Hello. Another newbie

[Crazy Legs]

HI, I'm john Kettley. I've just joined the club and thought I'd introduce myself. I escaped from my home county of Essex 3 1\2 years ago and have been enjoying the delights of Poole since then. I spent many happy hours fishing the Thames estuary allbeit some of the muddiest water you could wish to fish in. Since relocating to Poole and now in Broadstone life seems to have got in the way of fishing but I'm keen to get going again now. I dont own a boat and would be happy to go as crew for anyone who has space. I am retired so my time is fairly free especially during the week. I've got a lot to learn as my fishing has always been in shallow water that pulled like a train at times, so would really appreciate any help as to the best methods and the appropriate tackle as the great majority of mine is for uptiding. Look forward to meeting more of you over the coming months.

[Stuie]

Welcome John - don't throw your uptiding gear away - it works well as a method in this area and often better than the usual downtiding. You may not need the large grappling leads so often though as the tides here are not as fierce as in the Thames estuary.

[Crazy Legs]

Brilliant. Thanks for that Stuie. At least I'll have half an idea about something.

[Stuie]

I ususlly use a 5 or 6oz breakaway lead with streamlined baits to sink quicker in the 60 or 80 foot depth.

[Steve S]

Hi John, welcome

 

It's all very different here, from very little flow and shallow in Poole and Christchurch harbours to 5knots round Hurst and 200ft deep and everything in between.

 

To fish it all you will need everything from 1/2oz to 2lb (which is often not enough but I usually move on at that point).  Your uptiding skills can be put to use, it works even in 120ft on the offshore banks with 12oz fixed wire jobbies.

 

[Crazy Legs]

Thanks Steve. This is going to be interesting for me. To find even 50 feet in the Thames you would be in the main shipping lanes and that would significantly lower your life expectancy!! 

 

[plaicemat]

You could be a very useful addition to the club, didn't you used to be a weather man? Welcome, keep an eye on the website for people wanting crew, as you're retired there will be mid week opportunities with the Old Gits Brigade.

 

Terry.

[Crazy Legs]

Hi Terry. 

Even had a song written! Unfortunately the same name is as far as it goes. As far as 'an old git', I fit that nicely. I'll keep my eye on the site as you suggest. 

[Jim]

Well done for getting on here to introduce yourself John.

Anyone wanting to place a face to him. He's been sitting over with me the last 2 meetings.

And the SWINE won first prize on the raffle both meetings.

Well !    What can I say !  

 

[Crazy Legs]

Thanks Jim. Its sitting next to you that did it. I was told that you relied on luck. Some of it must have rubbed off😂😂

[Maverick Martin]

Jim doesn't have any luck he just buys loads of tickets  the more you buy the luckier you get lol

[Colin-58]

Welcome to the club John, feel free to post some of your previous fishing experiences in the thames estuary, ie fish you caught /time of year/  species etc.  sure this would be very interesting for us to be informed.  slipway locations for us trailer boaters as well.  My main launch is baiter by the way.   Sure we will meet at some stage,   Fishing wise suggest you do what i do,  rely on a huge amount of luck,  listen to any of the many top anglers that will be able to advise you, you wont go wrong. i also try and think outside the box , o and try to cook bacon butties when fishing is slack, that always gets the line pulling!                                                                                                                                                                              Best wishes and Good Luck      farmer Colin.                                                                                                                                                      P.  S.      Less of the old gits please Terry, i do mid week jobbies because the fish feed better, well that or the wind is 45 m p h different!

[Crazy Legs]

Hi Colin

In response to your request for a heads up on fishing the Thames Estuary and Essex coast I'll cast my mind back  and see what I can come up with ,bearing in mind I've been here for nearly 4 years. There were a few slipways that are open to the public.The most westerley that I would deem to be OK is at two Tree Island which is council owned. It is in Leigh on Sea (Southend Borough) right behind Leigh Station. As I recall this one doesn't dry out but its a good 10 miles upstream of the general fishing areas. There are others to the east of that but they do dry out for a few hours. I never used slipways so I cannot talk from my own experiences. Once you are out there you can go for Plaice (near record ones taken off of East Beach in Shoeburyness during the winter times). Problem there is you will get plagued with flounders. Bit further east from there are the firing ranges. There are some superb Bass to be had there if you fish in the gutways especially at low tide when there is only a couple of feet under the boat and all around you are dried out sandbanks (3 miles out from the shoreline). The downside of that is you are on MoD ground and officially you have to ask permission but seeing as they never answered the radio you never got permission. If you were unlucky you could expect a visit from the bright orange hovercraft where the nice men on board, using good old fashioned english would leave you in no doubt as to how welcome you were! On one red hot summers day my mate took a 13lb Bass in no more than 2 feet of water. Like hitting the back of the London To Edinburgh Express. Only time I've ever seen a Bass tail walk. If you were brave enough to cross the shipping channel there were some good Roker to be had off of Margate. Go a little further out and north toward Clacton and that was a well know summer fishery for Tope and Doggies. Winter was mainly restricted to Cod, Whiting and Flatfish. You may or may not know that Essex has to longest coastline of any county due to all the small islands and inlets. There are three other main rivers available to you namely The Roach, The Crouch and the Blackwater. They all have slipways available either Public or some of the Yachtclubs are ameanable for a small consideration. The one thing to always bear in mind is that the east coast is flat and the sea is not deep therefore the majority, but not all, of the slips dry out. This in turn leads to some fast running tides. Do your research first and if the fishing gods are with you good days are possible. As far as bait goes I would always favour Rag, Lug and for the Bass it would be peeler crab. The Roker seemed to come better on fresh herring. Like all fishing a bait will work one day and they wont touch it the next! If you have a choice I would go for weekdays, especially during the warmer months as 'The Romford Navy' as they are locally known decend on the coast with their 3 metre inflatables with twin 150 Mercs on the back. Gives the local RNLI something to do! If you do venture to the east coast let me know how you get on.

[Jim]

Nice one John.

Very interesting.

[Colin-58]

Thanks John very interesting and informative, and  much appreciated,  think i would need to be with someone very experienced before i would consider going there though, it sounds like it could be a tad dangerous if you didnt know exactly what you were doing.Safety is paramount to me.                  Many thanks   Colin.

[Crazy Legs]

Hi Colin

A wise decision. Accidents among the local boating fraternity are rare but most of them have been there all their lives. I expect we'll meet at some point and I will expand further.