With the barmy summer conditions we have been having lately most of my time has been taken up with enjoying life with the family. With the only time that most of the fishing crew were free being the Sunday night messages were pinged about amongst us, it was decided that with the weather being the way it was there was only one thing for it.. a social after the sole.

 

With a quick hit on the Maddies in the afternoon I had my bait ready, the sun was still scorchingly hot and with the winds predicted to be none existent by the coast conditions were looking spot on. The clock was showing 6:30pm as I pulled into the co-op car park at Felixstowe, standing by their cars both grinning from ear to ear were Ste and Matty Andrews, talk of course quickly turned to fishing and what we may see tonight. Felixstowe was rapidly emptying out, daylight time was ticking away and the sun worshippers of Suffolk had all had their fair share of vitamin D for the day and were heading home to nurse their sun burn and get some sleep. Not us though we parked up in Golf Road car park and made our way down the steps to the prom, we had now also been met by Del boy Derek Wilson and John, with Scott Lewin and he’s partner Jo also on the way it was looking to be a mega banter filled night. These in my eyes are some of the best sessions, the ones where everybody gets together and just has a chilled out night on the beach and any fish are just a bonus.

 

 

The venue of Golf Road was always one of my favourite marks at Felixstowe, in the winter it can produce some great cod fishing due to the rough ground that starts 70 – 80 yards out but it also holds in the summer Corkwing wrasse, rays and sole. It is a really easy mark to get to with a free after 6pm car park on the top of a cliff, then its just down some concrete steps and onto the prom which has various access points to the beach which is shingle above the high tide line making way to a sandy bottom inside the groynes.

 

 

Wandering along the prom I picked my bay, with the water looking clear and calm I chose one with a rock groyne, this was primarily because during the day the beautiful Corkwing wrasse dart in and out of these rocks and by fishing superlight tactics you can often snare one as the tide drops off. Rod wise tonight I was using the light Grauvell Vertix Sparta paired up with the Vertix Eclipse reel, om the business end I was using 6lb snoods with size 6 hooks loaded with maddies. Another little addition to my arsenal tonight was the Pro Rigs Sea Slime bait additive in SM2 flavour, I was always fairly sceptical of these additives in the past but since trying it out I have to admit I actually  feel it can make a difference, with fish coming to the slimed hook baits over standard baits on a lot of occasions I’ve been using it.

 

With baits in the water it soon became apparent the school bass were out in force with everybody tallying them up and when Ste pulled a sole out of the bag in broad daylight confidence was high we may see one or two more as the night drew on. I was chatting to Matty A when my tip smashed round and kept going, the weight was only on for a few seconds and the snood parted, our guess was that it was wrasse of some description with the violence of the bite but we will never know. The wind picked up for a brief while blowing onshore and giving us a welcome break from the muggy close night in which we were fishing, this cool breeze was short lived though and soon the conditions were back to flat calm with out a breath of wind.

 

 

High tide came and went with only little silver bullets showing but with the conditions the way they were it was just too perfect not to see another sole or two. With a slight quiver the tip of my rod showed something was interested and then with a couple of solid bangs followed by a nice slack bite it was fish on, through the braid I could feel something with a bit of weight trying it’s hardest to escape and then through the clear water a lovely sole appeared and was slid up the shingle. Being fairly thin for its size this little cracker was soon slipped back after being photographed and in the light of my head torch with a flick of its tail it was gone. With Scotty finding a little slip of a sole too that was it for the flatfish on the night, Derek pulled in a surprise lobster as well but apart from that it was just little schoolies hitting the baits.  To be honest though it’s great to see for the future stocks, hopefully all these little bass will make it to adult size and give us some great fishing in years to come.

 

 

With the clock hitting midnight it was time to call it a night for me, I had work the next day and really needed to get my head down, of course before I left discussions had turned to the next session and with the forecast looking good hopefully it will be another great social night on the Suffolk shoreline.