Sunday 6 July 2008

Fishing Report: 4th July 08 - Sandgate Beach, Kent

I had been trying to get down to Sandgate for a session with the Mackerel feathers for some time and at last the plan came together, although it had a somewhat protracted format in that we would make a detour on our way to pick up a friend of my wife's from Ramsgate and then head for the south Kent coast. Even with the detour the clear roads and fairly light traffic (by motorway standards) meant that we were at Sandgate by noon but again, it seems, the Mackerel curse struck again.

Although the water down there is generally much clearer than my local Essex beaches the recent strong winds (which were very evident on the day of our visit) had stirred the water and left it very coloured and I knew as soon as we arrived that the Mackerel were going to be a difficult proposition; I wasn't wrong. Although I worked hard with the feathers all day I had not a sniff of any Mackerel and it was all a bit disheartening really, as normally they surrender quite readily from this beach. There was a good spattering of other anglers along the beach as well, some fishing lures, some feathers and some bottom fishing, but all seemed to fare as well as me fish-wise.

As the tide dropped away towards late afternoon so the wind dropped with it but unfortunately the rough weather had left so much colour in the water the fishing was not going to liven up in time for me and so it was that we headed back to Ramsgate at about 6pm to drop my wife's friend back home without a fish putting in an appearance. On the plus side it was a nice afternoon to be on the beach and we did at least catch a glimpse of the local Dolphin (the locals call him "Dave") about 500 yards off the beach; no doubt that was where the Mackerel were, way beyond my casting range.

The journey home was pretty much problem free except for two lanes through the Dartford tunnel being shut, with a resultant scrummage of cars, bikes and lorrys trying to filter from the tollgates into the remaining two lanes. It was as we were getting involved in this scrummage that I noticed a Fox walking calmly along the pavement beside all the chaos of the traffic, occasionally stopping to sniff around the roadside bushes and seemingly totally oblivious to the melee that was going on at the tunnel. Foxes and cars generally don't go well together but this streetwise old Fox was obviously at home here and was thriving. It was a reminder that nature has a way of sticking two fingers up at you just as you think you've got it sussed, very much like the Sandgate Mackerel had done earlier in the day.

2 Comments:

silverlady said...

Good story Blakdog, was this a recent trip as Dave was reported missing last November?

Blakdog said...

As the title says it was a fishing report from the 4th July, last Friday and we definately saw Dave (or another Dolphin) heading east towards Folkestone about 500 yards out from the shore. There were a good few anglers on the beach that afternoon and one that I spoke to had also spotted him. I hope he was catching more than we were!