After getting three mullet already I just had to have a dabble down the docks on the way home even if once again it was windy and not in a favourable direction. The sort of wind I would baulk at were I considering a day trip here, however all I wanted for today was to get a few small fish, if anything bigger turned up that would just be a bonus. More than anything I just hoped the docks would be alive with small fish and continue to be a great nursery for the future.
On arrival it was it's usual smelly self, the tang of sewage can often hit the nasal passages in certain areas here, some suggest it's boats being naughty with their disposal of waste whereas others think there is a hidden outlet pipe. Either way it may perversely do the fish a favour as you wouldn't want to eat something from here, although some do.
The spot I thought of trying initially had a mullet angler out on the cage feeder who was not getting any bites so I figured I would best try the other end. So I set up in an area I call Dirty Corner - I am really selling this place aren't I? It's basically a little bay where the wind deposits all manner of rubbish most of which is from the working docks but also includes carrier bags and plastic bottles.
Here I fed some bread as per usual and small fish hit it instantly, the wind was down and across so a heavy waggler was the order for today, it didn't take long before it was a bite a chuck, the bites were hard to hit but I still managed five small bass before a coffee break, some people find them a nuisance but I love the little things, like perch on steroids they are a lot of fun and I would try lighter but know I'd get owned if any of their bigger brethren showed up.
It was ever so much work in the chop so I moved further up slightly where I could sit on the bank, being lower negated the wind a touch and I was soon into a rhythm, feeding bread and casting into it as one would do with maggots, knocking out more bass until something felt a little different, I could see in the water it was a deeper looking fish and soon lifted out my first ever sea bream - a small gilt head. I was over the moon with this cracking little fish.
Happily catching more bass I was optimistic of drawing in a larger bass or even some mullet but was already content with the bream, to get a new species really topped the trip, little did I know that was just the start of the fun that the docks had to offer today. It wasn't long before another fish felt a bit different and sure enough I was into a mullet, although there was to be no clutch screaming on this one as you can imagine.
I kind of think I may be the first person to catch these little fish and my coarse approach with relatively light line, small hooks and regular feeding was really working well. It was hard to get through the bass but to get a few other species was awesome.
I then decided to whack a cast out as far downwind as I could to try to get through the silver hordes of small fish. You know when things are going well when punts like that work so as I hit into something larger I couldn't get to my feet quick enough almost falling in in the process. There were a lot of rocks in play and I was certain it was a better bass, so much so that I commented on it being even stronger than mullet after it's fourth of fifth turn at taking line. I played it hard and it went hard until a mullet came into view, far larger than any I have had from these docks, so much for it being a bass but I would happily take that on a water where I've always somehow contrived to miss out on better mullet, my jinxed venue was beaten with a cracker.
What a great day I was having, there was still time for more small bass and even another little mullet similar to the first, my missus said she thought I would get three today as I had one and then two the previous days, that's not usually how it works and to be fair she knows all too well not to say anything like that out loud, however her prophecy came true even If I would never have had that optimism. Ok two of the mullet today were really tiny but that's even better, I came to get some small fish and that's a great sign for the future.
There was even time for another gilthead bream, once again on the bread, it left me wondering if all the sea species would take bread if there was enough of it going in as feed. Also these gilt heads are not supposed to be this far east so it does go to show nothing is impossible.
By now the sun was out and getting lower, it felt like a lovely evening even if it was still only late afternoon, a second mullet angler stopped by for a chat, also in The Mullet Club and a smashing bloke like the first, he helped I.D. the gilt heads for me which I later got confirmed online. Both of them thought I had done well over the three trips to catch what I had, even if I knew that already it was nice of them to say.
I also had a sand smelt on bread and tried prawn down against the dock wall for a wrasse at the end, falling short on that one as the wind got a bit colder and dark clouds loomed, you can't win them all but I still managed a blenny to take the total to five species for the day.
So that was that for the holiday, three trips in total all of which will live in the memory, even getting some really bad sausage and chips from what used to be a good chippy didn't dampen the spirits, nor did the rainy drive home as the skies opened and the weather turned foul.
It had previously stayed dry, was quite warm and often sunny over the three days away, sure it was really windy but it blew a few fish my way. I may need to find a better chippy for next time but at least I know where the fish are.
