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!!!!!!!!
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!!!!!!!!
2 Comments:
Nice i like Deep Sea Fishing in Dubai
Well done for marching through the broken concrete and shingle to what is the most noted stingray beach in the uk. but that always seems to be for others to tell! I have spent some time on the st.O but with no remarkable results.
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