Dover Breakwater 10th Jan.1998

Paul arrived at my place around 6am, and I drove us the 90 odd miles down to the Kent Coast.......

Went to Hythe to pick up the bait from the tackle shop, and had a small misunderstanding about size of bait order and purchacing tackle at the same time, but that's another story.....

Drove over to Dover, and met Tony Swain (Ant), on the Quay.... caught the Boat across... the inside railings of the Wall had been bent outwards (by about 10 to 15 degrees) in places, obviously from waves breaking on the Wall, and then crashing down on the inside!!!!!!!!.. washed most of the life belts away as well.......

Walked down to the low numbers 14 to 20 (under the lighthouse), and set-up..... high tide was around 9am, wind from the SW force 3 to 4 or so, and a nice sunny morning which clouded over as the day wore on.....

Started fishing around 8.45am or so....... we all used two rods, Paul and myself electing to fish both sides, Ant mainly fishing just the outer wall....

Ant used a single clip down and long flowing traced wishbone...... and like Paul and myself, decided that 4/0 hooks were the order of the day, to try and reduce the number of small codling caught, and swallowing the hooks..... shame the fish don't read the manuals!!!!!!!!!!

9.00am: Ant draws first blood with a 14" codling from the outside...... as we've only just started, and not being that together, the squid is still frozen, so to start with, it was worm bait only...... 5 minutes later, Paul brings in an 8" pout, also from the outside......

9.10am: I lost a 15" codling as I'm lifting it out the water from the outside... :-(

9.15am: Ant lands a 15.1/2" codling, at 1.1/2lb, also from the outside....

9.17am: Paul has a codling of 14.1/2" from the outside......

9.22am: Paul smiles a lot with a rather sorry looking starfish from the inside....

9.25am: I manage to haul a large stone-up from the outside.. :-(

9.35am: at last..... I land a fish..... 15" codling from the inside..... :-)

9.43am: Paul also gets a codling from the inside... all 12" of it......

10.00am: Codling for me, from the inside again, at 14.1/2"........

10.10am: Land a 10" dab from the outside...... Things are a little slow, so set up a 3 hook flapper with 1/0 hooks baited with rag, to see if I can catch any Pollack....

10.30am land a 10.1/2" whiting on the flapper, that I've set-up 15 turns off the bottom...... five minutes later and it's an 8" pout....... looks like the fish could be feeding much higher up the water column than we thought.......

10.40am: Paul has a 10" pout

10.55am: Paul pulls up a 15" codling from the inside......

11.15am: Ant has a 24" doggie, followed by Paul with a double shot with a large pout at 16" and 1.3/4lb, and a 10.1/2" dab, all from the outside......

11.20am: the flapper rod, goes down and I pull up a 15.1/2 " codling from the inside....

11.25am: Ant takes a 15" codling from the outside......

11.30am: Paul brings in a 10" pout from the inside......

11.31am: Ant brings in the largest fish of the day..... 18" codling, at 2.1/4lb, from the outside........

11.40am: ..... I land my best fish... 18" codling, but only 2lb..... :-( from the inside......

11.56am: Paul gets a 15" codling from the inside......

12.05pm: I get a small 12" codling from the outside.....

12.10pm: Paul has a 17" codling from the inside, followed by another of the same size, from the outside, fifteen minutes later.......

12.30pm: Ant gets another dogfish of around 24", from the outside........

12.35pm: I have a 16" codling, from the outside...... at the same time that Paul lands a codling of 17" from the inside...... 5 minutes later, I manage to bring up my second rock of the day!!!!!!!!

1.00pm: one of the chaps next to us, managed to catch a seagull in his line...... a swift grab, and a towel, and the bird is free..... just as this is all happening, Paul lands another small codling of 12" from the outside.......

1.15pm: things have slackened off a little, and we land-up feeding bits of squid, and used worm to a small Cormorant swimming on the outside....... notice others doing likewise later....... someone gave it a large pout... almost as large as the bird!!!!!!

1.35pm: Landed a 9" poor cod form the inside......

1.40pm: Paul gets a 14" codling from the outside.....

1.47pm: I manage to land a 15.1/2" codling from the outside......

1.55pm: Double shot from the outside.... almost as it hit the water...... 14" codling and a 10" pout......

The tidal run now really started to get going, and at times, the 8oz fixed wire leads that we were all using, may as well have been fresh water floats, for all the good they were doing!!!!!!! :-)

2.05pm: Ant has a 16" codling from the outside....

2.15pm: 6" of poor cod for me, on the outside... wow.....

2.22pm: Ant brings in a 15" codling from the outside...... I cast, and feel a fish take the bait as it's sinking to the bottom..... reel-in a 15.1/2" codling.........

2.30pm: Paul catches his largest fish..... 18" codling from the outside.... but He's rather mifft, to find it only weighs 1.3/4lb........ many of the fish seem to be under weight... sheer numbers competing for food would be my guess, and reflected in the noticeable decline in numbers of pout and whiting both sides of Christmas..... as the "RUN" of winter Codling started, very early this year, we maybe seeing the wane, now.... (whiting , pout, and poor cod numbers starting to increase..) .. this could be accelerated by the large storms that we've had, that may break-up the sprat shoals that they have mainly been feeding upon......

2.35pm: An other Codling of 15.1/2" from the inside this time for me......

2.38:pm Ant gets another double shot from the outside.. this time it's 24" of dogfish, and 15.1/2" of codling.......

2.50pm: Tackle is pulled by the tidal run, and I get snagged up........ lost the tackle.. and it would seem so had the guys that had been fishing there........ God how I hate tackle snags.......

2.55pm: Paul has a 13.1/2" pout from the outside.... followed 2 minutes later by a 24" dogfish (his first), from the inside......

3.00pm: Ant has a 12" pout from the outside....

3.02pm: I have another 8" poor cod from the outside....

3.25pm: Ant lands a 14" codling....

3.28pm: Ant gets a bit cross, 'cos he losses a double shot of codling, just as he's bringing them up.....

3.30pm: I manage to bring in a load of lost tackle, plus an 11" pout on one of the sets..... can't really claim it as mine........

Caught the boat back, and talking to others, and looking at what they had, no one had done really any better....... Still a good days fishing, despite a rather up-setting start!!!!!!!

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