The best places for sea fishing in East of England, Part Two

I called a couple of my friends who were out fishing today at the Lowestoft South Beach and decided to change my location and move on to Lowestoft. So I packed up my sea fishing equipment and left.

When I arrived, I thought to myself how much the beach has changed since I was here last. The groynes used to be uncovered with the sea running by them, but now they are all but buried, and during low water they are 50 yards away from the edge of the sea. Still, this would fare well for the summertime as lots of holiday-makers visit here for the high quality of the beach and will get a surprise when they see how big it has become.

The main reason for the sand accumulating here is the new outer-harbour at Yarmouth, which just out hundreds of meters and has changed the flow of the tide for a large part of the coast. Some beaches have lost ground whereas others have gained – it is the laws of nature, plus a helping hand from man on this occasion.

I unpacked my sea fishing equipment, my sea fishing rod and my other sea fishing tackle. It was a whiting onslaught once again, only they were a much better size than at Sea Palling. Every cast produced a fish, plus a shed load of weed. Nevertheless, I stuck it out until my arms were hurting with having to haul in several pounds of weed a cast. I decided enough was enough, so I cut the trip short and spent the rest of the day working out a third plan.

Back at the beach house in Sea Palling, I knew that my last chance would be to have a crack at night because daytime had certainly been a failure. But the dilemma was where to go. It was late afternoon as I downed the dregs of a large scotch while pondering my options. As I was putting on my sea fishing clothing it dawned on me that the warming snifter had in fact made my decisions for me. There was no way I could get behind the wheel in search of new pastures – so it was back onto Sea Palling Beach.

As fate would have it, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I unpacked my fishing equipment and my sea fishing rod. The tide turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The tide was well on its way down, darkness was only an hour or so away and suddenly I had the feeling that I was going to catch a cod.

I set up my sea fishing equipment at the same place where I had started my fishing experience, actually, my footprints were still in the sand and so were the marking from my sea fishing rod pod. The first cast produced a codling of about 2lb to prove my gut instincts were spot-on. This came just before low water and I was made up. I now had a good while before the tide turned and started to push again. I knew I could catch some whiting in this slack water period, so I played with the three-hook flapper again to keep myself amused. After lots of the pesky little whiting, the tide began to move once more, so I sent out my sea fishing tackle to just beyond the sand bar. This cast produced another codling of identical size, making me imagine there could be a reasonable one lurking offshore, but even if my assumptions were right, the whiting returned with a vengeance, pecking at every bait I cast in. but I didn’t care because I had achieved my goal.

After a couple of hours I decided to try live bait tactic again, but no more codling appeared, which made me wonder whether the whiting were keeping the cod off the bait, or if the two fish I had beached had been lost. Still, it was just a great feeling being home again like the old days when I lived by the sea. I had enjoyed three days of sand, sea and fishing. Also, the pair of codling had been hard fished for, which made the catch all the more satisfying.

It was becoming cold, damp and I had my fun. My sea fishing clothing kept me warm throughout the night but the time has come. There was also a drop of whisky left waiting in the house. A perfect way to end a satisfying trip.