‘Conditions unfortunately were not good for angling – a heavy overnight frost, followed by bright sunshine during the day. It wasn’t just about catching fish however but being in the company of likeminded anglers, what with our cane rods and centre pin reels and all fishing small quill floats.’
Today Martyn and myself travelled from Sussex into the county of Kent as guests to enjoy a day’s angling in the company of Rob Burt, Kevin Dyer also Micky Erends (who makes some wonderful floats). The first thing that grips you when you’re in the wilderness of the marsh, is how peaceful it is. The only noise apart from the bird song along with the occasional Hurricanes and Spitfire over head is the steam train that passes several times a day.
It certainly takes me back to my youth, when we often went on angling trip by steam train. The sound of the fighters in the sky also is so very familiar and again has me remembering the war years, which I would not have wanted to miss, I reckon it helped us to grow into young men before our time with a stiff upper lip.
My first visit to the Marsh was in 1947 to White Kemp sewer, though it’s far from being a sewer. White Kemp was a good venue for bream, roach, perch, tench, pike and eels. The late Bernard Venables MBE fished the area in his boyhood days and also the nearby Royal Military Canal which was built as a defence against Napoleon should he have tried to invade; although I doubt if he would have got past the Royal Navy.
The sewers are man-made drainage channels. A notable example of which is White Kemp Sewer. It runs across the centre of the marsh, then flows into Jury’s Gap Sewer; this leads to the coast at Jury’s Gap, certainly a strange name.
Conditions unfortunately were not good for angling – a heavy overnight frost, followed by bright sunshine during the day. It wasn’t just about catching fish however but being in the company of likeminded anglers, what with our cane rods and centre pin reels and all fishing small quill floats. We spread out along the drain some 70 yards apart and fished with worms or gentles a few feet from the bank in about 4 feet of water. We all had some small movements to our floats which didn’t materialise into a full blown take. Micky did manage two goer roach on gentles however.
I had a walk to chat with everyone, when I reached Rob I thought I was going to get some photographic action shots, as Rob’s float slowly moved across the surface, then stopped with no more movement. It was one of those days, but immensely enjoyable. Even the 50 mile road trip each way, was made in good time with hardly any traffic.
Arriving back at my daughters, I had a shower, then sat down to enjoy a dinner of stew and dumplings. So ended another enjoyable days angling with good friends who are always excellent company.
Writing Martin James MBE – Photography Martin James MBE & RBTraditional
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