Chatham (Sun Pier) 02/09/01
GR:
HW : Around 11.00am(ish) Showers with a light SW wind

Drove down to Chatham, and arrived for the dawn, around 5.30am …… with the low water, I set-up on the inner middle section of the end pontoon, and float fished over the breadbag as best as I could with the tidal flow……

7.00am, and a chap called Joe arrived, who’d arranged to meet Leon down on the pier, just as I had … man in demand is our Mr Roskilly, with his knowledge of the local mullet fishing, and helpful easy going manner……. all I seemed to be doing was pulling up a couple of swimming crabs :-(

Leon arrived just after 7.30am, had a chat , sorted out his rods and tackle and float fished for a while around the end pontoon with us……
As the tide slowly rose he set a couple of breadbags up on the inner pontoon, and started fishing the corner section with Joe where the inner pontoon and Catwalk meet…….
Leon also set-up a self-hooking rig coming over the corner edge just above the tyre…..

By 9.30am I’d moved to float fish over the breadbag set-up in the middle of the outer edge of the inner pontoon …….. which was rather tricky with the 11ft match rod trying to keep the float near the breadbag, and not leaning over., or waving the rod tip about!!!!!

10.30am …. Couple of lads came down and proceeded to feed the swans … right next to me!!!!!!

11.15am ….. suddenly the bell on Leon’s rod with the self hooking rig, started to jingle loudly, as the rod bounced violently on the railing …. Shouted to Leon, who came rushing down the gangway, where he’d been chatting with Joe …….

Leon grabbed the rod, and the fight started in earnest … the fish drove off and downwards …. Luckily for Leon, the mullet decided on a direction away from the pontoon, although he was still worried about a couple of submerged objects in the vicinity…… after a number of surging runs, the fish came to the surface… a little too quickly for Leon’s liking, and expressed his concern that something wasn’t right.. maybe the fish had got caught in the line some how ….. but no, it became obvious that in fact the mullet had almost taken the swim feeder itself, and was hooked deep …

Leon managed to bring the fish in sufficiently close for me to be able to net it with my long handled landing net …… passed net / fish over to Leon and let him get into his practiced routine of unhooking the fish, which proved awkward due to the depth to which the fish had taken the hook down …

but with the minimum of fuss, Leon unhooked it, and placed it straight into the waiting wetted carp sack, so the fish could recover sufficiently to be weighed and photographed…….

Which Leon did a little while later .. once the needle on the Avon scales settled down it was reading 4lb-13oz …. A very nice fish….. took a couple of pix using Leon’s Camera so he could have a memento, and then Leon slipped the fish back, cradling it until, with a flick of its bluish tail, descended below the point of visibility ……

(Picture c/o Leon Roskilly)

After about midday, the wind started to pick-up, along with spots of rain ……..
12.30pm …. Fishing the front edge of the inner pontoon with Leon when a reasonable mullet popped up over the breadbag, but almost as quickly disappeared into the merky depths below……..

1.00pm ….. Joe had to go, but I got the feeling that having seen Leon land his mullet earlier in the day, that he’d be back another day to try his luck………

1.30pm ….. with the water level dropping and the problems caused by the swirling volumes of weed, Leon and myself decided to quit and to call it a day as well…..

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