Today….. No nothing stupid just the weather forecast for too day, its dry out there but one of those sort of hazy days with white cloud cover making it “not so bright” as the past two near summery days. needless too say on a quick phone gab with Mark it is a bit quieter this morning BUT… coz there is always a but ! the high tide is later today at 16.08 or in English for us oldies almost 10 past 4 🙂

Catch wise yesterday things were somewhat hit & miss for many although IMO for April and how poor the fishing was last year for many Id say that things weren’t too bad and that, (believe it or not) Is not a case of me dressing up the reports too look good, further proof required, take a look at robin howards blog and pay attention too the species mix
Take a look for yourselves, Rob puts a lot of work into what he does
https://www.brightoninshorefishing.co.uk/

And so, wtf is going on that is so good that I am crowing about catches and biging up someone else’s business ? Well tbh over the winter while awaiting the decisions on the bass fishing this year and the doom and gloom about how the sardine industry had collapsed followed by bad new on mackerel being limited in france too 5 per person I was starting tho think that this year on the walls could turn into a real bummer of a summer season.

Thankfully at the moment the signs are sorta pointing too the opposite. We are not yet 10 days into April and the local boats are already reporting good bream numbers, potentially early arrivals of cod and Pollack, squid have been caught and noticed for the last few day and while that is all happening for the boats , given time it is also reflected too some degree on the marina walls.

While the Easter weekend was fairly pants on the weather front hampering the fishing I can list of quite a few species that have been caught in the last week, some I have confirmed myself and others from reliable sources so here goes for the doubtful….
Caught in the last week on the marina
Plaice, yea we all know that as well as them dogfish and whiting. Herring, Sole, Thornback Ray, Black bream & gilthead bream, Undulate ray, congers, silver eels, Flounders, Pollack (i kid you not) Scorpion fish and blennies, Red Mullet, Gurnard, Gar fish , yea I know it was tiny but still counts. sand eels (genuinely) Spider crab, masked crab, Bass, heard talk of mullet but cant confirm as yet. Add too this with reports from local boat anglers such as Robin , showboat and other skippers out & about things are indicating the potential of a decent summer. bream were noted on the walls more than a month ago, black bream used too be the first too show but the last 3 years it has been guiltheads caught first. Ive hear whispers that wrasse have been caught and they certainly are active on the inshore boats.
Thursday Friday are looking fishable from the walls but I am expecting BOTH WALLS TO BE CLOSED ON SATURDAY and with current forecasts it may be a case of a full close on SUNDAY but mark is hoping he can get the rirst part of the east open for the die hard loonies 🙂

Anyone jus realising I havn’t mentioned yesterdays catches ? , nope ? hmmmm best I do a bit about that then eh.
Thursday, I had a call from Mark a bit earlier than usual letting me know not only were the walls quite busy but a couple of groups had asked if I was coming down and could I bring them erm a little something for the afternoon😉
And so I packed the quad and stuck the small trailer on the back and pootled my way down too the marina and over too the East as requested heading too the higher bays first tooting the scooter horn as I went ( I do enjoy drawing attention too myself 😂)

Anyhoo, I turned the wheels around at 60 and worked my way back along the top of the wall chatting too many of the regulars and a fair few new faces. The usual stuff, hi, how ya doing , giving updates too people and generally chin wagging as I went. As most will know I do see myself as a sort of friendly face too those fishing and also a familiar point of contact for many if any issues arrive and also gives me a better feel for what is being caught in general while Im down there.

Now my reports are not always accurate of the day but are factual and some days I may not get much info of the day or indeed mornings catch so from time too time I get updated days after some things have been caught. Its not precise but is a decent guide for many.
It seems that things started slow on the East on the lower bays but better on the upper half(somewhat) splitting the wall into a sort of half n half. As I arrived at the top end they had just started too catch a few flat fish and it was a similar story as I came down along the wall until about bay 40 where the reverse seemed in effect , the lower straight bit had had a few catches but as it neared the higher tide things had stopped.

Predominantly plaice and dogfish were being caught but also scattered were assorted bits n bobs including the first masked crab id seen this year for Chris. There was a bass caught by some regulars who took a few pics with their young uns and returned the fish. Ironically some had mistaken its return and let us know that an under sized bass had been retained so Mark popped along too check on things and as said the Bass had actually been returned as the catches knew their stuff.

Now, if you happen too be an angler that is approached by a warden too check a catch report , please bear with us. We dont always get accurate reports but do our best too check out and ensure sizes of fish are up too standard. yes misunderstandings happen but Im sure most angers would rather see reports followed up on than wardens not bother. in this case those that reported an undersized fish kept had it wrong but that doesnt mean people should not let us know it the see an issue than can be sorted by a few words from a duty warden. I trust that the warden manner when checking fish doesnt piss people off but tbh it does happen occasionally. Wardens cant respond too a situation if they are not aware so please bear with us if we ask too check a catch 🙂

As I hit the bend of the east many were saying caught earlier dead now and the number of anglers fishing the lower 20 bays rapidly thinned too zero. Thus I rolled off the east wall and trundled over too the west tooting the scooter horn as I rolled up and turned at the toilet block.

the west was again ticking over like the previous two days and there were some plaice scattered along the wall with a few still coming out as I rolled towards bay one and the exit gate. High bays had a couple of eels earlier with quite a few people feathering. I did suggest too some too have a go for herring with smaller hooked rigs and I did see one or two swap sizes down onto sabikis.

Last part I guess of todays round up is that as I left the wall about 4 is there were quite a few still arriving on both walls and I dont have any info as too if any catches happened. There were a few arriving on both walls having a go for squid being as one of the private boat owner had posted a piccy of a decent squid he had caught & with the tie in as mentioned earlier there are decent signs that squid are due too be caught on the walls very soon.
Best ya all stock on squid jigs if ya havnt already stocked up…. or give me a shout for em 😂
And on that final note I will sign off for today and if you are down there I may see ya on the wall… and so, until the next one .. I will bid you all ADIEU
F