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  • 09/02/2010 Fishing Report by Bob Marshall on Duke IV (Ramsgate, Kent)

    9 Feb 2010 by Bob Marshall

    Report on-board Duke IV

    We were enjoying great fishing on Duke IV early in Jan with a fish a chuck, Whiting, Pout and Dogs and amongst all this the Cod. They seemed to be very mobile, here one day somewhere else the next. A strong tide stream was when you got the Cod. The smaller fish would slow off and then up comes a Cod then maybe a couple more then back to the smaller stuff, the tide slacken's so we move find a bit more tide and we are back amongst the Cod. Keeps the fishing interesting and we are lucky here at Ramsgate with the English Channel meeting the Thames Estuary and the North Sea on our doorstep there is always a good tide somewhere. Lug and Squid the bait of choice with whole Squid next.
    Then the sprats moved in!
    I have never seen them so thick! The sounder would show a constant line of them around 15 feet below the surface and at times the screen would show them as the seabed so thick are they in places.
    With all this fodder around its hardly surprising that the Cod along with everything else has come up in the water to feed on them, totally ignoring our baits. The fish I think, are here but we cant catch much at the moment.
    The upside of this situation is that the fish are having a good feed and putting on weight so we can look forward to some good Codding when the sprats move on, this should be anytime now! Where do all those sprats go the rest of the year?
    Plenty of spent Skate purse’s on the beach so the Skate must be here, although we are only getting the odd one. The weather has'nt helped either, with the water temps dropping to around 41'f.
    Skate will move into the area in large numbers throughout Feb and March and good catches are possible. They are still an ‘at risk species’ so its good policy to return what’s not required in particular the females, every little helps as they say!
    Feb/March will also be the start of our spring run of Cod and if last year’s was anything to go by should be a good one. They should stay around through April, then gradually move offshore to the wrecks. The Bass, Hounds along with all our summer fish will be heading our way by now So to sum up, once the Spratt’s move out we should have some excellent spring fishing to look forward to, so dust off your rods and get down here, do some fishing! Checkout website for latest reports www.fishingramsgate.com
    Chris, Terry and Ric found some Cod on an individuals day!

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