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Admiralty Pier, Dover, Kent

Mike Thrussell 01 January, 2006 11:20:00

SPECIES
Bass, mackerel, garfish, mullet, smoothound, black bream, plaice and wrasse all show in the summer. October through to February sees a good mix of whiting, codling, dabs, flounders and pout.

BAITS
Local yellowtail lug is the mainstay for everything bar the smoothound. Try tipping with mackerel or squid or use strips of these for the whiting, dabs and bream. The smoothound and bass take crab, with the autumnal bass preferring lug baits tipped with squid or whole squid. A fresh pout or mackerel head are also a good big bass baits.

TACKLE & TACTICS
Tough 5-6oz beachcasters with an equally tough reel like a Penn 525 loaded with 15 to 18lb line and a 50 to 60lb shock leader is the best choice here. Make your leaders longer than normal to aid lifting fish up from the sea. Local anglers use 6oz to 8oz grip leads to hold bottom in the tide run.

Good rigs are a simple one up/one down with tough size 1 Aberdeen hooks to help lift the fish. For the cod and smoothound use a sliding ledger and longer 30-inch 30lb hook trace and a 3/0 hook to keep the bait hard on the seabed. The big bass also take well on a longer 6ft hook trace but using either a single 6/0 or 6/0 pennel hook rig, especially when using pout, mackerel or squid.

In summer you can feather fresh mackerel for bait of the Turret area, plus catch garfish and mullet on float gear down the side of the pier walls.

The tide runs very strong two hours either side of high water. High water and down the ebb is good for the winter cod at night. The bass and smoothound favour the first hour of the new flood tide.

There is a small fee to fish the pier with varied daily opening times. Check with the Pier authorities on 01304 225138.

LOCATION
At the second roundabout on the A20, take the third exit, or take the first exit at the fourth roundabout coming off the A2 and follow the signs. There is pay parking available close to the pier. Many anglers choose to use a carp type trolley to carry their gear as the end of the pier is a fair walk away.