kentangler

You don't say how tall you are or your build. A 13ft rod may be too long for you. I am 6ft tall, powerful build, and find a 12ft rod ideal. OK, i have been fishing a long time, and 100yds is a lob for me, but the strange thing is, I don't think about it much, it come naturally with time.I just lay the rod back without the lead touching the ground, gently lower the lead while my arms are extended and around to the right a bit to slightly compress the rod, and a smooth poweful cast without a sudden jerk should result in a fair cast, certainly at least 80 yards for a novice. I would go for a softer rod, a stiff 13ft needs a lot more power and heavy lead to make it work. I can cast 4 or 5 ounces 150yds without too much effort.

I used the free version of AVG, and now I've upgraded to AVG 7. No problems at all, and daily updates . Used to use McaFee, but it gave me problems, although I do use McaFee firewall.

V21 are good, I just have dial up, not broadband. I get up to 46 hours per week, anytime, for £9.99 per month. Never had a problem with them at all. I surf quite a bit, and never get anywhere near 46 hours per week. Also, you get 5 e-mail address.

Why is everyone complaining about the wind? It's the best thing to improve beach fishing. This time of year the biggest Bass are about. The surf pounding for the last week will bring them almost up onto the beaches.It's the best chance you will get for years to catch a Bass of a lifetime. We don't often get prolonged strong winds onshore along the Kent and Sussex coast at this time of year, to coincide with autumn Bass.They will be in the surf after all the stuff that's been churned out of the seabed. I'm going early Monday morning, 5am, with enough bait to fish hard for ten hours. Big baits, big hooks. The sea is very coloured, so daytime will be OK. Get out there chaps, catch a big'n!

It's the smallest lesser spotted dog I have ever seen!

On the subject of weather, I use a very good weather site. It gives current conditions, but it's very handy if you are looking to go fishing later in the day. You can toggle between charts for wind direction, wind strengh, temperature, wave heights, weather, dew point,etc. It's www.xcweather.co.uk Have a look and tell me what you think.

Another artificial bait released in October is Smartbait Crab. They have been selling course baits for years I think, with great success. I ordered some and they are £2.50 per packet, enough for a session. They look like poo! Brown turds in fact. They are quite tough, and stay on well. Used them twice with no luck. However, other guys on those days using lug caught nothing! That's the trouble, you can never tell if it's the bait or no fish around for any bait.

Stoaty, have you ever fished the Birchington to Margate coast for Cod or during the winter. I don't know why, but I never have. They say it is good for Bass and Cod at low tide off the chalk ledges. It is a very rough coast, and looks good on paper!

I have heard this before, some anglers put it on lures! I have made some 'baits' out of felt. I am going to try impregnating them with different substances. Just cut bait size strips of felt, and soak them for a few days in something! It's worth a try. They never come off the hook. Could be a cheap bait if it works.

These big gales are a good. It's the first big blow of late Autumn that signals the winter species to move inshore, more than sea temperature I think.As soon as the sea is fishable, the Dover to Dungeness area should fish well. If the sea is very coloured,daytime fishing will be OK, usually a dead loss!

I have seen a diagram for a film cannister full of holes, fill with mashed herring, and you have a lot of natural fish oil drifting downtide. I tried it, but had a problem with stopping it sliding up over the stop under the force of casting. perhaps i was trying to cast it too far. Maybe it should be used for those gentle 70 yard lobs for close in fishing in rough weather for Cod.

They don't do crab flavoured bats though!

I buy my frozen bait online from Baitsdirect. Their Mackerel fillets impregnated with fish oil and then vacuum packed, are very good for whiting. If Whiting are about, I get a bite seconds after the bait has settled. Their other blast frozen baits are also very good, particularly the mussels and sandeels.

Just a query Stoaty, do you think there are more Codling in the Medway than around the South Kent coast?

Can I have my pension paid in lugworms?

I fished Hythe beach last week and a chap there said he fished near the rocks at the other end of Sandgate, where the garage is, and another angler spinning the rocks shouted to him for a net. The lucky bugger had a ten pound Bass! If you are fishing the Warren, spin either side of low tide for Bass. Autumn is when the biguns are about. Last year a chap had a 16 pounder early morning. You have to fish either at dawn or dusk for decent Bass. No good during daytime.

Blimy, I must get some new glasses! Just read my post, and it's full of errors. I put 'baots' for baits!!!

I think my 'bat' should read 'bait'. You never know, bat could be good!

Ther is a new crab 'flavour' bat from Smartbait, it only came out in October. Their baots for course anglers are supposed to be very good. I ordered 8 packets, and only 7 arrived. I e-mailed them, and a couple of days later the missing packet arrived with a tub of 'peeler crab oil'. They told me to add it to give my bait extra scent. I have tired the bait in two trips, and caught nothing. However, other chaps were using lug and caught nothing! Probably nothing there then! They are interested in my results, and claim that anglers up north have have good catches on the stuff. It looks like poo by the way! It is quite durable, and clean to use.

You will find that tackle shops 'talk up' catches to keep you interested, and sell bait. I would be very surprised to see 'Cod' there. Maybe tiny Codling later on if the weather turns cold, and we get some rough seas. Cod are very scarce aroung the Kent coast now, despite the 'reports' from tackle dealers and bait shops.