PaddyX21

Cheers Leon - I'll check that out

Do you leave it as there's nothing there Leon? Or as its pretty difficult until the water warms? I don't mind blanking a few sessions if I know that there is stuff there to catch - infact I relish the challenge of it! But if there's nothing there to catch then please save me from wasting my time!! When you go fishing for the Rays then could you drop me a line? - I'd like to go along and get the experience with someone who knows what they are doing! Thanks for the reply anyway P

Afternoon all, My sea fishing experience is next to nothing, I've only targeted the Mullet and some Bass in the summer months. What fish am I going to find in the river / estuary this time of year? What baits should I be using? Are there any especially good tatics I should be using? Yesterday evening / night I tried a two hook rig, with black lug on the bottom and squid mid water. I had two bites the whole evening, neither connecting with a fish. So there must be something there but I have no idea what or how best to catch it! Any / all help and advice appreciated Cheers P

I noticed that myself, went down to watch the tide come in there Thursday, I certainly couldn't see any signs and it was perfect conditions. That's pub talk for you!! Incidentally I measured the mud temp on Friday afternoon just as the tide was about to cover it - 13.0°C. Water is still mid 7°C's atm P

Phones do survive falling in the loo etc.. as long as you dry them out completely before trying to turn them back on But salt water, for a week -- come on!

Natural place for it really, don't know why I didn't find it....

Just checking if this is going ahead, and if anyones going? Started to see the first signs of lip marks around the marina, and on the Sun Pier supports, but haven't physically seen any fish yet. Talking to a friend (down the pub obviously, lol!) there are a few fish around at Gillingham Pier, and even someone fishing for them, but nothing doing as of yet. Water temp today 7.2°C at high water, but around 8°C when first coming in over the mud flats. If it was a sunny day I think we could already be seing 10°C with the heat the mud soaks up. Cheers P

I'm interested aswell

PB now 4lb 12oz caught from River Medway, Strood Civic centre this morning!

King Carp Keeper (over minimum size)

I got tangled in someone elses lost tackle when plumming the depth at Monk Lakes once - only his lost tackle had a 3lb carp on the end! Only time I've caught a fish with neither hook nor bait!

Are we fairly sure that the only fish that are effected by this issue are Mackerel? I wouldn't want to unwittingly harm any fish that I catch

patrick.noble@freeuk.com

I have always been a coarse fisherman, right from the first cast as a nipper. I have now bought a houseboat on the tidal river Medway at Borstal, Kent. Now I have had a go at catching with mixed success, although I would say I'm doing alright with the mullet but that is a specialisation What are some good rigs for this kind of estuary fishing? What species can I expect, and which of them are seasonal? I have caught Mullet to 6lb (with 9lb being common enough in the marina), Bass to around a pound (with 6-7lb caught on the marina) and an Eel of around ½lb Which baits are best and are they seasonal aswell? How do you unhook an Eel? - I ended up cutting the hooklength at the hook and letting it go with hook still attached. I enjoyed catching the Bass, how would I specialise in catching them? I had alot of fish just tagging the end of the rag worm, but not properly taking the bait(and hook), is this common? Is it a sign of small fish or wary fish? How big / small a bait should I be using? I usually use as small a bait as is sensible for the hook, as I don't mind catching smaller fish as long as it isn't spooking the larger ones. I'm sure I'll think of other things aswell, but any general advice for the kind of fishing I'll be doing would be greatly appreciated. Cheers P

Had one yesterday that I had to unhook in the water as it wouldn't fit in the net! A problem that most anglers wouldn't complain about i know, but it is frustraing to catch a fish and not be able to land it. Thank christ for barbless hooks! PB would have been that fish @ 6½lb ± ½lb But currently at 4½lb ± ½lb Off to get my proper carp size landing net back from the old man....

KFC Bucket is extremely plentiful in the Medway - mainly floating past with the rest of the indeterminate items that don't bear closer examination.....

I know it as 'Babbing' for eels

Followed up with a smaller one today; Odd shape to it - well muscled chunky fish upto the rear two fins (ventral + ????) then a thin spindly tail, which incidentally isn't under the tape measure it just stopped there, the bottom fan being missing. Gave very little 'fight' as was unable to pull all that hard, but I still made sure it was properly tired before netting it - didn't really want it flapping about and hurting itself. Slightly at odds with my only other capture; Tried a spot of night fishing for the Mullet last night aswell, and although I didn't land one, they were definately feeding, and I did get a run off something that broke my hooklength They were 'snatching' at the food offerings much more than during the day, which gave very positive bites when they came. I think I'll try that again soon! Also talking to some of the other boat owners who have been at the marina years, they do get a few mullet around the 9lb mark on a regular basis, so at least i know they are there! Whether they come on the tides when i'm fishng or not is another thing! P

Thanks all - much appreciated! Matt - yeah, I'm sure a trip to the Civic centre could be arranged, would be nice to have someone to fish with actually. P

Thanks Phil, Have spent many an enjoyable afternoon at work reading your online fishing diary (assuming it's you!!) - indeed it's the first thing I came across when searching for what I could expect to catch in the Medway! Would be fair to say it's what got me interested, so if that's not a success, I don't know what is Interestingly(or not if Mullet aren't your thing!) the fish didn't move a muscle once out of the water, not one twitch or wriggle - not all all what I was lead to believe, also it didn't leave even one scale in the net, but it certainly had more than its fair helping of slime, was like a tench! P

Made my first attempt at Mullet fishing yesterday, is probably just aswell i'm a patient guy! Venue was easy as I live on a houseboat, on the River Medway, just where the M2 Motorway bridge crosses it (Borstal) I fished from just prior to hightide and then most of the retreating tide (11am til ~5pm, high at 11:45) I have never seen any sign of mullet around here, but know they appear all the time just downstream at the Strood / Rochester bridge so thought it worth a go. Also I had never seen any lip marks etc previously. I started on a ledger rig for a while with no luck, or any signs. Moved onto a float rig and continued with no even a hint of life, with notable exception of two small jellyfish! Anyway, bored by this stage I was sitting on the end of the boat with my feet dangling inches above the water, mesmorised by the float in that trance familiar to most anglers, when out from under the pontoon arrive a large mullet (5lb+?) scoots up to the boat right under my feet, helps itself to one of the floating bits of bread caught in the eddy, and promptly continues upstream, feeding at the surface. Needless to say that stirred me somewhat, and I move the float well down the line to reduce depth and came in much closer to the boat. While I was doing this I heard a sound like a whale breaching, and same said mullet was back making a highspeed pass along the pontoon floats, leaving lipmarks and making the sound. As I watched him continue downstream I became aware of sucking around my feet, and then virtually handfed an even larger mullet with no fear at all with free offerings! Unable to pass up the chance I then fed him my hookbait - struck and pulled it straight out of his mouth! Well either he didn't notice or didn't care, as I repeated this 3 times before finally getting the hook to set in his lip. He acted bewildered for a while and then shot off downstream and just ripped line off the spool; a run 40 - 50ft before I could stop him. After a fight that seemed to last hours (probably only 10-15mins) he was tired and came towards me, and then promptly threw the hook and went on his merry way! A slight sense of humor failure may have occured at this point It was at least another 30mins before the Mullet returned, this time in force, 3 or 4 nice fish feeding on the bread in the eddy. At this point I was pretty much freelining my bait in with the rest of the offerings. This is the point at which I hooked another nice fish, although smaller than the previous - very strong fight but without the long distance runs. Whilst this fight was going on I got the missus to take pictures the the other mullet who were still feeding completely un-spooked by the fish fighting only yards away - see below; The fight was quite long again but eventually I was rewarded with my very first mullet; Very pleased would be an understatement! I had no scales at all with me unfortunately, so if anyone is especially good with mullet (gu)estimation I'd be interested Working back from the photo, the distance across my fingers is ~3", and this makes the fish a little over 21" snout to fork. The mullet were around for the next couple of hours or so but much more easily spooked. I more than once watched a 2½lb mullet swim right upto the hookbait, even open it's mouth ready and then turn away at the very last second, perhaps spotting the hook, or some unnatural movement of the bait. Still thought I'd share it Tight lines Patrick

Excellent, thanks for the reply. I shall see you there then! P

Hi guys - just wanted to see if there was going to be a meeting this week, as i'm interested in coming along. I'm a course angler, but having just moved into a houseboat on the Medway this topic has fired my interests!! Kind regards Patrick