Dover Breakwater 13th Nov. 1999

Drove down to Marsh Tackle with Paul Davies and arrived just after 7am.
We had been unsure during the week if we would be able to get over to the Breakwater as the forecasts had been predicting force 5 to 6 winds, which always ran the risk of having force 7 added by the Met. Office on the Day. As it turned out, the 5.05am forecast that morning was for E to NE winds force 4 increasing to 5/6, and so the Breakwater was on....
Chatted with Dave for about half an hour, and had a look around the shop, which has now had a major “spring” clean ... I’ve still to go upstairs and have a look at the clothing, beach buddies etc. area, which has allowed for the spacious look to the main shop....
We collected our bait which consisted of wrapped yellows and packs of small frozen squid, and headed off for Dover.......
Arrived at Dover just before 8am, and had a problem with parking .. nothing on the road opposite the DumpHead .... the Hoverspeed carpark on the otherside of the iron bridge was shut, and so we had to park in the main Hoverspeed carpark, which now has a new ticketing system, and you pay on exit......
On walking to the Dumphead we found a number of other anglers ahead of us .... paid our £2.50 as DSAA members to the club steward and caught the second boat across, and handed over £3 each to the boatman.
We set up between pegs 55 to 65. We used 3 rods each .... one outside (2/0 wishbone), one inside (1/0 wishbone), and the third (3/0 pennel) baited with squid or live pouting down the inside wall just in case of a late bass (more in hope than expectation) (Paul used similar sorts of rigs with the odd one up one down, I think..).... if I’d been able to buy some ragworm, then I’d probably have used this 3rd rod for pollack as a number have been taken over recent weeks....
HW was due at 1.30pm with a shortish tide of 6.1m.
Started fishing around 9.20am by the time we were across and had set-up....
9.50am .... Paul was first off the mark with a dogfish from the outside.....
9.55am .... my first fish of the day .. a 12.5” whiting from the outside...

10.05am ... 14” whiting from the inside.....
10.15am ... Paul has a whiting from the outside...
10.25am .... Paul has an other whiting this time from the inside.....
I realise that there is something seriously wrong with the Diawa rod that I’m using on the inside .. it’s shaving off line as I’m using it .. a closer inspection reveals a small chip in the rod tip ring ... thinking back, I clipped the end of my rod bag when I boarded the boat to get across, and must have done the damage to the ceramic then!!
I picked up the mobile and gave Dave at Marsh Tackle a buzz, and arranged to have it fixed at the end of the day....
10.33am .... Paul lands a pouting from the inside....
10.40am .... I have a 13.5” whiting from the outside....

Paul then lost two sets of tackle in quick succession .. the first was due to cutting of his line by the crossing over of the chaps fishing up from us .... big hitters, but using only 6oz weights!!!!!! ....... the second was due to being snagged once he’d restrung the rod.....
11.20am .... I have a double shot of whiting ... 10” and 11”, from the outside....
11.30am..... I managed to catch a nice lobster from the inside ..... gave Karen a buzz to let her know what she was having for supper.....

Just before noon the tide run changed direction from left to right, to become right to left...
12 Noon ..... Paul brings up a pouting and a crab from the inside....
12.15pm .... Paul lands a whiting from the outside.....
12.24pm .... I have another double shot of whiting, this time 12” and 10” from the outside....
12.30pm ... Paul lands a nice flounder and a pouting from the inside....
12.45pm .. I have a 12” pout from the outside....
1.10pm .. get snagged on the outside and loose a set of tackle....
Up until then only fish being caught seemed to be dogfish, whiting and pouting.... soon after a few codling started to show, with the chap next to me having what looked to be a 3lb’er
1.35pm .... I manage to land another lobster .. slightly smaller than the first, but worth keeping .... I was going to be in Karens good books ;-)
1.40pm .... Paul lands a codling of two and a quarter pounds from the outside....
2.00pm .. just as I’m rebaiting the spare trace, Steve Burling phones to find how things are going (we had arranged to meet him if we’d been unable to fish the Wall) .... just as I’m talking to him about how the fishing was going, I noticed that one of the chaps up from us was struggling with his rod .. it had a good bend in it, and kept kicking downwards .... sure sign of a decent fish ..... and sure enough the landing nets are called for, and up comes a nice cod of between 6 to 8lb .... think Steve was having second thoughts about not joining us!!!!!!
2.15pm ... got snagged again on the outside, and lost yet another set of tackle.....
2.20pm ... Paul has a double shot of pouting from the outside....
2.30pm ... I have an 8” pouting from the inside...

One of the chaps in the Knuckle had also had a cod in the 6 to 8lb range....
2.45pm ... I have a double shot of 11” pouting from the outside, and Paul lands one as well...
3.15pm .... Paul has a whiting from the outside....
We had to pack-up slightly earlier as the boats were due at 3.30pm to off load anglers for a nightfish / comp....
3.25pm ..... bring in the last rod to pack away .. and realise I have a fish on the end .. can feel a few thumps as I bring it up, and know that it’s not whiting or pouting ... up pops an 18” codling of two and a quarter pounds ..... :-)

Walked down to catch the boat ... same sort of story all the way along .. lots of whiting and pouting with the odd codling here and there .....

PLUS ..... one young chap had a cod .. probably a cod of a life-time these days ... 19.5lb ..... it was only lip-hooked with a 1/0 hook!!!!!!
I could only look in envy and dream......

Drove back to Marsh Tackle on the way home .... Dave had trouble removing the tip-ring of the rod .. something to do with the type of glue used by Diawa .. but he managed eventually to do so, and replaced it with Diamite ring .. I’ll have to settle up with him next week when the other rod has been fixed .....
Told Dave about the days fishing and the influx of whiting, and he confirmed that it had been like that all along the beaches for the last week.....

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