We have just experienced a superb heat wave up here in Suffolk, the thermometers nearly hit 40 celsius and with this exquisite, calm weather came lots of people hitting the local beaches. These hot summer days made the water flat calm and crystal clear, perfect for somebody wishing to paddle the day away in the cool seas but for the shore angler this was our worst nightmare. These conditions can spell disaster with fish heading offshore into deeper darker waters where they feel more safe, but as always you have to be in it to win it and with this in mind we headed to a local mark, not expecting much but we had to give it a go anyway.

 

With a week off work i have been spending a lot of time with the family, this weather not giving me much get up and go at all. I have been having more fun spending the nights in the garden with a nice whisky and cigar, but with Scotty messaging me suggesting a session locally I could not resist. With an 8pm high the ebb would be falling over sunset which was good for here, to be honest I was not expecting much, in these conditions I would much rather be heading south into deeper water but we just had to give it a go. I met Scotty in the car park at just gone 6pm and we made our way to the mark we would hit, wandering down the beach the shingle crunched beneath us, not a breath of wind could be felt and the temperature was still lovely and warm. Looking out to sea we could see how clear the water was, Scotty filled up a bait tub he had and this confirmed how clear it really was, the water looked like it had come straight from a tap, pure crystal clear sea water!

The plan of attack was set, once I had seen how clear and flat the water was I would normally be inclined to have scaled right down using super fine fluorocarbon snoods and tiny hooks but tonight something was telling me to go all out. Whole squid on a pulley rig was the choice, if there was any half decent fish prowling about then this would pick them up. It would be a single rod attack tonight opting for the Vertix Majestic Rod with the stiffer of 2 tips and  Vertix Zepplin Reel loaded with 60lb braid. The pulley rig was armed with a Teklon chinu 2/0 on as the bottom hook and a Vertix Aberdeen size1 as the top hook on the pennel arrangement. It was an hour before high and I whacked out my squid bait as far as I could, settling the rod in the rest I was still not really expecting much so I wandered over to see Scott and have a chat with him and his partner Jo.

I had been chatting for about 10 minutes when I just happened to glance over at my rod, just as I did so the rod doubled over a couple times and then fell slack, I sprinted over and picked up the rod feeling for any movement through the braid. Not feeling a thing I placed the rod back in the rest and and watched intently, after another minute or so the tip twitched again, I soon felt a couple of tugs through the rod and lifted into the weight. There was definitely something on the end and I soon had a small Thornback ray sliding up the shingle, after a few photos she was slid back and scooted off through the clear water. Another bait was lobbed out and we sat back and waited, it was now high tide and not a lot else had happened, Jo had caught a little eel on the scratching gear and that was it for fish between us.

High tide came and went and the ebb was soon picking up pace, bringing with it lots of weed that was making fishing at any distance a nightmare. The plan now changed and I was fishing around 40 yards out of the main run and away from the majority of the weed that was chugging through. Jo had caught a school bass close in and Scotty had himself caught a ray as well, it was fishing better than I thought it would do in these testing conditions. Laying back on the shingle I was in my own little world, my rod tip sprung back bolt upright followed by a slackening of line, grabbing the rod I caught up with the weight and leaned back into it. Instantly I could feel something pulling back and there was some nice weight on the line. After a great scrap a beautiful female Thornie came sliding up the shingle and lay at my feet, she had wolfed down the squid bait and was caught on the top hook which was quickly removed ready for photographs after which she swam away strongly into the night. Well that was a nice surprise, I  definitely wasn’t expecting anything of ‘bonus’ fish stamp and with a smile on my face I flicked out yet another bait to see if I could ensnare an even bigger beast.

With time ticking away Jo managed another small bass and we decided to call it a night, walking back to the cars we were wandering through long grass which in this warm wether was full of bugs which were swarming up around us with me managing to even swallow one nasty little critter which became stuck at the back of my throat. Even this could not dampen the spirits though whilst I coughed and gagged trying to get rid of this horrid little invader which was doing its best to try and make me be sick!!

On a tough night we had spent 4 hours on the beach and caught a few fish… What more could you ask for really, you have to love a nice quick hit on home soil. Now with August approaching it normally becomes a really slack time on the local marks until September so its looking like road trips will be the order of the day for the next few weeks.