Folkestone

Folkestone Warren 10th Sept.2000

I felt encouraged by the previous mornings activity and decided to try my luck again.... and maybe actually start to put the Marsh Tackle "Dicentrarchus" rod through it's paces with a fish that was at least sizable, so I could better judge it's handling qualities...... all of which I'd discussed the previous afternoon with Dave and Jaybee....

Arrived down the Warren around 5-45am .. it was still dark, but in the half light of dawn I strung up the rod and attached a J9 to use on the incoming tide ... decided to have a play on the 1st apron and allow the tide to rise sufficiently before moving off to the second apron.....

Things looked good, the air was thick with mist and fog and the wind was calm.. that water was mirror still...... Started casting from the elbow groin , both left and right of the row of metal pillars that mark the extension of the groin....

6.15am..... just start to bring the J9 up to the surface, when the water exploded (and I do mean exploded), behind the lure, the large swirl that the fish left remained clearly visible in the water for some considerable time after ..... but it failed to actually hit the lure, and so I was left standing dreaming of what could have been!!!!!

The next cast, did produce a knock from an attacking fish, but again failed to fully connect.... :-(

Very shortly afterwards I saw whitebait jumping out of the water in typical avoidance patterns all around the metal pilings, but I failed to connect with the perpetrator......

By 7.00am the tide had risen sufficiently for me to move off to the second apron.... stated off by fishing from the groins .. saw bait fish hitting the water on a number of occasions.....

7.20am... moved off to start fishing from the slipway, only to find myself competing with a swimmer for the location.... found our own distances, but by 8.00am the swimmer had gone, and I'd moved back to the Nags Head section of the Apron......

With the slightly deeper water of the Nags, I decided to use a Slither (SL-13) rather than the usual J13.....

9.05am ....... bang..... a fish hits home on the slither..... the stiffer tip of the rod sets the hooks without ripping them out, whilst the main section curves smoothly to accommodate for the applied pressures that the fighting fish has to offer, inconjunction with the loose set drag of the reel, .... soon the fish comes to the surface... a nice school bass, manage to steer it towards the long handled landing net (I still have difficulty coordinating, rod, fish, line length and net.... obviously need more practice.. LOL).... 18" bass of 2lb.....

9.55.... another bass, this time on the J13, and turns out to be much smaller... only 11.5"......

11.00am... lot of surface activity suddenly occurs to my left, well within casting range and advancing towards me..... throw out the SL-13 that I'm using, and bang.. straight into a garfish...... manage to get it ashore, but it tangles itself up... by the time it's free, the fish have moved off, so I measure it (23") and take a quick snap and pop it back.....

11.55am ..... just thinking about packing up due to the time and lack of water, when a small bass comes chasing after the J13...... but it turns away rather that striking.... give it a few more casts, and pack-up just after 12 noon.

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