Martin James MBE – Cold Weather Fishing In Times Gone By – But Still Good Today

One question, more than any other at this time of the year, I get asked is: “Is it worth fishing in cold weather when there is snow and ice on the river banks?” My answer is: “Yes, but it depends on where you plan to fish and the fish you are targeting.” 

First, let’s take a brief look at the sea fishing scene in the past. The 1950s through to the 70s were, in my opinion, the best years for the sport from the beaches, also fishing offshore. I never found the cold weather stopped me and my friends going in search of cod, whiting, dabs and flounders. Choosing the right state of the tide was most important; the time to fish would often vary from venue to venue. As in all forms of angling, choosing the correct tackle, with good quality bait and on the right state of the tide could bring untold success.  In winters past, my friends and I would spend many hours, sometimes a whole weekends from Friday evening until late on Sunday, fishing various beach venues at Dungeness, Dengemarsh, Deal, Hythe,  Ramsgate and on east coast places like Southwold, Pakefield (near Lowestoft), Great Yarmouth and Felixstowe. These venues also had the added advantage of being close to some good wildfowling where I could combine both of my interests. 

Occasionally we would make the long trip to Chesil Beach in Dorset, often stopping off on the way home for a couple of days fishing on the Stour or Avon, where we could expect good winter roach fishing. We had many happy roach fishing sessions. One good venue was Wimborne in Dorset where I often fished with Owen Wentworth, the local postman. He was without doubt the best roach angler of his day on this river and he taught me a lot. We used to take a punt out from Newman’s boat yard and go downstream to the area of the viaduct: very simple fishing with float tackle, using bread crust or flake as bait.

Some of my winter saltwater boat fishing was done in the Thames estuary. I had an eighteen foot clinker-built dingy with a Seagull Century Plus engine: it was a real workhorse. Should the engine stop, you checked fuel level, then the plug, perhaps resetting the gap; usually that’s all that was needed. One pull of the cord usually got the motor going again. I was often restricted by weather or by tide times as to how many days I could get afloat. Frank Edmonds, a keen sea fisher, had a nice thirty-six foot cruiser at Otterham Quay. Frank’s boat was ideal for wildfowling and fishing, with the added comfort of a cabin with heater.

Another friend, Tony Smith, purchased a thirty foot boat with cabin and two bunks; perfect for winter cod fishing sessions. We spent many trips afloat lasting a couple of days at the weekend, where I would sleep on Frank’s boat, cod fishing in the Thames Estuary. We caught more than our share of cod. One day, while fishing close to the wreck of the Robert Montgomery, we were having problems holding bottom. This was back in the late 1950s. I remember saying to Arthur Sayers and Tony Smith, “Let’s try fishing upstream like we often do when fishing the rivers.” It worked; we could hold bottom a lot better. This was just our idea, there were other anglers casting upstream. In later years the practice of up-tiding, as it was known, become an acceptable way of fishing, not just in the Thames Estuary but all around the UK coastline.

Beach Fishing

I loved both beach and boat fishing, One beach venue that attracted me was Dungeness with its steep beaches sloping down onto hard sand and its famed ‘dustbin’ area caused by the strong tides racing around the point, creating what is best described as a giant eddy, known as ‘The Dustbin’. Here, all manner of marine life would be swept into the area on the strong tides; it attracted cod both big and small. Fishing this area, you had to make sure you could cast a hundred yards plus, so you needed top quality casting gear.

Some of my teachers were Frank Edmonds, John Maplestone, Tom Hutchinson and Les Moncrieff among others. In those early days, I had a pair of Penn Squidders, probably among the top casting reels in those days; they had been finely tuned for me by Bill Watson, an RAF engineer. These were matched with a two-piece, built cane rod with a steel core made by Modern Arms. In the late 1960s I built myself two, one-piece, eleven foot, fibre glass rods for my beach fishing which proved ideal. Size 5/0 hooks were often used, baited with several fresh black lug. It cost me a small fortune for bait etc, but I caught my share of cod. The fishing was often best two hours of the flood, three hours of the ebb but this could sometimes change during a two or three day session. Once the bites stopped, that was often the end of the session. By midnight, or perhaps two in the morning, fishing would often be over until the next tide. 

It was amazing how often we were covered in frost, along with all our gear. Sometimes we had a good fire burning on the beach to give the impression we were keeping warm. Often there was a big iron pot in the embers, full of soup. Occasionally a big wave would crash on the shore covering us in spray which often froze on our heavy, yellow smocks; sometimes it would get through our water proofs. With no more bites, we would cease fishing then get our heads down in the van. On one session I woke up cold and shivering and then noticed icicles hanging from the roof of the van. Did we pack in? No, we went off into Hythe for a good breakfast,then it was back on the beach.

On another occasion, we were stranded at Dungeness through a blizzard lasting a few days; it stopped us from going off home for five days. Thankfully, we had plenty of food; my mate Richard and I were lucky to have permission to shoot rabbits. On the second day we shot and skinned two rabbitsand, after jointing them, they were put in a pot, along with lots of vegetables, with half a dozen or more ‘Oxo’ cubes. It was then left to cook in a Dutch oven we had built. 

What we looked forward to, before going to Dungeness, was a good south westerly blow, say force eight or nine, hopefully ten or eleven which is storm force. We would arrive a day or two later, then it was off with our buckets collecting razor fish. A particular bait that we prized was sea mice (or sea mouse) which basically is a marine worm; it’s an active predator, hunting small crabs and other worms on the seabed. We often filled our buckets with sea mice and razor fish. Often we were also lucky to find black lug. If the tide was right for cod fishing, it was once more back to fish to The Dustbin. On one occasion, after some very rough weather, there were just six anglers, the other two being from Dartford; we had the area to ourselves. We all ended up sharing an old railway carriage through the kindness of a local commercial fisherman. Did we care about the cold? No chance, we loved the experience. It was good training for me when I went dog sled racing in Scandinavia later in life.

Roach, roach and more roach

During the long cold winter of 1962-63 it started snowing on Boxing Day and the winter lasted into April but we still went fishing. On Boxing Day I was in Martham, a small village on the Norfolk Broads where I’d gone for a few days’ shooting and fishing over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday. I was single with a good job and no worries. It was well into January when I got back home. The stillwaters were not fishable; many slow stretches of the rivers Medway, Beult, Thames, Kennet, Kentish Stour and the Little Stour near Mersham were also unfishable. But if you wanted to fish there was still plenty of water where you could try and catch fish and be successful.

I remember Brian Long and me catching the train to Canterbury to fish a weir pool near the city. By the time we got there it was packed, including a coach load of anglers from Camberwell. We roamed up and downstream of the pool looking for a couple of swims without success. We decided to get the train back to Maidstone, then another train to Yaldingto fish the Medway. It was around three o’clock in the afternoon when we arrived. In my basket I had a bottle of Martello brandy which Brian slowly sipped to keep warm and happy.

Once off the train I reckon we must have walked twelve hundred yards or more downriver, pushing our way through thick snow and ice, often stumbling over, before eventually arriving at a well-known roach swim in the area of Nettlestead, near Wateringbury. Despite lots of ice on the river, our swim had a margin of lilies stretching about six feet out from the bank covered in ice. There was no problem in fishing this spot. After putting together our float fishing gear, centre pin reels, fourteen foot steel Taperflash rods made by Accles & Pollock, with cork on crow quill Avon floats and size ten hooks to three-pound line, we were ready to go. Plumbing the depth, we found eight feet of water, then set our floats another two feet up the line, before bunching the shot fifteen inches from the hook. Brian baited with a good chunk of flake, I chose to use crust. Having baited our hooks we started to fish. For an hour we didn’t see a sign of a bite, then,as the light started to go, an occasional fish rolled on the surface which surprised us.

A few minutes later Brian said, “I’ve got one” and soon a nice roach of about a pound was netted. I then turned to see my float was missing. A hurried strike was made and I was hooked up to a roach of about twelve ounces. From then until we couldn’t see our floats anymore, we caught probably fifteen to twenty good roach. Three we weighed; Brian had a 1-14-0 roach I had roach of 1-12-0 and 1-14-0. All the time Brian was taking sips of brandy, getting quite merry, but then, who wouldn’t?, when you are catching quality roach. Unable to see our floats, we had a discussion about whether to pack up and then go off for the train, or fishing on in the darkness:we chose the latter. In those days we always carried a cycle lamp so if we fished into darkness, the torch would illuminate our floats. I still often use a torch today.  

In the darkness the roach continued to feed, this despite the intense cold. Brian had the first 2lb roach (2-2-0). I followed up with two roach at 2-2-0 and one of 2-4-0 as we fished on into the darkness. On one occasion my float disappeared out of the torch beam and I set the hook into a fish. As I did so, I thought ‘This isn’t a roach’; it was a bream weighing 5-6-0,followed by three more five pounders the best being at 5-10-0. Eventually we had to leave to catch the last train which would connect with our next train in Maidstone. 

Brian was more than a bit merry and soon finished off the brandy when we arrived at Brian’s house. He knocked on the door and a minute or so later it was opened by his five foot, Welsh-born wife, who was more like a dragon spitting fire, with a murderous temper to match. Shouting and screaming, she threw Brian’s dinner at him shouting: “There’s your bloody dinner.” As it hit his chest, I said, “Brian, you’d better come back to my place.” We made do with eggs, bacon and beans but it had certainly been a great day’s roach fishing, with some bonus bream, on an extremely cold day.

Other great roach fishing venues

Those roach we caught back in the 1960s were nothing special; we had excellent roach fishing in many waters throughout England, Scotland and Wales. I mention Scotland. In the ‘60s the roach fishing on the Tweed was good and it was the same on the River Tay in Perth. We didn’t realise how lucky we were. The Kennet also offered exceptional roach fishing; in those days we didn’t bother with barbel. Another great roach river was the Wensum that provided me with some of the greatest roach fishing any angler could wish for. Another water was the Upper Waveney above Geldeston Lock where I enjoyed some great roach fishing back in 1959 and early ‘60’s. What made it even more interesting was the amorous affair I had with Janice, whose mother owned the local B&B. I and a few other anglers during the late 1980s and into the 1990s enjoyed some good roach fishing on the River Ribble, myself along with Kevin Ashurst, Ian Heapsand Brian Roberts. Another venue was Britford on the Hampshire Avon, below Salisbury. Then we had the River Kennet and Wye, both good winter roach fishing venues.

Chub are the perfect cold weather fish

These days, with so little good roach fishing available, I suggest you target the chub for your cold weather fishing; it’s a fish for all seasons, often feeding avidly on the coldest of days. Even on those days when the water temperatures have been down as low as 32-34 degrees F you can still catch. I have caught good chub from small ice free areas of the river many times. 

Top chub bait is…bread

If you target chub, then use big baits on hooks sizes twos to sixes with lines of 6lb-8lb breaking strain, matched with an Avon action rod. The choice of reel is down to the individual, both centre-pin and fixed spool are suitable. The first choice bait in my book is crust, followed by flake, sausage or cheese paste. 

The bites my friends and I get are very positive and often quite savage. Often you will get a good pull within minutes of casting. Some swims will produce three or four fish, while in other spots it’s one bite equals one fish, then it is time to move. Before you do so, drop in a chicken-egg size ball of mashed bread, then return later in the day. The best time is an hour before dark and an hour after dark; there are many times when I am on the river gone midnight. If you have good layered clothing with plenty of hot drinks, then it shouldn’t be a problem staying at the waterside for a few hours. There have been times when we have fished for chub and barbel well past midnight and then caught two or three good fish in a feeding spell lasting no more than thirty minutes. So please don’t be put off fishing in cold winter conditions. My best chub of 7lb 10oz was caught on the 4^th of February 2005 in a late evening session with a water temperature of 34 degrees F. The banks were frozen solid, there was ice down both sides of the riverand the water was gin clear. During that session I also had a 10lb 10oz barbel, plus another chub of 5lb 3oz.

Writing & Images Martin James MBE, Winter 2024