As a tester Dave has decided to open the WEST WALL for one night session tester this Friday 5th November.
The EAST WALL will close at night as normal this weekend at 6pm and from MONDAY 8th BOTH WALLS will close at 5pm as a fixed winter time opening 7am til 5pm.
We are unable to open at night on the east wall due to temp lack of facilities that the marina I believe are looking into.

I’d post a catch report but have been out of the loop the last couple of days and other than someone catching a mackerel on the east the only other report ive seen or heard of was EELS & more EELS 🙂

so opening EAST 7am -6pm up til Sunday will be 7am til 6pm
WEST opening Thur 7am-6pm/FRI 7am..open all night then close sat afternoon

Both walls from mon 8th will be 7am til 5pm unless said otherwise.

F

Sunday as I type the sun finally shows its face a little after yet another night of winds and heavy rain. Heaven for some & sheer bliss for them loonies chasing bass !
The walls are expected open after what seems for ever ! this Tuesday. The east will open first subject to damage checks and should be open by 9am ISH. Once thats done the warden has duties in the shop for an hour so the west wall not expected to be checked and opened much before mid day.

As per the opening bit, there are still plenty of bass about and reports of congers are high, Is it my imagination or does there seem to be a glut of stuff that many dont usually target ?. Rays, conger even bull huss have been reported this year in better numbers and thats not counting the high amount of sightings of Tuna, dolphins and porpoise! Noticeably lower this year seem to be those big box jellyfish ! a most unusual year with mackies running later and later every year soon it will be November shoals if things carry on like this…

So what else can be found out there still? Defo plaice thankfully, a decent eater too, sole can still be found but reports seem to be tailing off somewhat, Pollack and squid should be down the side of the walls with the usual influx now of channel (pin) and pout whiting. Reports from the boats of occasional mackerel and dogfish so there are still a few summer leftovers lingering on the walls.

As usual just as we get a week of calm and seemingly clear weather (even if its cold northerlies this week) I again get a pile of GP & hospital appointments !, yup sods law but unfortunately one this week isnt very welcome and have somewhat been dreading. It may well decide if i’m going under the knife or have to put up with summat inside me that is very unwanted for much longer than I wish, which needless to say is causing shit loads of stress. But hey, shit happens and sometimes we just gotta deal with or muddle on.
F

we are back and running on the EAST today and on Sat both walls will open for 7am or there abouts depending on which wall gets opened first. Both are expected to close 6pm or thereabouts.

Sunday still looking 50/50 but we are hoping to have something open at time of typing this(2pm). needless to say i have next to no catch info from yesterdays east wall opening but phil has relayed that the water is surprisingly clean considering the blows we had! and would you believe it… there have been a few mackerel had on the east today ! they just dont seem to want to go away but I guess they may serve to draw some squid into catch range of the walls.

Out on the local beaches there have been so decent congers pushing just over and some just under the 20lb markers. Bass, rays and sole reports are still common and the plaice are still playing quite well. Prior to the blows squid and gar’s were being taken and we now are trotting into flounder and dab seasons so things are still quite varied out there.

Righty ho, first of all both walls will be closed this week at least Mon to Thurs included so we are hoping to be open Fri & sat but again long range sun doesnt look too handy for much of anything other than here we go again shut downs.
Did i mention a night update ? Yea I guess I did. So where do things stand ? As many know there have been issues at night with noise & anglers seemingly forgetting they are in a residential marina, noise carries and as a result of so many wanting to get on the walls issues escalated very quickly as the walls became swamped with numbers that were over hard to control.

This update on nights will refer only to the WEST WALL, as soon as feasible Dave will re implement night fishing on the west wall as a trial at weekends only , 2 possibly 3 nights. As many are aware the facilities are there to enable us to open and being a bit further from the flats things should allow for noise to be kept to a minimum.
The EAST wall will remain closed at night and to reflect the earlier darkening times the east will open 7am to 6pm every day.We will post the opening of the west at night once we have a clearer picture of coming weather patterns but it may be possible to open this fri/sat , this will be confirmed nearer to the time though.

So tuesday was very similar to monday (see blog ) with the one exception of the boss seing a squid come up on the east for one of the regulars that hunt them, I did get the name but its lost to me (naff name memory)
it looks like the weather will hold through the weekend until sunday evening so now is the time to get the likely last of the mackerel and have a go at the squid. No idea how long this coming blow will last so no guarantee of any clear spells after to produce.
On the up side Dave is working on the marina bosses & we are hoping to announce something somewhen end of this week or beginning next which may be a part solution though not a full one .

Watch this space as they say
F

Round up from the weekend. I think i have already covered last week which was mostly sketchy reports, a few mackerel items & unconfirmed info about squid.
That rapidly brings me to the weekend round up. Sat saw the best of the sunshine but both days were great for evening sunsets, why do I mention them, well if you haven’t fished through this autumns sunsets you should, or at least get out there find a coastal point or a high point that you can watch some of the sunsets happening at the moment. There are some fantastic colours out there and well worth being out for.

The fishing for many on the walls has been ok, for some has been decent and a very few have had some very decent sessions for this time of year. Sat saw a lot of decent plaice high ends of the east, Sunday same area produced numbers but not so big sizes. Mid wall east (sat)saw a tick over of flatties, a splashing of mackerel and a mix of other species enough to occupy many with baits. West sat was a case of many feathering and very few trying for much else but I gather a couple of bream were had prior to the High water and a reasonable number of mackies for many though no full strings. Most had to work for the 10+ fish they had.
Sunday the better part of the marina saw the upper bays on the east perform including 3 decent sized guiltheads amongst the high number of flatties with catches all along the front end ticking over.
Species tally for the east was guilts & black bream, plaice, eels, dab(yup) some gar, mackerel, bass, small rays and a few assortments down the side including a decent wrasse.
OVer on the west late afternoon the tally of mackerel was higher and even a fair few coming out past 6pm on the low water, one bay did very well for plaice fishing well for sizes prior to the high but also continued fish as the tide droped away with a last gasp plaice im told prior to packing down at 6.40pm

I was promised pictures for the facebook page & may see them today sometime… or not …

I helped on the west sat & sun and must say I had a great time. I cant praise those on the wall enough, both walls were very clean and everyone taking all of their rubbish , like it should be you may say but not always the case. The atmosphere was good & I had time to chat with anglers & identify some that needed help or would benefit from an adjustment here or there in how they were fishing. Its great when you almost instantly see a difference or change in how someone adapts to a little change in how they cast or how they change a method even if its something simple like hook sizes for targeting a species. I even managed to teach 2 kids in one family to cast followed by adapting the dads cast with him suddenly getting double the distance he was managing, he seemed impressed and very happy. Now as a warden that is something I expect to do if needed but when things are silly busy you cant always take the time to give attention to detail and I think as a result newer anglers then miss out on a chance to learn earlier than they do.

There are so many reason I love helping on the walls including the social side of things though privately im not really one to sit in others company and prefer to fish on my own or with one otherbut, walking around on the wall give me the chance to chat with other anglers , see how & what they fish of & help with new comers . It may not be teaching but often I can help adapt how some fish to their benefit on the marina & showing the next generation a few things can be very rewarding. The irony is by teaching the kids the adults suddenly find a want to change from just mackerel targets to using bait and learning new way. For those of you that have not had the chance to teach a youngster on the wall a little something , you may be missing out on a whole new and rewarding world. But i ramble 🙂 a last few words about the west wall which on the sunday over all produced more mackies than sat tho no shoals showed , also caught were some bream a bass & quite a few plaice scattered along the wall , more to be honest than Id have expected and as i say one bay performed very well with at least 3-4 decent keepers and a fair few returns.
A great social weekend, with some decent catches in murky water that is doing its best to clear and we have some northerly light winds forecast that should clear the water day by day this week that bodes well for the weekend and those elusive autumn squid.
Hope you enjoyed the read , I know i had a decent weekend pottering on the west .
F

Where are we today ? ..We are at a tick along post to be honest, more sausage filling than steak & kidney pie I think.
So the fishing, dominated since re-opening by the same story after an autumn blow of weed, more weed or, loads of weed. In amongst the the weed the reports are eels , eels and more eels , be they conger or silver it seems to be eel week. Was hoping to hear some squid had returned but the water colour has been a bit grim, on the brighter side we now have some northerlies combined with some big 7meter tides that should go a long way to flushing the weed & silt out a bit . Those big tides should trigger a return of the bass & squid and no doubt a few mackies still looking for food before hitting deeper waters. Plaice and sole are about & if hunting sole many would recommend some old smelly bait for them.
All in all the big tides offer some late summerish fishing if the temps play nice… if they down, wrap up & get out there if you can, mid afternoon high tides look decent for a few species.
F

Sooo, as I have just been reminded, Ive overlooked the blog but posted updates. How long ? hmmm 24th sept oops.
So whats been happening, tbh not a massive amount. Flakey weather in the main causing shut downs over the last 10 days more than openings. Yesterday the east was open for a few hours in the lull that was fairly brief. Fish were had & quite a few showed up braving the weather or despite the weather & bass & plaice amongst other species had although there were no great over harvests that almost became a nasty normal sight.
The wardens can and do set limits on takes but rarely do it as the season for mackies seems to get shorter & shorter… perhaps that may explain to some degree this years carnage or should I say frenzy. Either way a couple of the wardens called enough & started imposing a limit on what people could take to a simple rule. If it looks too much to carry on your own in one go … stop feathering & fish another way or pack up.
It did actually cause some to stop & think while others were shocked to be stopped. It still amazes me that people need to be told when enough is enough & the greed has to stop.

Mostly wardens other than rod fee collecting are rarely seen. That doesnt follow that they are not about, it means they are doing their jobs & letting anglers get on with fishing in relative peace. (boom boxes dont count )The wardens prefer to be not noticed, that means things are ticking over with little to no issues thus people start to think the wardens only show to take ya monies and are never about… which is why some are surprised when we can target somewhere when we know there is an issue and can sort it quickly. It works when people let us know. It fails when people post 3 days later there was an issue.

So back to the walls , today and Tues both walls expected shut unless I post otherwise. Wed subject to the usual damage checks both walls should be open but there may be a little delay as things are checked over. Weather man says no issues from wed to next tues or longer so expect those big Autumn squid to be about, walls currently 7am to 7pm but that may be revisited soonish & for those fishing the beaches at night … get them lures out this weekend. Big 7m tides sat & sun should throw up some big bass/squid and congers. There is lots still out there if the weed can be avoided or dispersed.

Good hunting folks & I may see some of you on the west this w/end 🙂
F
P.S. get those piccys sent into the FB group, time we added to the squid & bass galleries

Those waiting on the late autumn squid run will be looking at this opening line and thinking go on, go on, say it…. ok i wont sat “IT” but…
Squid reports have been logged and confirmed in Dover, folkstone Eastbourne and Brighton, some have been at night but also a decent mix in daytime. It may also account for the fact that the humongous numbers of mackerel are being split into smaller shoals and times of said shoals are a bit erratic.
The downer is that the numbers of visitors to the marina walls is still crazy high and the “fire break” of closing at night begins today with the walls reverting to a 7am to 7pm opening for a few weeks .
On the bait front bass, bream, wrasse, plaice, gar, sole and flounder are fairly common still & for the beach dudes at night plenty of pups and rays amongst the conger. The whiting invasion cant be far away 🙂
F

NIGHT FISHING WILL STOP FROM THIS FRIDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER

WALLS WILL BE CLOSED 7PM TO 7AM
SECURITY PATROLS WILL THIS YEAR BE INCREASED

anyone found on the walls within this time will be removed, If security remove you you risk ID’s being taken as well as car reg plates and a year ban , possible further legal action could also be an option

this is a temp close like last year and full details are posted on the NIGHT FISHING PAGE