We tried a Bass fishing trip on the 28th August out on cousin Chris’s Boat!
Big mistake.
The wind was gusting 35 knots so all our usual fishing spots were going to be too uncomfortable.
We picked up a mooring opposite Levington marina in the River Orwell. Chris and I used Lugworm for bait. I dug about 80 worms on the wednesday so we had enough worms. I also bought a back of prawns to try.
The trouble was that the wind kept swinging the boat about through 180 degrees and with the wind, it was nigh on impossible to register any bites. We persevered until about 3:15pm and gave up. Chris caught a small bass (on Lug) which went back in the water.
See photo to prove we actually caught one. It is the Royal ‘We’, because I only caught weed.
On the way back we saw some lovely storms (in the distance) but luckily managed to dodge them.
Chris and I had a brilliant days fishing at Fennes once again.
We met up at the usual time of 10 am and decided to fish the top lake for a change.
The weather was hot at about 25 degrees centigrade.
There was a small private match going on at one end of the lake with about 10 fishermen. We chose a likely spot at the other end and set up. I was into the tiddlers from the word go using sweetcorn as bait. I caught a nice selection of rudd, roach and roach/bream hybrids. I used a shakespeare 12′ match rod with some nice but ‘no name’ reel.
I used 7lb test line, just in case a large carp wanted to play. The hook was a size 12 barbless and I float fished just on the bottom which was about 4′ deep. The bait selection was mainly sweetcorn, luncheon meat, chopped up into small cubes and maggots.
After 30 minutes or so, I changed bait from the sweetcorn to the meat. I was only fishing about 15 feet out, next to the reeds. There were loads of hungry Perch that were taking the meat. I did not see them when using the sweetcorn.
At about 11 am, I cast out as usual to the same spot about 15 feet out, just as a carp was cruising by on the surface. The small cube of meat splashed into the water about 2″ in front of his nose and bam! . He was off and running, straight into the reeds.
Luckily the silly fish swam straight out again and after a few minutes, cousin Chris netted him/her for me. Chris took a photo and I put it straight back.
Chris mostly used the pole and caught some nice Bream and a couple of F1 hybrid carp. He was using a Maver 10 metre pole. I cannot tell you the model . I will put in some photos and a short video of him catching the carp. If you are in the market for some poles then please visit polecarp where you will find a nice selection of poles for sale on eBay.
I go freshwater fishing every other week at present. That is why I do not update the blog quite so frequently.
My other project is putting in a new kitchen for my missus. That is also taking up a lot of valuable fishing time.
More later………………… Tight lines to all you fishing folk.
Met up with cousin Chris on Wed 17th April for a days fishing at Fennes. It was to celebrate his birthday!
This time the fishing was much better. The weather was warm at about 20 centigrade and cloudy with it. We both had a good day with plenty of Bream showing and some very nice Roach. I caught a Crucian carp for the first time at Fennes and Chris had 4 or 5 small carp on the pole. Sweetcorn proved to be the bait of the day.
The carp are still not really feeding yet but I think it will get better in the coming weeks.
Now that the warmer weather is here I thought that a day out to Fennes fishery near Braintree would be a nice change. I met up with cousin Chris at the fishery around 10 am. The weather was cool and cloudy which was just about right. We headed off to a couple of nice looking swims and set up our tackle.
The fishing started slowly with Chris catching roach on those soft halibut flavoured pellets whilst I persevered with sweetcorn. After about an hour of chucking in the odd handful of groundbait and sweetcorn the Bream started to appear. Nothing huge, the biggest being around the 2lb mark. I also had a small arp. Chris took a bit longer to find the Bream but they came into his swim eventually. The other Carp fishermen where having a real quiet time of it so Bream bashing was the best idea for us.
Unfortunately the heavens opened up around 2pm and it pi**ed down until we packed up at 4pm a bit damp and cold. We would have stayed much later but for the weater.
I had a great days fishing with Cousin Chris on Thursday 19th March.
I drove over to Titchmarsh marina and arrived at 07:45hrs. I was a bit earlier than last time because Chris slept on board the night before. Rather him than me as the overnight temperature was close to zero and whilst it is nice and warm in the bunk with the duvet on it is freezing when you have to get up for the inevitable pee in the night.
We had a nice cup of coffee and caught up on the family news and then cast off at 08:15hrs. For once, we had the tide ebbing with us as we left the Walton backwaters. Because of this we got to the fishing spot shortly after 09:30hrs.
We fished in the usual spot between Felixstowe and Harwich.
The weather forecasters got it wrong again. (I wish they were paid on performance). It was supposed to be a nice calm day. I don’t call 18 knots from the North East calm! Still, we were in the lee from the container docks so the sea was not lumpy.
For bait we used the Lugworm that I had dug the day before down at Earlams beach. I dug about 100 Lug and they were big ones!
I also wanted to try out the new rod and reel combos that I had recently purchased. I bought them from Lidls and they were the princely some of £16.60 each. They came loaded with line and even had a pirk and some plastic eels included. The rod and reels worked a treat. The rods were a little bit on the sturdy side but did the job nicely.
We started fishing the last hour of the ebb and the only bites and fish were tiddlers. Small whiting, pouting and even a couple of stray school bass which is very unusual this time of year. The water temperature is still only 8 degrees.
The bites started around 2 hours after low water when the Codling started to move back into the River mouth with the flood tide. The bites were gentle and not fierce lunges like they can be. The sprats seem to have gone as well because the Codling we caught we not coughing them up like last time. We fished until 3:30pm and ended up with 8 codling between us.
Chris got 5 and I got 3. Not a huge haul but the fish were around the 2lb mark so quite nice. Anyway the more fish you catch, the longer they take to fillet. It was another fine days fishing using specimen lugworm as bait.
I filleted the Cod on Friday morning in the back garden. I thought I was still at sea with all the seagulls wheeling overhead and screeching at each other. I admit I teased them with the left overs before putting them in the compost bin!
The weather is beautiful. Life is good. I am going fishing again this week. We currently have a high pressure sitting over us here in sunny Harwich so the weather is nice and calm.
I will go and dig some lugworm tomorrow down at Earlams.
Cousin Chris and I will be fishing on Thursday out at our favourite spot in the River Stour. Hopefully there will be some Cod around still. I will report back!
Boy there is so much to do this time of year. Dig the veggie garden and plant spuds, carrots, beetroot, etc etc.
Had a great days fishing out on the Yacht Lollipop yesterday (27th Feb 2009).
I met up with Cousin Chris at the usual time over at Titchmarsh Marina, Walton on the Naze. We had the cup of coffee first to catch up on all the latest. We then cast off from the moorings a bit earlier this time and got away around 9am. This was good because we were on site, near ‘Lights On’ in Harwich Harbour by 10 am. I had both rods in the water shortly thereafter. It was warmer than the last trip which was nice but I still wish I had put my long johns on. I phoned up Judy and said if I try to leave the house next time without long johns then slap me!
We fished with Lugworm which I had dug 2 days before on the Wednesday. I was fishing with 1 hook per rod using a running line through one of those triangular plastic booms. Chris was only fishing one rod but with two hooks, one low and one 2 feet up the line. It was’nt long before I caught the first Codling. The fish came steadily, not fast and furious. The Codling were in lovely plump condition and judging by their stomach contents they appeared to be eating everything on the seabed. i.e. Crabs, sea anemones, furry sea slugs, sprats and their downfall…..Lug.
By the end of the session we had 11 nice codling between us. I had 5 and Chris had 6. I normally catch more than him so he was rather pleased.
Chris caught his fish on both the high and low hooks, about 50/50 from memory. He was doing the uptide thingy and i just dropped the line over the stern. We were near the shipping channel, fishing in about 6 metres of water.
We also caught some small whiting and one pouting which we threw back to grow bigger!
We packed up at 15:00 hours and headed back to the Marina, very pleased with our fishing trip.
I am getting ready for another fishing trip out on the good ship Lollipop tomorrow Friday 26th Feb. Cousin Chris suggested we have one last go for the Codling in Harwich harbour before they all clear off. Mind you the Codling may be back in April for a spring run.
So, yesterday morning, just before the dawn, I tied my digging fork onto the bike and put the bucket over the handlebars and set off for Earlams beach. The ground was wet and muddy and by the time I arrived at the beach some 10 minutes later, I was already puffing!
It was a beautiful morning. Grey, overcast but not a breath of wind. The geese were honking in the near distance as they were feeding in the shallow incoming water. Low tide was at 5 am and was already coming in. I started digging at 06:40hrs and dug for an hour. I got about 100 Lugworm which is normally plenty for our fishing trips. It was tough cycling back because of the wet muddy conditions coupled with the fact that it is uphill and I was knackered after the digging.
If you want to get fit, don’t bother joining that expensive gym. Just go digging worms for an hour 2 or 3 times a week! Failing that, dig the garden!
Got home and after a nice breakfast, I separated the worms and wrapped them up in newspaper ready for Friday. I will report back from the trip. Wish me luck!
I cycled down to the Westend beach this morning at sunrise. It was -1.5degrees and a hard frost covered the landscape.
I was expecting the low tide to be a good ‘runoff’ as it was the lowest spring of the month with minus figures on the tide table. I was disappointed to see that is was nothing special. I know where the Lobsters and local Oysters hang out if the tide goes out far enough. To add to my frustration a recent storm had scoured parts of the beach and removed at least a foot of sand and left rocks and mud where I normally dig for lugworm . The fish must have had a good feed of lugworm when the storm happened. I have never seen this level of erosion before. Got on my bike and came back home. I will have to find another spot to dig until this beach recovers!
Had a great day out on the 29th Jan. As usual, I met up with Cousin Chris at 8:30am at titchmarch marina. We had the obligatory cup of coffee then cast off and headed out of the marina. There was a dredging barge with a digger/backhoe which was blocking our way out of the marina entrance. I guess they were not expecting any boat traffic early on a Thursday in January. It took them about 10 minutes to pick up their spud legs and manoeuver out of the way. They seemed quite good natured about having to move and I didn’t see any dodgy hand signals or lip read bad words.
The trip down the creek and across the Walton on Naze backwaters took a little over an hour and then we dropped anchor in the usual place. We were close to ‘lights on’ This is an old favourite fishing spot in Harwich Harbour where you line up the big lighthouse and the shorter bell lighthouse and fish close to the edge of the channel in about 4 metres of water.
Lines were dropped in the water about 10:10am or so. Chris was sure that the cod were after squid as he had been told that they were chasing sprats and were ‘off’ Lugworm. He fished 2 hooks though and gave in and put Lug on the other hook. The first fish caught was to Chris on Lugworm bait! It was a nice plump codling around the 2lb mark.
The bites were thin on the ground and to be honest, the 7 codling that we finished up with were all stuffed with sprats. One even coughed up a squid which looked suspiciously like it had once been on a hook. Not our hooks though but there was another fishing boat just upstream. I also caught a baby bass which is a bit out of season. We both had some small whiting as well. All the fish were caught on Lug and not a sniff on the squid.
The fish were biting very gently which is most uncharateristic for a cod. They normally lunge at food, swallowing as quickly as possible. I think it was that they were spoilt for natural food and the worms were like ‘after eight’ mints to them. Go on then tempt me!
We packed up at 2:30pm and headed back. It was cold with an 18 knot south easterly and quite lumpy! We moored up at 4pm and I headed back home to Fillet the Codling.
