South Coast Quick Sand / Sinking Mud - Poole Harbour

[CKB]

I just came across this on social media and I think it’s well worth a look.

Ten years or so back myself and two others were bait digging near Arne, in Poole harbour, just to easy of that old wooden jetty. his rod went and he did his usual of dashing for the waterline to hit the bite. He had no idea what the ground was like and quickly got stuck to his waist in the mud and was calling for help as he began to sink further in. I ended up trying about three different ways to get close to him, eventually reaching him with the fork handle and pulling him back onto the surface of the mud. We were all pretty shocked and surprised.

When I was a boy, my father explained that this had happened to two school boys in Whitecliff bay, on the other side of the harbour. I don’t think they both made it back out alive from memory.

The point is, things can go wrong pretty fast, and this type of mud does exist in our local, so be careful. The video shows you how to shimmy one leg out at a time and get your body flat on the surface, to distribute weight better. I don’t know if it would save you every time, but its probably worth knowing.

Thanks,

Chris

Video:

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PS Ignore the crap in the video commentary.

 

[flappy]

I do love a BMW.

 

[geejayy]

Burnham and Brean spring to mind . I used to get yelled at by dad when searching for the big clams at southamptons western shore, out in the thin mud past the worm beds, was never sure if he was worried about safety or the state of the cars interior on way back

 

[Mr Fish]

Yes, if possible, throw yourself forward as soon as you feel you’re properly sinking.
It happened to me in my local estuary once, which isn’t normally too bad but it might have been an old bait digging pit or something.
Anyway, splatted myself belly first as soon as I felt my legs heading to Australia and that gave enough wiggle room to extract one leg after the other then claw towards more solid ground.

I spent the rest of the session totally plastered in mud though

 

[flappy]

I spent the rest of the session totally plastered in mud though

Makes a change from goat shit I suppose..

 

[Mr Fish]

Makes a change from goat shit I suppose..

Didn’t feel as sexy, must admit

 

[Cwab]

Then local beach I would haunt to dig bait and fish had section with very soft wet sand which you could not dig and if casting onto it in certain conditions you would not get your rig or shocker back as would snap at knot breaking out, also at low not possible to recover traces/ leads as just too deep so would just cut shockers at ground level if found whilst mooching.
Area perfectly safe to walk on and would mystify none local danglers as to what snagged on as clean ground.

 

[CKB]

I think the big problem is the texture of it. There is some much soupier stuff than in that video. And sometimes stuff like clay, sometimes like mud.

 

[Mr Fish]

I think the big problem is the texture of it. There is some much soupier stuff than in that video. And sometimes stuff like clay, sometimes like mud.

Yes I’d imagine so although when I had my incident, it just seemed like a gloopy bottomless pit, nothing was stopping my legs from disappearing.
Had I not thrown myself forward quickly I’d have been on the phone to the fire service for sure, or the coastguard or screaming for help!

It’s not usually an issue in our estuary but I definitely won’t be trying to dig/walk in that area again!

 

[flappy]

I’m certain that years ago.. these were used

 

[Mr Fish]

I’m certain that years ago.. these were used
View attachment 71179

Tight shorts? Do they help?

 

[Cwab]

I’m certain that years ago.. these were used
View attachment 71179

A mud horse or sled but this looks a racing model

 

[Goateeblank]

Got caught once and remember thinking to myself, l could die here. Still no fan of mud and a slightly sinking wellie gets my heart rate up. Good advice. Cheers.

 

[Dutchman]

I seen it as a kid and scared the 5hit out of me and i will always remember it.

Fishing the coast from Grange Over Sands outwards to sea area flatties were the target for angling but some would "tread" the fish in the channels at low tide.

seen one bloke doing it when we were digging lugs, and then when he walking to shore got caught into quick sand stuff, scary as fk and he was lucky to be pulled out and was covered in mud from head to foot.

 

[Valleyboy]

I’m certain that years ago.. these were used
View attachment 71179

A mud horse. They used to use them to empty the nets/traps on the Upper BC

 

[Timmy H]

A mud horse. They used to use them to empty the nets/traps on the Upper BC

I've been out on the mud with a mud horse fisherman at Stolford way back in the 1989s, that was Brendan Sellick. Beautiful being out there but quite scary when the tide starts to come in.

 

[Valleyboy]

I've been out on the mud with a mud horse fisherman at Stolford way back in the 1989s, that was Brendan Sellick. Beautiful being out there but quite scary when the tide starts to come in.

I used to fish last of the ebb/lowtide at Goldcliff out on the marl which was dead flat. You really had to move some when it turned. There used to be loads of fixed net and baskets

 

[Topwater]

It's not funny when it happens. We used to use 'plick plack planks' when wildfowling in the mud/clay marshes and creeks, these days I'm not as desperately keen as I used to be!

 

[glandyman]

I used to fish last of the ebb/lowtide at Goldcliff out on the marl which was dead flat. You really had to move some when it turned. There used to be loads of fixed net and baskets

We used to fish Goldcliff and Redwick a fair bit, not too gloopy. Fished Uskmouth and Farm Fields once, they were too muddy for my liking.

As a kid quicksand problems abounded in cowboy programmes so I knew the technique for extraction. You have to throw a loop of your lasso for the stuck guy to put around his waist and then tie the other end to your horses saddle and drag him out.
Never any horses ay Uskmouth and Farm fields so I never returned.

It would have been OK at Barry Island because you could use a donkey instead.