‘September 16th is a date which prompts another of my Raconteurs features. September and October are, in my opinion, two of the most delightful months in the angler’s calendar’
September in the past was a hop-picking month when the thousands of London’s Eastenders descended into the Kent and Sussex countryside to work in the hop fields. On the whole they were a very friendly group of people. Saturday night was dancing night, when the big brewers put on a party at the many public houses throughout the area. We Kentish lads welcomed the influx of East End girls. One of my friend’s (Eddy) family were quite wealthy, with a holiday home in Nettlestead where a group of us would stay some weekends as it was close to river Medway where there was some excellent roach and bream fishing.
Nettlestead was an ideal base in the heart of the hop-picking countryside. With money in our pockets, suited and booted, many of us had a car or motorbike, which certainly attracted the East End girls. It was great being a teenager or, in many cases, our early twenties. Many of us were doing National Service and those of us in apprenticeships, or at college, were deferred until we had completed our course.
September is also the time for blackberry and apple pies, and for collecting mushrooms in the fields. The orchard trees were loaded with apples and pears, soon to be collected for eager consumption by us. This month usually saw the hazelnuts being ripe for picking but you had to be quick to beat the grey squirrels.
Autumn is the time of change in the angler’s calendar, both in fresh and saltwater. In the past, I rated September and October as probably the best months of all for sea fishing, with all the summer species still around but joined, hopefully, by an invasion of whiting and cod. Flounders would now in good condition with razorfish providing a good hookbait. You can often find these washed up after a good strong south-westerly blow for several days along the channel coastline. After such a big blow, we would go and collect buckets of black lugworm and often ragworm too but, always be aware that king ragworm can bite. Sea mice were a prized cod bait, along with mussels and limpets. There were many times when lots of small fish would be washed up on the beach, all of these offering good baits at no cost. The black lugworm was the most prized bait, which were prepared by gutting the worm,leaving just the body, and by breaking off the sand-filled tail section. We often salted them down, wrapped in newspaper. You can also freeze them by laying them out separately on a sheet of newspaper, then placing in the freezer until required.
Sadly, today’s sea anglers will never get to experience the fine sport we had in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. One could go fishing from boat and beach and expect to come home on most days with a catch of cod, plaice, bass, whiting etc. There were winter nights on Dungeness beach, fishing ‘The Dustbin’, when we would end up with a twenty-pound cod among a dozen or more fish. At that time, even when fishing the Thames estuary as far up as Gravesend, we could still expect some cod in our catches.
The baited spoon for flounders
The baited spoon method, first practised to the best of my knowledge by John Garrard in the 1930s was a real winner. The spoon is the attracter, set above the baited hook and using a strip of mackerel, herring, rag or lugworm as the bait. In the summer months we caught a lot of flounders and dabs, following Garrard’s idea, in which John would slowly row his boat with the rod over the stern. When we started fishing the baited spoon, we would cast out then retrieve the baited spoon, just as we would when pike spinning.
I suppose it was about the late 1950s when Billy Race and I found ourselves cod fishing from my boat located off Garrison Point in the Thames Estuary, near where the SS Richard Montgomery, anAmerican vessel that went to the bottom in 1944. This wreck is still there today, on a sandbank near Sheerness. One day sport was quiet on both the flooding and ebbing tide and, as usual, we discussed what we might do to induce a bite. I then suggested trying a flounder spoon for the cod.
On the next trip I had a selection of large kitchen spoons fitted with a swivel at each end (I had obtained the spoons from a second-hand shop). The next trip we both started using these big spoons, positioning them about two feet or more above our size 4/0 or 5/0 hook, and baited with squid, black lugworms, herring or mackerel strip. From that very first day we found it worked, especially in coloured water. Without the spoon the fish had to use its sense smells but with a flashing spoon it could be seen from a distance. Well, that was our thinking and we also caught more cod on average than the other anglers in the area.
Float fishing or freelining bread for mullet
A fish that can offer some fine sport is the mullet. These occur in profusion and you can often find them well upstream in many of our rivers, around harbours, piers, breakwaters, jetties, rocky outcrops, in fact often just a few feet from boat moorings. Along the Sussex coast from Shoreham to Newhaven there were many old wrecks of barges and other debris from smaller boats that had ended up as wrecks where mullet could be found as the tide flooded in. Mullet are also attracted close into the shoreline after a good blow has left masses of weed on the foreshore. They will often come in on a flooding tide, picking off the maggots in the weed. All you need to fish is a tin of maggots (or gentles as I call them), along with a float rod, a reel with 6lb to 8lb line and a size fourteen barbless hook. Another good place to seek mullet is the saltwater creeks that crisscross the marshes. Usually, these fish better on a flood tide. The place we all wanted to fish was Newhaven harbour. Here we often spotted mullet of ten poundsplus but, as usual, there was a sign that read ‘No Fishing’. There were many times when we walked round the harbour, discreetly throwing in bread, then watching the fish take it with gusto.
The mullet is an ideal species for both sea and freshwater anglers, including those who enjoy casting a fly. I reckon personally, that freelining bread flake or crust, followed closely by float fishing, are my two favourite methods; certainly my best ways for the mullet. There are many anglers who prefer to leger for the mulletand they certainly catch some excellent specimens, often using harbour ragworm as bait. I doubt if you can use a better attractorfor these fish than a ground bait of finely mashed bread, coupled with bread flake on the hook. It’s amazing how one can spot fish, using a combination of stealth and good Polaroid glasses (though they don’t come cheap they are worth every penny).
I well remember fishing as suggested above using a twelve-foot float rod, a centre-pin reel loaded with 8lb strain line, a quill float taking a two BB shot and a size twelve barbless hook. I was fishing about three feet deep and the water was clear enough for me to see the mullet. In the first hour or so I caught five of them averaging around three pounds. On the edge of the main shoal I spotted a fish I reckoned would weigh around five pounds.
For some time, I fed mashed bread to the main shoal while using a catapult to fire small pieces of bread flake towards the big fish. After some twenty minutes or so it sucked in a piece of flake. After it had taken five or six pieces, I decided it was time to put a baited hook in the area.
Quickly removing the shot from the line, then pinching on a bit of flake I made a gentle underhand cast. The bread was about a foot from my quarry and slowly started to sink. When it was about a foot down in the water it was intercepted by my prize fish. As the fish moved forward slowlyand sucked in my bait, a gentle strike set the hook. Now the fight was really on as the fish ripped line off my reel at a fast rate of knots. By this time a few holiday makers had been watching me and as usual there was a clever one saying to anyone interested: “He won’t catch any of those fish…they don’t take a bait.” I heard the harbour-master then tell the audience: “Martin has already caught a few.” This fight really tested my tackle and I reckon it was some fifteen minutes before it was successfully in the net. The harbour-master then came down the steps towards me and weighed the fish for me at six pounds. I was over the moon: it was a personal best. He then used my camera to take a couple of photographs.
So, why not test your skills during the late summer and autumn for the mullet? These are quite prolific around our coastal waters and river estuaries and can often travel well upstream. One such river is the Sussex Rother where, in fishing matches, good mullet would be caught as we trotted for roach and bream. Wherever you are on the coast you should still find mullet. Another ideal fish at this time is the garfish, using a light spinning out fit, along with mackerel.
In our freshwater rivers we have the salmon, sea trout and brown trout as targets and, on the coarse fishing front we can at long last seek the chub. Yes, they can be caught from June 16 onwards but most anglers will leave them to get over the rigours of spawning, especially so in this past summer with its low water levels and low oxygen content. One species that will be fighting fit is the pike, as they have usually spawned in February and March but, again,these past few months many anglers have chosen not to fish for them due to low oxygen levels and low flow.
Hopefully, we will soon receive plenty of rain. I want to see the rivers bank-high for a week or two so all the algae, decaying weed and a host of other rubbish left by idle people along our waterways, can all be swept way to the sea. Barbel today is a very popular species but, sadly, some misguided people have stocked them in still waters. This is a river fish and in flowing water can offer great sport, both by day and night. Sadly, it seems many anglers are copying their carp fishing friends and using lots of boilies as groundbait, even bait boats in some cases. I still fish for barbel with my four top baits: bread, cheese, lobworms and luncheon meat. I keep reading that barbel do not feed when the water temperature is below 40 degrees F but you can forget that nonsense. Another myth is that barbel cannot be caught in backwaters where conditions are muddy, weedy and with no movement; again this is another myth you can dismiss. I reckon I have caught more barbel on bread, cheese and lobworms than any other bait.
Another great autumn and winter fish is the chub, hopefully by now in top condition. This is a fish that will feed under all conditions; it is never too hot or cold and it does not matter if the river is low and gin clear, or bank high and muddy, the chub will often oblige. Again, you don’t need a special rig or bait, more often or not all you need is an Avon action type of rod and 6lb to 8lb line. Cane rods are perfect when matched with a centrepin reel (or fixed spool) and hooks in size 4 down to size 10. Chub like to seek cover where there are overhanging trees such as oak, alder, hornbeam, willow and horse chestnut.
My best chub was caught when the water temperature was thirty-four degrees F, hoar frost was on the trees and ice down lined both sides of the river. I had four bites; I missed the first, the second was a 5lb 3oz chub and my next fish was a 10lb 10oz barbel. Those first two fish were taken on a large bit of crust. The biggest and last fish was a 7lb 10oz chub taken on a large piece of flake. What a session that was! This autumn and winter why not target the barbel and chub. The roach, perch, pike and bream are also worthy fish to be found in our rivers. Just go and experience the fishing, whatever the weather...
Writing & Images Martin James MBE – Late Summer 2026
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