Stewart 1971
Well-known member
Well after surviving the wedding (and the subsequent hangover, which might have been a lot worse if not for the pain of paying £4.20 for a pint of Guinness 
) Saturday night saw me heading for one of my old stomping grounds in the Solent, Gilkicker Point in Gosport. The plan had been to get a couple of sessions in while I was away but 30mph westerly winds put paid to any plans to fish on Thursday so this was to be my only session of the trip.
When the wedding was planned I was quite looking forward to this trip, at this time of year the fishing should be really kicking off down there with Bass, Plaice, Thornback Ray, Spotted Ray and Smoothhound pups the main targets along with the ubiquitous Pouting, Dogfish and Poor Cod. Alas the prolonged spell of cold weather has completely knacked the fishing down there (as up here) and with water temperatures well below what they should be for the time of year I wasn't overly hopeful.
My chosen mark was Gilkicker Point in Gosport at the eastern end of the Solent. Owing to inconsiderate wedding planning the fishing had to coincide with totally crap tides and even worse a HT at 8pm so still in daylight. This meant 'kicker was the only real choice - it is a mark that offers very deep water close in, a very strong tide rip making it only fishable of tides of 4.2m or less and can also fish at any stage of the tide.
With the sun shining I got to my mark nice and early armed with a pound of ragworm (which cost the princely sum of £11), some Bluey and a packet of Sandeels. After trekking across the golf course and then over a bit of shingle I got to my spot almost on the point and just to the west of Fort Gilkicker
Rigs were two hook clipdowns, size 1/0 or 4 hooks baited with rag or bluey and a long paternoster rig 4/0 pennel hooks and Sandeel in the vain hope of a Ray. As expected things were very very quiet during daylight, it was though a lovely afternoon on the beach with lots of water traffic to watch:
The view over the Solent to Ryde on the Isle of Wight:
The view west towards Stokes Bay and Browndown:
To be honest the pictures are the most interesting bit of this report. The fishing was totally crap, not a single bite during daylight. Things did pick up very slightly after it got dark around 9pm, first fish on the beach was a pin Whiting followed shortly by a Poor Cod that did a good job of trashing my trace:
A couple more pin Whiting came in and then I got a Pouting at range:
One more Pouting came to a Sandeel on a 4/0 pennel dropped 10 yards out in the hope of a Bass and by midnight I had had enough. 6 fish (3 Whiting, 2 Pout and a Poor Cod) was a very disappointing return, this venue should have thrown up a lot more but given the recent weather it was not to be. Still at least I got to witness a lovely sunset over Fawley Refinery and got another couple of species points for the 2013 hunt
) Saturday night saw me heading for one of my old stomping grounds in the Solent, Gilkicker Point in Gosport. The plan had been to get a couple of sessions in while I was away but 30mph westerly winds put paid to any plans to fish on Thursday so this was to be my only session of the trip.When the wedding was planned I was quite looking forward to this trip, at this time of year the fishing should be really kicking off down there with Bass, Plaice, Thornback Ray, Spotted Ray and Smoothhound pups the main targets along with the ubiquitous Pouting, Dogfish and Poor Cod. Alas the prolonged spell of cold weather has completely knacked the fishing down there (as up here) and with water temperatures well below what they should be for the time of year I wasn't overly hopeful.
My chosen mark was Gilkicker Point in Gosport at the eastern end of the Solent. Owing to inconsiderate wedding planning the fishing had to coincide with totally crap tides and even worse a HT at 8pm so still in daylight. This meant 'kicker was the only real choice - it is a mark that offers very deep water close in, a very strong tide rip making it only fishable of tides of 4.2m or less and can also fish at any stage of the tide.
With the sun shining I got to my mark nice and early armed with a pound of ragworm (which cost the princely sum of £11), some Bluey and a packet of Sandeels. After trekking across the golf course and then over a bit of shingle I got to my spot almost on the point and just to the west of Fort Gilkicker
Rigs were two hook clipdowns, size 1/0 or 4 hooks baited with rag or bluey and a long paternoster rig 4/0 pennel hooks and Sandeel in the vain hope of a Ray. As expected things were very very quiet during daylight, it was though a lovely afternoon on the beach with lots of water traffic to watch:
The view over the Solent to Ryde on the Isle of Wight:
The view west towards Stokes Bay and Browndown:
To be honest the pictures are the most interesting bit of this report. The fishing was totally crap, not a single bite during daylight. Things did pick up very slightly after it got dark around 9pm, first fish on the beach was a pin Whiting followed shortly by a Poor Cod that did a good job of trashing my trace:
A couple more pin Whiting came in and then I got a Pouting at range:
One more Pouting came to a Sandeel on a 4/0 pennel dropped 10 yards out in the hope of a Bass and by midnight I had had enough. 6 fish (3 Whiting, 2 Pout and a Poor Cod) was a very disappointing return, this venue should have thrown up a lot more but given the recent weather it was not to be. Still at least I got to witness a lovely sunset over Fawley Refinery and got another couple of species points for the 2013 hunt
Last edited:
