Fishing on the Medway?

[maby]

Let me start by explaining that I have zero knowledge or experience of fishing! We have friends coming to visit us from Canada in late September/early October and they will spend some time with us on the boat. They are keen fishermen and have expressed a wish to catch dinner one night - can anyone suggest decent places to dangle a hook along the tidal Medway or Thames near Sheerness? What fish can we expect?

 

[oldgit]

When are they arriving...cos you may starve,

Not much around at the moment. Reports of Bass and Smooth hounds and Rays at the moment.
Let me know when you actually intend going out
Will speak to local charter skippers,with any luck they will not lie through their teeth and send you off on some fuel burning wild goose chase halfway up the estuary.
If you really want to show your guests a good time you could book a place on a local boat and possibly actually catch something.OG.
At the moment a seen lot of boats fishing close to the wreck of the Princess Irene near the end of Stangate.

 

[maby]

I expect them to visit the boat around the end of the first week of October. Weather could be getting a bit unpredictable by then, so it would be good to have a sheltered option in the bag as well as something a bit more adventurous.

 

[oldgit]

Pretty sure we can get you some decent info when the time comes. Most of the charter fishing boats run out two or three times a week, they do not go far if fish are plentiful, because of fuel costs, but they travel considerable distances if fish are scarce.

 

[maby]

Pretty sure we can get you some decent info when the time comes. Most of the charter fishing boats run out two or three times a week, they do not go far if fish are plentiful, because of fuel costs, but they travel considerable distances if fish are scarce.

Thanks! I'll revive this thread closer to the time.

 

[Murv]

The river will be stuffed with Whiting at that time of Year, you'll be able to catch them virtually anywhere on lugworm or, even better, strips of fish/squid.
Not monster fish, but quite tasty and in large numbers up to 12" or so in length.
Also a good chance of Sole, but you'll need to find slightly slacker water for those and use small worm baits.
It's a good time of Year for the Bass, but the location of those seems to be kept (understandably) fairly quiet! I shall pm you if I ever find out!

If you can get out near number 2 bouy, you'll be in with a chance of virtually anything, possibly even Codling as last seasons spawning was so successful. But, you'd need to keep an eye on reports nearer the time for those as they may not show at all, or not until a couple of weeks later.
Early October is a very good time to be fishing the river, the Summer species are still feeding hard before moving out of the river, and the Winter fish are just starting to show.
Your biggest enemy in the Medway is any floodwater coming down from upstream, which kills the fishing dead until it clears.

Your Canadian friends will most likely find UK fishing unbelievably poor, they're spoiled for choice for quality fishing out there!

 

[maby]

The river will be stuffed with Whiting at that time of Year, you'll be able to catch them virtually anywhere on lugworm or, even better, strips of fish/squid.
Not monster fish, but quite tasty and in large numbers up to 12" or so in length.
Also a good chance of Sole, but you'll need to find slightly slacker water for those and use small worm baits.
It's a good time of Year for the Bass, but the location of those seems to be kept (understandably) fairly quiet! I shall pm you if I ever find out!

If you can get out near number 2 bouy, you'll be in with a chance of virtually anything, possibly even Codling as last seasons spawning was so successful. But, you'd need to keep an eye on reports nearer the time for those as they may not show at all, or not until a couple of weeks later.
Early October is a very good time to be fishing the river, the Summer species are still feeding hard before moving out of the river, and the Winter fish are just starting to show.
Your biggest enemy in the Medway is any floodwater coming down from upstream, which kills the fishing dead until it clears.

Your Canadian friends will most likely find UK fishing unbelievably poor, they're spoiled for choice for quality fishing out there!

Excellent information - thank you!

We do realise that the fishing is going to be very tame compared with the Grand Banks (yes, they are actually Newfoundlanders and do fish the Grand Banks!) - they are outdoor folk and just want to feed us with their catch one night.

 

[oldgit]

Excellent information - thank you!

We do realise that the fishing is going to be very tame compared with the Grand Banks (yes, they are actually Newfoundlanders and do fish the Grand Banks!) - they are outdoor folk and just want to feed us with their catch one night.

That,ll be pan fried seaweed followed by gougeon of old tyre then.

 

[maby]

That,ll be pan fried seaweed followed by gougeon of old tyre then.

It will if I catch it, but there are plenty of fishermen around the marina who seem to come in with decent catches, so I assume that there are edible things out there if you know where to look for them.

Personally, I don't like fish, so it will be burgers for me! Neither does the ship's cat - he'll share my burgers.