BENFLEET CREEK

A couple of weekends ago i had the urge to have a bash for the flounder that supposedly run up Benfleet Creek at this time of year. Parking up by the boat club creek on Two Tree Island i loaded myself up with all the necessaries and grabbed Oscars lead and off we set for the long walk to the spot that i wanted to try. Now when i,ve walked to this spot with just the dogs it doesn,t seem that far, but now that i had all my fishing gear, bait, food, water for me and also for Oscar it seemed that the spot was in fact the other end of Essex. I was bloody knackered by the time i got there a good 2.5 hours before high water and it took me a good 5 minutes recuperation before i could even think of setting up my stall. Boy do i need to loose some more weight and get fitter, especially as during the spring i want to take a walk from South Fambridge along the river to Creeksea. I don,t know how far this is but its got to be at least 5 miles along the top of the wall, not that far i know but bear in mind i,m 6ft 16 and three quarter stone with a dodgy ankle and bad lower back, its going to get me huffing and puffing for sure.

 Eventually i got my breath back and started to set up my rods and tie my rigs. I was using 2 hook flappers on one rod and 1 up 1 down rig on the other. The gully was only a gentle 30 yard lob so i thought i,d only need a 2 ounce lead to reach the distance and then gently roll round until it settled in a dip or something. How wrong i was as the tide was thundering through so i ended up using 3 ounce breakaways which even pulled out themselves sometimes. Bait was fresh lugworm tipped with a small cube of mackerel which i hoped would add an extra degree of attraction. Every 15 minutes i,d reel in and re-fresh my bait but it wasn,t getting a touch.

After high water i had a couple of tugs and rattles on the rod tips which i thought might be the start of something good but unfortunately nothing happened. It was nice and sunny but really windy and pretty cold as i was exposed sitting on the bank there so i didn,t last too long after high tide and packed up my tackle and dog and trudged back to the van a little dejected. It won,t stop me trying again though, i might of blanked and got chilled through but i still enjoyed the afternoon, especially as it got near dusk as the thousands of wildfowl that had been sitting on the opposite bank and had been serenading me with their whistles, quacks and honks started to lift and drift around the sky in huge flocks.



















Another thing i noticed was how high the tide actually came . As you can see from the 2 pictures here it actually chased me up the bank, i really didn,t expect that. It didn,t stop me and Oscar The Wonder Dog though as we both love splashing around in the water.

Until next time chaps, enjoy your fishing...........

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