Hard to miss if you are reading I guess, but, yes, the comp is going ahead, so if you are attending I will see you there.
Weather man say today is Sunny but looking out of the window its mixed sun and cloud cover and about 15 degrees with a light northerly breeze of about 6-7mph all day and same tonight so conditions look ideal .
On the fishy front I took a trundle down both walls yesterday for a look see and also to chalk up the bay/peg numbers for the comp so peg1 is on bay 10 by the 2nd set of steps.
so, whats going on ?

Unfortunately there were not too many fishing the walls yesterday with more on the west than east. One regular(dave) who often targets mullet did ok yesterday on the WEST with 2-3 schoolies and one decent keeper bass. He also had a decent sole, plaice, a small conger among other bits & pieces. He also fished the EAST on Wednesday fairly high up and again managed to land some decent sole and a couple of bass.

The water has taken a little while to clear but today looking better than it has for a week or more and with a minor stir up coming tomorrow evening today looks like it will be the best of this weekend unless like ducks you are happy to be out in the rain(forecast on XC) that looks to be the main feature on Sunday.
There is a small change of the WEST having to close Saturday night BUT the forecast is often a little over actual so expect the website to show open as its likely to be a decision of the warden on duty Sunday likely will be a bit choppy and rain most of the day so the west while prob open will be a tad lumpy ( hint, id go east! )

Ok, the fish report is very thin on the ground if based on one blokes report eh ! but in all honesty this week on the east has been very quiet, I saw 5 people over there yesterday afternoon and the only feedback I have had were for mackerel hunters ( dang hard work) and others saying things were slow going. on the plus side the low bays on the east have been doing ok for those looking for bass.
there are still mackerel & horse mac about but like the bream numbers are thinning but that may only be due to the up n down conditions of the last 1-2 weeks where we have had a day or three of calm then just as things clear another minor blow pushes through in a true autumn blows pattern !. Not great for the fishing unless you are looking for bass, conger rays and sole in the murky water. Yes sole are doing ok thankyou with some of the regulars picking up some very nice slabs off the walls and local beaches.

Further into next week it looks like another blow builds from Monday (expected open but west will be choppy) and Tues it looks like a day that is right on the edge of being closed if the forecast is accurate but will update home page closer to that event. Wed Thurs XC is showing a storm like increase in winds and mostly rain all next week. Expect both walls to close Wed & Thurs. Beyond Thurs it looks like the blow sits westerly but again is too early to call conditions.

Well that’s it from me today other than to close with a “see you there” if you are attending the SQUID COMP, other than that I as usual will bid you all ADIEU
F

Somewhat lacking this week on fishing reports, the marina fb page also v quiet so cant really give a decent update today but will be down there sometime today to chalk the numbers on the wall for tomorrows squid comp

YES the SQUID COMP is definitely on tomorrow
Sign in is from 4.30pm onwards by the cafe on the east
no you dont have to notify anyone in advance if you are coming.
Comp starts at 6pm finish 9pm prizes will be done straight after by the cafe to save everyone trudging back to the tacklebox
It is £5 to enter and then a wall charge for the 1 rod (adult £6 & jnr’s and seniors £4)
2 hooks or 2 jigs max may be used 1 rod only
headlamps must be blue or filtered (blue)
please note for this event there will be no lighting fixed to the wall to shine on the water and this includes no underwater lights. Headlamps only, small lanterns by kit boxes will be permitted provided they dont light the area like a beacon and are low light levels.

Prizes

there will be shop vouchers to be won which depends on number of entries. 100% of entry fee will be used for shop vouchers so if 40 ppl attend there will be £200 up for grabs in vouchers.
initial prizes

1st (greatest total length combined)
A squid trip with Robin Howard plus a tacklebox voucher voucher

2nd( Longest single squid or cuttle) tacklebox voucher

3rd ( most individual squid & cuttle caught) tacklebox voucher

there are im told various items of tackle up for grabs and possibly a junior prize depending on number of entries

 Roman Gancedo Rey will be donating some of his own hand made squid jigs to add to the prizes

Many thanks to Philip Metcalf who has provided the Tacklebox Vouchers
and thanks to
Mark Robinson for providing the wall space and later time finish for the east wall

See you all there tomorrow , and until then , yup you guessed it…. I will bid you all ADIEU
F

UNFORTUNATELY IT HAS BEEN DECIDED TO CALL OFF AND MOVE THE SCHEDULED COMP THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THIS FRIDAY

Squid comp will now be held NEXT week on FRIDAY 5th OCTOBER

the poor forcast has pushed a reconsider and we have moved to the following week.

all other details remain the same.
F

Ok so I have left things over a week (10 days) until putting up a fresh post.
In my defence a large chunk of last week had closed signs up for much of the time so there was little to report on.
So, now that the walls are back open, the daytimes are a bit slow but mixed, there are mackerel during the day, sometimes quite erratic at when but it does seem that morning early b4 the sun is fully up seem best BUT NOT always so dont quote these words if it fails to happen (a bit like today on the low east!) As well as mackies there are bream, wrasse, garfish, bass and flatties n both walls but not huge numbers.

Ive also seen reports of mullet but not confirmed with any piccys, 2-3 types of ray are being caught, granted not large ones and in with these do seem to be those unicorns as some refer to codling these days. There is good amounts of baitfish in the water ranging from small fry upto & including sprats. There seems to be a bit of a lack of reports on the smaller species we get down the Vs and wall edges but there are still blennies, gobies, scorpion fish(bullheads locally) and even some dragonettes lurking. Red mullet have been caught on the west and higher reaches of the east (yep that long walk) and a few gurnards out on the sands.

reports on the facebook group are atm a bit sparse, not sure why, maybe ppl are intimidated from posting maybe ppl dont think posting a report saying little or how only 1 fish got caught, but IMO any report is a report and the good and the bad all add up to give a bigger picture and saves me chasing regulars for updates.

I have deliberately left squid out until now being as I can add a reminder of the squid comp week friday. its a fiver to ender and all entrants will need to buy a wall ticket for one rod to the duty warden. Prizes are mostly shop vouchers for the tacklebox but I also believe there will also be some end tackle up for grabs
link to event –>> HERE<<–

Yes squid are being caught, yes on both walls, yes you can catch them during the day. Gentler tides seem the best time so Id suggest on the bigger tides try mid water and maybe slack water times. The west is also doing well for squid at night. Horse mackerel, bass, rays, bream and plaice are among night catches.

Re night fishing, things are quite busy on the west especially at weekend. The duty warden at night is the one who decides if the extension will be opened and it is not automatic that it will get opened. yes the ext can be booked via Mark Robinson for groups of 8 or more and is on a 1st come first serve basis. There is no extra cost for fishing the extension, if its open and not booked for exclusive use you can fish on it. Juniors must be accompanied on the extension.

We have NE breezes this week cooling the air at night and then on Saturday it swings easterly for the weekend b4 returning NE for the new week so things at night are getting colder, time to dig the woolies out I suspect.

Well, I think thats enough from me for today so until next time I will bid you all ADIEU
F

Jeez where did the summer go ?
Did it ever start / seems not !
Anyhooo, reports last night were good from the west, plaice Bass, loads of squid, Mac on 1st and last light unsure if the high tide played as well but at the right times there were expected fish with bream catches finally in the “good numbers” range and a steady tick over on bass. I wonder if anyone has tried live baiting a squid yet ?

plaice also recorded yesterday on the west wall and last night a decent codling of about 6lb for one angler, not bad for the west !.
East wall catches tick over although its in a funny mood regarding catches. Needless to say that some bays prove far better than others but I guess that’s part of the joy of fishing and figuring out which bays will be optimum on the day you visit.

Again “over there” , there have been bream catches , wrasse, bass, yes mackerel and some daylight squid. They are not exclusive to night fishing. Gar are now actually showing up in with the mackerel and sprats that seem to come in in swarms along some bays and nowhere near on others . As I said, its a little bit odd and not the usual expected patters on the EAST wall.

re the night fishing, as usual a reminder that anglers must use either proper blue lights or ensure that their white lights are filtered. There are lots of options on doing this from the basic blue marker on your lense cover. The wardens once i get down there will have a fresh supply of sticky back blue transparent filter that is easy to use. at the least, when you go shop in some of those smaller stores keep the blue carrier bags. The are great for covering the under water lights and easy to cut to shape to again fit over the lens covers.
Basically anything that will put a blue tint on the bright light.

Yes the message is finally getting out and I’m collecting a few pics over the next few weeks so that I can put up a post on the FB group showing the results . Anglers are getting the message and the difference is clear to see on the wall at night.

With the big burst in the fishing it goes without saying that the west wall at night is very busy, sometime the duty warden opens up the extension and other nights it has/can be booked for use at no extra cost. The decision on opening is at the discretion of the guy on duty.

Ok folks thats enough from me, tomorrow see’s the Ace cafe “mod” reunion on the seafront so expect central Brighton to be very busy.
Until next time I will again bid you all (4 of you) ADIEU
F

Well as I type its piddling down with rain, last time I saw it like that at this time of year the fishing went mental for mackerel and the irony was that only 3 people stayed to catch them so gotta chuckle as i sit here nice and comfy remembering the day.

Talking of fishing things are good out there atm, as said on previous post the water is now alive with whitebait & sprat baitfish which in turn has drawn in mackerel shoals that had sat offshore in deep waters ( i have a theory to that) with the mackerel have come horse mac(scad) bream catches on the wall seem to have exploded also. Add to this bounty there have been plenty of bass and sightings all along the South coast of tuna and huge bait balls that the gulls have been going mental over.

If all of the above wasnt enough there is squid in the water in their 100s maybe thousands. Yes they are being caught during the day but they are far easier with less work to catch at night with some anglers getting 40+ and stocking up on them as bait.

The west wall for obvious reasons has proven very popular at the moment and night fishing has been non stop and very busy. Get there early or plan on about midnight as some ppl filter away.
Regarding night fishing on the wall I will add my usual reminder that all powered lights /head lamps/torches/underwater lights even battery tip lights need to be either blue light or filtered in some way with options of blue markers, sticky back plastic (transparent type) or at most simple a blue carrier bag can be used (best use a double layer.
Why do we ask this? Because the power of todays lights are huge and a single beam into the cabin of an active boat can blind the pilot and even for a few seconds can result in lethal accidents. The marina is a working harbour with a fixed active lifeboat so please ensure you have the correct lighting needs. (filters will be available from duty wardens)

well thats it for today, until next time i bid you all ADIEU
F

Happy Sunday everyone, so a quick…ish round up from the weekend. Both walls are doing ok for mackerel with the best atm 1st and last light but.. that said its not the rule as they are in and out quite randomly during the day if its not too hot. Loads of baitfish & sprats in the water which of course is now drawing everything else in to feed in a bit of a frenzy at times. Plaice Bream and Wrasse being reported daytimes on the east as well as the above mentioned Mackerel.

Its worth noting here that as the light draws in through the evening that the EAST WALL will start to close earlier as the agreement is to close before the light goes fully. Current time is now 8pm daily.

On the west things are somewhat similar with mackerel 1st light , tons of bait fish in the water, plenty of squid on both walls and last night producing a very high number, great to eat fresh and also great bait in general and decent also for them cod that are now being caught from the shorelines (ok codling).

While on the topic of last night the west had one of its best nights for a long while with mackerel, horse mac for much of the night and then early light mack again. Bass, Bream Eels , yup with it being breezy the water has been somewhat coloured on the west(clearish on east !) so plenty for all, (sadly we do get the greedy feks that seem to think its ok to show up with 5 buckets each & expect to load up)

So on the fishing front every thing is rosey, or so it seems. One downer muddying the waters though and that is people fishing the extension last night seemed to think it was ok to fish inside when no one is looking!.

Please dont, the wardens have been instructed to crack down on this , its dangerous to boats, causes issues with headlamps pointed out over the entrance causing risks to boat owners leaving the marina. While some think its ok and “where is the harm” fishing inside will see anglers lose access to the extension or it will revert to “wardens and trusted ppl only” peeing off those unable to get on there but not only that, it risks the use of the west wall in general to anglers. So please if you see people fishing inside, have a quiet word if you wish but more importantly, let a warden know its a happening, if you can get a pic without a risk do so & send it too me, I can make use of them.

Well weatherman says it looks good for the following week so if ya can Id get out there while its playing good in the water !. Yesterday one boat owner over in shoreham reported they saw tuna jumping right alongside their boat! If ya fancy a go for one of these beasties give Brigand Brighton a ring, number is on the charter page, they have now clocked up a decent handfull of tuna catches with pics all over facebook and the local papers. Defo a time to be getting out there !
Well, thats it from me, so, until next time I bid you all ADIEU
F

A post to make you all smile. Contrary to the theory that the 1st decent amounts of mackerel arrive on a big tide, the fish, as usual have proven every theory wrong.

It began on Tuesday with Mark reporting mackerel and then posting a piccy or two so I waited for further reports to come in and they didnt on the day. Yesterday morning things kicked of early with a shoal of mackerel breaking the surface off both walls. as the day progressed so did the catches. As mentioned yesterday squid have firmly arrived, dont ask me the type as Ive no idea until someone points out the obvious to me but, they do look like the ones we usually get in April, surely they are not that late? pass !

Anyhooooooo squid are in
mackerel are in
bait fish of all sizes are in
Brigand Brighton has told everyone that TUNA are in and they are booking more trips, Yes this charter boat has a licence to chase Tuna and have logged their first already, if you fancy it, take a look on the charter boat page for the tel number and get booking.

Finally the sea has got its THANG on and has exploded with fish. Hows the weather you ask ? glorious, at least a weeks worth of decent weather ahead, mackerel on both walls today and yesterday soooooo

Ya know what to do, come on down

And with that, until next time Im orf and will bid you all ADIEU
F

Well the last 10 days have been somewhat disruptive with near Autumn-like weather so in truth little to report on other than confirming my suspicions about squid or cuttle in the water. NOW is defo the time to get them squid jigs out of cold storage and give it a go. Day or night they will be about for a couple of months hopefully and assuming the weather doesnt go tits up driving them into deep water.

mark reported yesterday that the mackerel “were in”, now not having seen much in the way of other reports Im gonna say there were quite a few caught but am still awaiting news from today. Granted ive not looked at facebook yet today as I type this out.
Are they in ? … … … probably.
Defo been a bit thin on the ground this year and 2-3 weeks later than I expected, oddly if they are in , they have arrived on smaller tides, most unusual. Bream, plaice & bass in the usual places and the weather man is indicating a decent week of calm ahead ! lummy has summer actually arrived or is it simply taking the pee and buggered off this year !, come on mother nature bring on the fish 🙂

Yep a bit short and sweet today but having gone to the footy game last night im bloody knackered and totally lacking in energy to do much of anything today.
So thats it & until next time I bid you all ADIEU
F

Now I know there are some other oldies reading the headline and thinking That rings a bell in the back of my head so, if ya haven’t got it yet, try this –>

“I like the way you talk”
“I like the way you walk”
Have ya got it yet ? need another hint ? ok –>
“Let me hold your hand”
“Try to understand”

By now it should be stuck in your head like an old fashioned ear worm !
So the weather man says

“Let the 4 winds blow”
“let em blow let em blow”
“from the east to the west”
“I love you the best”

One of my fav Fats Domino tracks seem very apt as a warning or at least alert to what is expected to be a fairly blowy week that impacts the marina wall very much this week.

But

before all of that a swift round up of what I saw & heard this week down the road from my house 🙂
Not the best of weeks but by far not the worst so far for what really has been quite a miserable 1st half of the year for sea anglers in Sussex this year. Very much missing this year on the marina for the 2nd year was the early squid run and the 10 day 2 week normal spring run of mackerel that I usually say come up from the bay of biscay region, granted im not 100% sure of that but im fairly confident is such the case. I also suspect that spring run is linked in some way to the early squid ( more of that in a bit).

Sussex fishing not only has been disrupted by constant Autumn like blows, lower sea temps than normal (odd in times of global warming) the very much lack of whitebait and fish fry against the walls (I blame the constant cycle of blows) all have combined to crate a situation that has made this years fishing from the shore very poor. In contrast the charter boats have been reporting decent trips when they have been able to get out, the real issue for them is the weather and being able to get out there and att’em!

So a little less of the misery about conditions being poo what hasn’t been so poo?
well……. on the days we have avoided high winds and actually got open the night anglers have cheered up to the arrival of horse mackerel and the beginning of the week saw a few early morning mackerel, not many but a few on both walls.
Now while there hasnt been much whitebait (I did mention seeing some on higher bays) It has slowly been increasing, possibly (or coincidence) tying in with the reduction of spider crabs swamping both walls determined to cut as many lines as they could. Yes there are still quite a lot on lower EAST bays but the WEST is almost clear of the blighters.

As a result of changes below the surface, we have had 2-3 dolphin visits swimming the lengths of both walls, lovely to watch but a pain for trying to catch fish! the good news is that mackerel have been around nearly every morning but in small numbers , few ppl have managed more than a handful. By Thurs wardens were tempted to say that mackerel have been/are there every morning, the truth is sort of so but mainly the high tides out of the sunshine heated hotter periods of the day.

Bass are still there for those that have the know how but the seemingly drunken like state of Bass feeding on the soft crabs has eased back and they are becoming again the elusive fish they are known as. Plaice and other flatties are still a bit few and far but in the more stirred up water sole have done well not only on the east bend but also high on the east and west for a change.

There have been confirmed gurnard catches this week but I lack pictures and bream takes have definitely improved when conditions have allowed but this week thinks have been quite choppy and the water stirred up with erratic wind levels especially the early evenings recording a bit higher than forecasted wind rates.
On to the weekend & Fri proved that there was a steady tick of morning mackerel but little to show any shoaling signs and as the morning drifted to evening things were slow for the few fishing.
Perhaps the lack of anglers is why there are so few catch reports but looking around FB groups it does seem true that things are slower and harder this year, be it conditions, less fish inshore or something Ive yet to figure out I don’t know but it has deffo been harder on the walls this year than and I can recall in the last 25+ that I have been regularly on the marina.

So ffs have I got anything decent to say I hear. Well yea sort of, that past weekend at night has picked up, while not tons of ppl fishing, night catches over the weekend ticked of decent numbers of horse mac, a plus for some of the regulars, also the return of thornbacks being caught, (I never thought I’d miss that !) bass & even some plaice on the west, yup not just on the low bays. now dont assume there are loads, but there was enough to say things are less lean for plaice than this year had so far been. and yes there have been mackerel in the early light of the day.
Sunday I took the quad down onto the east, and west for a nose and chat with the wardens and anyone else willing to chat with me and managed to catch up with a couple of familiar faces on the west wall although I didnt really recognise anyone fishing on the east.
That said If he reads this,(not sure he does) one regular will be thinking , ahem, you saw me! and yes I did meet one but he wasnt fishing he was unloading his car to head onto the wall. Now, you may wonder why I have singled out this moment, well it is simple and comes with a warning/heads up to all anglers using the east wall and the car parks that end.

Officially there is NO PARKING (without permits) in any of the east car park areas for anglers.
you may get a green ticket at the road barriers to drive down and unload/load up, you have an hour on getting said green ticket BUT
IF YOU PARK down there you are highly likely to get a parking ticket in the post 2 weeks later.
The marina is patrolled by a separate company, marina security will walk past you & not say a word, BUT, please take notice, don’t risk a ticket, the dudes that patrol are over keen to give out tickets.
Parking can be done down there but, do it the wrong way and they will chase you for fines! Any blue badge holders that find distances an issue , please message me in some way as I can often find a workable solution for you.

Right, back to my visit on the new quad :), as I posted to the FB group yesterday I got down on the west about 3.30pm and the wind was 5 building slowly to 10mph or so over the expected forecasts and almost as I arrived so did a small shoal of mackies being worked furiously by gulls tantalisingly close for all to see but then were just out of casting range and for a moment was tempted to drop down to the lower level & see if I could borrow a rod for a fling or two at them 🙂 Anyhoo as the wind rose the mackies did oblige and came a little closer allowing most there (maybe 20 ppl) to get some casting practice and claim a few each for a while. The down side was that the wind had crept off the SSE and started to veer to the westerly causing some cracking water spouts as the tide dropped.
Sensibly those that didn’t pack up & run for the hills moved lower on the wall below the bend to reduce the chances of a good soaking and maybe a few more mackies but they were proving as challenging as the conditions. They did eventually settle early evening & I lack any night report for Sunday.
Over on the east things were half n half, the lower 15-20 calm as you like but the front end started to get a thumping pushing anglers onto the lower bays. Thing over there were slow that day but there were bass & crabs on the low bays and a few bream were had as were on the west but overal slow.

Tellingly some people reported “odd pulling bites” that produced nothing. After a quick check ppl confirmed the “bites” were more a pull back, down and away & then ping , it was gone which to me strongly hinted squid, I knew of 3 confirmed catches on the WEST (1 at night) & 2 of them were unintended hook ups. Now at least 5 people on the lower east were telling a similar story so, if the weather allows I’d be looking at breaking out a squid jig or two !

And so I come back to the title of todays loooonnnngggg sermon:) It seems were are about to be visited by the tail end of some hurricane meaning that today (mon) the walls are open and the west will be open tonight, beyound the morning the WEST will then be closed (see home page) and is expected (all being well) to re open SAT morning after an inspection some time about 6am.

Likewise over on the EAST WALL it is open today and closed TUES, beyond that I will post info as I get it. WED is too early to call right now (mid day mon) and a decision will be posted re will the east open WED. likewise Thurs & Fri look like a full close with SAT being the morning of check for damage and hopefully opened up.

SO, the WEST WALL will shut 1/Tues, 2/WED, 3/Thurs,4/Fri and open sat, hence the 4 winds 🙂
I hope you all have a great week and until the next yarn I spin I will bid you all ADIEU and shout out BHAFC are TOP OF THE LEAGUE 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
TTFN
F