Martin Bowler’s Adventures

Blood and thunder excitement at the estuary

Martin goes in search of the UK’s toughest fish species – will he catch for the cameras?

AN ESTUARY is like a melting pot. Here, among the marshes, bays and wetlands, a brackish world rises and falls as fresh and salt water fight for supremacy.

It would be easy to imagine that inside such confusion fish would struggle to gain a foothold but the reality is exactly the opposite – it’s an oasis.

Shrimps, snails and crabs supply a never-ending banquet and everything from roach to sea trout seems quite happy in the ever-changing landscape that comes with the tides.

For an angler it’s a wonderful opportunity; there is an abundance of options, the only issue being which one to pick.

Bass and mullet were on my mind on my latest visit to the estuary and, unable to make a decision, I settled on the only sensible course of action – a day after each species!

HUNT FOR A BASS

I love the smell of sea air; it reminds me of childhood trips when crabs were all I could catch and this memory always puts a smile on my face. I strode across the marshland excited about the challenges ahead. Today I was heading for the main channel where the river’s flow still had some influence, carving deeper water through the estuary.

Here, I hoped to find bass on the hunt, which would be naturally searching for crabs or smashing into the roach shoals that lived a nomadic life on the tide. My plan was to coincide my arrival with low water so I was prepared by the time the English Channel rushed back in bringing the bass with it.

I had brought two bass rods – although in truth carp models would have been just fine – along with two old pit reels spooled up with 20lb line.

Suspecting the fish would be opportunistic and not focussed on just a single food source, I decided to make my hookbaits stand out in the form of big and bloody mackerel heads.

Once I had slid on a 4oz running lead to the line, I constructed a hooklength out of 20lb Amnesia with a pair of 5/0 single hooks. The mackerel was attached Pennell-style with bait elastic ensuring the hook points