23rd July 2001
REPORT FOR THE HUMBER TO THE THAMES
I am going to start this report with a couple of short stories onthe often-bad mouthed charter boat skippers. How many times do youhear of that xyz skipper is rubbish, or sat in the cabin all day,etc?
Both skippers in the following stories will remain nameless, thefirst took a party to a bass mark with the sand bar at the back ofthe boat to trot downstream for them, two anglers remained fixed thatyou must uptide for bass, even when catching nothing, whilst everyoneelse caught bass. The skipper told them what to do, they refused,result, they went home virtually fishless.
Another skipper had a so called good match angler out with him,they were targeting smoothounds, on that day hermit crabs was theonly bait that was catching fish, when advised by the skipper to usethem instead of peeler crabs, the answer was no I will only usecrabs, so he to went home fishless, so much for being a match anglerand always listening to advice to improve yourself, some people justwill not listen.
The moral is if a skipper is out regularly and knows his arealisten to his advice and knowledge, you pay enough for it so useit.
Southend beaches have fished very slowly over the last few weekswith only the odd flounder during the day and small bass and a feweels at night to crab baits.
Southend boats have reported very little, however, the weed hadbeen really bad over the past few weeks, making fishing verydifficult at times, although there are bass and smoothound to behad.
Canvey, Tilbury, Stanford and Grays also not too exciting with afew eels, small bass and flounders. The river Crouch, where fishinghas improved form last week, with more smoothounds around with theLady Lucy taking over 20 fish. Another Crouch boat was reported tohave landed a 10lb 7oz bass, other reports of plenty of small bassalso being landed. At Wallasea talking to Dave Godwin, he tells methat at the weekend the water temp was 20C, this I am reliably told,is the same temperature in Portugal when the marlin move inshore tofeed, also it appears that the seals have moved offshore, possible tofeed of the mackerel shoals just outside the river. Oh by the waythere are plenty of fish showing on the sounders but are not feedingat the moment.
John Rawle’s boat the Kingfisher took over 100 bass the other day,with about 1 in 4 sizeable, however most of the fish were put back,best bait for these fine fish is ragworm. The Dengie flats arefishing for eels on lugworm on big tides. From the outside markssmoothounds are still being taken, with Chris Flitten taking an 17lbfish and Pete Battersby taking 5 fish to 15lb,and Peter Gander fromSouthend taking fish of 18lb 8oz, 14lb 8oz, 13lb 8oz, and 12lb 1/2ozin one day. To get amongst the fish with Penn sponsored John ring himon 01621 776445.
Terry Batt has also found good catches of smoothounds with hisparties taking up to 22 fish a day, with Terry himself taking thebiggest fish of 16lb 4oz. A trip to Grays proved successful for JohnBrooks, he went home with a 5lb bass and an eel of almost 2lb onragworm. Small bass seem to be the mainstay for Richard Holgate fromhis patch at Walton but again with no better ones in sight, thechance of some soles from the beach by Walton pier in the evening.The pier is also producing a few soles, eels and pouting as well asthe small bass. However Walton pier owner Nigel Goss fished aboardhis private boat with his friend and landed 20 smoothounds to 14lband a few roker. Use rag and crab baits for the most success, topoint you in the right direction ring Richard on 01255 675680.
Lawrence, the outgoing boss at Castaways has little to brightenthings up with less bass for the anglers here, so be prepared to workfor them. 01394 278316 is the number to wish him well and speak tothe new guy. Sitting in the dock of the bay, well Ipswich docks isnot the most romantic place about, but it will catch you plenty ofmullet, ask him nicely and Dave Brown may even show you how to, catchmullet that is, on 01473 741393. Sizewell and East Lane are the marksto head for, if you want several soles, the Stour Estuary andBawsdley for plenty of bass. Stuart Smalley from Aldeburgh Tackle,who I am sure will not be seen very often in Ipswich docks, whodefinitely goes to more romantic places, like the beaches atAldeburgh to catch small bass and soles, even better bass from theriver there. While the inshore boats are taking up to 20 roker asession plus some smoothounds, you may want to venture out there.Ring him on 01728 454030 for more news.
Normally Doug at tackle and Tide is very upbeat about fishing hereat Yarmouth but not this week, fishing appears to have reached a lowat the moment. His best tip is head for the river at Southwold for agood bass. If you know of anything better let him know on 01493852221. Cromer pier for bass to 6lb on sand eels, Trimmingham forsmall bass, while Waxham and Sea Palling has only flounders, soMartin at Cromer Sports tells me on 01263 513676. Underneath thearches, no the Humber bridge for some soles, the estuary for eels andflounders, here crab is sorting out the best fish. The Holdernesscoast is best at night for flounders and the odd bass. Chapel StLeonard’s at Trunch Lane Paul Mandel took on crab 7 smoothounds to18lb 2oz. Hilston’s best bait is squid, crab and squid for flounders,small bass and eels.
The Southend AAS held their annual pier open match on the pier atSouthend on Sunday 24th June. A smaller than expected number ofanglers fished, only 63, this affected the final payout. One of themain reasons was possible the lack of fish down the stem of the pier,due to the jelly fish and weed. B Axcell finally won with 1lb 101/2oz for a total of 450 pounds, in second place was the man on theroll Craig Gore with 1lb 5 1/2oz including the heaviest round fish aneel of 15 1/2oz, and section winner for a total of 455 pounds. GordonMcCain came in third place with 1lb 4 1/2oz, he with Barry Tilson wonthe pairs event. R Baxter got the heaviest flat at 1lb 2oz flounder.The junior prize was won by Lewis Clark. The section results were:
Section A. Craig Gore, G McCain, D Tanner
Section B. B Axcell, G Bolton, P Saunders.
The Crouch open boat match on Sunday, with 30 anglers taking part.The match won by Ian Curtis on the Predator, Ken Wayman and Mark Keycame in second and third place on the Lady Lucy.
Fifteen people fished the Bait and Tackles match at Grays onSunday 1st July. The winner was Ian Reynolds with 1 eel and 3flounders for 3lb 9oz beating easily Alan Gaskin into second placewith 1lb 12 3/4oz. In third place was Kent’s Ray Jeffries with 1lb 121/2oz, this was an eel which also got him the heaviest fish. I wouldalso like to add that this will possible be the last little match fora while due to the stupidity and whinging attitude of match anglers.15 grown adults moaning and groaning over everything to do with thematch and Kevin who was running the match for me. They shouted athim, and told him how to run a well established set up. Why is itthat match anglers always think they know best and always moan ateverything until they get there own way. No wonder fishing is a dyingsport, if any member of the public was there is would have beenembarrassing for the sport.
The SAAS club fished Westcliff beach on the 29th June. 12 anglersbraved lots of weed and multitudes of little bass. The only sizeablefish caught was by Alan Barker with a 12oz flounder.
Four anglers fished the SAAS club match on 8th July over 7 hoursfor only 4 flounders and 2 eels. The winner was Geoff Bowman with 1lb1/4oz, in a very hard fought match, beating Kevin Colby into secondplace for 11oz; in third was Gus Summers with 8 1/2oz.
