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.