Session #19 - Unknown Location

Can't honestly remember where I went but didn't catch anything top report anyway

Session #17 Beltinge Beach

I headed out on a slightly windy day. Turned out the wind was an Easterly which meant it would be hitting me from the left.

I headed to the cliffs at high tide and found casting quite hard due to the cross wind and wasn't sure of the underwater terrain. I worked along the waters edge but didn't see anything. None of the other fisherman were catching either so I felt a bit better

Session #18 Beltinge Beach - Spinning Sucess

I headed down to Beltinge Beach again in front of the cliffs. This time I headed with Tony to give him his first fly session for bass. We arrived at the car park in a 25+ degree day before 12. We set up spinning and fly rods and headed along the beach. We got to the spot I had previously tried in another session. Having not seen the location at low tide it was great too see.

The cliffs go down to the normal pebbles on the beach. That then covers a rocky area with a sandy base. This is then split by a sandy open area. Then another row of rocks and so on. This means when the tide comes in the fish can work from row of rocks to rocks. Also at the base of the cliff there is a huge area of rocks and this, I am told, is great at high tide for mullet and bass.

We ended up wading in and the water was beautifully warm. I was was casting out about 80-100 meters with a Dexter's wedge (silver) and hit into a fish. Pulling it in it was about 8 inches long and tugged in a crazy manner when it was coming in.

About 10-15 minutes later another hit my lure. This one was a bit bigger and went crazy when it was pulled to the surface.

Tony didn't get anything this day, and said it was my fault... I explained I had taken him to a place with fish, what else could I do =P...

Better luck next time

No pictures this time

Session #14 Hayling Island

I headed back to Hayling Island Langstone car park for about 08:30. I fished all along the channel and back around the beach towards the golf club. The tide was going out so I tried a few areas where I though the fish my hold up. It was very cold so I figured the fish may have been out a way any way, but it was worth a go.

All in all I fished till 10:30 and headed home

Session #13 Hayling Island

Having headed home for Dad's birthday I headed to Hayling Island and parked up next to the golf course and headed down to the beach. We wandered along for a while and cast out 5-6 times in each breakwater. We chatted to another spinner and he hadn't had anything in 2 hours. So we packed up and headed to the langstone car park and cast out from the shell bank near the pub.

I got have a go with some of my deeper plugs and they seemed to work well. We headed home shortly after when my spool hit a massive tangle.

Session #12 Spinning near Chatham

I headed out to catch what I thought was a 5PM high ide. Turns out it wasa 7PM high. This gave me some time to have a recky around the area to let the water in. I headed around the bay at Motney hill towards the sewerage works. The water didn't look too deep and it was very murky. There was another guy fishing who I caught up with later.

I headed around to near the sewerage point but decided to go check out another area also whilst I still had time. The point may be good with a weighted line and bait but possibly not for spinning and definately not for fly.

This shows the muddy channels that are around this area. You need to be careful as some of the paths are very thin. Do not slip in!!

This is the outlook to the bay with Motney hill over to the left.

This shows the point to fish from. You can cast into the deeper channel from there.

I headed to the other side of the outward lying area and the sewerage works. This had a sea wall which slopped down to the rocky/weedy ground before disappearing under the very murky waves. It was a very windy day which made casting tricky.

This is the sea wall

This shows the rocky/weedy areas at the base of the sea walls.

I had a few casts here and christened the area with a lost lure. I then headed to the area by the car park to go out on the arm again. I chatted to the fisherman who explained about getting peeler crabs if you get the tides right. I had a spin for a while and headed home expectedly with empty hands.

There are another few areas to try around here and they will be gotten to shortly.

Session #11 Motney Hill

After heading out over the bank holiday weekend to a place called Motney Hill, near Chatham, and being blown all over the place, and not in a good way, I didn’t manage to do any fishing. This was mostly due to 20+ mph head winds.
I did mange to scout 2 areas pointed out to me by Tony from the Pike fraternity. I headed over to Motney Hill car park and literally 10 meters from the parking is the water. There is a man made arm of earth covered rock that stretched out into the sea and this creates a bay. This mostly made of mud and small areas of weed.

The other being a massive concreted area that looks like an old jetty for unloading ships no in disuse. Having been battered by the elements for long enough I headed home.

I headed back out today for another look with winds of up to 10mph which was a lot nicer. I only fished on the arm today to give that a decent crack. I was fishing about 1 hour after high tide until about 2 ½ hours after. I started with a popper, which I lost on my 2nd cast due to it snagging some rope in a clump of weed. I could not get it back for love nor money. And after 3-4 minutes the metal click gave way as the line still had the look intact.

Move onto my next lure, the SwinShad, I was casting about 50-60 meters across the bay in a fanned approch and getting to know the lures, as many were from first use. They all acted very well in the water. At about 2 ½ hours after high tide the plugs were running along the bottom. So I gave up and headed home.

Whilst this was not a proper session, being more of a recky, it was good to start trying some new areas out, ready for the better months of the year. I hope to line a few areas up and get out after work even if it is only for an hour, tides permitting.

Here are the lures that I used:

Here are a few photo's of the area:

This is the main stone arm

 This is the area to the east of the arm

This is the area to the west of the arm

This is the small beach to the east of the arm and in front of the other eastern area 

This is the bay from the public path

This shows the weedy margins at the edge of the bay

This shows the view straight out north from the small beach and also the weedy margin

I will get to trying the concrete area sometime soon as the water could be quite deep and worth a go.

Session #10 Spinning in Herne Bay

I head out on Sunday, 25th April, for my first spinning session. I headed down to the beach in front of the Ship pub, parked up and set off towards the water. I started off with a slim jim spinner weighing 25g and was casting about 40-50 meters with that. I had no idea how deep the water was but it didn't seem very deep.

I moved on to a 32g spinner and was casting about 70-80 meters, I also tried out a Frenzy plug that went about 50 meters.

I managed my first catch which you can just about make out below:

A 2.5cm shrimp, speared on the hook

Then came the next big catch: 

Then after that I caught a clay rock. It was at that point it was apparent that the water was way to shallow. I did mange to spot these eggs on a breakwater, not sure what they are though:

Could be squid eggs or cuttle perhaps

Hopefully I will pick a better time next to go out spinning and catch then. It is going to be very useful having a spinning rid to help against those windy days when fly fishing isn't possible.

Session #9 - Boat Fishing Trip with Dad

We headed to Itchenor for an 8AM meet on Tempus Fuget with skipper Dale. We had a prompt start and headed out of the harbour and sat in Hayling Bay between the entrances and sand banks for Chichester Harbour and Langstone Harbour. We got given the gear on board and set to work with Rag and Squid as bait.

Shortly after starting Dad hit into a fish and pulled it up and with a nice surprise, it was a Thornback Ray.

The best I managed was a few hungry stones... A while after dad hooked into his next fish of the day in the same area, a Dogfish.

We stayed here a while longer and the headed out to an area where we would drift over waters climbing from 65ft to 40ft or so. We had to keep the lead just off the bottom, but close as possible still. I managed to pull up a tiny Whitting, about 5 inches long. That was returned very quickly and so no photo of the fish, but the colours were very very good. In quite quick succession Dad pulled up a Ballan Wrasse and that was returned to the water quite quickly after a picture.

For our last part of the day Dale took us to a deep hole for us to go for something a bit bigger. So on with thicker traces and heavier leads. We dropped them over the side and waited. I hooked into another Whitting, but it was still too small really to keep.

Where'd it go???

The poor thing leapt for freedom only to hit the bottom of the boat and concuss itself.

There it is...

We popped it back in the water and it took nearly 2 minutes for it to kick into life and swim under before the gulls got to it. Dale pulled up a small Pout with lovely markings and colours and sent that back to the water.

Dad hit into another fish and Dale got very excited when he saw it come up. He shouted "don't try to lift that bloody rod..." and ran for a net. He got the fish in and was very excited...

A Turbot...

 It turned out that this was the first to be landed on the boat. And that the skipper had never caught one before. It also turned out that all the local skippers have a species competition and this was a rare bonus point. Dale took a few photos of Dad and the fish for his records. The fish was then sent back to the sea.

The wind started picking up and a fog bank started to hide the Isle of Wight, then the Nab Tower and then headed for us. Not long before we packed up, Dads rod bent in half and seemed to drag him along the boat and then it was loose. Dad seems to think it was a fish, all I can say is, if it was then it was pretty blooming' big...

The Winner Bank

We headed back to Itchenor, paid up and said thanks and headed home.

All in all it was disappointing we didn't get anything for the freezer, but we both had a great day out and caught 6 species. The winter has had a toll on the fishing and the fish are returning later than normal. There is always next time.

Relevant Links:
Tempus Fugit