Dover Breakwater 8th April 2000

Woke up around 4am, only to find Karen had a stinking cold .... looked like she had myxomatosis!!!!! So I prepared to go down to Dover on my own...... Karen really wasn’t happy .. not because I was leaving to go fishing, but because she was unable to do so!!!!!
Arrived down at Marsh Tackle around 6.45am, just as Dave was opening up the shop.... had a chat and a cup of coffee, and then collected my bait.... 25 peeler crabs, and 4 score of fresh juicy yellowtails ... left Dave around 7.30am and drove over to Dover ... parked the car in the Hoverport carpark, and made my way to the Dumphead .....
Tom and Alan informed me that new charges will apply after Good Friday for access to the Piers, and that once the new Life Boat house was finished, the pick-up point would be next to the lockgates via the metal stair ramp.... Folkestone Pier is also closed for the foreseeable future due to insurance and litigation action..... :-(
There was a reasonable number of people already at the Dumphead, and by the time the boat came some 25 in total .. bit different than the 4 of us the previous weekend!!!!!
The repairs were still incomplete and so pegs 1 to 70 were out of bounds ..... caught the second boat across, and made my way to around Peg 100.
The forecast was good .... variable force 2 to 3 and sunshine, with a big tide (6.8M) around 2pm...

Set-up 3 rods....
1) long trace with 4/0 kamasan wishbone loaded with crab, fished on the outside.....
2) long trace with 4/0 kamasan wishbone loaded with yellowtails on the outside....
3) long trace with 2/0 kamasan wishbone loaded with yellowtails on the inside....

Took me a while to get going and set everything up .... missed a few pouting bites on the outside..... and managed to loose the crab rig first cast to a tackle snag.....
10.00am .... the outside rod with the yellowtail, suddenly sprang into life with a series of terrific bangs just as I was trying to tie the skockleader on the other rod.... the graps gave and the trace was washed down tide with the racing current..... grabbed the rod, and realised very quickly I had a decent fish on the other end, which kept pulling the rod tip down as I tried to retrieve ...... had to walk down the breakwater to retrieve line, rather than haul the fish against the current.... shouted at some lads next to me to grab my dropnet ...... after a short while they brought it, and I managed to get the fish to surface .. nice looking codling ... had problems with the dropnet (1) probably not enough lead attached to the net base and (2) the fine mesh of the net caused too much drag....... both of which made netting the fish that much more difficult..... eventually we managed to net it .. with Tom the Steward jokingly saying “ go on drop it, make him cry”...... thankfully they didn’t and the fish was mine .... all 63cm of it, and weighing in at 5.1/4lb ..... nice way to start the day ;-)

10.15am .... had a series of short sharp knocks on the inside rod ... pulled up an 8” whiting.....
10.30am .... 8” pouting from the outside on yellowtail.....
10.35am ... 31cm codling from the outside on crab....
10.54am ... 25cm whiting on the inside.....

11.00am ..... 22cm pouting from the outside on crab.....
Went off to see Tom and grab a cup of coffee .... on my way back, the people fishing around peg 70 were just hauling up a fish .. nice school bass of around 3lb....
11.30am... 65cm Dogfish from the outside on yellowtail.....

11.40am.... 26cm whiting from the outside on crab....
11.50am... 23cm pout from the inside....
12.30pm.... 27cm codling from the outside on yellowtail....

12.40pm.... 53cm doggie from the outside on crab.....
12.50pm.... 9” pout from the inside.....

1.00pm..... 54cm Dogfish from the outside on yellowtail.....
1.40pm.... 9” pouting on crab from the outside.....
1.50pm.... double shot from the inside... 28cm codling and a 24cm pouting....

2.20pm ... Tom came over for a chat, and whist I was rebaiting, the chap uptide of me came over as well, as his line had gone over mine..... having sorted the rods out, I noticed that the crab rig was almost against the wall with the racing tide ... lifted the rod, and instantly knew I had another decent fish .. this was no pouting ..... gave a shout to Tom who grabbed by dropnet ...... having done so I wasn’t so sure about the size of the fish .. .. then it gave another series of diving lunges, and decided the call for the net was justified .... managed to bring the fish up to the surface ..... another codling... Tom managed to net the fish, which was made easier this time, with the tide almost up to the top of the breakwater...... having landed it, I struggled to disgorge the hook, which the fish had taken right down .. there was never any danger of this fish getting off... but you don’t know that at the time, when your heart is in your mouth and people are trying to net it .... probably the time when most decent fish are lost!!!!!! Anyway, nice codling of 54cm and weighing 3.1/2lb.....

2.40pm.... 9” pouting from the outside on yellowtail....
3.11pm .. double shot from the outside on crab ... two pouting, 23cm and 31 cm....
3.15pm.... another double shot from the outside .. this time on yellowtail... 22cm pout and a 27cm whiting...
3.20pm... double shot of pouting from the inside... both 9”....
3.30pm .... ended the day as I started, with a codling ... this time on crab from the outside, but all of 10” in size!!!!!!
Looked like most people had been catching pouting, whiting and dogfish, with the odd codling and flattie thrown-in...
Caught the boat back, and drove home to sunny Surbiton .. a happy man .... LOL

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