Stormtrooper
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2020
- Messages
- 292
- Reaction score
- 2,717
- Points
- 93
- Location
- Herne Bay
- Favourite Fishing
- Shore
Hi all,
So, last night (Saturday) my daughter had a friend over for a sleep over whilst my wife had 2 friends round for drinks… there was only one thing for me to do, hit the beach!!
I was going to try a LW spot on the N.Kent coast but the wind changed its mind and went from 4mph NW to 15mph NW, it put me right off! I’d already sourced 1/2lbs of good rag so where to go? I opted to head south and try a mark I’ve thought about before but never actually tried.
I got down there and set up, the tide was ebbing nicely but it was evident it wasn’t going to go as far as I’d hoped, this might be tricky!
I got both rods set up and loaded with rag, blasting one as far as I could whilst I plopped the other at about 50-60yds.
I wasn’t waiting too long for a bite on the closer rod and reeled in a fat ‘ol pouting. I considered baiting it up but it was a bit big and so got released to fight another day.
It’s a fairly snaggy mark but so far I was managing to avoid getting caught up. Shortly after and I got a big slack liner, this felt a better fish but I couldn’t work out what it was. It kept swimming straight at me so I concluded it was a bass but not so, a jet black strap conger slid up the beach at around the 2lbs mark. I didn’t weigh it because they’re disgusting things!!
As LW approached, I had a smaller pout but again decided to release it as I still had plenty of rag. As the tide turned however, the crabs came in force and the rag baits were being stripped in minutes. I persevered and shortly discovered they weren’t just any crabs but those horrible, vicious velvet swimmers!!
I opted to change one rod to a whole squid, since low I hadn’t had a sniff and was just losing too much bait. This did the trick as I had a whacking great bite which unfortunately came to nothing but I repeated and sent another squid out. Before long, the same again happened only this time I got it early and met great resistance. I could feel the fish thumping and pulling as I wound, I was pretty confident I was in to a good bass. I got it halfway in and inexplicably it spat the hook and was lost, I was gutted.
I tried again and had a much longer wait but sure enough, a third colossal bite slammed my rod tip over. I lifted in but snagged instantly. I tried for ages to free it, I could feel the fish pulling too. I gave it slack in the hope it would swim off and tried tugging from all angles. Eventually my leader broke just below the knot and it was lost.
This wasn’t my night.
I fished on until the rag ran out but as the tide pushed me back, I was getting snagged nearly every cast. In the end, I packed up about 3am. I’d lost two sets of gear and two leaders as well as 3 good fish.
Time to cut my losses and head home. Not the most successful venture but at least it was better than my last two north Kent attempts which only saw me land a schoolie, a dog and a pin whiting.
I really hope something decent comes along before the whiting hoards arrive!!
So, last night (Saturday) my daughter had a friend over for a sleep over whilst my wife had 2 friends round for drinks… there was only one thing for me to do, hit the beach!!
I was going to try a LW spot on the N.Kent coast but the wind changed its mind and went from 4mph NW to 15mph NW, it put me right off! I’d already sourced 1/2lbs of good rag so where to go? I opted to head south and try a mark I’ve thought about before but never actually tried.
I got down there and set up, the tide was ebbing nicely but it was evident it wasn’t going to go as far as I’d hoped, this might be tricky!
I got both rods set up and loaded with rag, blasting one as far as I could whilst I plopped the other at about 50-60yds.
I wasn’t waiting too long for a bite on the closer rod and reeled in a fat ‘ol pouting. I considered baiting it up but it was a bit big and so got released to fight another day.
It’s a fairly snaggy mark but so far I was managing to avoid getting caught up. Shortly after and I got a big slack liner, this felt a better fish but I couldn’t work out what it was. It kept swimming straight at me so I concluded it was a bass but not so, a jet black strap conger slid up the beach at around the 2lbs mark. I didn’t weigh it because they’re disgusting things!!
As LW approached, I had a smaller pout but again decided to release it as I still had plenty of rag. As the tide turned however, the crabs came in force and the rag baits were being stripped in minutes. I persevered and shortly discovered they weren’t just any crabs but those horrible, vicious velvet swimmers!!
I opted to change one rod to a whole squid, since low I hadn’t had a sniff and was just losing too much bait. This did the trick as I had a whacking great bite which unfortunately came to nothing but I repeated and sent another squid out. Before long, the same again happened only this time I got it early and met great resistance. I could feel the fish thumping and pulling as I wound, I was pretty confident I was in to a good bass. I got it halfway in and inexplicably it spat the hook and was lost, I was gutted.
I tried again and had a much longer wait but sure enough, a third colossal bite slammed my rod tip over. I lifted in but snagged instantly. I tried for ages to free it, I could feel the fish pulling too. I gave it slack in the hope it would swim off and tried tugging from all angles. Eventually my leader broke just below the knot and it was lost.
This wasn’t my night.
I fished on until the rag ran out but as the tide pushed me back, I was getting snagged nearly every cast. In the end, I packed up about 3am. I’d lost two sets of gear and two leaders as well as 3 good fish.
Time to cut my losses and head home. Not the most successful venture but at least it was better than my last two north Kent attempts which only saw me land a schoolie, a dog and a pin whiting.
I really hope something decent comes along before the whiting hoards arrive!!
