Folkestone

Folkestone Warren 23rd July 1999

Met up with Tony Swain to fish the evening tide with high water around 8pm. The wind was slightly stronger than we expected ... around force 3 to 4 from the SW. Walking along the length of the Warren , things seemed OK with a degree of weed in the water, but the previous few days strong winds had resulted in a clouding of the water. Decided the best option was to fish from the slipway area on the second high apron, and thus have the wind to our backs, which would also help cast the J9's that we would use in the shallow water...... well that was the plan ..... once we got to the second apron it became clear that there was much more floating weed than we had suspected .... anyway started fishing around 5.30pm...... as the tide advanced so the area we fished seemed to act as a magnet to the weed .. all very frustrating ... around 6.30pm, I walked to the nags Head to look how it faired in terms of weed .. to my surprise it was weed free .... however the wind had increased in intensity to around force 4 (rather than dropping as forecast for the evening!!!!) .. the sea became lumpy and added to our frustration with the crosswind ... not being able to tell if there were any fish to be had, by the tell tale signs of baitfish, swirls , mackerel , following fish etc etc..... not long after 7.30pm we were joined by Ant's Mum and Dad, who had walked the length of the aprons chucking out feathers to see if there were any mackerel about .. they had no joy, but said a few had been taken on the first apron ..... the wind increased and by 8.30pm we decided enough was enough ... and decided to skip the next morning venture to Sandgate as we had planned ..

Ant subsequently went down to the Warren the next morning, as the wind had in fact dropped by that time .. met a few people who had caught a garfish and a couple of mackerel, and a solitary individual plugging off the second apron who claimed to have had a small bass follow the lure but no take.....

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