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An early morning, 3.30am, saw Cliff n me loading up his car, for another fishing adventure on the East Angliar Beaches. After checking the latest weather reports, Pakefield would be our venue today. Clear sky showing twinkling starlight with a South Westerly cool breeze blowing. The forcast was blue skys with westerlies, up to 18mph, then showers later in the afternoon. High Tide at 9am, Low 3.30pm. With these conditions we won't see much surf, waves up to18" lapping the beach.
After a 3.5hr journey we were ready for a welcome break, even though we did stop half way, at King's Lynn, for capuccino's.
Parking up opposite the Woodbine Cafe, Lowestoft, we were soon at the table, 2 large mugs of tea, and my treat for the day a full english breakfast. Talk at the table of what we could expect, Whiting would be the main species and hopefully some Cod, but any piscitorial thing would be welcome on the end of our lines.
Sam Hook tackle shop is only a short walk from the cafe, convenieant and always seem to have what you want. Bait today would be Rag, Lugworm and Squid + other end tackle components, which are always needed.
Arriving at the carpark we were suprised that only one angler was on the beach. The though was maybe its not the best time to fish, as we did expect to see a few fellow anglers out there on a Saturday morning.
It didn't take long to get onto the beach and soon Cliff had our base station set up. This was set so we could sit comfortable and watch for those expected knocks on our rods tips.
We did have to wait for the first knock, 8.30am we started and not until well over the top tide did the first knock come. Yes it was Cliff's rod that gave the nod, leaving it to develope, then striking. Fish On came Cliff's call, a whiting landed. His trophy photo taken and it was soon returned to fight another day. Again the waiting started, my rods looked like they were never going to move, only when I rebaited. There was crabs out there but some of the hooks did come back with washed out bait still intact.
Cliff was into a Pouting and then another Whiting, at this point my thought's were maybe a blanking session was on the cards. Time to pull in and rebait, was this a crab I could feel, no knocks were seen, or was I retrieving the usual amount of weed. Well a pleasent suprise a dab on the bottom hook. Photographed then returned, I was now a happy bunny.
3 n 2 hook flapper rigs, 2 hook plastic boom rigs with 1's, 1/0's & 2/0 hooks were used. There weren't a great flow on the sea today, 5oz gripper leads held the baited rigs in place. We both used 2 rods I had my Century G1 Surf coupled to a Abu Mag Elite, for distance casting. 15lb main line with tapered shockleader clear 16/70lb. When I say distance 70 to 80yds, if I'm lucky. My other rod is a Penn uptiding rod couple to a Penn 525GS. 25lb mainline straight through. This is lobbed 30/40yds for hopefully those shore feeding laviathans. I'm looking for a second beach caster, but with a smaller diameter butt than the Century G1. Having small hands I think this would benefit with my casting as I would be able to put my thumb well over the spool on a multiplier, giving me more grip.
Cliff was at it again, pulling in more Whiting and Pouting while I'm sitting taking a good rest watching the world go by. Not to long though, my rod did give a twitch, not a great knock but something was interested in my baited rigs. I left it and made sure I was not imagining movement, no nothing there so I decided to bring it in to refresh the washed out bait. Yes Yes I could feel something was there, could it be a crab or just some more weed. My anticipation was now running high as the weight did feel as if it was putting in some resistance. To the surface it rose, a bloody plastic bag on the top hook, Shite, but wait, on the bottom hook was a dab. This did ease the pain but Cliff was ready with the camera chuckling away to himself. Photo taken and the fish was soon back into the sea.
Cliff was the top angler on the day with a number of fish, Whiting, Pouting and Dabs. Where I was to catch 3 Dabs in total. Brillient as we both didn't blank. As the day passed we were joined on the beach by other anglers where a few Whiting were landed. 1 lucky angler about 100yds to the left of us pulled in a 4 to 5lb Cod, well done that man.
As the day drew on we were trouble with showers, at one point the end of a rainbow was out at sea in front of us. The odd walkers passing, asking how are luck was going, told us of the same sort of catches all along Pakefield beach. Well we were happy just to have had the chance to get out and being able to give it a go. Time to clear and tidy the area we had made our home for the day. A slow walk back to the car we were soon ready for that 3.5hr journey back home. To some it may sound like a long way, but when you start talking about what might of been and what your going to catch on the next fishing adventure, the time and distance soon passes.
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