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: 1st July 08 - Wet Docks, Ipswich

I had planned a day at Sandgate in Kent but the Mackerel fishing curse struck again, the plans all went to pot and so I settled for a couple of hours on the Wet Dock after the "townie" Mullet. On my last visit I had enjoyed a cracking evening of sport but had lost three out of the five fish I hooked at the net, not least because the landing net I generally use is quite small; this time I brought along a specimen size landing net (a remnant from my Carp fishing days) to make netting a little bit easier. I also tend to "bully" fish a bit and this may well have been a factor in the lost fish so I decided to leave the 3lb Rogue Carp rod behind in favour of my Drennan Spinflex which, being a lot lighter, would mean I would be less likely to rush in a fish before it was ready.

I arrived at the dock at 6pm to find that a large sailing boat was docked right where I intended to fish, however, there was plenty of room so I simply fished a bit further up. Although there were no fish showing on the surface within ten minutes of starting (with my usual 1oz wedge fished as a baited spoon) I had a pair of Mullet follow the lure in, though neither could be persuaded to take the Ragworm on the hook. I continued to be frustrated by the fish for some time. Maybe there was too much disturbance or maybe they just weren't in mood but for whatever reason they would follow the bait in, they would mouth the very end of the worm, they would even nip off the tail of the bait right under my nose but no matter what depth or speed I fished the baited lure, they simply would not take the hook.

An hour later, just as I was thinking I was heading for a blank, a decent fish hit the bait hard about 30 yards out and promptly headed in the opposite direction. The Spinflex bent double and the reel screamed on the fishes initial run and then, as I find most decent fish do on light tackle, begrudgingly the Mullet allowed itself to be guided gently back towards me. Within a couple of minutes or so I had managed to get it about ten yards out from the dock wall but at that point it saw me and then the fireworks really started! It lunged, it rolled, it splashed, it bored down to the bottom and it even leapt clear of the water once or twice but eventually it was in the net and up on the dock. It was at that point I realised I had an audience of about a dozen onlookers, most of them amazed to discover that there were actually fish in the dock. It dragged the scales down to 2lb 14oz and after a few photographs (by the wife) and a very brief question and answer session with the audience it was lowered back into the dock with the landing net and shot off across the dock.

For the next 45 minutes or so things went very quiet on the Mullet front, perhaps because of the commotion of landing the first fish. I did see a shoal of a dozen or so fish pass right beneath me, hugging the side of the dock, but apart from hooking three small Bass I had not a sniff of further action from the fish until I managed to persuade a follower to take the bait at the last minute just under the rod top. This fish was noticeably smaller than the first but it didn't seem to stop it putting up a fight. It chose to fight at close quarters, preferring to go round in circles under the rod tip rolling and thrashing as it went rather than run as such and although less of a spectacle than the fight with the first fish it still wasn't ready for the net for a good few minutes. As with the first fish, I had attracted an audience and again I answered questions as I unhooked, weighed and returned the fish, which tipped the scales to 2lb 4oz exactly.

By now the sun was getting low in the sky and the air temperature was starting to drop, both of which do nothing to improve the Mullet fishing here and so, after a few more casts just for the hell of it, I decided to call it a day. The bigger net had made all the difference as netting the fish was certainly made easier (though not exactly easy) and the lighter Spinflex rod had forced me to play the fish out properly, rather than use the brute force of the Carp rod to get them to the net. Weather and time permitting I will be back to fish the dock very soon and to be honest, if it wasn't such a journey for me to get to, I would most probably fish the place every week; Mullet are one of those fish that never become boring.

Fishing Report: 25th June 08 - Wet Docks, Ipswich

It had been way too long since I last fished. Late May and early June sessions on the river had not lived up to expectations and the seemingly endless supply of rain had filled the estuary with freshwater, killing off the local Bass fishing for a while. Rather than making life hard for myself with the Wife for little return fish-wise I concentrated my efforts on jobs at home in the hope of earning some brownie points which could be cashed in for sessions when the fishing improved. The recent dryer, settled weather and rumours of Schoolies starting to show in the estuaries finally persuaded me to venture out onto the mud to dig a couple of pound of Ragworm for the bait tanks the previous weekend but as yet hadn't had a chance to drown any of them and with the tides not late enough for me to fish the local marks after work I decided on a spur of the moment visit to the Wet Dock at Ipswich to try for some of the "townie" Mullet with a baited spoon.

I arrived at about 6.30pm to find the dock was very busy with a RN fast patrol craft at the dockside (with visiting Air Cadets) and the Fire Brigade practising their hose drills on the dock so I wasn't expecting to do very well even though the humid, sunny conditions seemed perfect for a session with the spoon. Despite this I set to it eagerly and was pleasantly surprised when the first cast produced a good size follower. Although the fish could not tempted to take the 3 inch Ragworm on the hook, it was sign enough that I might be in with a chance of a fish and I carried on fishing the spoon at various ranges, speeds and depths until fifteen minutes later I was rewarded with the slow steady take of a Mullet (as apposed to the "smash" of a Bass take). After a 5 minute tussle, during which it went in and then out of the landing net about half a dozen times, I had my first fish on the dockside, a nice Thin-Lipped Mullet of 2lb 12oz, though it has to be said that had I not had help with the net from one of the spectators that had gathered to watch the fight I doubt I would have got it in.

As I fished on there were occasional swirls on the surface of the water and numerous followers and it wasn't too long before I had another fish on. A little bigger than the first it put up an absolutely tremendous scrap, finally slipping the hook right by the net just as I thought I had it beaten. One of the firemen that had been practising nearby came over for a chat (perhaps a bit puzzled as to why I was still so cheerful, having just lost a fish) and by now I had attracted a bit of an audience, a mixture of pedestrians, firemen and Air Cadets. As the spectators began to lose interest and filter off I hooked, played and then lost another (slightly smaller) fish, again right by the net and then, as the sun dropped behind the nearby buildings, everything went quiet on the Mullet front and the little Bass that frequent the dock came out to play, hitting the baits on pretty much every retrieve.

For an hour I had the company of a local angler who had stopped off on his way home from work to spin for the Bass and by the time he left at about 9pm I'd had four little Bass and had lost another very big Mullet that had leapt clear of the water as I hooked it and had snapped the hook-length. Just as the light started to fade and thoughts turned to home I hooked the last fish of the night, a smaller Mullet than the first, which again put up a brilliant fight and gave me lots of problems at the net before it finally came in. It nudged the scales to 2lb exactly and was the perfect finish to a brilliant evenings fishing.

The docks may not be the scenic and peaceful surroundings of the deserted upriver marks that I usually like to fish on the Colne in the summer and you won't see a Marsh Harrier soaring on the evening thermals above it, but it's one of those places that is very easy to like, even with the sound of the town centre traffic, police sirens and the comings and goings of the boats in the dock. It's the Mullet that make this venue, plain and simple, and if you like catching fish that put up a fight, then the docks (and the Mullet) won't disappoint!

Fishing Report: 16th May 08 - Wet Docks, Ipswich

I've heard so much about this venue over the years as a good spot for Mullet but to be honest had never got round to taking a look at the place for one reason or another. Every year I would tell myself I was going to pay the docks a visit and every summer would end before I had time to get there but this week, as I had reason to visit Ipswich, I decided to put that situation right and carry out a bit of a recce.

The venue itself was pretty easy to find (once you work out the diabolical one-way system through the centre of Ipswich) and there is a long stretch of the dock which is accessible to the public and offers the ability to fish right beside the car. This fact alone makes this venue amazingly convenient but it has an added bonus which really appeals to me. As the water level in the dock is controlled by a lock linking it to the River Orwell itself there are no tides, which means you can fish whenever you want, making it an ideal summer evening venue to head to when the tides are not right.

My recce consisted of only a couple of hours spinning with a Ragworm baited spoon and despite trying my luck along a couple of hundred yards of the dockside I didn't even get so much as one follower, although I did see a couple of small fish on the surface. The only other angler I saw on the venue was a Cormorant and he was most certainly doing much better than I was; perhaps it was too early in the year or perhaps the place was just too busy, I'll never know. What I do know is I will be back later in the summer for another try at those Mullet.