Dover Ad. Pier 29th Dec.1999

Looked at the Met.Office shipping forecast for Dover at 5am ..... NW to W force 4 winds, so I grabbed my fishing gear and drove down to Kent.... well I did, once I’d thawed the car, from the heavy frost .... very pretty twinkling in the star light, but added a further 15mins to my ETA.

Stopped off at Marsh Tackle to collect my bait around 7am, only to be greeted by Dave, who told me (most apologetically) that there was a cock-up on the bait front in so far as the digger had failed to arrive.... as I’d only confirmed the order the day before I happily settled for what fresh lug was available and bulked out with frozen dungie and a couple of packs of squid.... started having a chat with a mug of coffee and a ciggie in hand, about web sites, fishing etc, when in pops the digger .... saw a smile of delight flash across Dave’s face, followed by an expression of disappointment, as the digger proceeded to apologize for not being able to dig the previous tide due to personal circumstances... I assured them both it was no problem, as I was more than happy with the frozen black ....

Dave asked if I wanted any “smelly 3- day old lug” to complement what I had, to which I replied, that if I was Dab fishing it would be high on my list of baits.... they seem to home in on it from miles away .... but as I was after Cod, I’d leave it, and use what I’d purchased .... and so off I went to Dover.............

Having chatted with Dave for longer than I’d intended, I arrived at the Dump-Head just after 8am .. started getting my stuff out of the car, when a chap whom I recognized as a regular on the Wall came over, and asked if I intended to fish the Breakwater.

He then informed me, that he’d just been told by the Harbour Board that the Breakwater was closed, probably for some time, due to extensive damage to the safety railings ..... having phoned DSAA HQ the previous day with no mention of this being made, I suggested he nip over the road and ask at Bills, whilst I kept an eye on our tackle...

Five minutes later he was back and said that Bills had confirmed the worst, and that the Breakwater would be out of action until the storm damage had been repaired .... which could be weeks, or even months!!!

Decided to fish the Ad.Pier, as all the weights I’d brought with me were 8oz grip leads, and I’d left my tripod behind.... gave the chap (who’s name eludes me) a lift and proceeded to queue with a large number of other disgruntled but philosophical anglers for the pier to open .... which it did at 9am... only to be told that the pier had also suffered storm damage to railings etc, and that the Harbour Board had instructed the Club that No night fishing could be conducted until repair work had been carried out .. or to put it another way .. we had to be off the pier before 4pm....

Walked down towards the mid-section turret and set-up just before it.... decided to use a variety of rigs and chop and change between the two rods .. these included flowing 2/0 wishbones, clip down 2/0 pennel, and a two snood 2/0 clip up rig.. baited with lug or lug and squid depending upon how I felt........
Anyway, by the time I’d sorted myself out it was quarter past nine, and time to start catching those Cod ........
No sooner had I started fishing then the tips of the rods started to twitch and bang with small whiting or pouting bites although I failed to connect with the perpetrators...

Almost an hour past before I got a series of rapid thumps on the rod with the wish-bone .... I could feel a fish on the end as I started to reel in the tackle ... not a big fish, but a fish none the less..... a few minutes later, and up pops a nice dab of 11.5” ... just about right for a nice fish supper.....

All morning things were very quiet apart from the odd whiting/pouting tap, but looking around and asking people as they passed by, nobody seemed to be fairing any better ... all very quiet, and definitely not helped by a lack of tidal run.....

11.00am .... pulled up a small 8.5” dab and a starfish to boot , and both went promptly back... but not a codling in sight :-(

Some members of the DSAA came around and roped off the broken railings, with some very nice rope, that would not have looked out of place on the odd dropnet!!..

1.00pm .... managed to hook one of the pin whiting that had been plaguing me all morning .. all 10.5” of it!!!

1.30pm .... lifted another dab for dinner .. this time 12”....

Just after 2pm the tidal run started .. better late than never, and with it fish ...

2.15pm .. double shot of whiting ... 12” and 8.5” ....

2.36pm .... nice whiting of 16.5”.....

2.36pm .... another dab and a small edible crab .. with all the dabs around, I was starting to lament not taking Dave up on his kind offer of the “smelly lug” ... that’s the way it goes I guess!!!!

3.10pm .... 10” whiting...

3.30pm .. managed to get snagged up on some old tackle, but pulled it free, after a lot of effort and sore fingers.. but I did get my weight and most of the trace back :-)

3.35pm ... brought the last rod in, and pulled up a small 10” pouting ... packed up, and walked to the car, for the long drive home.....

On reflection, I think that my catch was probably better than most , with the main stay of fish caught being dabs and whiting.. all very, very slow, and not a single codling caught out of the hundred (guess) or so fishing, as far as I could tell ..... and yet the week before ... but that’s another story and not mine to tell..........

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