|
DUNGENESS
Drove down to Hythe with Paul, and collected the Yellow Tail that we had ordered from Dens Tackle (Tel. 01303 267053).... never been there before.. good selection of tackle on offer, and what looked like an almost inexhaustible supply of yellow tail...... grabbed some squid along with a number of tackle item and headed off down to 'Dungie'...... the weather seemed to be better than the forecast had suggested, with almost clear skies and a light NE wind (force 3 if that at times)........
Arrived at the 'Ness' around 3.30pm, only to be greeted with the sight of large plant machinery working all over the eastern side of the point.... just where I had intended to fish..... not sure what they are doing, defence work I guess... maybe someone will let me know!!!! ... anyway drove on to the Britannia Pub, and walked to the Eastern side of the point (between the two lighthouses ...... in front of what I guess was an old Coastguard look out area, very close to the modern lighthouse)...... walked over the ridge, to be greeted by many anglers already fishing... :-( ..... saw a space, raced back to the car, grabbed the gear, and set-up around 4pm...... as we started setting up, it seemed as if the whole beach packed up.... with very few smiling faces...... my first thought was that Paul had forgotten to put any deodorant on ;-) ....... anyway, by the time we were fishing there were only a handful of other anglers left......
Both Paul and myself decided to use two rods, Paul decided to use a 2/0 : 4/0 clip-down pennell on both, whilst I used the same combination on one of mine, and a long clip-up flowing wishbone 3/0 on the other (not like me to use a rig like this you understand ;-) )... baited with yellowtail (2 - 4 worms), occasionally tipped with squid.....
4.10: Wishbone scores.... 8" Dab..... nice, but not the large juicy cod / codling that I'd promised myself on the drive down......
4.25: Paul lands an 8" Dab... he's a really happy chap, he's been out a number of times on beaches, but only managed Rockling...... first proper fish from a beach.....
4.35: Whilst I'm setting up the beachbuddy, I fail to notice that the weed has moved in, and my lines have become washing lines, with weed and well not to put two fine a point on it...Sewage effluent..... that nice short fine brown loo paper stuff, that wraps itself around your line, and you're forced to pick it off the line, so you can wind-in, and left picking the stuff from under your finger nails for the rest of the day/night, and as for the debris from the feminine sanitary industry... well enough said..... anyway the combination of this "WEED" and tide, resulted in my tackle drifting into the two chaps fishing down from us..... managed to retrieve it, along with a 9" Dab (on the pennell) ....... and the guy who's tackle I pulled in, had a Dab, and a small codling of around 14", so he wasn't to upset by the whole episode..... :-)
5.30pm: Waited almost an hour for some action.... with the wind behind us the rods would telegraph any bites loud and clear... sure enough the rod with the wishbone started twitching well... after the third time, I pulled it home... Double shot of Dab, one at 10.1/2", and the other a respectable 11"......
5.45pm.. must have been a shoal moving through, landed a 10.1/2" Dab, this time on the pennell.....
By this time, we realized our stupidity.... for some inexplicable reason, both of us independently had assumed that high tide was at 8pm (why I really don't know... cos that had been the time of high water at the weekend!!!!).... we had therefore set all the gear up on the strand-line...... as the evening wore on, our folly became evident... the tide was not advancing, but retreating, and thus we had further and further to walk each time we went to cast and retrieve..... The reality was more like low tide was at 6pm ooops!!!!!!!!! Moved down with bait, tripod and rods, ......to his credit, Paul had done so long before me....... although I think originally it had more to do with gaining clearance from the slight surf, by his line......
6.45pm: Paul lands his second fish of the day.... 8" Dab, and would turn out to be his last, although both he and I had numerous bites, esp. towards the end... maybe if we had used smaller hooks say 2's then our connection rate would have been higher.. but we where here to catch cod........ and as the evening wore on I have a sneaking feeling that the Cod knew this :-).......
7.10pm: ..... just bait up the wishbone and cast it out, when I get a solid thumping bite..... Mr. Codlings in Town...... had a bit of a problem (one that seemed to plague both Paul and myself for most of the time...... the graps on the Breakaway leads just seemed to refuse to release, regardless of how tight we set them.....)... eventually managed to bring the fish in... 17" codling..... as all this is going on, Paul unfortunately gets snagged up, and loses a rig.....
7.40pm: Having just been talking to Paul about his misfortune, I follow suit and part company with the pennell...... put another 3/0 wishbone on in it's place, as it seemed that the majority of fish were coming off the bottom......
8.10pm..... yet another Dab... 10.1/2"......
8.30pm...... those of you that have fished Dungeness, will know that it's rather a surreal place with the Nuclear Power Station forming a giant illuminated backdrop, with all it's eerie sounds , coupled with the desolate impression that the Ness gives with the sounds of wave and wind, and the ramshackled nature of the fishing huts and outbuildings scattered across it......... this feeling was very soon compounded by thick sea fog that enveloped us...... and with it came the ear splitting scream of the fog horn, from the Lighthouse, who's shadow we were almost fishing under...... no chance of cat napping here!!!!!!! :-)
8.40pm: oooh great... it's a Dab..... but a nice one this time of 12"......
9.00pm: Started packing up for the long drive back to London..... manage one last Dab, all 9" of it........ :-(
Return to HomePage of UK Shore Sea Fishing Diary