Folkestone

Folkestone Warren 11th June 1999

Arrived a little late down the Warren, so that I didn’t start fishing until 5.30am.
The day was gray with a light drizzle falling and a W to SW force 2/3 wind. HT due around 10am.
As the tide was on the turn, I decided to put on the Waders and fish the midsection of the low apron, using a bass bullet, so that I could skim over the top of the gault boulders below ..... nothing.....
By 6.30am, the tide had advanced sufficiently for me to decide to fish from the slipway end of the second high apron .... I tried the bass bullet a few times, but found that it broke surface far too soon due to my elevation relative to the surface of the water ... and I was also having problems with the braid being too loose on the spool due to the lack of resistance offered by the bass bullet in the water.... as a result I decided to change over to a J9 Rapala in blue and white .......
Looking down into the water, it was obvious that the water had much more clarity, and the amount of loose weed was greatly reduced, compared to the previous few occasions I’d been this summer....
7.10am ... BANG... the rod tip bent as the lure felt like it had hit a brickwall ... this wall decided to move off in the opposite direction, with the reel screaming as every yard of braid was pulled from it..... the run stopped, and I managed to retrieve some line and bring the fish to the surface ... a nice looking bass.. . the fish powered off again, but a shorter run this time .... but even with it back on the surface, it was struggling to throw the hook from it’s mouth, and my heart was racing, dreading the feel of the line going slack .... I grabbed the landing net at my feet, and tried to guide the fish towards it, but it still kicked up a fight... I had to jump down two of the steps to be at the same level, before I could get the net under the fish .... the minute I lifted it, I knew it was a good catch ... 23.5” worth of Bass, and just touching 5lb .... but I managed to spike my finger on one of the trebles whilst getting it out of the landing net.... but nothing too serious....

I continued on for another half an hour but had nothing .. decided to try the Nags Head end of the apron using a J13 ..... and whilst I saw a lot of whitebait in the water, I had no chasing fish, and I saw none breaking surface all morning .... my feeling was that they were more interested in the peeler crabs that the tide would be exposing for them, than the Rapalas I had on offer ....
A small commercial boat was working in front of the Ist high Apron / Copt point .. it was about 150 to 200 yards offshore ... I thought it was a lobster catcher being so close in ... but later as it drifted by, I saw the chap going through his catch .. in the gill nets that he’d just pulled up ... he was so close I could read his boat number and see the netting!!!! .... I don’t think I need repeat the thought that went through my head... but the sooner they ban netting from inshore waters the better... it’s obvious that the commercial boats can’t regulate themselves.

I decided to stop around 11am .. and whilst I had planned to stay and fish the evening tide, and may be even try Sandgate the next morning .. I’d left the peeler crabs in the freezer, and decided that I should get back and put the bass on ice as well ..... should be very nice on the Barbie later in the week...

Update:
Got an e-mail from Phil Kay, whom I’d intended to try and meet up with that evening..... I suspect my theory about the bass bottom feeding was correct from what Phil wrote..

“I've been to Copt point again to see if I could flush out any bigger Bass than last time.
I arrived circa 17.00 to find the tide nicely on the turn and heading back in. The water (and the weather) was very calm and reasonably clear so,- time to give the trusty J11/J13s some swimming lessons.
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
No takes hits or plucks. I was amazed. I tried three different
colours/patterns but to no avail. There were some little schoolies about, I was amazed to see one leap out of the water about ten feet to my left. Very strange. Had I someone with me upon arrival I would have been confident of converting them to lure fishing then and there.
So I reverted to bottom fishing using a simple running ledger with a 1.5 Oz. Arseley bomb and a hooklength of about twenty inches connected to a 79510 of 3/0 baited with peeler.
The final tally of fish was four schoolies of about a pound and a half each - such a pity it wasn't one fish of six pounds - but that's fishing fo you, and a minuscule Bass of about four ounces.”

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