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Issue 04.04 13.04.04

The Circular - your monthly newsletter

Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to the Medway we go, with a shovel and a pick and a great big……….selection of bait to try and tempt some fish at this scratchy venue.

Species to be caught on the Medway include pouting, sole, bass and eels (I also remember they do occasional catch some nice congers here as well….don't they Jason?!!). Pouting love lug and maddies, sole love small black lug, bass love lug, rag and peeler crab, eels love peeler crab and garden worms……so take a bit of variety of bait with you…..just as you may not fancy a great big English breakfast to eat every day with bacon, egg, fried tomatoes, a few mushrooms, a fried slice and baked beans all washed down with a lovely cup of tea after wiping the plate clean with a fresh piece of bread, Mr Fishy Wishy can get fed up with eating lugworm all day every day and wants a little bit of what he fancies.

If you haven't used maddies before don't be afraid to use them they can be a very effective bait at certain times of year under certain conditions.

Maddies look very similar to small red ragworm and usually fished in bunches of upto 15 per hook. These are fiddly little blighters to put on hooks so if your eyesight is not what it should be take your glasses along to put them on. Thread them 2cm on to the hook and continue to put more on until the hook is full, pull at least one over the hook eye onto the line which will rotate in the tide to attract fish. Try half a lugworm with three head hooked maddies…it's a killer ….as is a white rag tipped with maddies. Dip the bunch of maddies into the water before casting …..the water holds the loose tails together and stops all of them flying off the hook as ground bait for someone else. Another way of mounting the maddies is to thread them along a length of cotton with a needle (bring those glasses!) and wrap the cotton around the hook shank.

If you buy maddies you must store them correctly…keep them cool….keep them in fresh sea water that is at the same temperature as the worms are stored in…. you normally get them in a container of water but you should take them out of the water the night before and lay them out on sheets of newspaper which dries them out, toughens them up and makes them turn a bright red/brown colour…….a banging, full on, top notch fish catcher….just like me!!!!!

The end of the parade towards the Dockyard end could produce the goods on the day or that first bend just as you go through the gates could be the plaice to catch but if all else fails a pint from the Command House pub could be the best tip in this newsletter!!

See you on the beach

John Padmore
Secretary