Fishing Report: 27th April 08 - River Colne, Essex

It had been a crap week as I had unfortunately lost my long time fishing and digging companion Jack, my Black Labrador from whom my online nickname comes. At just short of fourteen years old he'd had a good innings for a Lab, but all the same it was a choker and I needed a couple of hours by myself for some quiet contemplation; just me and the river. As the weather was beginning to warm up and the water clarity was looking reasonable I opted to try a couple of hours spinning further upriver hoping to maybe hook up with an early Bass. If all else failed it would give me a chance to try out the new Okuma reel purchased for the forthcoming summer season.

As it turned out the Bass were in no mood to play, but then nor was I. However a couple of hours by the beach on my own did the trick and it cheered me up a bit. The new Okuma Interceptor Pro seemed to perform well and felt smooth on the retrieve with a very reasonable line lay considering its low price tag and I'm hopeful that it will last a damn sight longer than the Cardinal Freerunner it replaced, which lasted only one season. ABU should hang their heads in shame, particularly as spares are not available! If all else fails at least the Okuma has a five year warranty!

Although for this session I opted to stick with the faithful 3 inch white Redgill fished behind a Bass Wedge (I wasn't really in the mood to get too technical) I've also been making some additions to my plug collection, adding a number of new patterns which I intend to try out this year. As I've rarely done well in the estuary on any of my current plugs I'm hoping a move to some different patterns will bring better luck, basing my choices more accurately on the bait fish and fry that I see in the river year after year.

Top of the list has to be two new X-Rap Rapalas, both of which are reputed to have a fantastic action and I'm hoping that the X-Rap Subwalk, which walks the dog a few inches below the surface will finally bring some success with the local Schoolies as I often see them feeding on bait fish just below the surface. I added the Luck Craft 11cm Flash Minnow to my lure box quite simply because of its scale pattern, which realistically resembles the local Mullet fry on which the River Colne Bass often prey and an Owner Tango Dancer joined it on the recommendation of a fishing pal who fishes the West Country estuaries. To be quite honest the Tango looks like no fish I've ever seen so we'll have to see how that one does.

Last on the list was an unusual lure. Although I've caught very few Bass on the surface in the past, I've always enjoyed fishing with surface lures simply because watching a fish hit the lure right in front of you is the biggest rush there is. The Maria Bull Chop is unusual in that it is a surface popper that sinks (they normally float) and planes to the surface as it is reeled in. Weighing in at 40 grams means it will get out there, allowing me to cover more ground and I'm hoping it will allow me to fish a surface lure slowly in the hard current of the bigger tides by allowing the current to plane it to the surface rather than the retrieve, but only time will tell.

Anyway, plenty of new stuff to try out this year, and a lot of creeping to do with the "Fishing Permissions Officer", she that must be obeyed. Unfortunately I will be doing it all without my old friend.

Fishing Report: 17th April 08 - St Osyth, Essex

It had been a good while (over five months!) since I last fished and having just finished building myself a new Tip Tornado Sport, I was itching to get back in the swing of things fishing-wise and give the new pole a try-out. With the tide at 11pm and work the next morning it was never going to be the most adventurous session of my fishing career, so rather than travel any distance to fish I opted to minimise travelling time and make the best of the extra time on the beach by heading for nearby St Osyth, hoping that the reports of Codling still showing along this part of the coast were not just another fisherman's tale.

I arrived at 6.30pm to find that I had the beach to myself (excellent!) which meant I could fish in the third bay from the ramp, my favoured spot at this end of the beach and with the forecast 3-4 cold easterly wind putting plenty of colour in the water, I tackled up quite confident that I might just be in with a chance of a spring Codling or two. After a few practice casts with the rod (just to remind myself how to cast) I set up a bomber rig, piled on some big Lugworm baits and sent the whole lot out as best I could given that I have not cast a rod since last November (Note to self: I must practice my casting more often). Now anyone who fishes this beach regularly will no doubt tell you that it is one of those venues that 'switches on' after dark and my experience of the place is no different. Normally I find myself effectively killing time while it is light, waiting for darkness to fall and the action to start but this session was to be the complete opposite and so it was that shortly after the arrival of fishing pal Stuart (who had popped down for a chat) at 7pm I got my first decent bite which turned out to be a small Codling of about 25cm.

Despite this early fish I was still convinced that things would only liven up after dark so it was a complete surprise when about forty minutes later (while I was still putting the world to rights with Stu and not concentrating) the rod 'knocked' and then sat back with a classic 'slack-liner'. The fish continued to swim right into the beach and only really started to fight about 20 yards out and after a brief tussle in the surf a nice plump spring Codling of about two pounds sat on the beach. Granted it was nothing tremendous but it wasn't even dark yet and after five months off anything sizable will raise a smile; if the beach was up to its usual standards I was in for a very good night once it got dark I thought. As the light started to fade another rattle provided fish number three, not the second Codling I was hoping for but a good sized Pouting all the same of about three-quarters of a pound. At that point Stu decided he was heading off home and seemingly took my luck with him. As darkness set in the expected run of bites that usually come never appeared and I fished on till about 10pm taking only one other fish, an undersized Whiting, which hung itself on a huge Lugworm bait on a 3/0 hook.

Despite it not being the most exciting session I've ever had (or the warmest - that easterly was damned cold) I can think of a lot worse ways to kill a Thursday night. The new rod lived up to expectations and behaved impeccably, providing good bite indication in the wind. Despite being a powerful rod it also cast very smoothly and didn't feel at all top heavy as a lot of 13ft rods do. Add to that the bonus of a nice bit of fresh Cod for my tea and it was, when all is said and done, a very nice way to get myself back into practice ready for the forthcoming Bass season.