Oh goody , Its a Sunday morning (just)round up 🙂
Took the quad for a wander yesterday onto the EAST about 4ish for a gossip and catch up. Quiet a few more people (makes a change as for June things have been fairly quiet in numbers and considering only one wall open there was plenty of space for all. Alex was on bay one and mentioned that he had a cuttle fish on a lure, pic was on Facebook so already new but its always good to hear the details behind a piccy.
While chatting he said where he was things seemed quiet but there had he was told been a few mackies in the morning further along the wall.
A couple of bays from Alex was another “older” familiar face and I’m sure if he was reading this he would chuckle so please excuse the language( I will show him if I see him) but bugger me, the old bastard was proudly showing off a legit Euro Citizen card that the local constabulary had provided him with. I shan’t name the bugger but I recon he will chuckle at this turn of phrase for him being as he was such a sodding pain on his summer visits to the west a few years ago. Rumour of his passing it seems was not the case and in a way was pleasantly surprised to see him still with us and still kicking.

I sold some squid to regulars on the next bay and continued up the wall chatting to most and by bay 12 it seems things had improved over Alex’s view of what was going on with a few bream having been caught and one fairly newish regular stopping to chat on his way off the wall..

I know he usually reads the blog so should easily Identify himself from our convo about catching 2 bream for a change after I suggested a couple of changes to how he targets them. Where he was fishing there was loads of blennie takes while he tried for bream, ( suggested another slight change to his rig next time) and he saw quite a few fish caught around him further up. And with that and a quick pull down of his floppy sun hat against the breeze on the upper level he was off home . By now you should all realise that….. yup I cant remember his flipping name… as usual.

Anyhoo bay 12, they had seen some bream, a mullet & and mackerel earlier in the morning but things had slackened on the low so a sluggish slog was there as most waited for the tide to rise. Come the High at 2pm(ish) there were sporadic mackerel and one gent on @14 had a small mutt. As I followed the bend there were a few Joey mackerel being caught so asking some people how they were getting on was less easy as they like many suddenly switched attention to the water as that very particular “mackerel fever” kicked into peoples heads.

The time was about 4.45pm and sort of every 4th bay along the straight section(some call it the front section) one or two mackies were coming out so an accurate catch fix was not forthcoming. Thus I trundled the wheels along past 29 to @35 where a couple of dudes were looking glum as they could see fish coming out and much to their dismay and not for want of trying hadn’t caught a thing.

I stopped for a quick chat and suggested to take the multiple lures of the rod set up and go with a set of feathers, they were sceptical (not too sure why) possibly due to their lack so far of fish so I pointed out that most around them were catching at a steady tick over to be met with the usual comment
“yea boss but no fish here”
So using one of Dave Grinham’s old puns said to them… tell ya what I will open the fish gate..

Well sod me, ya could have knocked me down with a feather as a small shoal sort of exploded the water straight in front of me ! I trundled off with a parting comment of
“see, bet you wished you had put the feathers on sooner” while they had a mad scramble finding and trying to untangle a new set they ripped out of the packet too quickly thus making it all the harder to rig up.

by this time there was a couple of “mini” shoals ranging up and down the straight section from 22 right up to about bay 45 so again catch reports were vague, from one pair all I got was yea not bad, had a few different things and I could tell they were reluctant to expand soooooo I will spill their secret, they were on bay 43 🙂

strangely for a fairly busy Saturday there were very few above 45 until I reached 58 where there was a small group who were having I guess what can be best described as a mixed ok but not great day who when asked said the mackie burst hadn’t reached them but tbh were not that fussed as it was nice & quiet people wise where they were.

Final trundle of the day westwards hoooooooo.. was up to the lads fishing 74 who were quite happy watching the world tick by away from the loons that can constitute fishing the walls sometimes at the weekend. A quick chat indicated they had no desire to be amongst the mackerel thanks v much like and I turned around and headed back down the wall.

then I could see that most were filling their cool boxes, yes there were plenty that had come prepared, so for some a quick word about dispatching fish rather than having them suffocate here & there I trundled along the wall. All in all I was pleased to see that most were sorting their fish as they came off the line into mostly cool boxes, a few fishing bags and some carriers. The bulk of the anglers were also keeping their bays sensibly tidy although I did have a chat with some 1st time visitors regarding glass and that their next visit could they bring cans for the bottle beer and one group who preferred “summat stronger” to swap the bottles for plastics of some form.
Now I do respect that most will clean up everything when they leave, but, I will always remind people that we have a no glass policy & I do Understand they clean up behind them but there is always the chance of an accident or that one gush of wind that will knock a bottle over.
NOW, you would think that picking all the glass up is easily done but there is always that one… or 2 bits of glass slivers that hide themselves in some crack or crevasse on the wall & it then sits there awaiting the one victim who has kicked their shoes off to cool their feet… I don’t need to explain the rest.
so please folks , help us & please dont pack glass, TY.

Finally a quick round up from facebook reports for those that dont use or look there & thanks to NEIL a wall regular for posting his report that I can use as part of the also caught yesterday Items of, Bass, Plaice, Smooth hound pups, Blennies, Pout, Scorpion fish, mullet, silver & conger eels. Locally last night Dev had a decent sized Undulate of the beach of which it seems there are much fewer about this year.

I left the wall I guess about 6ish and I believe there were still a few mackies being caught, the bulk of them were joeys and those I saw, just incase pics show on the fb groups & “experts” say they are too small… all i saw yesterday were in size !
Well thats it for today, I will again be on the wall around 4-5pm with bait & tacklebits so if you are reading this , say hi, I may not remember your name but I will stop and chew the fat with you for a few minutes 🙂
And so, we come to the end of todays ramble and until next time(tomorrows will be delayed as a hosp app in Brighton Yaaay no dumb traveling) I will bid you all ADIEU
F

Took a trip down the east on the temp quad(on loan) being as my “ok scooter” has now spent 2+ weeks being ahem… repaired” for a change decent conditions , flat sea and sunny. A shame that the catch rate didnt seem to match the conditions. (today as the title suggests is back to the breezy day on the wall & calm nights ! thankfully only for a couple of days longer.

As said the catch rate was lower than expected, granted the water was almost low and the high not until it was dark. In amongst the weed and stripped baits though there were fish here and there with bass mainly top and bottom (im sure you can all work that out by now) bream very much in their expected spots) and overall on the low tough going. I dont have a morning report so hard to compare but some coming off as I arrived were sort of muttering the words blank.

in hindsight the low catches should have been better as local boats were reporting good trips with the wrecking runs doing well and inshore there were plenty of Bream, mackerel, bass, rays and various shark types. Yes its a bit vague but Ive a suspicion that th flood of white bait in amongst the wind farm is causing a temp about turn for the fish hunting fry. As that fry multiply and get larger I’m expecting a spread out from the wind farm as the weeks progress.
We could be in for some decent fishing soon… or , its all in my head and fanciful thinking. On that , only time will tell.

probably wont do a bait run today unless I get a call from the warden saying its wanted as I suspect the wall is quiet today. If you are on the wall and you the shop was shut & you need bait , please let the warden know and I will organise something.
Well, thats it for today. Until next time I will as usual bid you all ADIEU
F

Norra lot! tbh.

I was otherwise occupied in East Grinstead yesterday so didnt make my usual 5pm ish run on the wall but based on the previous day of almost identical conditions I doubt there would have been a great deal coming out other than perhaps a Bass for those fishing on the lower bays.

Wind conditions would have pushed everyone off the upper bays as well as those above, bay 20 if they were feeling a bit adventurous & enjoyed dodging the waves but most I suspect would have been like Monday clustered on the lower bays.
I did pop down on Monday but as said most were clustered on the lower bays to avoid the blustery conditions.
Water state obviously very murky atm & encouraging signs that the may rot has had enough so perhaps this series of windy days do have a silver lining if that is the last we see of this years may rot & we can all get back to fishing.

For obvious reasons I also have no info /reports from the charters as they would have been solidly parked at home.
Todays calm window is again closed tomorrow although Mark Is likely to have the lower bays on the east open based on current projections. Please bear in mind sometimes conditions crap up further than indicated and when that happens the duty warden be It Mark or Scooby Doo then has to make the call on the spot for the benefit of safety. Thus occasionally the wall though planned to open gets shut due to conditions and heres the pain bit, I may(or not) get a message or call that its closed but due to meds that can zonk me out for 12 hrs I’m not always alert to that message until later in the morning (yep sleeping beauty is actually an ugly fuk called me)

Beyond Thurs things slowly step down towards calmer weather & while Fri/Sat may be a bit lumpy I see no reason not to open. Come SUN/Monday its all calm again and things then settle into a mild northerly for a few days.
Regarding bait drops I now have some frozen Mackerel although the claimed (Cornish)Joeys are not that small I do have a few pkts of frozen joey’s and whole mackerel. as well as packets of sand eels.
if you are on the wall I will see you somewhen after 4pm. If you want a bait drop off on my way to marina via volks railway last station , please give me a message on FB or leave an email here on site.

Thats it for today, so until the next one I will bid you all ADIEU
F

yea ok I never got around to posting a blog yesterday but tbh, I was pre-occupied yesterday morning sorting general shit out, corporal punishment wasn’t too happy though and tried reporting me to captain cavemaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnn. Hmmm sorry for that moment, its quite weird these days typing stuff at 8am on a sunday, I’d almost forgotten what this time of day looked like! & despite the flash of rain and 5 min thunder attempt the air still feels like its cooking the crap out of me!

I recon we are in for another arse burner out there on the east wall so lease folks, pack plenty of fluids, I drank over a litre in 2 hrs yesterday so load up and take care in the sun, there will be some very crispy bodies by the end of today.

Well now that the waffle is done whats going on out there ? should I start with the M word ? yea, might as well get the bugger out N done with so…. ‘ere we go…. deep breath … aaannnnndddd

MACKEREL… there done it…. Mean while on the fishy front im gonna take you back a day or 2 being as there a report or two overlooked.(this is when I re look at robins blog to remember what day & stuff im gonna bull u all with 😉 ..maybe 😉 )In all fairness Robin is damned good at what he does and his last few days out have been a delight for his customers with …. bass, bass, and more bass, quite boring really unless you like the idea of constantly catching bass on lures non stop! , I hope you can see the humour & irony in that Robs customers are over loaded with bass while on the wall the bass numbers the last few days has dropped away a little, cod considering the high tides are now falling to cooler parts of the day… the moral here is if you want some good bass atm , hit up the bassing boats for a trip.

Back to the wall & as I said there are bass there but u may have to hunt em down as they seem to be sticking to the top & tail plan on where to hunt on the wall. ATM the lower rough ground bays on the wall are performing far better than the straight section with perhaps yesterday as the exception over the last week.

Bream while not in great numbers are doing their thing on the usual bays (take a look at the wall guide page on this site for a few hints,) as the tide runs up to the high mark and as said the lower bays are popping some surprises for people fishing them. There are a few large spider crabs coming out of the rougher ground bays but all in all the spiders dont seem to be massing on the marina like in the last few years so, either they have buggered off to pester someone else… or.. they havnt arrived yet .. OH joy of joys that thought is, just as the may rot shows proper signs of breaking up the probability of spiders loom !.. ffs!

I did mention earlier in the week that on the straight section there has seemingly been a drop off in plaice reports and while the last couple of days have seen some the numbers are quite clearly lacking for this time of year and I cant really explain that as the charter boats are reporting very good numbers out there. I do have an idea in my head that is linked to the sheer amount of whitebait fry that is forming out around the wind farm .

Im wondering if this fish soup had drawn fish to to the wind farm that would usually been on the marina by this time. I can see some good in that in that the wind farm as a fishery is thriving and as the bait fry prospers and spreads outwards the local shoreline and marina will benefit especially now that the trawler business has been pushed into deeper waters. How soon all that fish soup spreads to the marina is anyone’s guess but the thought of so much extra fry growing in the region can only be good for the future if not quite the immediate time. Bream nests are re-establishing and some of the better “bream” spots are already benefitting, for me the real frustration this year is the lack of access to the west wall as that is generally the best wall for bream which is why I’m often found lurking over there.

So, where are we at ? bream, bass & Plaice already mentioned, conger this week have dropped away, perhaps the air pressure should be looked at a bit closer, its something I often overlook as Sean L mentioned to me yesterday on the high bays.(yes I’m making you lot wait even if I did mention those who shant be named ;).
Gurnards are slowly making their mark from the straight section but not in high numbers yet and to the best of my knowledge gar fish are in very low numbers and quite random perhaps due to the lack of those erm fish over the last few weeks. Ray catches have also dropped away over the last week and I suspect the lower catch rates this week may be due to some odd tides, may rot still hanging about and the sheer heat and brightness of the mid day sun has made everything somewhat lethargic and that means that usually the best of the fishing if not at night is somewhat in the early morning and as the sun is setting and the day cools a little.

Smaller catches like gobys, scorpion fish(bullhead commonly) & blennies are on the increase down the sides as are small pouting(great bass baits) and yesterday saw tons of fry and whitebait buzzing up & down the wall finally bringing what many have been waiting for and asking about. That well known phrase some dread and many welcome ARE THEY IN ? sort of, yes sort of no based on what I saw yesterday.

Yes folks Mark actually posted a couple of real photo’s un doctored yesterday morning . During my visit to the wall yesterday afternoon also there were quite a few areas further out to see where bait balls were forming and being his first by gulls and then clearly bass and dolphin activity plundering the bait balls indicating that there were some larger fish out there being spanked by the larger predators.

Yes, it happened, as said Mark posted some pics yesterday morning of some MACKERAL being caught. How many and how long the run lasted I don’t know and late into the afternoon as bait fish ran the wall a few mackerel were caught along the straight section about 6-6.30pm, not shoals but enough to be encouraging especially as the tide high wasnt until 8.30pm

Other catches this week have been amongst others , sole, smooth hound pups, a couple of flounder here n there , dab seem to have vanished this week pollack and a few quite large spider crabs, big enough for the pot but no doubt headed for the bait box more likely.
A quick word about how the boats are getting on if anyone is curious and from some of the reports Ive seen from charters and private , they are doing very well. Current reports are quite thick regarding tope fishing, bream and plaice are out there in very good numbers and the wrecking runs are doing well on Pollack. loads of species to list atm and for better info check out the many posts from the boats scattered across facebook. their photos do the talking for them so well worth hitting up the skippers for a trip out.

Finally as mentioned, I am now dropping onto the east almost daily around 4.30 to 5pm with frozen baits (black squid, and will have joeys after they are delivered on wed) and I will also be carrying spare weights(grips & bombs) and a few basic rigs & feathers for anyone that may want top ups. I wont be down Tues as Im having a jaunt over to east grinstead as their hospital has kindly extended an invite to me and I swear, who ever does my medical booking is having a bloody laugh as they add new places to my grand tour of the South East’s hospitals……… I recon I may be getting air miles from them soon ! no shit , honest guve.

Any hooo, this little lot after sorta reminding myself what im actually typing has taken me an hour (gotta top up the caffiene every 10 mins )so b4 I double the type face here and bore the shit out of u all I should sign off !
And thus, until next nime I will as usual bid you all ADIEU
F

Just a short post today, imo too hot to do much of anything other than go for a beer … hmmmm theres an Idea !

Well not a great deal to say about yesterday morning as I wasn’t there nor did anyone have any info for me when I went down there about 4.30ish til near 7pm.
A top & bottom sort of day with some smallish bass being had and the sub 22 bays having some bream over the high.
I guess the highlight was the 2 goys higher on the straight section where one had at time of my passing them just reeled in his 7th smooth hound pup on squid that he thought he had set up for bream and plaice further out, but hey, it was working for his catch numbers so he figured , keep it the same 🙂
for the 1st time this week there were also a few plaice had between 17 and 35 but none of any keep sizes. All in all the day was a case of hot sun , dry air and very little movement on the water making things tough going through the main heat of the day. Mayrot still visible but less of an issue over the high water.

I will skip a visit too the wall as the mrs is insistent of going for a jar or two so will be back down about the usual 5pm today. my excuse, fookin elll az like its bloody ROASTING out there ,_ see i fitted it in.
PS , I saw one mackerel caught …. a rare visitor !

Thats it for today , short & sweet… so, until tomorrow or so I will bid you all ADIEU
F

An apt title of which I will get to after I have thought up some waffle so you all think wtf where is and when is the coat coming 😉 So, where to start ?.

Well I may as well start & kick off with the quad that gets me home (yay) but only just. This one also can leave the house fully charged , hit the marina and then home annnnddddd the power indicators are almost in the red…. until I turn it off and back on and like fkn magic the charge meter is almost full.
.Yea you may be fooled into thinking .. well at least its charged, my issue ? we is it charged or is it just freaky display issues so ive no idea how far it will go…. its gumpf say 24 mile & being as im a fat cnut it obviously wont do that… the one being fixed i hat 18-19 mile out of it so not bad at all but wont run much over 4-5 miles atm..

problems problems, on the up side clearwell did ring me about it , added a question or 2 and i added some detail but im not over confident it will get fixed..
d-ya think thats enough waffle ?… mebbe aye…. mebbe nay…

Anyhoo , packed the quad with a cool box n bait & trundled down to the marina again near 5ish, weather decent and I think I missed the worst of the days heat(allegedly this week going to hit high 20’s) so a quick reminder folks , if you have pets especially dogs put extra water out they will need it and if planning a wall visit please please check the forecast and temperatures then prepare for it, sun cream if u need or have kids and access to plenty of fluids. A simple sea breeze can be deceptive and heat stroke or sunburn is bad enough for adults , it will get kids , or pets much harder so please take them extra few mins checking prior to rushing out into the day.
. At the cafe & side gate as usual greeted by the 2 dogs there (both soppy and very friendly), unlocked gate and rolled onto the wall.
Again the story seemed to be of a quiet day with many staring at the water in frustration or a story of frustrating bites missed or taken & dropped. Water conditions while very calm clearly showed may rot blurring the otherwise nice green colour further out , (no this isnt the coat ! :).)the sun was out with a gentle breeze, the sort that frazzles the skin without the owner of said skin realising(a bit more of that in a while.)
The may rot I recon will be here another 10 days or so & if we get plenty of sunshine from now on it will raise the sea temp enough so that the may rot(algae) starts to burn off quickly. Its easy to tell its happening because there is that muddy white foam forming on the surface, a bit like scum on a stew pot, it smells often like bad eggs and fools many into thinking its dumped sewage, nope thats the may rot being terminal.

Thus once on the wall I trundled along chatting shit as I do hear n there, seeing if anyone had caught, how they was n did anyone want some bait etc, ya know, my usual waffle which does help me keep in touch with my small portion of the world 🙂
If im being honest the afternoon ( I cant speak for the morning as most were arrivals after lunch) the day was quieter on catches than Tues was, one or 2 dropped strap conger, bites not hooked mainly and a few schoolie bass. That said one dude who had been fishing with Ali Baba as Dave G used to call him came up to me showing off on his phone a lovely bass he had caught just b4 close tues evening on frozen bait id sold him the day before so he was happy.

In general those that were there were reporting a quiet day & overal things were either bass & bream or a few tiddlers, pout for live baits, bullheads & gobys BUT…. DAH da DAHHHHH here comes the coat…
While chatting to a regular on 26 ish a few bays further along an anglers rod went doen in a slow bite & im thinking ah haaah a plaice finally … still thought the same as he wound in about 30 mins after the high only to see come up covered in that fernlike weed a nice Bream. Not huge but in my opinion a quite stunning fish as its COAT yes coat was in full mating colours and simply put for a “common old fish” was one of the nicest patterned fish Id seen in years. Judge for yourself as the pic is on the main marina gallery as well as copied below todays blog.

So, was that it as far as my visit up the wall was concerned ? Not quite, a few more chats as I went up towards the bend on 55 as I knew Alex was up there (again 🙂 ). turned the bend to be greeted by a very typical English scene of a bunch of lads fishing mostly shirtless, a few beers and an ice bucket.
Nope, I couldn’t resist a quick sarky comment of …
“WTF! is this the typical English yobbo’s topless day out on the bloody beach!” met by a few chuckles.
I will add though, appearances can be deceptive (advantage was mine as I knew them) they were a great bunch of lads, the bay was tidy and all rubbish was going into bags and I was even offered a beer, Cheers lads it was much enjoyed. Did they catch ? not sure but they were struggling for bites and even Alex was blanking having caught the day before so I left em in peace to finish the beers AND bottles of water with them and started rolling back the way id come collecting any litter on route. Another chat with Ali & the 2 with him rolling off the wall about 1/2 six.
Now look at that , a whole page to say very little, this waffle thing is getting easier I recon.
Well thats it, other to say I will be down again on the wall today about 5pm again so until tomorrow (and that pic) I will bid you all ADIEU
F
the coat of many colours caught by “NELSON”

Morning world(at time of typing.) had a message during the day while making phone calls to patient transport (more hosp visits up coming) and to the ppl that have borrowed my mob scooter(the quad) to try n figure out if the thing is repairable or just cursed (another story of its own). Upshot of the message was, a mate was fishing the east & if I was likely to head down.
I replied id prob be down about 5 and would bring some frozen baits with me in case anyone was wanting & shop had shut. I now have a couple of cooler boxes and plenty of ice packs to keep the bait frozen so, yesterday was a good day to test the ice packs and work out a secure way to fish the cooler to the quad. It seems the bag I have on back of quad has a couple of extra straps for doing just that so 4.30 ish hooked up cool box with about a dozen ice blocks with black & squid and headed out, part for a nosey, part to catch up with Alex and part to see how the cool box & ice blocks held up over a couple hrs.

As I got to the cafe the cafe dudes 2 dogs clocked my approach straight of resulting in the spaniel sat alert to my right as the black mutt promptly climbed onto my lap on a biscuit hunt, much to the amusement of the 2 ladies that had been petting them for the dogs to totally abandon them on sight of me!
Anyhoo treats handed out(asked owner first) I opened the wall side gate & rolled onto the wall.

Quite a few fishing the lower bays(under 15) yesterday afternoon and quite a few familiar faces and oe or 2 new names for me to pretend I might actually recal a name or 2 of those I talk too then fail to lock names in my head(quite normal for me) Anyhoo I did actually manage it honest guv and now its not written on the back of my hand(oldies will get the reference) Was nice chatting with you yesterday Tim(not Tim A ;)) and as I said yesterday, if the weather is ok and im not doing the NHS circuits of the south east of England…
……. I am intending to try and get onto the wall as often as I can around 5pm with bait for those that find the shop shut, mostly I suspect it will be frozen , but I will do my best to get fresh black usually from the lads that dig for themselves locally. The shop will have fresh black more often than I as they have a much bigger number of sources.
Prices wont be more than the shop charges and if wanted I can arrange to meet any wanting bait between or near the west wall and volks rail last station.

Fish reports while a bit thin on the ground as I only got a little info from the morning was yesterday dominated by bass catches, some beginning of wall, high 20’s low 40’s and the usual’s as expected on 60 & 74. Mark kindly posted a decent pic of Roy A with a nice bass taken near 60 of which I will add to my list additions going on site via various galleries plus the 3 here.

Other than those reporting bass there was a gurnard high up but not only were there lacking many anglers on the middle part of wall but the catch reports were either absent or non existent !

There were Bream caught and the bulk of these were on or about bay 20 or lower and mostly over the high tide. Catches reported were strangely very much lacking any plaice although as said the reports were a bit hit & miss
As often happens with me , I stop & chat with as many as I can so I am guilty of seeing many regulars and totally forgetting names resulting in near every time forgetting who i am talking too. And its even if the face has been known to me for some years so I apologies to the lads in the high 30’s yesterday, as I stopped and had a very interesting chat ranging from blank times for fish on the wall, may rot and managed to spook one of the 3 by saying how his bass had to go back as was too small (easily 47cm) and yes I will mention you told me about the one you lost that was bigger 🙂

Well thats it for today, I will pop down (tues) today so, if you are on the wall and reading this , I will see you some time after 5pm as I stick my nose onto the wall for a look see /catch up and yes will have frozen bait with me.
Thats it, so, until tomorrow I will bid you all ADIEU
F

dumb arse me, I forgot to add that there are bream and decent wrasse also being caught but, it was too late too edit main post.
thats it & as a certain pig was known to say….T-th-th-tha-that-thats-thats all folks !

Nope, I haven’t lost the plot, I looked at the forecast & thought, ok it says westerly, so lets see if its accurate, soooo look out the window and “Look at the trees” well, more the tree tops which then give me an idea of what may be happening on the seafront on the weather front.

Now the bad news, its fathers day and if you are coming into Brighton this morning… good luck ! its gonna be fecked with the annual charity bike run (London to Brighton.) Every bloody fathers day Sunday this now is.. dumb arse organisers…
THUS if you plan to hit BTN come via the back route of BYE PASS/AMEX/DOWNS HOTEL WILSONS AVENUE, because most central routes A23/M23 are going to be well clogged rapidly.

Right, thats enough waffle(almost) has anything been caught?.. in a word or 6, YES. now I could be a shit and leave it at yes & sign off and, yes, I thought about it but tbh more than 4 read this waffle and Id end up with wtf messages as I make my way to yet another un previously visited hospital somewhere up the back arse of Sussex. Can you feel my joy ? oh yes its real… some of the appointment bookers have a sick or warped idea of bookings for me. Im sure there is a map somewhere pinned to a cork board and the bookers read where the patient is and then throw fekin darts at the map on where to send… or maybe its just me it happens with !
Todays excursion, Haywards Heath and for a change not the Princess Hosp. but the Nuffield on burrell rd tucked behind the station. Chris, (yes I remembered your name… again) I may wave as I drive through your current patch :).

Well thats another chapter done with out mentioning a single species! Im getting damn good at this waffle stuff eh, but more seriously I took a trip on the now borrowed quad (almost the same make ) as the company that supply my Motability scooter finally had a spare that if working correctly would get me like a hobbit out on an unexpected (almost) journey…. waffle 3… fish zero;) Im still not sure if its working fully charged as it arrived part charged so plugged it on charge for a couple hrs prior to rolling to gp and then down into the marina. I can confirm the charge indicator is faulty, as like my scooter i can watch the charge meter go down, turn it off then on again and like magic ive a near full(allegedly) charge being displayed Any hoo it did get me home via LIDL with the power meter showing 2 red & 2 of 4 orange & zero green… got home, turned it off, then on annnndddddd yup display showed a near full charge FFS. so Friday I learnt, faulty charge meter for sure, as to distance about 5 miles. the scooter maker claims 24 miles but I suspect that is on the flat with a 9 stone person on it, im 19stone (yea I know.. fat old fuk) when new though for 2 months I got 18-19 miles out of it. even if the old(funny term for a year old scooter) one gets fixed, I cant say im left feeling very confident that it wont keep developing issues.. it almost like I got the one that came with a few gremlins installed, so im hoping it cant be fixed and Motability sort a new scooter.

Shall we do the fish now? yea fek it, why not. Friday, Alex was still fishing, i’d said Id pop down if done in time at gp and suprise surprise I also saw cooperman on bay 1-2 spread out with enough gear to make him look like a pro… or a carp fisherman with 2.7 tons of gear to pack into some old mini clubman ! and another face recognised halfway up the east was as prior mentioned fishing was Chris of the “I remember you name” fame 🙂 A quick chat with duty warden John and I had the info I wanted even if you lot at this point havnt 😉

As Chris mentioned and also posted to the “great book of face” there was mid wall at least one Gurnard, schoolie bass up to 3 lbish, a scattering of plaice and further up the east into the 50s a similar story of flatties, bass, and some of those delightful Giant Sea slugs(conger)
Also over the last few days Nick has been doing his best to get not only a PB (didn’t) bass but also one for the Sussex arms collection (succeeded) of which I may even pop up on that particular gallery in a day or 2.

Sussex arms you ask ? check out the gallery, it started as a joke comment with wall visitor Matt B who was joking how people in Sussex would hold fish at full arms lengths to get a piccy of said fish so the phrase of fish arms became Sussex arms for piccys that the catcher was holding fish at full arm to make em look better. I then started posting images of “Sussex Arms” and asked ppl to guess the weight. the pics were done to deliberately mask true size but were tagged as Sussex arms for a bit of fun.
other catches even though there werre not loads fshing after a close day were a few decent plaice amongst the skinny ones, blennies and scorpion fish close into the V’s and Tony Elliot hauled up a decent spider crab around bay 12, that I will get a pic up of for the marina gallery.

Over the last week the dominant feature has been the wind with as many days shut as open so not the best of conditions with heavy weed again pulling rigs around the high tides being the worst.
Water state is improving and FRIDAY the may rot had very clear signs of burning itself out. Although still there in the water it doesnt seem too bad and seems to have stopped coating lines on retrieve.
Bass & conger the order of the week, with a few plaice, a ray or two miked in with gurnard, plaice, dab, rumours of a sole or two with smaller stuff down the V’s becoming more common. Not too many reporting spider crabs so either there are much fewer than last year, perhaps they doing the do somewhere else this year or…. they haven’t truly arrived yet !

on the weather front, after today things rapidly improve throughout the week as daytime temps start creeping towards 30 degrees and over. Based on current forecasts the east will be open all week and no doubt beyond and dare I say it….. it looks like the summer is arriving (queue the rain) or as Sir Cliff sang ” here come summer”

Dont forget, the east wall can be a deceptive sun trap, take plenty of fluids and a hat with you and if you have kids with you pack the sun cream, you are going to need it…. While there abouts and mentioning fluids. For those that like a tipple, we have no objection to people having booze on the wall providing they are sensible and aware to other wall users. We also ask that people DO NOT bring glass onto the walls. Cans and plastics please, if you prefer wine or spirits please with wine buy the boxed stuff or transfer from glass to plastic containers, likewise with spirits please leave the glass at home.
Aaannnnd on that note, you all know whats coming, so I will sign off as usual and bid you all, until next time ADIEU
F

Well, as the title says it seems (I may be wrong) that ppl wise the east wall has been fairly quiet, that or people are not posting catches over the last couple of days. I did pop down on Tues and got a bit of an update but skipped yesterday due to the “QUAD” playing up still. The supplier will again be taking it back for repairs & tests but am not overly hopeful, the last service did little to raise hopes that it will work normally and it will now only just get me down to the marina , onto the end of the east and home… just.. it rolled into our crescent at about 2-3 mph ! 4 miles & the power is drained on a full charge so hopefully the loaner tomorrow (same model) has no issues……
As to Tuesdays visit , that defo was a Bass & Conger day for those fishing.
The weekend & Mondays round up basically went ….. muddy colour to the water heavy weed that was settling down come Monday afternoon with Tuesday being fairly weed free but with brisk wind levels the water remained coloured close in.
Ive no info for yesterday or so far today at time of typing (12.30pm ) but I can say the sun is out and the wind seems to have dropped away as I look at the tree tops close to my house.
The weekend looks a bit breezy on the xcweather page but that may change between now & then. Anyone wanting bait on the wall please ask the warden to give me a shout, if viable I will get down onto the wall with it (frank).

Well thats it for today, hopefully my next report will be with the assist of a loan scooter and so, until next time, I will bid you all ADIEU
F