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South East Happy With That

Stoker

Stoker

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Joined
Aug 23, 2021
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Location
Essex
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I’ve been itching to go and wet a line for the last few weeks and so finally got the chance to go late Sunday afternoon. Bradwell was the chosen venue as I like the solitude and very few dog walkers to bother me.
I ordered the bait. Only ragworm available. Wanted to get some herring but the wet fish counters have disappeared from the supermarkets and our nearest fishmonger doesn’t sell them. No mackerel either. Iceland wanted £5 for 4 fillets so I didn’t bother.
Beautiful full moon and clear sky but a tad parky. Didn’t hold out great hope. First cast thought I might have a ray on but it was double catch of fair sized doggies then nothing for about 2 hours. Next a regular stream of whiting from pin to about 27cm. At about 10pm a good bite different from the whiting saw a bass of about 2lb. Happy with that but returned. Next a pouting followed by more whiting then on the final cast on the last of the worms saw another type of bite. Felt a bit weightier. Top hook whiting bottom hook a lovely good sized sole. Very happy with that as it was a first for this venue and 5 species in one night was very satisfying. 👍🏼😎
 

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Stoker said:
I’ve been itching to go and wet a line for the last few weeks and so finally got the chance to go late Sunday afternoon. Bradwell was the chosen venue as I like the solitude and very few dog walkers to bother me.
I ordered the bait. Only ragworm available. Wanted to get some herring but the wet fish counters have disappeared from the supermarkets and our nearest fishmonger doesn’t sell them. No mackerel either. Iceland wanted £5 for 4 fillets so I didn’t bother.
Beautiful full moon and clear sky but a tad parky. Didn’t hold out great hope. First cast thought I might have a ray on but it was double catch of fair sized doggies then nothing for about 2 hours. Next a regular stream of whiting from pin to about 27cm. At about 10pm a good bite different from the whiting saw a bass of about 2lb. Happy with that but returned. Next a pouting followed by more whiting then on the final cast on the last of the worms saw another type of bite. Felt a bit weightier. Top hook whiting bottom hook a lovely good sized sole. Very happy with that as it was a first for this venue and 5 species in one night was very satisfying. 👍🏼😎
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Nice report Stoker! Sounds like a good session and a nice Sole to end the night. 🎣🎣👍👍
 
Nice fishing!

Are you any relation to Hugh Soker? Spent my childhood learning as much as I could from him, would spend all my school holidays on Seatown beach watching and learning....
 
squidword said:
Nice fishing!

Are you any relation to Hugh Soker? Spent my childhood learning as much as I could from him, would spend all my school holidays on Seatown beach watching and learning....
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No like you I was inspired by Hugh Stoker through his books. To me he could catch anything and at record sizes. Did you meet him?
 
Stoker said:
No like you I was inspired by Hugh Stoker through his books. To me he could catch anything and at record sizes. Did you meet him?
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Yes, I was lucky to meet him on a number of occasions. He was happy to share information, I was only a kid so can only really remember bits. On one occasion I watched him walk onto the beach at seatown, where the water runs into the sea and begin to feed maggots and fish using fresh water float gear, nothing unusual nowadays but back then I'd never seen this done before. He was soon into some lovely mullet. Since that day I've landed many a fine mullet to over 6lb+ from this beach, but very rarely do I see anyone target these fish.
 
Couldn’t help notice the mention of Hugh Stoker, a great angling writer back in the 60s and 70s. I have a decent collection of his regional sea angling county guides and a hardback by him, Sea Angling Hotspots, as well. As I will never use them again and also because they are quite hard to come by I was wondering if anyone would be interested in them for a reasonable price.
 
Bothrops said:
Couldn’t help notice the mention of Hugh Stoker, a great angling writer back in the 60s and 70s. I have a decent collection of his regional sea angling county guides and a hardback by him, Sea Angling Hotspots, as well. As I will never use them again and also because they are quite hard to come by I was wondering if anyone would be interested in them for a reasonable price.
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Depends on how reasonable?
 
Beach said:
Depends on how reasonable?
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I have 5 of the county guides, Hants/IOW, North Devon and Somerset, South Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. They have signs of age and are a bit tatty around the edges but the pages are intact and clear. They seldom appear on sites such as eBay and I have seen individual county guides priced up to £17 because of their rarity value. I would be prepared to sell the whole bundle, including his Sea Angling Hotspots hardback for £40 including postage. If you are interested I can send you photos so that you can see the condition.
 
Great report mate, lovely Sole as well. Nice one.. 🎣 🎣

Ian.
 
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