Chatham (Rochester Civic Centre Esplanade) 31/7/02

Leon Roskilly had very kindly suggested other alternative venues for mullet fishing on the Medway, other than Sun Pier (as my record to date there had been abysmal.. not a single hook-up in five trips or so), one of which was at the Rochester Civic Centre ….

Not knowing the area, I readily accepted his offer of a days fishing together, and with any luck loose my virginity as a Medway Mulleter ….. but Leon was quick to point out the common folklaw surrounding such an ambitious undertaking, in that it was almost becoming a ritual to loose the first two mullet hooked, before landing ones first Medway Mullet …… having tried in vain over the past year to even hook a Medway mullet, I felt that this was one piece of tradition I could well do without!!!!!!!

Drove off to Chatham at 6.30am to make sure I’d meet up with Leon in the Staples carpark around 8.30am ….. jolly lucky I did, as there was an accident on the M25 due to heavy rain and drizzle, and instead of an hour journey, it took almost 2 hours ……

Parked up in the Staples carpark and awaited Leons arrival ….. the forecast was for light SW winds with heavy thundery showers at times ….. and with the constant drizzle and rain on the way down, I wasn’t sure if Leon would think it was worth while ie rain splashing may spook the fish .. soggy bread…. etc etc….

When Leon arrived however, much to my surprise, he was chomping at the bit, and said he felt the weather was ideal…… so we jumped in the cars, and I followed him to the Civic Centre…

Took me a little while to get myself sorted out with my chest waders, and tackle up etc, and so Leon went down on the slipway to see if he could entice any mullet whilst we waited for the tide to drop further and allow access to the outer lower wall….. he came back shortly in order to find a stick float, as he was having trouble with the waggler in the flowing current…

I looked over the wall down towards the steps …. And there in about 12 to 18” of water was a solitary mullet nosing around the wooden pillars of the wall .. called Leon over who guessed it was in the 3.1/2 to 4lb category, and promptly grabbed his gear to have a go at it .. unfortunately the minute it saw the rod come over the steps it dived away…….

It returned a few times over the next 10 minutes or so whilst there was sufficient water, but was obviously going to be too easily spooked to be in with any real hope...

Not only was it a great morale boost to have seen that mullet, but as the tide receded and revealed the lower half of the retaining walls, there were signs of a lot of fresh mullet lip marks on the algae encrusted surfaces….. obviously impossible to tell how many mullet or indeed what state of the tide the feeding had occurred, but feeding they had been … and with a little luck, could still be enticed to do so……

Leon went back to the front of the slipway, and I sorted some of my tackle into the Shimano webbing jacket that I’d got from JFS Sport at Christmas … why .. well something Leon had forgotten to tell me (until the night before) was that in order to get on or off the lower wall, for a reasonable times fishing, you have to wade to it… and I decided it would be a lot more handy in such circumstances to have my camera, shot, disgorger, weighing stuff etc, to hand rather than buried at the bottom of my large tackle box…

By around 9.40am or so we had managed to ford across to the lower wall, set up a bread bag on the end, towards which I would fish as the current back eddied, and allow Leon to move further down the wall toward the bridge, and trot along the wall to my position……

Baited up and threw some more bread groundbait out into the general area …… and proceeded to fish …. Caught a couple of ripple splashes out of the corner of my eye, almost at my feet, but I was really too focused on my float to be sure…..

Suddenly my mobile went off at 9.50am….. fumbled around, and eventually located the correct pocket in the vest …. It was Karen, just asking to see if I’d got down OK in the poor weather ……. Then Leon shouted out .. he was in ….. he’d seen the same splashes and had allowed his float to trot down almost to me, when a mullet had taken the bait … said bye to Karen, and grabbed Leon’s landing net……

The mullet seemed to come to the surface quite readily….. at least to start with … looked like a nice sized fish …… then slowly but surely it started to wake-up and gave Leon a run for his money ……. Leon asked me to submerge the net, which I readily did, and then could only watch and wait until the struggle was over, one way or the other…….

At one point the fish tantalisingly glided over the net, but as I tried to move and lift the net, I found that it did not behave in the manner that I had expected….. the frame was a lot more flexible than I was used to, and as a consequence a delay occurred between lifting the handle and the head of the net lifting from its submerged position… my first thought was that I’d caught a lump of weed from the water flowing into the bag ….. anyway the delay gave the mullet the opportunity to dive away…… after a while Leon managed to slow the mullet down, and brought it to the surface only for it to start crash diving continually, this way and that….. eventually Leon managed to bring it back onto the surface, and after a couple of feeble attempts by yours truly, we managed to net the beast ……. Got it onto the unhooking mat, so Leon could then weigh it, and release it….. came in at 5.1/4lb .. I took some photos, and Leon slipped it back into the water….. with a very big grin, that stayed with him for the rest of the day!!!!

Sat back down and resumed fishing ….. a short while later, Leon came over and showed me his hook length, that had been badly chaffed and had literally fallen apart in his hands…. Couldn’t figure out how it had happened, except it must have been after the fish had been netted .. jolly lucky it had not been before!!!!!

Over the next hour the water slowly ebbed away, and started making it difficult to fish close to the walls edge, as the fronds of seaweed below kept snagging the baited hook and dragging the float under .. as a consequence I started to fish outwards …. Leon came over for a chat, and pointed to an area about 40 foot out or so where the back eddy was swirling weed, and suggested that would be a good place to try and focus .. and so I did…..

11.00am …… whoosh .. the float goes down, I gave a strong lifting strike in response.. and bang I’m into a fish …. YES …… again the fish comes up .. not as large as the one that Leon had landed, but who cares … it’s a mullet, my first Medway mullet, that I’ve managed to hook into…… soon its got other ideas other than being landed … and I’m forced to play the fish a little harder than I’d like to avoid a now obviously submerged shopping trolley and potential disaster …. And all I can think of is the 2 lost fish tradition that Leon had been talking about earlier in the day!!!! I’d forgotten what a thrill using the centrepin was .. the smooth line flow and finger-tip pressure control, you really do feel as if your in direct contact with the fish, and makes the experience so much more pleasurable….. managed to keep a fairly constant pressure on the line, and could respond to the demands required when the fish started crash diving .. still seemed to take an age to be able to bring the fish in towards Leon and the net .. after a couple of abortive attempts with the fish diving off at the last moment, Leon was able to net the fish, and I could breath a sigh of relief….. YES, mission accomplished … one Medway mullet ….

Leon very kindly unhooked the fish, and whilst he got the weighing sling together I measured the fish … 20.1/2” .. took a quick photo ….. Leon weighed the fish .. came in at 3.10lb, and then very kindly took a couple of pictures with me and my PB mullet, before I returned it :-)

Phew .. well it took me a little while to settle back down .. low water passed, and we continued fishing…. Realised before I did however, that my hook length was also badly chaffed, although along its length, and not at a single point as Leon had been .. but again couldn’t really understand how it had happened…

By 12.40pm or so the tide had changed, and the water started to flow back up river….. but the eddy reversed so that the floats were going down stream …. On occasions quite rapidly …. By about 1pm however the eddy was gone and so we were forced to fish with the main flow…. I started fishing on the end of the wall into the slack water to the side of the steps .. but by 1.15pm or so the tide had risen very rapidly and was starting to cut us off .. as a consequence we moved off and I started to fish from the short wall section to the side of the steps/ slipway, whilst Leon waded out and fished from the slipway itself….

Soon however I was forced off the short wall by the rising tide, and onto the steps / slipway myself…

Seemed like a lovely afternoon was developing .. and the river view was picturesque…

However looks can be deceiving, and the weather started to turn for the worse, with dark clouds developing and spots of rain in the air .. Leon set a bread bag up in the corner of the steps, in readiness for the rising tide….. soon after 2.10pm, Leon decided to go over to Strood Pier to see how one of the other members of the Medway Mullet group was doing, and left me to watch over things….

2.30pm… As the tide was now rising rapidly and starting to fill the area behind the short wall and the retaining wall / steps, I decided to shift position on the steps higher up and be in direct alignment with the channel, and be able to fish right up against the retaining wall …… all of which I did .. however almost at the same time the heavens opened ….

The rain fall was so heavy that I lost sight of my float .. managed to find it again as the rain eased off, and just as I did, whoosh, under it went…. Without hesitation I gave a sharp lifting strike, and knew instantly that I’d hit home …. Wow my second mullet of the day …. My second ever successful strike at a Medway mullet … yikes… Leon’s not here .. he’s never going to believe me if it gets off!!!!! I start worrying about loosing the fish more than on how to play it .. dangerous .. and I gave myself a little mental slap.. and focused on the job in hand …..

The fish was smaller than the previous one, but still a nice fish, but was very dosile, as I brought it in towards me and the waiting net, I noticed that it had some damage near to the dorsal fin, and wondered if that was why it really wasn’t putting up a fight …. Almost into the net …. Bang… it was off in the opposite direction …. Then seemed to rapidly tire again, and so I brought it towards the net, but again was caught out by the flexible nature of the net head .. cursed slightly wishing I’d got my own landing net out of my car boot earlier!!!

And so I found myself in a state of attrition with this mullet .. it wasn’t really fighting but could put a dangerous spurt on if required, and I could just lean back and apply a constant pressure to hold the fish, but was rather reluctant to try and land it on my own with Leons net ….

Decided to try and phone Leon, and play the fish single handed, which was feasible (but not necessarily wise) with the centrepin….. managed however to do so .. a first for me.. and much to Leons amusement …. Said he’d be over in two minutes …..

Playing that fish, and desperately not wishing to loose it (at least until Leon had seen it) meant that those few minutes seemed to drag for an age …… but the Cavalry arrived in the nick of time, and with a netsman at hand, I could now try to land this mullet….. and true to form, it decided to wake-up and remained submerged for what seemed like a considerable time, driving off with almost impunity in any direction it wanted … I was forced on a number of occasions to check its direction, away from potential hazards such as the submerged wall etc… Leon said that people had reported that the mullet had suddenly started fighting much harder over the past week or so, and wondered if it had something to do with the rise in water temperature, corresponding to the spell of fine weather we’d been having…

Even when I did manage to get it onto the surface, it was more than capable of long powerful surging dives and runs, esp. every time I brought it to the net .. much to Leons delight, who thought it only fitting that someone else should suffer with an uncooperative mullet!!! The mullet started to tire .. much like my arms, and eventually Leon was able to do the honours ….. got the fish up to the top of the stairs and onto the weighing mat, and with the aid of my disgorger Leon unhooked the fish .. it was at that moment that the sky fell in .. well at least it felt like it .. the rain was torrential … very quickly measured the fish (19.1/2”), took a picture, got it weighed (3.3lb), and took it down to the base of the slipway and let it go …. With thunder and lightning crashing all around….

Ran back up the steps, passed Leon in his car, and tried to dive into mine .. except I couldn’t remember which pocket I’d put my car keys .. rapidly took up Leons offer of shelter , and sat there like two drowned rats, laughing our heads off….. I have to say, I had that warm inner glow of success, and felt dead chuffed with myself, and with Leons help and guidance ….

After about 15 minutes or so, the worst of the storm had passed, and I got out to continue fishing … found the bucket with the bread groundbait was somewhat fuller due to rain water, but otherwise things looked OK … except for a large oil slick that had developed out on the water .. Leon looked around and came back to report that it emanated from the storm drain and was due to the surface runoff from the road….. this prevented him from fishing over the top of that section of the wall, where he had intended fishing, and where we’d seen most lip marks …..

After about half an hour however the oil had dispersed and Leon set up both of his rods with self-hooking rigs to fish that section …. The wind picked up from the SW and the skies started to clear …… I had one super bite that I missed not long after restarting, but failed to make any form of contact with the fish .. :-(

As the tide rose I decided to try and fish progressively deeper, rather than the 20” or so that I’d been forced to do for most of the day……

3.45pm …. Float bobbed , and then when under … I managed to get in a good strike, and met some resistance … my initial cry however turned to a scowl, as almost immediately I pulled up a crab!!!
Decided to come up off the bottom, and fish about 2ft or so from the surface….

Around 4.15pm a couple of lads set up a ground line over the steps to fish for crabs, and with the rather chilly SW wind, Leon moved back to the steps next to me in order to fish the wall both with a float rig and have a self-hooking rig slightly further down …..

By 5pm, Leon had decided to call it a day, as he needed to get home, and having got wet during the storm, and now getting a little chilled by the strengthening wind, I had to agree with him ….. and even though we were packing up an hour or more earlier than we’d perhaps intended, we’d still had a superb days fishing for both of us…..

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