Fishing Report: 26th September 08 - St Osyth, Essex

I was finally getting my new online tackle store near completion and it had been a long slog. Most of the summer had been lost either to working on the store, family stuff or to the weather, which this summer has been completely naff and I was keen not to totally lose the autumn season. I'd been contemplating fishing the flood tide at St Osyth all week and after a report from pal Stuart of sizable Codling being caught during a weekday match I decided to give it a go amongst the rock groins on what was a really pleasant late September evening.

I was on the beach and set up with two rods by 7pm, surprised that despite the reports of Codling, the only company I had was two other anglers fishing in the next bay along and a coughing cat that was scavenging along the beach. As is usual for me at this time of year, although my target was Codling, I still had not completely given up the hope of a late Bass so with one rod sent out with frozen Blacks (for the Codling) I set up the second to fish for Bass with some very generous Ragworm baits which I hoped would attract something a bit more glamorous than the expected Whiting.

Things were slow to start but as usual, after an absolutely fantastic sunset, darkness set in the fish switched on and things began to liven up; though not with the Bass it has to be said. From that point on the Ragworm rod didn't stop all night and it was "a bite a chuck" with the Whiting, although because of my optimistic habit of using decent size hooks there were a lot I didn't hook. Not that it was a problem. To be quite honest I see no point in destroying the mini Whiting population and I'd much rather lose a few tiddlers, hook the slightly better ones and have a decent size hook on to cope for that fish of a lifetime when it appears.

About 3 hours before the top of the 11:30pm tide I finally had a break from the Whiting in the shape of a Codling of about 1.5lbs, which took the Ragworm rather than the Black Lugworm I had laid on specially for him and I was hopeful that more might show as the tide increased but that was it on the Codling front for the night. Despite the lack of further Codling it certainly wasn't quiet and the action continued with the Whiting for the rest of the night.

By the time I packed up at about 11pm I was knackered. The end result for a very pleasant evenings fishing was a nice round figure of 20 Whiting (most of which were sizable) and the solitary Codling, with all but a couple of the Whiting being taken on Ragworm. As I packed up I was relieved that I hadn't pushed up to the Bird Reserve end of the beach for a change as although I enjoy the solitude of being up there at night, I really wasn't up for the long walk back. No such problems amongst the groins though and a 50 yard trot with my gear saw me being picked up at the car park and on my way home with half a dozen Whiting and a Codling for the family pot. Time to stock up on chips, my Cod season has started!

Fishing Report: 13th September 08 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

Although I hadn't originally planned to go fishing again this weekend last night was one of those beautifully mild, calm evenings that I just can't resist at this time of the year. As a young lad, myself and the gang of friends I fished with would eagerly await the first run of Whiting in the river and to us (in our early teens) there was no greater adventure than to be allowed to fish a night tide on our own down the Tower. Perhaps its those childhood memories that make me a fan of the Whiting or perhaps its because they are so obliging; I don't know but I am definitely a fan of what I think is a very underrated fish.

When the Whiting are in the river (and they most certainly are at the moment) this weather gets them shoaling up tight to chase the local Brown Shrimps and some really good catches can be had. Life is also made that bit easier, so far as Whiting are concerned, because Mackerel strip is the number one bait when they have just arrived and so a couple of quids worth of fish from the Tesco fish counter will often provide for a good nights fishing without the major expense or hassle of getting a supply of fresh worm.

I arrived at the Tower at about 10pm to fish the midnight(ish) tide and had my two rods set up within about fifteen minutes; one rod to fish Ragworm out in the tide in the hope of an autumn Bass and the other, the Whiting rod, sporting a clipped-down three hook paternoster baited with Mackerel. The general idea with the three-hook rig is that it allows you to fish at a variety of distances so you can experiment to find the fish, though to be honest when the Whiting are hungry and about in good numbers you will get them whatever.

The flood tide started off very slow with not a single fish, maybe due to the Seal that put in an appearance, but on the turn of the tide the Whiting appeared in force and it was pretty much a bite a chuck on both rods, which on a couple of occasions led to a treble-shot of Whiting on the three-hook rig. The rod fished at range with large Ragworm baits didn't fare quite so well and Bass were definitely not on the menu on this occasion. I have no doubt that the Bass were there but to be honest on a night like that they just won't be able to get to the bait because of the Whiting which are quite partial to a large King Ragworm, though really catching Whiting from range is just making things hard work for yourself; why bother when there are loads of them 40 yards out?

A very pleasant nights fishing ended at about 2am when I ran out of bait just as the water was starting to get too low to fish because of the wooden breakwater in front of the Tower. I hadn't managed any Bass on the long-range rod but total for the night was nineteen Whiting, with the bulk of the fish probably between 6 - 10 oz, pretty much the average size for the Colne and I was more than happy with that. A lot of anglers knock the Whiting and turn their nose up at them but to me they are a very welcome, easy to catch fish that signal the change of the seasons and set you up for the rest of the winter.

Fishing Report: 11th September 08 - St Osyth, Essex

After a reasonably enjoyable night at Brightlingsea the previous night I decided to take a hike to a favourite spot up towards the Bird Reserve at St Osyth. Although there was a fairly stiff south westerly breeze the weather wasn't cold, though I did take my brolly (a fairly serious decision given the extra weight this involves and the distance this spot is from the car) just in case the light showers forecast by the weatherman turned into something more serious. With high tide at about 10:20pm and a neap tide I wasn't expecting a record-breaking catch but was hoping, if nothing else, that there would be a few Whiting around.

After the long walk to the spot I was sorted and fishing with my two rods by 7pm; one rod fished at range with large Ragworm baits and the other fished at long and short range alternatively with two hooks, one baited with Ragworm the other with frozen Black Lugworm. As usual things were slow to start but about half an hour after the absolutely amazing sunset the beach started to live up to its reputation for switching on at night and I reeled in the first fish, a Whiting of about 10oz which fell to a large Ragworm bait fished at range. From that point on the bites came fairly steadily throughout the tide particularly to the Ragworm, though as I was fishing larger baits in the hope of an autumn Bass I missed a great deal of them. Its most likely, given this spot's past performance, that a great deal of the bites were from Whiting and had I fished accordingly with a three hook rig baited with Mackerel strip I could have had a good haul of them but to be quite frank they are still a bit thin and in any case what I really wanted was a Bass.

By the top of the tide I'd been kept busy with a slow but steady stream of fish. The first Whiting had been joined by three others as well as a Codling just 2cm below the minimum size and I had at least managed one Bass, although at about 20cm long it was a lot smaller than I really wanted. As things quietened down over the top of the tide I took the opportunity to have a drink and eat my grub and then just as the tide started ebb the fish started again and I set to work to attempt to land a few more fairly quickly as I had to leave at 11:30pm. By 11pm I was wondering if my hooks had gone blunt as I hadn't managed another fish but a classic slack-line bite (which I was expecting to be a much better fish) saw the twin of the earlier Codling coming up the beach. I returned the Codling, which swam off strongly, and mindful of the long walk back decided to call it a night, reeling in the second rod to find another two Whiting of about 8 to 10oz hanging on it.

As usual the walk back to Hutley's car park seemed about twice the distance of the walk there, not helped by the added weight of the brolly. Overall not a bad night, though only the Whiting were really sizable and then I kept only two fish (because they had been deep-hooked and it seems a complete waste to throw back dead fish) as at this time of the year they are definitely a bit thin and not in their peak. Hopefully as the autumn progresses the Whiting will fatten up on the local shrimps and some better Codling will appear, particularly as there have been so many small ones around over the last couple of years.

Fishing Report: 10th September 08 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

Apart from a couple of (very) short and unproductive spinning sessions the latter part of my summer has passed by all too quickly. As is so often the case, even amongst the keenest of us, other factors in life take over and fishing reluctantly has to take a back seat. I had been toying with the idea of starting up an online business for some time and finally decided to bite the bullet and go for it; just as I was starting my mother fell ill and died shortly after and that was effectively the end of my fishing this summer to all intents and purposes!

By the beginning of last week I had finally got on top of things and was itching to fish the big tides on the Colne(a favourite time for Bass) but ended up giving it a miss due to crap weather and the amount of rain that had fallen which was no doubt going to mess up the fishing. But with the tides fast coming round to mid-evening and a good southerly blow to liven up the fishing I could resist no more and so I headed to the Tower tonight, bucket loaded with some freshly dug King Ragworm, in order to get my long awaited fix.

I started fishing at about 7:30pm with a single rod and as it was a neap tide put my two large Ragworm baits out as far as I could in an attempt to find as much flow of water as possible and hopefully a nice early autumn Bass. Things were very quiet until just after the top of the 9:20pm high tide but then as the ebb started to flow I began to get the occasional bite, probably from small stuff, which needless to say didn't connect to the 3/0 hooks I was using. An hour later and a missed bite resulted in a well-slimed and tangled rig but it was not until the last hour of the session that I finally connected to a bite, not the small Bass I had expected to see but a sizable Whiting (already!) and actually not a bad sized one for the river at that. While the Whiting wasn't really what I had come for, after so long away from the beach I was glad to see anything, particularly anything sizable and so I fished on a little longer in the hope of catching more and, in the back of my mind, still hoping for a Bass.

By 11pm I had seen very little else in the way of bites although I had managed to retrieve a lost rig. As the water was disappearing fast and the current hardly running I decided enough was enough for one night and that it was time to head for home but as I was just about to pick up the rod to reel in the tip hit round and the line went slack. It took a few seconds to make contact with the fish and although I knew it was no monster I was sure that the fish on the end was no Whiting; after a quick tussle I was proved right and swung a sizable Bass over the railings of the Tower. At around 40cm the Bass wasn't going to be breaking any records but was a pleasant end to the night and was at least some consolation for the summer I missed: as if I needed a bonus, there was also another sizable Whiting on the trace!