Doooommmmmeeeddddd😂😂😂 (dads Army for those that don’t get the reference 😉 ) Yes it’s meant light heartedly but lets face it the fishing this year has been .. simply put , efin cack! granted my usual opening line after not posting for almost a week usually leads with an apology for not posting or at least an excuse for not doing so especially when the walls have been open, so, lets restart this with an excuse/apology 😂

The excuse:- I was very busy this week, didn’t have time in the mornings when at pc, body having a bad start to the day, forgot to post blah blah blah ( by now some have realised i’m waffling and erm , in that sort o mind set to draw this all out 😉
The apology :- oops, sorry forgot too post 😉😂
The reality :- Sun, was nothing too say other than whats in the round up in a bit, T, W, Thurs closed so mostly overlooked updating and tbh yesterday the body was having a fk u morning so the length of time I was at the pc was almost zero soooo, here goes with a round up of the last few days… week.

The week that was, or wasn’t !
For those tht have not had a chance to get out in the last 10 days and the few that simply have missed the info out there the current sea state including the past 10 days have been churned and overall heavily coloured water and although not a problem in itself we are plagued with the long spaghetti weed in large amounts, yesterday there was a pile at the steps at 29 that would have filled a large suitcase. Im told, if there are gardeners out there that the long string stuff makes good fertiliser but its not my thing so couldn’t say for definite.

On the fishy front last weekend was tough going for most but there were some decent bass too be had and some decent ones also dropped on retrieve or for the lack of a net when trying too land them. Over on the FBook group Stuart G posted a report for Saturday that on the higher part of the wall he had Sole, squid, and dogfish over the high but the rest of the day was tough going. There were fish scattered along the wall(inc bass on the low section) all mostly in the morning with little too no sign of any mackerel showing up…. WTF are the fish this year ? Sunday again when I wandered along the wall there were reports o dropped fish, mostly bass again over on FBook Nick S posted a few pics from his day including a giant sea slug of 18.53 when hung on a digi scales and I believe he dropped another ironically smaller than the one he got pics of. Neil R who is a regular on the wall as well as FBook group poster shared his catch of a sole, bass, congers, and hound pups but all in all the weekend by past standards was very tough going for all. yes there were “tidlers” down close to the wall as well as a few scattered bream but the fishing last weekend was very patchy and very tough going other than a airly decent number of Bass caught or dropped for various reasons..

Tuesday the wall reopened after the windy shutdown that was Monday so on Tues I ventured down and met Mrk P coming off the wall with a very decent red mullet/goat fish that went 13.25 inches or in modern parlance 33.5 cm. No I couldn’t remember his name as usual with me but I figured he would (yea B again) post up on the FB group and sure enough he did and thus I have a name on the fish capture 😉. After a few words & catch up I ventured onto the wall and found Phil aka “pieman” fishing bay one but at the time hadn’t caught but no doubt by close he had something for his time. Further along towards the bend there were reports and occasional fish including Bream, a decent Wrasse and then I found someone with a mackerel ! yup honest guv a real and live mackerel what the Actual F! a Mackerel! granted it was a tiddler of about 4 inches and was about too be put too good use as a live bait but sheesh they are this year almost are rare as rocking horse poo!

further along & past 29 a similar story of tough going and an occasional Mackerel! MORE lummy what was going on, as it turned out I think nature knowing what the weather ahead report looked like was taking the piss out of everyone by throwing Mackerel at us and then closing the door as the autumn winds once again blew!.

Sadly the mackies were few n far between and while there they didnt get any larger. Up on the high bays I caught up with a couple who I hadn’t seen in a year or two so was a good place too stop & have a chat & find out if much was happening on the higher bays and was told of Gurnard, Bass caught and others dropped, no one up there had tried for squid so cant confirm any catches yesterday for them.
While up there there was a sudden flurry of activity only too find out someone’s bait had been hit by something(prob bass) and … oh dear no drag set and a rod had vanished over the wall! no doubt never too be seen again ! Bummer!

And that as such while missing some o the catch reports really did sum up the last week of very slow and poor, patchy fishing over the last few weeks. Sadly it’s not just the marina having a cack year, it seems a very wide spread issue for much of the SE coastal area !
we now have a week to 10 day period of wall closure which leaves me fearing, not only for the squid season thats looming but also for the west wall.

On Monday I got too speak with one o the workmen on the west who indicated they had been put back a week due too recent poor conditions and thus the new estimate (weather allowing) was of about a month and they had been working some long hours recently. Now looming we have a close down of at least 10 days which will push us into October and a high chance that the west would need jet washing before we could realistically let anyone onto the wall once the work crews finish. We won’t get access even for Mark too jet wash on the lower level while they work on the upper as there are vehicles constantly in use on the wall and it is classed as a closed work site !

I suspect we may be facing a case of no west wall fishing this year which would be a right bummer for everyone.
Time will tell, thats for sure !

And on that gloomy note I look back, or up on the page back too the opening title,
Mr Mainwaring, were doomed I say………..

And so, until the next one,….. I bid you all ADIEU
F