Aldeburgh adventure
Fishing for dabs is a popular part of winter fishing, and where better than on the Suffolk coast?
Mention Aldeburgh to any East Coast angler and it will probably conjure up memories of anglers taking double-figure cod on frosty winter days. Times have changed, though, and overfishing during the late 20th Century all but put the cod stocks in jeopardy.
Without those heavyweights, there are always other fish to be caught from the Suffolk town’s beaches. Even though I was very fortunate to land a 22lb cod off these deep beaches in the 1990s and some low double-figure fish as well, I’m a great believer that where there is a void (in this case far fewer cod), then other species fill that space.
It is certainly proving that way because the winter dab fishing has always been pretty good. Of course, there is still a chance of a codling or a thornback ray or two.
The dab is native to shallow seas around Northern Europe and up to the Arctic, where I have caught them up to 3lb in weight. When they get to that size they develop teeth and fight like a mini halibut.
Winter sees the dabs shoal up on our British coast, and while you won’t see any threepounders, there is always a chance of a 1lb fish and plenty of smaller pan-sized ones too.
When the winter months arrive, the plump dabs turn up in force at Aldeburgh. You’ll get whiting and codling too, and there is always a chance of a very big cod. Summer produces soles, bass and some thornback rays.
THREE AREAS
I’ve always categorised the Aldeburgh beaches into three separate entities – the town beaches up to Thorpeness to the north, the wooden breakwaters to the Martello Tower and the famous Dirty Wall that leads to Orford Island to the south.
The further you walk along the wall the deeper the water gets. My plan was to get to Aldeburgh at first light to fish the flood tide and over the top for a couple of hours.
The alarm was set for 5am, my home town of Clacton-on-Sea to Aldeburgh is a good 90-minute drive, although I still class Aldeburgh as one of my local beaches.
Dabs really are not fussy eaters and will take most baits. It’s possible to fish very cheaply and still catch fish. I took a box of squid and one of my frozen mackerel caught from Walton Pier in the late summer. Dabs will feed quite readily on lugworms that have seen better days, so all those worms that you have left over from your fishing trips are worth keeping for a dab trip.
I arrived while it was still dark and with driving rain hitting the windscreen, which really was not good news. Parking as far as I could on the wall before the locked gate, I sat and waited for daylight to appear.
The weak winter sun rose on the horizon and, at the same time, the rain stopped. With a light north-westerly breeze blowing, it looked like I could be in for a reasonable day.
The walk from the car to where I would be fishing is about 30 minutes on shingle, so I opted for a rucksack containing minimal lead weights and tackle, and carried two rods, my tripod and beach shelter. I always have great intentions of walking further than I do. Age must be catching up with me because I never seem to make it as far as I did the last time.
TACKLE AND TACTICS
My thoughts were to fish with two rods, one my Vega Masami Continental matched with a Cinnetic Evolution 7000 fixed-spool reel for the dabs, and my old-faithful Conoflex Flik-Tip with a Daiwa 7HT as a ‘sleeper rod’ for the bigger fish, such as a codling or thornback ray.
The Continental style of fishing comes into its own with the smaller fish such as dabs and whiting. Bites are accentuated by the fine tips on these rod, which usually makes for an exciting experience.
My rigs for dabs are very simple. Because there is no need to cast more than 50 yards, I opt for three-hook flappers with longish hook snoods of around 12-14 inches to allow
the baits to move about enticingly in the tide. Hooks are size 2, and these are armed with small strips of mackerel tipped with thin slivers of squid.
For the bigger species, I bait with a whole calamari squid on a Pennell pulley rig with size 3/0 hooks. This rig is cast as far as possible in search of that elusive cod.
Even after all my years of fishing, I still get that butterfly feeling in my stomach after the initial cast and when sitting back in anticipation on what will happen next. It really didn’t take long though.
My Continental rod showed signs of interest from what could possibly be the intended species, those plump little dabs.
There was no need to strike, just leave the rod alone, and have a cup of coffee. With three hooks fishing, it was just a case of waiting for a while. I did just that, picked up the rod and tightened up to find a nice bend in that Vega rod. A few minutes later three pristine dabs were at my feet. Could the session get any better?
CRACKING BITE
This carried on until just before high water, producing a steady stream of dabs of all sizes, but nothing showed to my distance rod. That suddenly changed with a cracking bite that took the rod tip down and saw the line fall slack. I reeled in the loose line and tightened up only to strike into absolutely nothing. We’ve all been there, but what did that?
The flood tide peaked and the ebb started, which resulted in more interest on my FlickTip because the whiting were now feeding and taking whole squid. Most were a good size. I really don’t mind the bigger whiting. After all, a bite is a bite.
My day passed very quickly as they always seem to do when you are fishing. The flood had produced a multitude of dabs to my short-range Continental set-up, while the fast-running ebb kept my distance set-up busy with large whiting, so all in all it was fantastic day on the Aldeburgh coast. No cod showed, but as long as those bites keep coming, and I am catching fish, so be it. ■
“The fast-running ebb kept my distance set-up busy with large whiting”