Folkestone

Folkestone Warren 3rd July 2005

HW: 9.45am 5.71m
Weather: Cloudy with sunny periods, SW wind (F2/3)

Decided that it was time to get out and do some fishing, and breakout of the malaise and apathy, that was almost verging upon agoraphobia …. And it seemed like going down to the Warren would be one of the easier options, and I could chuck a few lures at some bass, and get some fresh air at the same time…

The only drawback was having to get up at around 3.45am, get ready, and then drive 90 miles…. Still I managed to get down around 6am …. Parked the car, above the caravan site, and started to walk down to the first apron, only to realise I'd left the landing net in the boot!!!
Anyway having retrieved the net, I got down to find the tide was rising, and felt I could walk over to the second Apron, and by the time I'd got there, I'd be able to fish from the slipway, until the tide had risen sufficiently to allow me to move to the Nags Head.

Well my estimation of the tide was correct, and I reached the second apron and continued on towards the eastern end with the slipway ….. As I approached however, the mood of optimism dissipated rapidly …. To my horror, I found that since my last visit down to the Warren (some 2 years ago - gosh where does the time go!!!), that new coastal defence work had been carried out --- in very simple terms this consists of large boulders stacked up in front of and against the eastern half of the second apron (including the slipway) making this area unfishable except at low water when one would have access to the beach below.

The angular nature of the boulders, coupled by the fact that much is covered by very slippy green weed, would reasonably prevent one from fishing directly off them :-(

So I walked back to the Nags Head, and waited for the tide to rise..
By 6.50am, I was fishing off the Groin behind conduit No8, using a blue and white J9, running over and between the reefs, as they became covered….

7.10am - managed to get hung-up on one of the reefs .. tried pulling this way and that, but to no avail, I moved off the groin and walked along the sea wall to get a different angle, but with the same result.. the lure was stuck fast!!!

I unpacked the rucksack to get the large stick, and industrial leather gauntlets I carry just for this situation (pulling braid with bare hands, is a recipe for disaster). Don't ask me why, but just as I was about to pull (and probably loose the plug) I had a sudden urge to pick up the rod, and violently waggle and gig it, in order to free it, silly really as 90% of the time, such manovors only make things worse …. But not this time… out popped the J9, and I continued fishing … maybe the slack line whilst I got the gloves out, had helped the tide do the work - whatever the reason, I was just pleased to have the plug back….

7.45am: I moved in front of the Nags Head and swapped over to a blue and white J13

And that was it ….. I fished through to 11am, with no takes, and no sign of any fish.
I guess the unsettled weather of the previous days and the coloured water that resulted didn't help, coupled with a neap tide… :-(

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