Chatham (Rochester Civic Centre Esplanade) 10/07/05
GR:
HW : 9.30am (ish) Sunny with a NE wind force 2

I'd spoken with Leon the previous day and arranged to have a go for the Grey Ghosts … first time out for me since an abortive attempt down at Littlehampton the year before, when I got the tides all wrong… but that's another story…..

Having arranged to meet Leon down at the Civic Centre at around 7am to fish low water, I actually managed to get up at 3, sort my stuff out, and get down at about 5.15am …..
The tide was dropping rapidly, but there was still sufficient time to fish off the steps, up against the retaining wall. With this in mind, I quickly set up a bread bag, and tackled up ….

I decided to use the match rod, with the Lincoln Side Caster, a small 4bb float, 12” of fluro, and an unpainted size 8 wide gape Kamazan. In previous years, I've almost religiously fished with a size 10, but had a number of pull outs (I suspect due to the ratio between the hook size and the power of the fish), so I decided to sacrifice a little on the stealth aspect, and go for the size 8…. I'd also decided to link the fluro to the 8lb mono, using a small barrel swivel, as the carp rings I've used in the past may have contributed to some lost fish, plus I hoped that the swivel would perhaps reduce some of the inevitable problems of line twist, with the use of the side casting centre-pin…

To cut a long story short ….. nothing doing …. Not a sniff, not a swirl, not even the smallest of nibbles, save for the odd slow sinker C/O the resident crab population….

Leon arrived at 7am as arranged, and was none too surprised to find me already fishing…… so whilst he got ready, I took the opportunity to have a stretch and pour myself a hot cup of coffee…. The water was now too shallow to fish by the wall, so Leon started by casting off from the slipway ….. I decided to wait, have a rest, and get ready to wade out across to the sunken wall, when we were able…

About 20 minutes later, Leon strode out, and crossed over, at one point I thought he was going to over top his thigh waders, but he managed OK ….. I crossed, but did so in a couple of trips, dropped the bread bag off the end (so the prevailing current would draw a stream of flake into the eddying area in front of us… ).

Sat down on my tacklebox, and started to trot the float, with Leon doing the same ….. Leon seemed to be having difficulty settling, and shifted positions on a number of occasions ….

8.20am … I'd just cast out, and was sorting the slight over run from the cast, when the float shot under, but with the slack line, my strike wasn't able to hit home :-( I guess the fish had made a go for the bread as it was sinking, something the mullet really like to do on occasions….. if a mullet it was!!!!

After that things went very quiet, and the impending feelings of doom, started to creep over me ….. the lip marks that were now clearly visible on the steps,

and the inside wall, were small, infrequent (save for a mass in the corner of the steps),

and most looked to be old ….. the cloud and mist of the early morning seemed to be burning off, turning into a bright sunny day, and I was starting to cook in the chest waders.

Karen phoned, and I told her what had happened, and I guess my tone was none too positive, because once I'd put the phone down, Leon said something along the lines of "Never mind, that's the thing with sea-fishing, it can all change with the turn of the tide”.

9.30am and low water …. There were a large number of shopping trollies in the water all around us, and Leon took the opportunity to clear them up and moved them out of the way, along with line that had been lost by other anglers.

The currents kept changing, running from left to right, and then right to left, so our trotting floats would float past each other …. I swapped over to a 2 swann float, and fished slightly further out….

10.10am …. I got snagged on the weed at the base of the wall, and had to go down and free the hook by hand …. Unfortunately in doing so, the line shot back and a nasty tangle ensued ….. so I went back, sat down and tried to unpick the tangle….

During this time, Leon shouted over that he'd just missed two bites …. Things were looking up.. but I was still tangled up, and in no position to fish!!! Aaaaarrrr
In desperation I cut out the hook length, and started to restring the float, split shot etc…..

Just as I'd started (with float and shot precariously balanced on my lap, ready for assembly), Leon gave a whoop …. He was in ….. only a small fish, but a strong little scrapper …..

I would have lent a hand, but he seemed to have things well under control, and declined my offer of netting, soon bringing the fish to heel, and was unhooking it… looked to be around 1.5lb or so, and he popped it back ….. one very happy Leon, as this was his first mullet of 2005….

Leon described the take as having two small dips and then going under, but had waited a fraction before striking, as he felt he'd missed the previous two, by being to swift…..

Around 10.40am or so, Leon gave another shout …. He'd just lifted the terminal tackle out of the water, and a fish had swirled right under the baited hook…..
I think I replied something to the effect of “oooh that's good”, and just let my float trot on down past me, and on down towards Leon, as I'd been doing all morning (and indeed he'd been doing when the current was flowing the other way) … just as I was thinking about retrieving, the float bobbed twice, and went straight under …. I didn't think about it, I just struck …. And hit home!!!
The water exploded about a rod and a halves length almost in front of Leon …. I didn't really need to tell him I was in….
I stood up and steadied myself, ready to play the fish … at first it just seemed to want to sit on the surface and pull, but very quickly crash dived …. But not far, and not too strong ….. after what seemed like a couple of minutes of this, the fish woke up with a start, and went on what was really it's first surging run ….. caught me a little off guard, and the friction on my left hand thumb, that I was using as a break on the centre-pin, caused some pain with the heat generated …. Just as I thought I'd get the measure of it, and turned it back … it came rushing in towards Leon (who by now was standing down by the edge, landing net at the ready) and myself … it was all that I could do to keep up retrieving the line, in a desperate attempt to maintain the tension, and prevent the hook from being shaken free…..
A series of crash dives, runs and surface splashes then ensued for what seemed an age …. Eventually the fish started to tire and the runs became shorter, but it still took a few minutes before I could bring it towards the net, and then it got a second wind, and off we went again …..
When at last it did get within the net, there was one last heart stopping moment, when it jumped back out, just as Leon was lifting the rim, but I soon brought it back, and Leon was passing me the netted fish back up to the wall….

Whilst I unhooked the fish (nicely hooked in the corner of the mouth), measured the fish (19.5”), and took a few pix, Leon had wetted the weighing sack, set the scales, and then popped the fish in to weigh it ….. the needle wouldn't settle on the Avon Scales, as the fish kept moving …. It was jumping around between 3.5 to 4.5lb, eventually just about settling on the 4lb mark…

Took the fish (still in the sack) down to the waters edge …. It shot off, a bit too soon, and I had to retrieve it a second time just to hold it, and allow it to recover properly before it kicked off for a second and final time….. phew…. 1st fish of the year, and a nice one to boot….

Things went rather quite after that ….. by 12.30pm the water was rushing back behind us with the rising tide, and we moved off to fish from the steps / slipway for a second time…

Despite our best efforts (such as putting the rods down to have something to eat or drink - normally a sure fire way to have a bite!!!) we had no more luck, and as more anglers (all ground fishing - one had a small school bass), foreign students (wanting to sit next to Leon and dip their toes in the water), and dog walkers (trying to get their dog to drink, not realising it was salt water, and wondering why it wouldn't oblige) turned up, coupled with the now burning heat of the afternoon, we decided to call it a day around 2.20pm, and set off for home……

Either Return to Chatham index Page
OR
Return to HomePage of UK Sea Fishing Diary