the light rain came and went and I was kept busy with the odd Whiting to the Mackerel strip plus a Codling of about 30cm but, at the point the current really took off, the fish suddenly went off the feed and weed started to become a problem. Another half an hour and the tide was over the top of the Tower (much earlier than I had expected) and we were forced to retreat onto the grass and stop fishing; and to make matters worse Stuart had yet to catch.

By the time the tide reached it's highest point it was pretty clear that it was much higher than the forecast 5.3 meters, possibly due to the low pressure, and we were now cut off on a small grass island of about ten feet square. As if there wasn't enough water around the rain had now got much heavier and we were copping a proper soaking. About an hour on the ebb the water had finally dropped enough for us start fishing again. Stuart had discovered a leak in his wellies and the pair of us were like drowned rats but the thought of a decent Bass kept us going.

By about 4:00 in the morning it dawned on us that all hope of a decent Bass had gone. The rain was still tipping it down, the tide was fast disappearing and the only fish to show up during the ebb was a Codling 1cm short of the limit to Ragworm on one of my rods; poor old Stuart had the hex on him and hadn't managed a fish at all which is very unusual. My total for the night was two undersized Codling (the first I have caught from the river in some time) and five Whiting; no sign of any Bass at all.

Despite all this there were some plus points. My new Shakespeare Salt waterproofs had proved well worth the money I had paid out for them and kept the water out all night, and Stuart had been impressed with his new rod, a Zziplex 4500, which he was trying out for the first time. Stuart now has next choice of venue so I hope he picks a better night than I did!

Fishing Report: 23rd September 07 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

I met up with Stuart and an acquaintance of his, Sugar, at about 7:30pm for an evening on Bateman's Tower. The weather had a distinct autumnal feel to it (unlike last night at St Osyth) and there was a fairly stiff breeze coming in from the south as we spread out around the Tower and started to set up our gear with me, as usual, hoping for a Bass or two.

We hadn't been there long when, as I was about to make my first cast, the juvenile hordes descended and proceeded to destroy the peace. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for encouraging junior anglers but this crowd had to be seen to be believed. In actual fact, it soon transpired there was actually only three anglers amongst the crowd, the other dozen or so individuals were there as spectators, and to carry the seemingly endless array of lights, car batteries and assorted luggage that suddenly seemed to appear between myself and Sugar.

To cut a long story short, rather than splitting up to utilise the available space, the three with rods decided they would squash in between myself and Sugar (despite them already having to all get out of the way so I could cast) and at that point I decided enough was enough and pointed out the lack of space. After a short discussion amongst themselves the whole lot headed off to another spot, looking like a team of Sherpas setting off on an expedition to tackle Everest.

With peace and quiet restored we set about trying to catch some fish but it was hard going and they weren't exactly giving themselves up. Stuart managed a Schoolie early on to Ragworm at range but failed to connect with anything else for the remainder of the night. Sugar did a little better and managed two small Bass to the same bait fished at medium range to the right of the Tower. As for me, it was all getting a little embarrassing really. As we began to think about packing up at 12:30am I had yet to get a bite, let alone a fish and my excuses of "holding out for a decent one" were starting to raise a few chuckles amongst the other two.

My honour was saved on the last cast when a textbook slack liner resulted in the biggest fish of the night, a Schoolie of about 35cm; by no means memorable, but welcome all the same!

Fishing Report: 22nd September 07 - St Osyth, Essex

With a new Zziplex Bass Rod and 6500 Mag Elite to test out I was desperate to get on the beach this weekend. With the weather forecast to be nice I decided to fish a 9:20pm tide at St Osyth, as usual deciding to pack light and fish the bird reserve end of the beach. I arrived at about 5:30pm (just as the last of the nudists were leaving, thank god) and set up two rods with the intention of fishing one at range and one short for anything that should take a fancy to the bait. It was pretty obvious that the spot had been fished very recently by the angling litter left behind; there was a good selection of bait wrappers and Gemini rig packets (see photo) and quite frankly the muppets who left them should be ashamed of themselves.

As I was setting up, occasionally watching the Terns that work along the shore, I noticed something in the water about 200 yards off the beach and was encouraged to see a Seal was feeding right in front of me. I always find it strange that many anglers moan about the Seals; they might put fish off the feed for a while, but they generally don't linger and if they are feeding close in it is a sign that the fish are too. Personally, I have no problem sharing a swim with a Seal.

Despite the Seal the bites started as soon as the sun started to drop. Nothing frenetic, you understand, just a steady trickle of bites to one rod or another and the occasional fish. The pace continued over the tide, and by the time I packed up at 11pm I had four sizable Whiting to take home (nice when they're really fresh) and had returned another five undersized fish, two Whiting, two Pouting and a tiny Bass. The bulk of the fish were taken at short range on Mackerel, Lugworm or a combination of both, with only a pair of the Whiting (both at the same time on a Pennel rig, one on each hook) and the Bass being taken on the long range rod baited with Ragworm.

The new rod and reel behaved impeccably. The Zziplex, which I built myself, is light and really nicely balanced and with good weather will probably see a lot of Estuary and neep tide work over the winter. The Mag Elite (the 2007 Gun-Metal Grey model) also lived up to expectations, with a couple of minor criticisms. Firstly, ABU seem to have removed the numbered gauge on the mag settings which means you have to count the clicks as you set the brakes and, as with all ABU CTs these days, the handle is more suited to a cement mixer than a fishing reel; both niggles really but ABU do seem to have gone backwards slightly from the Green Mag Elite.

Fishing Report: 15th / 16th September 07 - River Colne, Essex

Conscious that the spinning season (and the Bass season for that matter) would soon be coming to an end for another year I decided to try the spinning rod out on a sunny but breezy Saturday afternoon. It was a mid-afternoon tide and as I've always found the early flood the most productive for spinning on the river I arrived about four hours before high tide, just as the water was advancing across the mudflats.

The northerly breeze had turned the water a bit "milky" but it was still clear enough to spin and so I set about trying to add to my tally of Bass with my normal 3 inch Eel fished behind a Dexter Wedge. To cut a long story short, despite there being plenty of bait fish working the water and an acceptable water clarity, I caught bugger all. The only action over the four hours I fished was when a Schoolie of about a pound tried to take the Wedge right under the rod top; as the Wedge has no hook for this method, obviously it failed to "hook up".

The following day I met up with Paul (AKA Bread on Seafishing.org) with the intention of fishing a mark on the sea defences at Brightlingsea. The wind had picked up a bit and there was a stiff North Westerly breeze. Paul had intended to use his normal beach gear and I don't think had fully comprehended the logistics of fishing these kind of marks; he took one look at the rocks and promptly headed off to fish Jaywick beach! Undeterred, I continued on my own ledgering Ragworm bait close in with the Carp rod as by now the water was way too coloured to make spinning a viable proposition.

The rough weather made things difficult with the Carp rod but I kept at it and after a few hours of catching crabs I had a strong take which, after a reasonably good scrap for a fish of it's size, resulted in a Bass of about 42cm coming to the landing net. Feeling slightly encouraged I fished on for another couple of hours in the hope of catching another but it was not to be and so I headed home for some tea, wondering if all the hard work had really been worth it.

Footnote: I spoke to Paul the next day, who had fished with his father-in-law at Jaywick. His quick change of plans had proved to be worthwhile and had resulted in a nice Sole plus some other small stuff.

Fishing Report: 8th September 07 - St Osyth, Essex

Having had a week of fishing in the river (not with resounding success I hasten to add) I decided that I needed a change from the spinning gear and with the tides coming back round to late evening I decided to try conventional tactics at a spot I used to regularly fish along towards the bird reserve at St Osyth.

I arrived at late afternoon and set up in glorious sunshine and light offshore winds, fishing the tide from the bottom up, as I generally prefer to do at this venue. As always I was, in the back of mind, hoping for a sizable Bass so I set up one rod with a 4/0 Pennel Rig, fished at range with Ragworm bait. The other rod I set up with a three hook clipped down rig and small hooks to fish close in, hoping to find maybe a Sole perhaps or more likely anything that happened along. I baited the second rod with Ragworm, Peeler Crab and Lugworm baits, the idea being to hedge my bets for any fish that might come along.

The daylight hours were very quiet fishing-wise and it was not until the light had begun to fade and the last of the nudists had disappeared that I started to get any bites. For the last few hours the fishing was fairly busy and the time flew by. Although none of the fish caught were of any size, there was a selection of species and the nice weather and peaceful surroundings made it a very enjoyable evening. I finally packed up at about midnight having managed a solitary Bass of about 20cm, six undersized Codling (biggest just 1cm under the size limit), one Pouting, 1 Whiting (sizable) and an Eel of about 8oz; all but the Bass and two undersized Codling came to the close in gear.

Fishing Report: 3rd to 7th September 07 - River Colne, Essex

Over recent days the water in the river had seriously cleared and with plenty of leave owing I decided to make the most of the good spinning prospects and the nice weather and take a week off work.

Having fished the previous day at St Osyth I decided to try a few hours on the afternoon tide with the beachcasting gear on the Monday, more to use up the leftover bait than anything else. Three hours on Bateman's Tower produced only one fish, a tiny Bass on a 4/0 hook which was cleanly lip-hooked and swam away at a rate of knots.

On Tuesday, with very calm weather. I tramped upriver using a variety of lures. There were fish working accross the other side of the river, judging by the activity of the gulls but on my side of the river it was harder going and it was a releif to finally manage one Bass of about 30cm which took a 3 inch white Eddystone Eel retreived behind a 32grm dexter Wedge.

Wednesday turned out to be pretty much the same, although I started well, managing an early strike with a Bass about 5cm longer than the one of the previous day which came to the Eel and Wedge again. Encouraged by the early catch (in about 2ft of water) I covered over a mile of the river....without so much as seeing another fish!

After a day off I headed up the river on Friday determined to keep trying. As the tide first pushed accross the mudflats I tried a baited spoon in the slightly coloured water, there were hundreds of immature Bass working the shallow water and groups of them hit the bait (and the spoon itself) repeatedly as it was being retreived. I eventually managed to hook one of about 2oz cleanly in the side of the mouth before I decided that I was getting nowhere and switched to ledgering Ragworm close in on the Carp rod. Eventually, after about three hours of catching crabs, the rod tip smashed round and after a quick tussle a sizable Bass of about 40cm was in the net.

Fishing Report: 2nd September 07 - St Osyth, Essex

Fished at the bird reserve end of St Osyth with Stuart, hoping yet again for a decent Bass or two. Although it was a nice day there were hardly any Jet Skis about and we fished from about 11:30am through to 7pm with so much as one passing us by. Unfortunately the sizable Bass were equally as thin on the ground and although we fished hard with Ragworm, Peeler Crab, frozen Sandeel and Calamari Squid over the top of the early-afternoon tide we didn't have much to show for it other than the odd Eel and a few undersized Bass; my biggest went about 25cm.

Quite frankly the only things out in force were the dune-muppet-nudists, who again were doing their best to outrage public decency and spread as much litter around as possible!

Fishing Report: 1st September 07 - River Colne, Essex

Ye gods, is it September already?

Having decided I really wasn't up to an all-nighter I fished a 3:30pm tide along the river over 3 hours of the flood and a couple of hours down. The recent rough weather had stirred up the water a bit but I decided to be optimistic and give spinning a go. I tried various spots with various lures on the flood but despite my efforts it got me bugger all except weed, of which there was a fair amount around and so I put a paternoster and a 2 oz weight on the Carp rod and ledgered close in near some snags for a couple of hours of the ebb.

I managed a good few crabs, all of which gave a damn good bite on the Carp rod and eventually a Schoolie of about 30 cm took pity on me and yaffled the Ragworm so at least it wasn't a blank and an undersized Bass is better than none at all.

The water is still pretty clear, despite the strong winds, but if they would drop for a week I think the spinning would come into its own. It would be nice to have a last thrash at the summer spinning, just to tide me through to next year.