Mackerel, Garfish and Bass in Folkestone - July to October 2002

Since the first trip to the Warren in mid July, I have been back several times with fly, spinning and baitcaster rods. Several friends have joined me at times and I have also made new friends at the venue.

In late July, a number of fellow club members from West End Fly Fishers descended on the place and had a concerted effort to bag a few mackerel for the barbeque.

The mackerel were playing hard to get and staying out around 100 metres, so some of us switched to sea rods and mackerel feathers to draw them closer in. I was amazed to catch a garfish on mackerel feathers, but even more amazing was Duane catching one on a fly.

First garfish.  Duane and his garfish. Duane fly fishing and Andy C walking past.

Andy C caught a couple of mackerel on the fly, and a few more were taken by the others; barely enough to feed us all, so we included the garfish. If you can get over the fact that garfish bones are a lovely radioactive green, they actually eat quite well; tasting a bit like mackerel.

  Adam reluctantly posing with his monster mackerel. Perfect casting platform.

There was a fairly stiff onshore wind and high tide was around 6 metres.

I had several trips in August and it was hard going. I blanked the first two days. A young Dutch boy on holiday called Joost was very keen to try for a mackerel, so I let him borrow a rod, but he fared no better.

I went back to the fly rod to see if I could tempt a bass up just as Evert, Joost's father came to fetch him for his tea. I persuaded him to have a go on my spinning rod. He protested he had never fished before, but tried it anyway.

You can imagine mine and Joost's chagrin when he hooked and landed a mackerel first cast. His wife Nanja was just coming down to fetch them both and thought it was hilarious. As she rightly stated, "beginner's luck."

Evert and Joost. Joost and myself fishing late. 

Later that evening, I saw a good bass follow my fly in, but it made no attempt to attack it.

The next day Joost's sister Maartje tried her hand with the spinning rod and proved a natural caster. She also managed to draw a bass behind her spinner, but again, it would not take it. Leonie, the younger sister enjoyed watching, but did not want to fish.

Maartje, a natural caster and not afraid of getting wet. Joost's first mackerel.

Finally Joost caught his first ever mackerel and was a very happy Dutch boy. Soon after I also had one, but that was all we had from that weekend.

I returned again on October 6^th to find the mackerel had gone, but spoke to Brian who fishes there a lot. He reckoned he had taken a few good bass between 1 and 2.7kg (2 to 6lb) and a thick lipped mullet at 4.05kg (9lb).

I picked up some frozen squid and belted it out alongside the concrete apron. In the meantime, I rigged up crab lines for young Jonathan and his younger brother Sean. It did not take long before they were behaving like most brothers and deserving to be chucked into the sea. Fortunately, Louise took Sean shopping before she got any more stressed. That left me with Jonathan, hoo bloody ray.

The tide was over 7 metres this time and almost completely covered the apron in less than an hour. Most of the beach was covered too and nearly all the dozen anglers moved to the upper level of the beach. The wind got very strong and blew onshore, knocking over tripods, and scattering bait boxes.

I persevered on the apron, casting alongside one edge. I was using an 85gram (3oz) lead bomb and it held quite well in the lee of the apron. Another angler joined me later and while we were chatting, my rod tip was yanked hard to one side about 90cm. I struck and felt a heavy weight for a second and then nothing. I reeled in and found the whole squid bait gone. Yes, I was gutted.

I kept at it between a mixture of rain showers and warm sunshine until I felt another tug. This time it was quite gentle. I struck and felt something there. Reeling in. I began to doubt it was a fish, but suddenly it surfaced and I realised I had finally hooked my first bass. Better still, I was able to beach it, a nice fish of about .67kg (1.5lbs).

Generally speaking, bass move away from the English south coast after October, but it has been so warm this year, they may stay longer. Whatever, I may have another go at them before this year is out and if they aren't there, then the codling, dover sole and whiting will take their place.