Chatham (Sun Pier) 30/05/03
GR:
HW : 12.30pm (ish) Sunny with light winds from the East force 2/3

Having frittered most of the half-term week away, either conquering the world of Civilization III, or drinking all day with ex-colleagues from work, I decided to force myself to go fishing, especially since the previous afternoon, I’d chatted to Chris Ball on the phone, whilst he was fishing in Jersey, with a 3lb mullet under his belt…… the question in my mind was, should I fish the Warren for bass, as the spell of good weather had brought both mackerel and bass in ….. or should I try Sun Pier for the elusive mullet, having seen one of 6lb-7oz landed there only two weeks previously …… decisions, decisions …… it wasn’t until early Thursday evening, when I popped around to the local shops for Karen, that I gave myself a mental kick to pull myself out of the malaise I’d seemed to have fallen into …… 6 loaves of bread later, and firm resolve, the matter was settled ….. Sun Pier ….. my nemesis Venue (been trying to hook a mullet there now for 3 sessions) was to be the mark for the following day……

Well the following day came around all too quick when the alarm went off ….. 3.00am ….. after a fitful nights sleep, dreaming of what could be …. Anyone else do that, dream about the fishing before they go … of course you do ……the tackle, the bait, the specific marks, the way the fish is going to play out, the feeling of exhilaration…. strange how it never quite works out that way in the end (LOL), and the more you try to stop doing it, the more it creeps back inside you head……

Anyway fed the cat, who was a little surprised to be woken at that ungodly time of the morning … and gulped a large mug of sugary black coffee down… grabbed the gear, pre-made sandwiches, large flask of coffee, and the pre-soaked bread, and sped off in the car down to Chatham …… arrived just before 5am, parked in the municipal car park next to the pier and walked down to the pontoons…..

Low water was around 7am, and with hardly a breath of wind, I’d decided to fish the outer pontoon (which has water at any stage of the tide) where I’d witnessed the large mullet being caught previously ….. set up a bread-bag, but I wasn’t too sure how effective it was going to be, with the strong tidal flow with the ebbing tide ….. set up one of the 11ft match rods with a centre-pin and a self hooking swim-feeder rig, that I popped just down stream from the bread-bag….. I then turned my attention to float fishing …….

On my previous trips to the pier, one of the most noticeable problems (apart from not being able to sit down and fish) was that the 11ft match rods were just too long to fish the pontoons comfortably … your fishing above your feet almost, with the float just bobbing near the lip edge that runs around the structure …. Leon seemed to have got around the problem with the use of a couple of short telescopic rods, and as I’m a firm believer in mimicry before experimentation, I’d purchased a 2m spinning rod, with a softish tip, and strengthening through action, with a reasonable stiffness in the butt (sorry don’t know the test curve, casts 5-20g) … it’s a Shakespeare mustang XL Spin that I’d purchased from Bankside Tackle in Ewell for 18 quid!!!!!!

Set up with a Leeds Centre-pin, a waggler (5 no4 shot) with about 20inches or so to the no10 Kamasan, finished off with a nice pinch of break flake…… with the tidal run, the water was eddying into the culverts of the pontoon, and so that’s where I focused my attention, although I was a little concerned that the one I was forced to fish seemed a little narrow, but figured it would possible focus any fish, should they come by …… very quickly I realised the benefits of using the shorter rod at this venue ….. lot easier to control, and a lot less tiring on the arms…….

Took the time to have a look around on the super structures of the pier to see if I could see any lip marks, made by mullet from the previous tides ….. there were a few old ones on the outer tower of the side pontoon, but a load of fresh marks all over the inner tower, about 8ft up on the flat side plates … so at least they were about …. Always nice to know in the chocolate coloured water that is the Medway…. Honestly I have to say that the visibility was actually quite good … I could see the bottom of my float … so about 8” of visibility!!!!!

Had to shoo a small flotilla of swans away, obviously thinking the bread was for them, until the hissing and landing net waving dance started up…. Leon would have been proud!!!!!!

Well low water came and went, some time just after 7am …. And nothing to show for my efforts…… not a bite, not a sight or sniff of a mullet….. nothing….

8.00am and the tidal flow changed and flowed towards me, but I was still able to fish right up next to the bread bag, using the culvert as protection from the worst of the current….. but still no fish!!!!!!

By 9am the tide had risen sufficiently for me to decide to switch positions with both rods, and fish the side pontoon, specifically the corner edge, that I’ll call Leon’s Corner ….

I had thought about the other end, where the lip marks were, but decided it was going to be too tricky to start with, and maybe if the space was available, I’d set up a second self hooking rig with the third rod……. Around 11am or so I gave Leon a Buzz on the mobile, just to let him know I was down, and to tempt him to come across during his lunch break …..

Just after 11.45am, I set up a second bread bag on the front edge of the side pontoon, so that there would be a reasonable trail for when Leon arrived…. Which he did, around 12.20pm ……. Leon set up a self-hooking rig with mine on the corner, and we then both float fished the front edge, and were able to have a chat at the same time ….. we landed up being slightly cramped as a family moved in on the inner corner ….. nice to see mum and Gran with three youngsters having a fun time, fishing for pout and pint sized bass, but it did prevent me from setting up the second self-hooking rig in that corner, as I’d intended…..

12.45pm … a shout came from the family ….. a large fish was lazily swimming on the surface coming straight down the bread trail from the bread-bag ….. was it a mullet or bass ….. had to take a double take … this was a lunker of a mullet, something in the 7 to 8lb class (Leon said it before I could) with a mottled grey and white appearance…. Leon flicked out towards it, the mullet swam up to the float and then moved off, not to be dissuaded, Leon retrieved and flicked out again, just in front of the fish, and as the bread sank below the visibility line, so did the mullet …. You could have heard a pin drop, my heart was in my mouth waiting for the float to go down, and half hoping it wouldn’t (sorry Leon) so I might have a chance at the beast …… nothing happened ….. suddenly the fish rose in front of me, and it was my turn to entice it with my offering … again with the somewhat predictable result of the fish nosing towards the bread, but not actually taking it, and by the time it moved off towards the end of the pier, it was too late to try again ….. phew, I could only take so much of that sort of expectation / frustration in one day …… and I could see that Leon was slightly chewing his lower lip …… and so it was with little surprise that Leon said he was going to try the end of the pier where Dave Harden had his 6-7, and where I’d been fishing earlier that morning …… mean while I continued to fish the front edge, slight crowded out by the family, and another lad who arrived to take Leon’s spot, rather too close to the bread bag for my liking, but figured as this was a daily event, the mullet would be reasonably conditioned to the shouting, screaming, and splashing generated by my neighbours….. mind you the pout obviously were none too impressed, as they caught nothing!!!!

1.15pm …. Leon returned to say that another mullet (or maybe the same one) had emerged at the culvert he’d been fishing, but again he had been unable to entice it, and that now he had to go back to work …… I said it was nice to know that they were about, even if they seemed some what reluctant to take the bait …… said I’d stay until the tide turned and wait for the weed and debris to collect on the front edge, to which Leon commented to the effect that maybe something like that would be needed for them to start feeding…. And with that, said his goodbyes both to me and to a number of others, who obviously knew him…. after trying out his new digital camera, as you can see above!!!!!

2.00pm ….. the tide was in full retreat, and the water flowing under the pontoon, and through the conduits, pulled my float away from the side, but I let the float trot along in the flow carrying the bread, being released at a reasonable rate from the bread-bag … but to no avail……. The family moved off, and a lad, who wanted to fish with sausage set up next door!@!!! …. But he kept looking over the railings casting a shadow, right over the bread bag, due to the angle of the sun, but I bit my lip and persisted ……

We were then joined by an oriental chap (who didn’t really speak any English), but was fascinated by my antiquated tackle (especially the centre-pins), compared to his nice new shiny beach caster and fixed spool, and had a bucket full of small pouting that he’d caught / obtained from others fishing, for some sort of soup I guess ….. anyway I continued to fish on, but slowly started to get that doom feeling, a combination of fishing since 5am, no fish caught, and the heat from the sun…..

2.30pm ….. the current started to bring in lots of small bits of weed and debris, and I tried very hard to keep the float from going under the pontoon lip, or being dragged out into the open water, and fish as close to the down stream flow from the bread-bag up against the pontoon .. easier said than done ……

By 2.40pm I looked at my watch, and I decided to give it until around 3pm …… just as I was doing so, my float was drifting out from under the lip of the pontoon, and was about to be pulled into the open water, by the under current … so I started to slightly retrieve the gear about 8 to 10 inches back towards me, so the float would hold position in the back eddy …… no sooner did the float move, than the water exploded between it and the pontoon, as a mullet hit the surface, obviously spooked by the movement, and swirled away from me in a curved motion … my heart shot out of my mouth, and that icy cold tingly numb feeling swept over me ….. I froze ….. held my breath, and preyed to any Deity that was listening, as the float re-cocked ……. I didn’t have time to expire through asphyxiation, as no sooner was the float sitting there, than BANG… it was gone …… like a coiled spring my left arm shot up for the strike…… and hit home… BIG TIME…… an almighty “YES” came straight out of my mouth, which turned a few heads …. Well most of the pier actually, not surprising really considering the volume level that it came out at!!!!!!!!

Someone up there had been listening …… my moment of glory had been granted, and the fish was obliging enough to move out into the open water, rather than trying to go under the pontoon and behind me, where all the superstructure was……. One of the many Kids that had suddenly appeared asked if I wanted the net, I said not just yet, and then heard the collective sigh of awe, as the fish hit the surface …. Certainly not as big as the lunker that Leon or myself had seen earlier in the day, but it was still a nice fish, and the first I’d managed to hook at Sun Pier …. Which for me, just made it the perfect mullet for the moment……..

With a flick of it’s tail it dived under and tore line from the centre-pin, whilst I applied as much drag as I dared with my thumb, to the outer rim……. I have to say, that any fears about the spinning rod, not being able to respond to the lightning demands from a mullet, or the potential not to have enough grunt in the butt to control the fish in those difficult moments, were very soon dispelled …….

The fish then dived this way and then that … long runs, short runs, and the dreaded head shaking, all met with responsiveness, determination and control that I wanted, by both rod and reel …… a couple of times it tried to come in, and dive towards Leon’s corner, with all the problems at that would have caused, but I managed to steer it out of trouble ….. the fish came up, and the lad next to me was a little too eager with the net, and spooked the fish into diving deep, and with even more power than before ….. the fish was waking up ……

Got the lad to stand next to me, and submerge the net, and just wait ……. A series of powerful dives, followed by equally persistent retrieves from me, resulted in the fish hitting the surface again, but dangerously towards the corner … it dived under the pontoon, but more down than under, so the line was still free from the woodwork…… managed to bring the fish up, and blow me down, if it didn’t swim along the front edge, and straight into the submerged landing net….. I grabbed the handle, and pulled it up, telling the lad to do the same…… RESULT … one bagged mullet …… and one angler, physically shaking from head to toe … which drew comment from the crowd …..

I turned to move to the centre of the pontoon, and almost clipped one of the lads with the handle of the net as I did so .. asked for some space and placed the wet net and fish down to unhook it …… the hook was set perfectly in the middle of the upper lip ….. and that’s when my mobile went off …….. it was Leon .. from what I now understand, Leon had had one of those “feelings” and had decided to move away from his desk at work, and look through the closed blinds … just as I was playing the fish, had grabbed a pair of binoculars and had given a running commentary to his work mates!!!!!!! Spooky or What???!!!!!!
He’d resisted the temptation to phone, until, I’d landed it ….. said I’d phone him back when I’d finished unhooking the fish and weighed it, gave a wave at the office block, and got back to the job in hand …
Measured the fish from nose to the tail fork 23.1/2”… and placed it into a wetted carp sack, and lowered it back into the water so I could sort out weighing it, and take some pix……

Wetted the weighing sack, adjusted the spring balance for the additional weight, pulled the carp sack up, slipped the fish in, and lifted the scales, muttering something along the lines of a 4lb’er maybe ….. others thought more ….. at first I'd say the scale went to about 3.1/2lb .. until someone pointed out, that I’d not actually lifted the fish off the ground … ooops …. Post Capture Shock …. Lifted the scales further, and the sack came off the ground ….. the balance bounced around near the 5lb mark .. I really wasn’t too sure, maybe slightly under, may be not …. Asked others to look, and took a deep breath and tried to steady myself, and stop shaking …… consensus was 5lb on the nose …… WOW …… my first mullet of the session, my first from Sun Pier, a new PB, and a fish of 5lb or more ……. All in one hit ….. then I really started to shake!!!!!
Took a couple of snaps, and asked someone (sorry forgot your name) to take a couple of pics … not great as I was distracted by the crowed telling me to turn the fish, and before I was set, the pic was taken ……

I really wanted to get the fish back, so left my vanity behind and decided against another photo…… picked the fish up, walked to the gangway (almost tripped up over the railings!!!!!) and gentle popped it back ……..

This act of returning this magnificent fish was met by horror and disbelief by my oriental neighbour, who’d been asking “HOW MUCH” whilst I’d been unhooking / weighing it … when I said 5lb, someone pointed out, he was actually trying to buy it from me ….. so I took a couple of minutes out, and tried to explain in my best pigeon English, and gestures WHY I’d put it back….. I’m not sure he really understood, but it made me feel better, and a little later a mate of his turned up, and seemed to understand, and explained it to him in his own language, which sort of placated him, although there was still some head shaking……

Spoke for a while with the chap who’d taken the photo’s for me … sounded like he used to fish for mullet ….. and would soon be doing so again!!!! Phoned Leon and chatted about events just past, although I’m not sure how coherent I was …… decided to quit whilst I was ahead, and packed up, and was back at the car for around 3.30pm ….. ready for the sunny drive back to West Ewell …… and all I found myself saying under my breath was “YES, YES, YES” …… a phrase my oriental friend had also commented upon when recounting my exploits to his buddy!!!!!!!!!

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