4 MARKS TO TRY AT HERNE BAY
1 HAMPTON PIER: This pier is a popular mark for families, or the less ablebodied angler, because it offers comfortable fishing only a short walk from the car park.
The ground on one side is a mussel bed, with a clean seabed further out, and on the other is clean ground. In front of the pier are boulders that stretch out 170 yards.
■ Species: Bass, mullet, flounders, eels and whiting.
■ Tactics: Most of the fishing is on the left side of the pier, over the mussel beds, using lugworms that you can dig on the beach at Hampton. Ragworms and crabs are good baits too. Fishing on the bottom straight out isn’t ideal due to the presence of the boulders, but drifting a float-fished live prawn is deadly for bass.
2 NEPTUNE’S ARM: A man-made sea defence built during the 1990s to protect against the north winds and stop flooding. Again, it is a popular venue during the summer, with easy access from the pay and display car park. You can also fish from the car park, so it would suit disabled anglers.
■ Species: Thornback rays, mullet, bass, flounders and whiting.
■ Tactics: Only fishable two hours either side of low tide, this mark is best fished on the flood. Using fish baits on a Pennell pulley at around 80 yards will see you in with a chance of a thornback ray. Fish close in with crabs for the flounders or bread for the mullet. It is not an ideal venue to fish during strong north winds as the waves can crash over the sea defences.
3 KING’S HALL: A very popular venue all year, offering fishing over clean ground most of the way through to Reculver. Fishing anywhere from the Ship Inn pub to the sailing club offers a chance of fish.
■ Species: Smoothhounds, thornback rays, stingrays, bass, eels and whiting.
■ Tactics: Fishing over clean ground with a ragworm at 60-plus yards is the best approach for stingrays and bass, with an evening tide best after a hot day when the fish move on to the warm sand. In the winter, tiny strips of mackerel will catch whiting. In the summer, it can be very popular with swimmers, and is also near the sailing club.
4 RECULVER: When the summer kicks off, this venue is amazing for smoothhounds. Weed can be a problem at times, but if you persevere then you will be rewarded.
■ Species: Thornback rays, mullet, bass, flounders and whiting.
■ Tactics: From the car park at the end of Reculver Lane, walking in either direction will put you on the fish. Left of the car park down to the beach is a low-tide mark, being particularly good for bass as the tide floods, but make sure you go with a local as you can easily get cut off.
Straight over from the railings is a favourite with the anglers who are less able-bodied, but be careful, because there are boulders, and tackle losses are inevitable.
Heading right towards the towers and over the other side is a shingle beach with rock groynes, which is a hotspot for smoothhounds in the summer and can produce high doubles. You have to fish on the slack tide, as weed races through on the flood and ebb. ■