Fishing Report: 24th August 07 - River Colne, Essex

The weather had been really nice all day and by mid-afternoon I could resist no longer and skipped work early to head upriver to have a go at the Bass that I hoped would be there. It may sound a strange comment but as it turned out, I think the weather was actually too good for bottom fishing. The flat calm weather leads to gin-clear water in the river at this time of the year and the fish move up in the water after the fry, well away from bottom fished baits.

I arrived at my mark early in the tide, as the water was just pushing over the top of the various sandbanks, and set up my rods; one to fish whole squid and the other (with a two-hook rig) to fish Ragworm and Sand Eel. By the time the baits went out, some thirty minutes later, I could see that there were Gulls working across the other side of the river and there was the odd "skittering" of fry on the surface about ten feet out from the shoreline which left me optimistic of the possibility of one or two Bass.

This was the first time I'd stopped for breath since leaving work. As I waited for the first bite I looked around me as the sun set over the saltmarsh I was reminded of how calming this place can be on a high summer evening. The low light reflects on the mass of different marsh plants that are at their best at this time of the year and the Sea Lavender bloom gives the ground a kind of violet haze in the half light; a photograph just doesn't do it justice. I've been coming here to this exact spot for nearly thirty summers now and I don't think I'll ever get bored with the view.

By the time darkness came I was still awaiting my first bite but I carried on throwing bait at the water in the hope of a Bass even though the baits were coming in hardly touched. It seemed even the crabs were not interested in my baits. On the turn of the tide I finally got a decent knock to a Ragworm bait and landed an Eel of about 8oz, closely followed by what seemed to be it's twin and having given up all hope of a Bass I decided to call it quits on two Eels and a sunset.

Fishing Report: 19th August 07 - Brightlingsea

Unfortunately the weather had roughened up a bit wind-wise during the week which had put a bit of colour in the water, but feeling in need of a "fix" I decided upon a spur of the moment spinning session along the Colne. I headed upriver with my normal light spinning gear fairly optimistic after recent success but it turned out to be one of those days when you wish you had really just stayed in bed and not bothered!

Although the water had cleared a bit from the previous few days it was still a bit too coloured for any hope of major success, although the fry were breaking the surface occasionally so the Bass were obviously feeding. Unfortunately the fish were not feeding on my lures and in the end I hammered away at it for about 4 hours and the only thing I got for it was a minor soaking from the occasional showers that were putting a dampener on things.

Just to add insult to injury, I managed to get a wet foot when a three-month old pair of Derriboots started leaking unexpectedly (shan't be buying any more of those again) and I managed to put a crack in the spigot of my favourite carp rod which has written it off. Although I've had it for years and it's seen a lot of abuse, it's still a bit of a shame to have to say goodbye to it; especially as it has caught me an awful lot of fish. All in all not the best of days.

Fishing Report: 12 August 07 - Brightlingsea

As it was the last day of my leave I thought I would make one last go of it and have another spinning session on the Colne before returning back to the drudge of work. I wasn't expecting much as I thought there would be too many swimmers about but as I arrived at the promenade it was I was pleasantly surprised to find things reasonably quiet and set to work with a 30 gram Dexter Wedge and 3 inch Eel. Fishing from 8:30am through to the top of the tide at about noon (by which time I was more than a little sick of the sound of the distant jet skis) I managed a very surprising three Bass. I took the first, which was well undersized at only 10cm, from the promenade area very early on in the tide but as the tide got about halfway up I moved off to another spot and managed two that were a bit better, one of about 30cm and another of about 40cm.

Encouraged by my bit of success in the morning and much to my wife's disgust I decided to fish the following tide into the darkness. The water has cleared a little more and the front was a bit quieter but there seemed to be fewer fish about. Starting the session very early in the tide I had some very small Bass flinging themselves at the lure along the promenade stretch but it wasn't until I moved further upriver to a new spot that my one and only Bass of the night turned up. A hammering strike and a few runs on my light carp rod led to a sizable fish coming my way at last. On my return home it pulled the scales down to 2lb exactly. The sun began to drop in the sky as I was packing up and a cracking sunset provided the perfect end to a very good day by River Colne standards.

Fishing Report: 8th August 07 - Brightlingsea

With a nice weather forecast I decided to spend another evening spinning on the Colne. It was ideal conditions, the water was even clearer than last night (you could see the lures 3 ft down), the sun was shining and the water was flat calm. Quite frankly it was one of those days when catching some fish is a bonus.

I arrived at the promenade at about 4:30pm and as I had a few Ragworm left over from the previous day with the spoon I decided to try for a few Mullet. There were quite obviously no Mullet about as I would have seen them following the tide in over the mud, but as the water began rising above the first promenade step the Bass started following the bait in and within half an hour I had taken two very small Bass on the No4 hook. The river must be alive with these little fish (a good sign for the future) as hordes of them were attacking both the spoon and the bait as I reeled it in, only turning away as they got within five or six feet of me. After upping my hook size to a 1/0 to avoid hooking the tiny fish I continued on for another hour, managing a slightly more respectable specimen of about 20cm just before the die-hard swimmers began disturbing the fish and it was time to move on.

Hoping for something a little bit better I headed for another spot further upriver where I could see a few small fish hitting the surface as I arrived. I tried surface lure for an hour or two with no success whatsoever (they don't seem to do well here) but after changing over to a spoon baited with a 3 inch Eddystone Eel I eventually managed two more Bass, one of about 25cm and another of 34cm before her ladyship finally ordered me home at the top of the tide for my dinner.

Fishing Report: 7th August 07 - Brightlingsea

I thought I would take a stab at the local Mullet population with a baited spoon (and Ragworm) as the tides were pushing into the evening a bit (7pm high). I had hoped the front would be a bit quieter with a later tide, which it was, but not quiet enough for the Mullet. I arrived at the promenade at about 3pm to find plenty of people around waiting for the water to get to "swimming depth" and if there were any Mullet around they were going to be keeping their heads well and truly down.

The benefit of the baited spoon is however that if the Mullet won't play then you can catch Schoolies the same way, so despite the lack of Mullet showing I thought I would carry on in the hope of a Schoolie or two and began working my way around the promenade, spinning as I went. It wasn't long before the first Bass showed up, only about 10cm long but enough to keep my spirits up and persuade me to continue. I caught another of about 20 cm at the same spot about 10 minutes later but by now the paddlers had really move in and I decided it was getting a bit too crowded. Undaunted, a last move further upriver to use up the last hour of the outing proved to be worthwhile and by the time I packed up I'd added a further three Bass to my tally, two of about 20cm and one annoying close to being sizable at 34cm.

All in all, a pleasant way to spend a few hours in the sunshine.

Fishing Report: 4th August 07 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

Normally at this time of the year I spend a lot of time fishing upriver marks simply to avoid the beach goers that suddenly appear when sunshine coincides with school holidays, but when the tides reach a certain height most of these upriver hideaways become either un-fishable or unsafe to fish without a boat. On these tides if I want to fish I just have to bite the bullet and lose some sleep! This was one of those occasions, which saw me arrive at the Tower to begin fishing at 2am. The tide was at around 4:30am and was big enough to swamp the saltings further upriver but I was hoping the bigger tide would perhaps bring some sizable Bass into the river.

The weather was clear with a stiff 10 - 15mph SW breeze which you could usually expect to put some colour in the water, however, the water was pretty clear with only small amounts of weed which is unusual for the river at this time of the year and I guessed that the fishing was not going to be red hot; I wasn't wrong. Despite fishing large Ragworm and Lugworm baits out at varying ranges throughout the tide I got only two bites, the first on the last hour of the flood which turned out to be a 33 cm Bass and the second about an hour and a half on the ebb, which turned out to be the first fish's twin. Both fish fell to Ragworm and both naturally went back.

As the tide dropped off at about 7am it became obvious that fishing was over for another session and I headed home for a sleep asking myself (yet again) why I do this. Knackered is an understatement!

Fishing Report: 30th July 07 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

I'd had a cracking Saturday evening digging King Ragworm which had left my bait tanks a bit overloaded. With so much bait in them they can become a bit hard work to maintain so I decided to leave a comfortable quantity stored in my tank for the following couple of weeks and used the excess as an excuse for an impromptu session after the local Bass. The tides were quite decent and so armed with a pound and a half of monster worms I headed down to the Tower at about 10pm intending to fish over the 1am tide. The Weatherman had forecast a fairly stiff breeze but, as it turned out, most of the session was pretty much calm and with a clear sky it was a rather pleasant evening, however despite the big tides and the strong winds during the week, the water was a bit too clear for my liking.

To cut a long story short despite banging out huge Ragworm baits for about five hours (and using the whole pound and a half of rag) I ended the night with two undersized Bass; one of 33cm and one of 32cm. I also dropped an Eel of about a pound as it came to the surface on my last cast but by that time of the morning, 4am, not having to unhook it and get covered in slime was actually a relief.

Undeterred, after a few hours kip and something to eat I headed back for the Monday daytime tide to do a bit of spinning, eager not to waste a decent day off work. I spent a couple of hours over the top of the tide covering the sea defence area with a Bass Bandit but unfortunately if there were any fish there the disturbance from the holiday makers was putting them off the feed. A lot of hard work for two undersized fish!

Fishing Report: 25th July 07 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

I met Stuart at the Promenade Car Park at about 6 pm to fish over a mid-week 9.20 pm tide. The previous night had been a glorious summer evening but the weather had turned for the worse and although for the most part the rain held off, with the stiff breeze and very choppy water, it actually felt more like we were fishing in October rather than late July.

The wind had obviously stirred things up a bit, there was plenty of colour in the water and although the fishing wasn't exciting it was steady with a relaxed trickle of fish coming out throughout the tide, although nothing worth taking home. By the end of the session I had managed five Eels between 8 and 12 oz; Two of them to Peeler crab and the rest to Ragworm. While I seemed to have the franchise on the Eel fishing, Stuart seemed to have the better luck and accounted for three or four small Schoolies including one which has to rate as the smallest I've ever seen take a hook. Not content with hogging all the Bass of the night, late on in the tide he also managed a small Sole. The Sole was nice to see as not many seem to come out of the river and although it looked sizable Stuart decided to put it back.

Biggest downer of the night was for Stuart; as he dropped me off at home at about 11:30 pm he realised the Kebab shop had shut and his favourite supper was off the menu which then meant he had to do a desperate dash to Colchester to find one that was open.

Fishing Report: 19th July 07 - Walton Pier, Essex

I met Paul at Walton Pier at about midday for my first session on the place for years. I'm not a great fan of pier fishing, not least because of the tackle snags that seem to predominate around these places, but today the sun was shining, the wind was light and it really was rather nice to be out there on such a cracking summers day.

We started off fishing a few hours of the flood at the right hand side end of the pier. Some anglers on the other side of the pier had been catching small Whiting and Pouting all morning apparently and as we appeared they had just pulled out a Ballan Wrasse of about 1lb so we were hopeful that there would be at least some small stuff to keep us busy. After having both lost our first set of gear to a nasty snag about fifty yards out we set about trying to catch something but things seemed to be extremely slow and the only action we saw was when I reeled in a hooked crab that had taken my bait which was being closely followed by a Bass of what looked like 3-4lbs.

As high tide approached at about 4pm we decided to move down nearer the entrance to fish with Paul's father-in-law, a pier regular. At this spot the odd Schoolie had been coming out all day and over the next few hours Paul managed two undersized Schoolies, one on Ragworm and the other foul-hooked on Lugworm. Lady luck was still not with me and although I fished hard until 7pm I didn't even get another bite!

Fishing Report: 17th July 07 - River Colne, Essex

My original intention had been to fish a secret mark that has produced some good Bass in the past but unfortunately the 7 mph winds that the dear old Beeb had forecast turned out to be nearer 20 mph, so the spot I had originally chosen to fish was way too risky. High tides and high winds make this particular spot uncomfortable at the very least but if you get it really wrong, especially in the dark, you could be in severe danger and no fish is worth losing your life over.

I started my session at 11.30pm after deciding to fish a much more sheltered part of the local promenade during the flood with a single rod. Even in the quieter spot it was still hard work fishing and although I had a few small bites, by high tide at 2:45am, the only thing I had to show for all that effort was an Eel of about 3/4lb which took Ragworm. At the top of the tide I was just considering whether to call it a night and head for home when the wind suddenly dropped. My initial choice of venue would now be fishable and not wanting to miss the first 2 hours of the ebb (which often produces a better fish on a large tide here) I grabbed my gear and headed to the spot I had originally planned to fish.

The move proved to be a very prudent one and an hour later the fishing started. First customer on the ebb was an Eel of about a pound which fell to Black lug and then on the next cast a Bass of about 35 cm to came to a large Ragworm fished at range. Twenty minutes after the first Bass had showed up I managed another to the same bait which (at last) was sizable; nothing fantastic but a nice clean little fish of about 1 1/2lb. Two more Eels of about 1/2lb followed about an hour later and then, just as quickly as it had started, it was all over. Having enjoyed my best nights fishing for a little while I packed up at 6 am and headed home for a couple of hours of well earned kip.

Perhaps this is a sign that the river is finally getting back to normal as this session is pretty much how I would have expected for the Colne at this time of the year - we live in hope!

Fishing Report: 8th July 07 - St Osyth, Essex

I fished with Stuartdv and another friend from Seafishing.org, Paul (who uses the nickname Bread online) at the Bird Reserve end of St Osyth beach. High tide was about 6:30pm and we met up at the mark at about 4pm after the hike from the car park, about a mile away. The weather was rather pleasant with only a gentle breeze but although the sea was very calm there was still a bit of colour in the water which we hoped would encourage the fish to feed.

After a good bite on Ragworm early in the session I opened up the scoring with an undersized Schoolie and had hopes of a good afternoon. Unfortunately that was it for me for the day and I didn't have another bite for the rest of the session. Stuart fared much better, with two Eels and three undersized Schoolies, all coming to Ragworm on the Ebb tide and just to rub it in, Paul managed three undersized Schoolies which also came to Ragworm. It really wasn't my day so far as the fishing is concerned but that's showbiz, I suppose!

This beach can be plagued by Jet skis in the summer so we were pleased that they didn't put in an appearance to ruin the fishing. However, this section of the beach is well known as a nudist beach, frequented predominantly (it seems) by gay men. While I'm not a homophobe some of the goings-on behind us in the dunes were, to say the least, a bit off-putting. At one point I very nearly spannered a pendulum cast when the out-swing of the lead drew my attention to a "gentleman" dispensing what Stuart would call a "hand shandy" in full view of everybody on the beach. The obvious warning here is that this is probably not the place for junior anglers during the summer months!

Fishing Report: 29th June 07 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

Is it really June? It felt more like October. Anyway I fished a midnight tide at Bateman's Tower between 10pm and 2am on what I could normally have expected to be a good tide but something is really "out of sorts" with the river at the moment. The weed seems to be dying off really badly, rather than flourishing as it should be and despite plenty of tide run and good colour in the water the fishing is showing no signs of picking up at the moment. To cut a long story short I had one Eel of about 2lb which saved me from a blank and came to Ragworm on my last cast of the night. No other bites at all and the Eel was bright white! SPOOKY! The only other excitement of the night was when I managed to hit the pole that the local sailing types have planted in the way (as the racing start/finish line for their racing). I estimate that if I can hit it enough times with a 150 gram breakaway it will eventually disintegrate.

Unfortunately the lead made the ultimate sacrifice........

Fishing Report: 1st June 07 - Bateman's Tower, Brightlingsea

Luckily, as I maintain bait tanks in the summer I am normally able to grab a bit of fishing on the spur of the moment. Last night was just one of those occasions. As it was a reasonable tide and such a nice night I decided to fish a 2am tide on Bateman's Tower, starting about 11pm and fishing over the tide till 4am. The weather held for me and it was an enjoyable session though the end results were a bit of a let down. Despite trying hard for a decent Bass at the limit of my casting range my tally at the end of the session was 2 Eels to Peeler Crab (largest about 1lb) and a 12 oz Whiting (why are THEY still here?) both caught on the ebb, though I did miss an abortive run on the whole squid.

Peeler Crab baits were getting bite after bite, which judging by the slime on the traces was bootlace eels and I probably could have caught up to a dozen if I had taken off the 4/0 hook and used a No 2, but actually, who wants to catch bootlaces?

The only other observation of the night were that currently the water temperatures seem lower than usual which may be caused by the amount of freshwater draining into the river from the recent rains; certainly there is still a lot of rainwater to drain off the land if the small river in our cellar is anything to go by!

Fishing Report: 29th May 07 - River Colne, Essex

Well, with a week off work, I'd originally planned a week of fishing but the weather (and a dose of man-flu over the weekend) seemed to have made their best efforts to put paid to my plans. A last minute look at the weather forecast though spurred me into action last night and I headed off to an upriver mark in an attempt to salvage a bit of fishing time. With a 4.4 metre tide it was a bit borderline as to getting my feet wet at high tide, around about 11:30pm, but I escaped a wetting.....just. The fishing wasn't anything to shout about (this is getting a bit repetitive) and in the end I fished three hours of the flood and a couple of hours of the ebb for very little reward. One small Schoolie came to Ragworm and an Eel of about 12 oz fell to a Peeler Crab bait, both hooked on the flood. The lack of action wasn't a great surprise given the amount of rainwater that must be in the river at present - nice night though.....no rain for a change!

Fishing Report: 5th May 07 - River Colne, Essex

I had been chatting to a guy using the nickname of Stuartdv on the fishing forums at Seafishing.org on a fairly regular basis and had promised to take him fishing at an upriver mark on the Colne after the Schoolies that regularly inhabit the area. After a number of early season attempts at the Bass had ended in me failing to find any fish I was a bit doubtful that we would have any success but I agreed to meet Stuart for a session on a favourite spot.

This spot is a good walk from the nearest road and can be a bit dangerous to the uninitiated in the dark, particularly on a big tide, so we opted for a daytime (2.30pm) tide, hoping that it would give enough tide run to get the fish feeding without enough height to leave us paddling. It wasn't particularly a serious session, more an afternoon out and an opportunity to meet Stuart and introduce him to the joys of estuary fishing, something he said he had fancied trying for some time; luckily the river didn't disappoint.

There was a gentle southerly breeze but it was nothing to cause any discomfort and we spent a pleasant few hours enjoying the peace and quiet and chatting about fishing in general. Although neither of us saw anything like a sizable fish we managed four small Schoolies between us, with a very pleased Stuart landing three of them. The bulk of the fish came on the flood with all of them falling to Ragworm fished about 80 yards out; Lugworm, Squid and Peeler baits did not even attract a bite.

Later that week I fished the same spot on an evening tide hoping that maybe a sizable Bass would show up. Although I didn't manage a sizable one, I did manage a few more smaller fish up to about 1lb which all took Ragworm fished at medium range.

Fishing Report: 15th February 07 - Clacton-on-Sea

After my last couple of sessions I had decided to give things a rest for a while. I couldn't last too long without another try at the local Codling and ended up fishing the Gunfleet Sailing Club at Clacton-on-Sea over another latish tide. I fished from 9pm to 1.30am in rough seas with a strong onshore wind and large swells and although the flood tide was very quiet a good slack line bite to frozen Black Lugworm about two hours into the Ebb landed me a Codling of about 1.5 lbs. Nothing to shout about by normal standards but after the rubbish winter I've been having a very welcome change from Rockling and undersize Whiting. Casting into the wind and dealing with the large amounts of weed that were about on the ebb left me a bit knackered (I must be getting old!) but was nice to bring home my tea for a change.

Fishing Report: 13th January 07 - Clacton-on-Sea

The wind had been howling all day and the fishing reports coming in were not good but for some reason I decided to brave the wind and the spray to fish the Gunfleet Sailing Club at Clacton-on-Sea on a neap tide. I fished between the slipway and the pipeline with two rods from 5pm to 10pm with Black Lugworm and some very large Ragworm, hoping the wind had maybe livened up the fishing but the fish just weren't playing. I had only one bite all night which turned out to be a Rockling of about 8oz. So much for my Cod season!

Fishing Report: 5th / 6th January 07 - Clacton-on-Sea

Myself and an old fishing pal Trev fished The Chase at Clacton-on-Sea last night in an attempt to contact a Codling or two. High tide was about midnight and we fished from 0930 hrs to 0400 hrs using frozen Black Lugworm and Ragworm for bait. It was a nice night with a reasonable tide running and some colour in the water, however, the Cod did not show. I ended the night with 6 Whiting of various sizes and an undersize Codling, my companion Trev managed about 8 Whiting with most of our fish coming on the flood at medium range.