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.