Fishing Report: 2nd October 09 - St Osyth, Essex

I'd originally planned a trip to the Bird Reserve end of the beach on Saturday night but a quick look at the weather forecast Friday evening changed my mind and so I headed off at the last moment to fish the flood on a midnight tide, deciding to fish amongst the rock groynes to maximise my fishing time. As well as my usual Frozen Blacks (which I reckon is a top bait for the Codling) I was also trying a first for me, salted Ragworm. I'd had half a pound or so left over from a previous session and rather than waste them I decided I would try salting them but to be honest I wasn't that hopeful that they would catch.

By the time I arrived at the beach at about 7:30pm things had roughened up a bit with a SW breeze and it was obvious from the off that the Whiting were not anything like as thick on the ground as my previous session; they came out steadily throughout the night though really nothing of any great size with the general stamp of them about 8oz, though it does have to be said that they seemed to really like the salted Ragworm.

The positive side to the reduction in the Whiting hordes is that it does give the other species a chance to go for the baits and it was just as I was resigning myself to a so-so session that one of the rods bent over and I was into something better than a Whiting. I was hoping for a Bass but it wasn't to be, though I was hardly disappointed to see a Codling appear on the beach - it went about 3lb I reckon but was a terrible "stretch", should have gone about 5lb and would normally have gone back to put on some weight. Having taken the hook way, way down there was little point in returning it however and it had to come home for the pot all the same.

Things continued with the odd whiting showing till just on the top of the tide when a good bite on the salted Ragworm turned up a real treat for me, a Sole. I catch them rarely (mostly because I tend to fish for Bass or Cod with big baits and hooks) and this one was well worth catching; it tipped the Avons down to 1lb 8oz at home, not my biggest ever but not far off and certainly a meal to look forward to!

Normally I would have liked to stay for the ebb but with things to do in the morning I couldn't stay and so reluctantly started packing up at midnight. Just by way of bonus as I was packing one rod up the other had a good hit on Black Lug and a very, very lively Eel of 12 oz or a pound hit the beach in a very bad mood. It was entertaining to say the least; the damn thing climbed up my arm, attached itself to my leg and at one point had its tail wrapped round the rod butt! I have never come across such a pissed off Eel and considering that I have been catching the things regularly man and boy for over 30 years and can normally deal with them easily, it made me look like a complete beginner! Having completely failed to get it under control I was relieved when it eventually came off the hook by itself and slithered down the beach back into the water leaving me to scrape off the slime, pack the rest of the gear and head home for a few hours sleep.

Fishing Report: 18th September 09 - St Osyth, Essex

The beach was calling again and with a good tide and an excellent weather forecast for the Friday night I headed, yet again, for the Bird Reserve end of St Osyth, a favourite spot of mine. I decided to be a bit adventurous and walk from home in Jaywick but in hindsight it was probably a tad too adventurous as my feet were just not up to that sort of distance at the moment (I'm showing my age) and I suffered for it terribly the next morning; actually if I'm truthful none of me was up to going that sort of distance with 2 rods and associated kit and it is a lesson very much learnt!

Anyway I arrived at my favourite spot about 4 hours before the tide and sent both rods out with a variety of baits. Within 5 minutes both sets of gear had returned to the beach with a fish on every hook and so it pretty much continued throughout the flood. Frozen Blacks, Fresh Lugworm and Frozen Sandeel all accounted for Whiting and in truth it didn't seem to matter what bait you put on the hook or where you cast it. About two hours before the top of the tide I had a flurry of small Bass in amongst the Whiting, all to Ragworm and an Eel of about 8oz (again falling to Ragworm) joined the party just at the top of the tide, as the Whiting action died off a little.

I was hoping that the ebb would maybe bring perhaps a better Bass or maybe a Codling but it wasn't to be. Fishing at range was virtually impossible with a huge upsurge in the amount of weed about and within minutes the gear had to be brought back in with 2 foot or so of that horrible thin weed adorning the mainline by the leader knot - mind you I was still pretty much getting a Whiting a chuck even then. To keep the fishing a little more refined I decided to try for a Bass at close range (away from the dreaded weed) but even here the water was full of Whiting, albeit that the fish here were a much better size than most I had already taken on the flood.

I eventually tired of the Whiting at about 3.30am and headed home. It makes a nice change to be able to say that I really was too busy to count the Whiting. I know I had 5 Bass and the Eel and a conservative estimate (based on some (very) rough calculations) of about 50 Whiting, although most were only about 5 - 7 inches long. The walk home became a bit of a slog and at the end of it I was glad that the streets were deserted and there was nobody around to see me hobble up my driveway like an old man, though I have a theory that it was the extra weight of the 10 million sand hoppers which stowed away in my rucksack for the journey home (the beach was alive with them) and which duly took over the kitchen as i gave my reels a rinse when I got back.

I was not popular with Mrs Blakdog in the morning, she is not a fan of wildlife in her kitchen!!!!!!!!

Fishing Report: 13th September 09 - Jaywick Beach

Its a sign of how busy I've been when I say I have lived 400 yards from Jaywick beach for nearly two months and not even had time to take a look at it yet. I decided it was time to put that right and so on the spur of the moment headed to the Golf Club end on Sunday night for a few hours worm drowning. As usual on these kind of trips something is always forgotten and on this occasion the camera was left sitting in the kitchen - with hindsight I have to say this was no great loss.

Usually I would have liked to have some Ragworm with me but the impromptu nature of the trip meant I had to settle for some of my winter stock up of frozen Black Lugworm and so in all honesty I wasn't expecting any Bass to fall victim (spot on with that call). Instead I decided to try for a variety of target fish, fishing at range (with larger baits) and then close in with three small baits (for Flatties) every other cast, in the hope of just gleaning a little clue as to what might be on the offing for a more serious session.

My first pitch was a bad move and although it was no surprise that it was relatively shallow the lack of current at the peak of the flood wasn't really encouraging; in fact I think its finding a spot with a good flow of tide which will prove to be the difference between success and failure at this beach amongst the rock breakwaters (not that I'm an expert this being my first visit in nearly 20 years) and so I moved to another spot, where at least the water was moving.

The move paid off in some respects, though it wasn't what you would call exciting. As the ebb started top flow a few small bites started to show to the rig fished close and I ended the night having at least scored a first blood on my new home patch having managed two small whiting of about 8 ounces tops. Not any kind of early glory but it can only get better - I hope!

Fishing Report: 8th August 09 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

As we are about to complete on our new bungalow on Monday I decided it was time for a last fishing session on Bateman's Tower as a Brightlingsea resident - I was hoping for better results than my last few sessions which have, quite frankly, been crap.

In an adventurous mood, I dug a couple of pounds of Ragworm in the evening and then, after a bite to eat and a couple of hours sit-down headed off with the gear, arriving eagerly at the Tower at about 12.15am; not surprisingly I had the place to myself. It was a fairly big tide (3am ish) and an absolutely flat calm night and the first cast opened my innings with small Bass falling to a big Ragworm bait at range. I thought it might turn into one of those nights when the rods don't stop nodding after the second chuck produced an Eel of about half a pound but then it all went quiet.

About an hour from the top of the tide a good bite resulted in a big Eel thrashing just out in front of me as I cleared a weed jam in the tip ring. I got rid of the weed just in time to see the fish climb up the line and shake free of the hook as they quite often do ... but the next cast my luck improved and an Eel (a very green one as you can see from the picture) of about a pound duly surrendered and was returned after a quick picture.

Encouraged by a few fish on the flood I was hopeful of a Bass or two on the ebb (by far your best chance here) and sure enough, the best fish of the night came about 2 hours on the turn, just as the run started to ease. At 45cm it wasn't the biggest Bass in the world but nice to see given how scarce sizable Bass have been from the river this year. Within an hour the tide had completely died and I decided it was time to head home, not least because I was bloody knackered. Although not the best ever session I've had on the river it did at least turn up a couple of fish that put a bend in the rod and ended my recent fish drought .... a pleasant way to say goodbye to the town really. Mind you, having used a pound and a half of Ragworm up on one rod some might say I deserved a couple of fish!

Fishing Report: River Colne - 25 July 09, Essex

Having not fished together for some time it was a really pleasant change to spend a few hours fishing way upriver on Saturday afternoon with Geordie pal Stu. It was a stretch of river that can sometimes produce but to be honest I hadn't fished it for years and wasn't really expecting to catch much; neither of us were disappointed on that score. It wasn't that we had crap bait it was just that there is much too much going on up here in the summer and while the boats passing up the river and the piss-heads in the riverside pubs give you something to watch when the rods aren't busy, they don't do a hell of a lot of good to the prospects of a Bass.

Saying that it was a beautiful spot and with lovely sunshine our tans were topped up well. Those boats that passed by didn't cause too much bother and it was generally a very relaxing afternoon, though apparently Stu was struggling a bit with the shakes as we were way too close to a pub for him to ignore .... he promises me he isn't physically an alcoholic and that its all just in his head.

To cut it short the fishing was crap but that was of secondary importance to me as I just wanted a few hours by the river chewing the fat with a buddy after a few months of non-stop work and very little fishing. As for the fish, both myself and Stu managed a couple of bites each but Stu took the prize on the day for the only fish of the session; a sizable Eel.

Fishing Report: 04 July 2009 - River Colne, Essex

With an impending move coming ever close I've been keen to get a few sessions in on the river but to be honest its not been the greatest of seasons so far and I've really been way too busy to fish. Its not that I'm moving that far away (only Jaywick) but it does feel like a major step after 45 years by the Colne and the river seems to be making me pay for deserting her.

I spent an absolutely beautiful few hours today (weather-wise) on an upriver mark that hardly ever fails to produce even if only small fry but unfortunately spent the evening looking at two motionless rod tips for the whole session as not a fish fancied my Ragworm baits, which is rare up here indeed. It has to be said that the recent hot snap does suddenly seemed to have produced an awful lot of weed growth and the river seems very much out of sorts, certainly if the smell (probably of rotting Oysters which seem to be dying from the heat on the foreshore in their droves) is anything to go by.

Anyway nothing much to report really although the river didn't let me at the fish she did give me another sunset for the collection .... for those that are interested, home and family will be heading a few miles up the coast to Jaywick in a few weeks so if I'm honest I'm feeling a bit of a lump in the throat about leaving "my patch", though its only a 20 minute drive back to fish - on the plus side the new pad will be 400 yards from Jaywick Beach and a 20 minute walk from St Osyth.

Fishing Report: 4th June 09 - A Crap Week!

There are times in all our lives when work and life (in my case house hunting) conspire to ruin a good days fishing. For me, recent weeks and probably the rest of the summer are to fall to those evil "important matters" that really we could just do without. Anyway, aware that my fishing passes are likely to be severely curtailed in the very near future I made the effort to make the best of what time I have before life gets really complicated.

Saturday 30th May 09

I decided to try the Wet Dock at Ipswich for a few Mullet as it was so nice , perfect in my opinion weather wise. Unfortunately the heat of the afternoon (when I prefer to fish) coincided with the high tide in the river, when the boats move about and with at least a dozen boats an hour moving through it turned out to be a really quiet session with not even one follower to show for 4 hours chucking a baited spoon at the opposite side of the dock. I did see a swirl off one small fish close in and a jumper further out but that was it ..... best bit of the day was chilling out watching the world go by with an ice cream with my 2-year old.

Sunday 31st May 09

Not to be defeated after the previous days lack of success I decided to use the leftover Ragworm and some frozen Sandeel on the Colne. It was a cracking afternoon and although the prom front was busy it was fairly quiet past the end of the prom. I fished the bulk of the flood at a favourite spot not too far along but the NE wind and small tides meant that the colour was dropping out of the water and things were quiet - I managed one bite to rag which resulted in a 3 inch long Bass but at the top I decided enough was enough and I headed up on to the saltmarsh.

I passed a couple of anglers (seemed quiet for them too) and headed further up having noticed that the gulls were working on the tideline at which point I thought my luck might change but rather than being fish the gulls were chasing it was a black fly hatch, with the gulls picking off the ditched flies for most of the afternoon. By about three hours down I hadn't had a bite and packed up to what has to be the most glorious sunset I've seen for a long time ... and headed home for my Sunday dinner.

Thursday 4th June 09

Still smarting from 2 really quiet sessions I decided to try a spinning session upriver, despite it being a bit early in the season. The North easterly winds had dropped a bit and stayed pretty constant direction-wise and that generally means clear water in my part of the river ... and true enough the water was much clearer than usual, however still a bit too milky to ever be that successful. Although there were a few (very) small schoolies hitting shrimp on the surface there seemed a distinct lack of better fish and I didn't have a single strike in 3 hours of trying. One surprise of the night was a little strike at the end of one retrieve turning out to be a small shore crab - very impressive really when you consider I was bringing the lure in quite quickly.

So there it is really ...... about 11 hours fishing for one micro Bass and a crab; so much for the summer fishing so far!

Fishing Report: 21st May 09 - River Colne, Essex

After my last session on the river I took a long walk again in the hope of a good night with the local schoolies. With bright sunshine and the winds dropping I was hoping for some fair weather sport, arriving at the spot about 3 hrs before the 10:30pm tide armed with a pound of ragworm. It was the sort of night that you spend the winter looking forward to and to be honest it was just nice being there, which was a good job as the fishing was generally naff and not at all as lively as my previous session.

I started the night off well by blowing up the 5500 on the first cast (must remember to set the mags to full when I've done oiling it just in case I forget to set the brakes on the first cast) but after a bit of cursing and a new set of gear I was back on the go. I spent the bulk of the early flood in the (very pleasant) company of an old fishing friend from school who stopped by for a chat on his way back from crabbing and managed 3 small schoolies while we chatted. When he left just before dark he must have taken the luck with him as I struggled for a bite, finally managing to bring the tally up to 6 small Bass by the top of the tide, but that was it for the night.

I would usually have expected a few fish on the ebb here but sport was out of character for this spot and it produced only one bite which turned out to be a crab. Though I continued on, I finally got the hint at about half past midnight and set off on the long walk home. At least on the last cast I did manage to reel in the rig I lost on the first cast so I didn't have to return to retrieve the rig and line the next day.

A cracking night and a vast improvement on sitting in front of the telly but not too much to shout about on the fishing front .... such is summer on the Colne .... you have to learn to take the rough with the smooth.

Fishing Report: 17th May 09 - River Colne, Essex

With the river the colour of pea soup after all the high winds I couldn't resist trying my luck upriver for the Bass as it generally fishes well in these sort of conditions and offers a little shelter if you pick the right spot. I'd initially intended to fish a spot nearer to the car park but as I made my way along the sea wall I passed one angler already heading up and came across a couple of lads on the first part of the saltings and so decided to be unsociable and head further up to a mark that I'd been intending to revisit for some time and which used to be one of my favourites for Eels when I was a lad.

In those days you didn't catch Bass at this particular mark because they were generally beaten to the bait by the hoards of Eels that flocked to it, but with the Eel becoming a rarity on the river many of these marks are becoming good for the Bass .... the theory proved to be sound one on this particular afternoon.

The mark is one of the more hazardous ones to reach and fish and is not made popular by the long walk and the gullies that have to be negotiated but I arrived in time to cross the gullies before they flooded (cutting the mark off at high tide) and had myself camped in shelter behind some short scrub with the Ragworm baits in the water about 3 hours before the 5.30pm tide.

The bites started immediately and the first two casts resulted in two small Bass lying in the long marsh grass. That remained the tempo for the session apart from a short lull at the top of the tide and bites came steadily throughout the session though with me fishing my usual large hooks and baits it was a forgone conclusion that I would miss a good proportion of the smaller Schoolies.

Just after the turn of the tide the rod smacked over and a sizeable fish put in an appearance. As usual for the Colne nothing to shout about but plenty big enough for the pot, although it was a bit of a “stretch”. The next cast resulted in a similar bite and another fish of a similar size to the previous one came into the shallows only to ditch the top hook of the pennel as I attempted to swing him onto the saltings.

The bites continued on through the ebb with the fish still biting as the water dropped too low to fish anymore but that was it for the better fish. I ended a very pleasant if windswept session at about 8.30pm having managed about a dozen small Bass ranging from 10 to 35 cm as well as the sizeable one and a token Eel of about 4 oz which took severe revenge on my rig, needing to be cut free in order to release it.

Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea, Essex - 10/05/09

With a fairly big tide expected the chances of a decent Bass go up in the river and generally if they fall when I have the opportunity to fish I will be found on the Tower at Brightlingsea. Being a creature of habit I headed to just this spot on Saturday in beautifully calm weather, arriving at about 11pm clutching a pound of Ragworm and feeling fairly confident that there might be the chance of a few fish. I'd expected to have the place to myself (as I quite often do) but to my surprise found a couple of other anglers already there though luckily my favourite spot was still vacant and there was plenty of room for all.

Though in the past all my better fish here have come on the ebb I am alway confident of something on the flood and it is often a good indicator of how the best of the sport on the ebb might fare but on this particular night the omen wasn't particularly good. The flood tide was a complete waste of time and no matter where I put the baits I couldn't even manage a bite from a tiddler, though one of the other chaps did have a small Whiting. I was expecting to maybe hit a fish just as the current slowed at the top of the tide but rather than slow down gradually the tide just seemed to stop dead. One second it was doing 5 or 6 knots the next it was slack water; but that did at least give us a rest from the weed which was being a bit of a pain, particularly the brown cotton-like stuff that seems to have a magnetic attraction to your leader knot.

Over the top of the tide the water seemed to drop about a foot and then, as the current started to flow outward rose back up to its original level, I assume because of the sudden surge of water. Fishing at this point in the tide is difficult here with the sudden burst of current and often on the bigger tides, some huge rafts of weed, but as I mentioned before the Tower tends to turn up its better fish on the ebb so rather than get despondent about the lack of sport on the flood I set at the fishing with renewed enthusiasm in the hope of avoiding a blank. An hour or so down, bang on the expected time, the first fish turned up and it was a good job I wasn't fussy as it was a little Bass only about 3 inches long.

I thought that might at least signal a short run of fish but an hour later without any more bites and losing the water fast I decided enough was enough and that it was time to call it quits on a bad session. Sorting out my kit for the journey home, I was about to pack up the first rod when the other had a good heavy knock which resulted in me adding a Schoolie of about 12 oz to my tally. On most sessions on the Tower it would have been way too late in the tide to contact any Bass but the following two casts resulted in two more fish; the first should have gone 2lb if length was any judge but was a real "stretch" with no meat on it at all so back it went as did the last one of about 6 oz.

By now I was fishing much later in the tide than I usually would and the breakwater round the tower (which will claim your rig if your not very careful) was well and truly showing; it was finally time to call it a night. The two other guys fishing (one of them, Rob, was on his first fishing session) only managed the one little Whiting between them but both seemed happy enough just to be out on a nice night and to be perfectly honest it was pleasant (even for an unsociable git like me) to have a bit of company for a change as i generally fish alone.

Big downer of the night was discovering that my wife had filled up the memory card on my camera and having it freeze on me as I attempted to delete a few frames so I could take a couple of pictures of the "stretch" Bass but I did at least manage to clear it in time for the last fish.

Fishing Report: 2nd May 09 - River Colne

Pal Herbs and I had been planning to meet up for a Bass session on the River for some time before the lucky bugger emigrates to NZ. We've known each other for a good many years and both love the peaceful if somewhat unexciting fishing to be had on the river so it was probably going to be the last summer we would have the opportunity to spend a session or two chasing the local Bass. We finally managed to sort out a session this weekend on a surprisingly quiet Bank Holiday and at the last minute another mate, Stuart, decided to join us so at 3pm we met in the Bateman's car park and headed up onto the salt marsh for a few hours chasing the local schoolies from what is a really nice peaceful spot.

None of us were expecting to break any records as the Bass here generally run rather small and we weren't disappointed on that score, with even the little fish playing hard to get, but we did all catch Bass, even if none of them were particularly big. Fishing the bulk of the flood up to the high tide at about 7pm and a couple hours of the ebb pretty hard with a variety of Peeler, Ragworm and Frozen Sandeel baits with what, by normal standards, would be seen as pretty poor results, we did at least manage to find a few fish to keep us interested. Stuart had the biggest fish at 31 cm, amongst a tally of five schoolies with both me and Herbs managing a couple ..... most of the fish coming to Ragworm.

With the exception of one sailing boat (which came in way too close for comfort) and the local wildlife we didn't have any company up on the salt marsh at all but this is one of those places that even when the fishing is quiet it really is a beautiful place and its just nice to be there as the sun starts to set over the river; these sessions always seem to be more about chilling out in peaceful surroundings with good company rather than red-hot fishing and that in itself is a draw for those of us that generally fish to get away from the rest of the world.

Fishing Report: 25th April 09 - River Colne

As the spring season starts to get into full swing I generally find myself wanting to spend more time fishing the Colne estuary and as it was a reasonably good tide on Saturday night, with a good weather forecast I decided to try Bateman's Tower for a few Bass. Its a good venue for something sizable and silver on the bigger tides particularly this early in the season, when the better fish haven't worked their way up the river.

Favourite bait on the river has always been Ragworm but I'd noticed the previous day when I was peeler crabbing that there were a lot of spent Ragworm on the mud, indicating that they had spawned recently and so I had reason to be optimistic that Ragworm would be the favourite for a fish; despite my confidence in Ragworm however I decided to try a bit of variety and added some Peeler crab and frozen Sandeel to the bait bucket.

I was into fish as soon as I arrived at about 11pm, although not the fish I was looking for ... just small Bass, Pouting and Whiting. I missed a lot of tiddler bites on the flood due to the size of the baits (and the hooks) but landed enough to keep my interest up until about an hour before the top of the tide when I leant into a cracking bite on Peeler which resulted in me getting a Bass of about 1 - 2 lbs to the edge of the concrete before it shook off the top hook of the pennel and disappeared. Things went quiet over the top as usual with a couple more tiddlers and then about an hour and a half down I hit into another good bite, this time to Ragworm. Things went much smoother for me this time and my first sizable Bass lay on the concrete - not massive by any means but about 2lbs and certainly nothing to turn your nose up to on the Colne given that the Bass generally run fairly small here. Encouraged by the better Bass I fished on till the water had all but disappeared in the hope of another Bass but as is often the case here that was was it for the better fish.

I ended the night at about 3am with about half a dozen each of Pouting and Whiting and a couple of small Bass as well as the better one. I probably could have caught a mass of tiddlers as it was a bite a chuck but I just don't do small hooks and baits when I'm Bass fishing, I really don't see the point quite frankly if you are looking for better fish though my strategy does come a little expensive on bait with me polishing off 1lb of Ragworm, 25 Peelers and 2 packs of Sandeel without trying that hard.

Fishing Report: 18th April 09 - River Colne

Having been ill this week I wasn't feeling up to a full blown fishing session but fancied a couple of hours of gentle worm drowning in the sunshine so I decided to fish an upriver mark that I haven't fished for a few years, blowing the dust off the Bass rod and trying out a new 5500 reel in the process. As you can see from the picture, this mark is a very shallow water one and you can only fish a couple of hours over the top of a short tide so its ideal for a short session.

The spot is well known locally on both sides of the water for the little schoolies that swarm into the creek over the top of the tide to feed on the brown shrimp and as usual it didn't disappoint, although probably because of the very small evening tide, the fish only really fed for about 30 minutes, just at the top of the 7pm tide. I spent a lovely couple of hours in the sunshine and managed a couple of little schoolies to Ragworm but to be honest, even without the fish, there would have been plenty to watch as the river is alive with bird life at the moment with the stars of the show being a pair of Marsh Harriers which hunt regularly across the local salt marsh and nest nearby most summers.

You can see from the picture that the first little Bass I landed looked a bit rough, with a wound on its back and this isn't particularly uncommon here as the fish are often targeted by Herons and Egrets in the shallows or even by Seals, that sit in the main run waiting for the Bass to flood into the creek with the tide. As we move into summer this spot will come alive with shoals of these little Bass and, if you are lucky, the occasional sizable fish but the bigger fish here are rare and a big tide generally seems to give you a better chance of one. Anyway, nice to see a couple of Bass (albeit small) after what feels like a long winter and on the marsh it was like a summers day with Bees and Butterflies everywhere.

Fishing Report: 4th April 09 - St Osyth

I'd had a mind to head up the local saltings with some Ragworm this weekend to try for some early Bass in the river but not having time to get the Ragworm I dug a few local lug, put Plan B into operation and headed to St Osyth to see what was about up there instead. The beach has had a tremendous scour of late which seems to have knocked the fishing a bit but with more settled weather recently the foreshore seems to have recovered a little and I was hopeful that the fishing may have improved a little: I was wrong, but you live and learn as they say.

I arrived in glorious spring sunshine at about 5pm in time to fish the last couple of hours of the flood and as much of the ebb as I could manage and much to my surprise, although there were a few weekenders about generally the bird reserve end of the beach was deserted and there was not one nudist up there. I passed only one lone angler fishing right by the first rock groyne, where the recent big tides have formed a high sandbank against the rocks but that was it as far as company was concerned, apart from a local Fox, a vixen in peak condition, who arrived just after darkness fell and came to within 3 or 4 feet of where I was sitting to sample a couple of Calamari Squid.

I had the baits out in the water by about 6pm, fishing Lugworm on one rod and whole squid on the other, but with the poor tide it was not until about 9pm, in the peak of the ebb current (such as it was) that the first bite came to a Lugworm bait and resulted in a small Codling on the beach, which was quickly returned and swam away strongly. Shortly afterwards a strong bite resulted in a good sized Pouting of about a pound and that signalled what turned out to be the end of any chance of a decent Codling for me.

Over the next couple of hours I fished the tide down to the bottom of the beach with a steady stream of tiddler bites, managing to put 4 more Pouting on my scorecard, two of which came in on the same pennel rig very much like "little and large" before finally deciding I'd had enough at just after 11pm. Despite reports of Codling still being caught in good numbers there is no doubt that the season (and therefore the fishing) is beginning to change. Although there are still a few scattered groups of Brent Geese about in the local estuary the bulk have moved on and with the days lengthening and the temperatures starting to rise its very likely that the Bass are on their way; for me that means its time to fill the bait fridge up with Ragworm and to head to the various marks around my local estuaries after the Schoolies.

Fishing Report: 21st March 09 - St Osyth

Although I'd had an hours spinning on the Colne the day before (tempted by the illusion of a bit of sunshine and a longing for the Bass season to return) I really was in the mood for another spell on the beach. As I had a bit of bait left from the last session and the weather forecast seemed so good I thought I would finish it off by throwing it at a few hours of the ebb tide at my favourite spot at St Osyth again.

With the tide at about 8pm I arrived in time to be set up and fishing for the last hour of the flood on what was a really nice, calm night, passing only one other lone angler (fishing by what is left of the turn of the old beach road onto the dunes) on the way up to the far end of the beach. I settling back to watch the rod tip in the beam of the headlamp with only the occasional visitation from a patrolling Fox behind me in the dunes and the calls of the waders flying overhead for company and waited patiently for the first bite to come. To some it may seem like a very lonely way to spend a Saturday night but in truth this is the fishing I tend to prefer with nothing to distract me from my purpose and nobody to break the peace and quiet, away from the weekend revellers and the telly.

My previous session here a few days before had seen me manage a brace of Codling but tonight was a very different night. There was absolutely no tide run to speak of and the seabed in front of me seemed to be crawling with bait robbing crabs; to be blunt the fishing was crap. Apart from the odd tiddler bite, the only thing to save me from a blank was probably the best Whiting I have had for a few years, which slack lined a large Lugworm bait fished at range and went a good 14 inches. This time of the year I generally don't take Whiting home and such a nice specimen would have gone back had it not have taken the hook about 10 inches down!

Hopeful that the Whiting was a prelude to a Codling or two I fished on but by 11pm the water had all but disappeared and the air was getting decidedly chilly and so at 11.30pm after finishing off the last of the Lugworm on one last ditch bait I left the dunes to the birds and the leftover bits and bobs of bait to the Fox and headed home.

Fishing Report: 18th March 09 - St Osyth

A break in the cold weather had me itching to get on the beach as other than for a few casting sessions, I'd not wet a line for a while. The forecast was for a bright, sunny spring day and there were reports of good numbers of Codling still about so it really had to be done. I opted to fish towards the bird reserve at St Osyth with a high tide at about 5 ish, getting on the beach and set up by about 1pm, just in time to fish the beginning of the flood and enjoy the warm afternoon sunshine. Despite the chilly wind the sunshine had brought out the more hardy of the "gentlemen nudists" and there were half a dozen or so lurking amongst the dunes behind me as I fished through the afternoon, though nothing like the number that appear in the summer months.

I fished through the bright sunshine of the afternoon, one rod out with chunks of Herring (in the hope of a Thornie) and the other with freshly dug Lugworm without so much of a twitch on either rod and it was not until pal Stuart joined me at about 5pm and the sun had started to drop in the sky that the first signs of life started to show with the odd tiddler bite on the Lugworm. I managed my first fish, an undersized Codling, about 45 minutes later and that was shortly followed by another Codling to the Lugworm, this time sizable and weighing about 1.5lb.

As the sun finally sunk below the horizon the temperature dropped sharply and I noticed that the Skylarks (which had been singing over the saltmarsh behind me all day in true spring fashion) had stopped singing. Stuart had managed a couple of small fish but it was only now, just as things started to feel decidedly more like traditional chilly Codling weather, that he pulled out a small Bass, prompting discussions of many more sunsets at this favourite spot of mine. We fished on through the first hour or so of darkness without much more action and so with the tide disappearing fast we decided at about 8pm to call it a night. It was as I was packing up my first rod that the session was really topped off. A full blown slack liner on the remaining rod ended with me slipping a second codling of about 2lb up the beach and finishing off the session quite nicely thank you very much!

As good as the Codling fishing is at the moment it has to be expected that the season will come to a close soon. The recent warm weather has seen the trees and hedgerows start to bud and bloom and on the estuary the Brent Geese are beginning to gather in large numbers, ready for their great journey north to breed. No doubt a cold snap or two will still come but there's no mistaking that feeling of spring and hopefully the impending arrival of my favourite quarry, the Bass.

Fishing Report: 19th February 09 - Clacton on sea, Essex

I had originally wanted a session after some Suffolk Flounders but with various commitments getting in the way I just didn't have the time available for a long session across the border, which usually involves digging Ragworm on the way to fishing. Instead I decided to make the most of the time I had available and fish closer to home, settling for a shortish session at the Gunfleet Sailing Club at Clacton.

I opted to fish the ebb on the very small tide, a definite handicap when the target is Codling, slinging out my first baits of Frozen Black and Cuttle at about 7pm on what was, for a change, a very pleasant mild night. The fishing was slow to say the least, not a great surprise given there was very little run in the tide, however within an hour I had a Codling in the bag; nothing big but approaching the 2lb mark and a nice size for the pot. If I'm honest luck must have been smiling on me with this fish as I didn't even get a bite and it must have just taken the bait as I picked up my solitary rod to reel in and re-bait.

I had hoped to add at least one more fish to tally but it was just not to be. Despite the water being a nice colour there was just no run in the tide whatsoever and the fishing was just not up to much. The only other excitement of the night was one of those steamroller bites that lifted the rod butt off the ground on the last cast at about 11.30pm as the water began to really disappear on me. You would have thought that any fish doing that to your rod would be well and truly hooked but as is often the case, I picked up the rod to find it had gone and reeled in a bait that looked untouched so despite the ferocity of the bite it seems that the fish didn't take the bait properly.

Normally I would have tried that "one more cast" after a good bite but to be honest I was really just too tired and as I started to pack up the rain started to come down so it seems that packing up was probably a good decision (I hate the rain). Despite being a slow session, after all the cold weather we have had this winter, the mild night made for a nice change and I'm not one to complain at having a Codling in the bag for tea, especially not after some of the very lean Cod seasons I have experienced over the years.

Fishing Report: 7th February 09 - St Osyth, Essex

As seems to be the norm in recent years my Christmas Flattie crusade went completely down the pan. The fluctuating temperatures, way too much rain and the sharp bouts of frosty weather have either confused the Flatties or the fish are just not there any more. I tried one daylight session at Brightlingsea with Stuart a few days after Christmas, when the prom front should have seen us take at least a few fish, but it just didn't happen and we managed not even a bite between the two of us; the only action of the day was watching a huge scrap boat coming into the river.

A lonely night session a few days later produced nothing more spectacular than a small Whiting and the first week of January saw my first Cod session of 2009 turn into yet another depressing blank, so it wasn't exactly the most exiting start to the fishing year. Thirty years plus throwing bait at the sea teaches you that these bad spells come every now and again and that things will look up in good time if you persevere, but when the weather is cold, the nights black and the wind blows right through you from the north a few naff sessions can dampen the enthusiasm of even the keenest angler amongst us, myself included.

With a never ending list of things to do on the website I decided to have a rest for a while and set to sorting out some more suppliers and getting the online cart in order; it took me a lot longer than I expected and in the end it was a good month before I had the site where I wanted and decided on the spur of the moment to fish a few hours over the top of the tide amongst the rock groins at St Osyth.

Starting at about 6.30pm on a freezing cold day I originally intending to walk up to the bird reserve end but with temperatures dropping decided that it would be a bit foolhardy, not to mention hard graft in all the cold gear required for the nights fishing and a change of heart saw me setting up two rods in amongst the rock groins in the hope of better results than my first session of the year.

Fishing both rods with frozen Black Lug and Cuttlefish baits I started the night off well landing a Codling of about 1.75 lb on the second cast but that was pretty much the end of my luck for the night the only other action being just on the turn of the tide when I hit a slack line bite which saw me connected to another fish for 30 seconds or so before it swam straight in towards me and dropped the hook. I spent the rest of the night without so much as a bite until my last cast when I managed to contact another fish and thought for one foolish moment that I would be heading home with a brace of fish to my score, but it just wasn't to be. This fish again swam straight in towards me and about 20 yards short of the beach stuck me into an immovable snag which resulted in a lost fish and rig. Such is life and as it was now midnight and the cold had started to get to me I decided to take the hint the fish were giving me and headed for home and a warm bed.

Quite clearly the fish are still feeding on the sprats as the fish I did land coughed a few up on the beach. If anybody is thinking of fishing at St Osyth in the near future I'd suggest using a lead lift as the beach as obviously had a good scour lately and this has left quite a number of small snags showing close in which tend to catch you out when you least expect it.