Today is a not so mackerel-ey report, since Thursdays report mackerel have ticked over for many (thurs pm to Sat morning) doing well for many on both arms. Bream numbers have increased to the degree that you would think the small bream are more like piranha than fish on a gentle feed !.

Bait of the day it seems was black lug, & having had a dabble Thurs & even a little Sat afternoon they totally ignored the squid I was putting on hooks. Lightening reactions are almost needed as these little blighters are so fast at sucking the black of the hooks even when you try to hide it wrapped in squid!

Saturday afternoon changed the pattern somewhat and while the bream were biting over the high it was quite a narrower window than previous days with a ratio of about 9 to 1 little rather than larger keeper bream (min size 23cm please).

Both walls have been busy , with many coming purely for mackerel but the mood the last few days despite the heat has been good and I must say that on going to clear the rubbish from the extension the ppl fishing had cleared all their rubbish and thus there was nothing to do other than lock the gate.

The extension stayed open longer than the usual 6pm Sat night as with me being there fishing meant the wardens could get on with normal jobs like tickets and I kept an eye on the extension with a pack up at 8.30pm.

The west was very busy Sat evening more so than normal and as a result from about 7.30 pm Nick closed the gate to new anglers allowing the wall to thin enough to allow us to close the extension and move those back onto the main wall and have a bit of a clean up on the west (5 black bags of litter mostly already bagged and ready for the bins)yes the leaving ppl should have taken it with them :).
Once the ext was cleared and everyone settled the queue on the gate was very quickly sorted with everyone settled and fishing by 9pm.

Now if you have read and reached this part you may have noticed I have made no mention of MACKEREL for Sat evening!.
Simply put, they never happened on the west and i’m told likewise none on the East Sat evening. From 4pm I think maybe 10 to a dozen large mackies were caught and that was it running up to 10pm.
Unusual as every day since last weekend has seen loads of mackerel early in the morning before 7am and then a run on the evening tides as things cool.. well yesterday it didn’t happen and I suspect a similar story will happen this evening.
Bass it seems also took the evening off on the west and as far as the EAST wall catch report for Saturday eve goes it was a very similar story as had gone on the west wall.

Is there any good news for Sat evening I hear asked ?
Well in a way yes 🙂 There are loads of smaller species right down the sides that on small hooks will keep the kids entertained and likely as not give them a better catch rate than most of the adults with them.
A small light rod , even a hand line, or, at its most basic some line wrapped around a pen or pencil with size #4 or #6 with a scrap of food or bait on the hooks should entertain the younger ones that want to have a go for themselves. So while Sat wasn’t a great day for “decent” fish there was plenty out there to do & catch.

Water state over the last 2 days has been ok to decent but there is a fair bit of long string weed running through over the high tide. and still some spider crabs lurking although they are mostly done now in Brighton.

Elsewhere, the images being posted from St Ives bay in Cornwall where they have come in in their thousands to shed their old smaller shells in the shallow warm waters prior to going back out into deeper water ..
Is it unusual ?, no its been happening for decades and the numbers go up n down depending on their food availability, no doubt they will continue for decades.

For those that know me, yes I’m a bit surprised that I have actually managed to get onto the walls twice in 3 days! granted this morning i’ve paid a price that is not too much fun but getting out is a great mood improver and something Ive missed. Granted I was only dabbling with a very light spin rod and not paying too much attention to bites(busy gossiping) but its always nice to chat with many of the regulars whom seem to make a point of when the see me they come over and say Hi 🙂 while i’m there and have a chat.
Its good for my ego I guess that so many still find time to come and say hi, So if you do see me on the wall pop over & please say hi, but please be aware , I’m getting worse with name memory. I may recognise your face, but more often than not I forget the 1000’s of ppl I’ve met on the wall over the last 20 years.

well thats it for today, signing out as usual
F

..I went fishing.
A slightly different intro than usual (although I wonder if more than 2 people ever read these) Wednesday I woke and feeling unusually fit..(better than most days at least) brian said to me “go fish” so on the spur of moment I loaded up the quad and headed to the marina. After a trundle along the west decided too breezy for my v light rod and rolled onto the East wall with bay 11-14 in mind and settled on 11 just after the low. More a case of chatting than determined fishing but was a pleasant morning/afternoon in the sun and some small bream obliged as well as a bunch of gobies and blennies as well as 3 or 4 very large thumps on the line that could possibly been pollack, defo not cuttle or bass hits as I know these well and sorta felt in the 2-3lb marks……
… and with that onto the proper fishing report everyone is waiting for.

The marina early mornings are becoming a fixture with mackerel runs on both walls. Somewhat sporadic though and may be in 10 mins then gone then flurries back n forth an hour later.
While fishing yesterday the mackerel returned mid tide on both walls in & out for a couple of hours with most catching a few, some done well but average was about a dozen for those wanting them. I understand the evenings are also now very good for mackerel not only on the walls but the beaches seeing largish shoals b4 the light goes.
Adding to the mackerel are shoals of whitebait early morning low light and similar as the sun drops, best place to get them is on Brighton beaches west of the marina 1st beach with some sort of net. Please note, throw nets shouldn’t be used on the marina walls or to the east of the marina as they are not allowed in the MCZ zone that includes the marina.
Bream are doing very well over the high tides on the rockier bays (check the website wall guides) and the bass fishing is very good. (top tip, throw a lure behind the mackerel shoals) signs that gar are on the move also with some very tiny gar in recent catch reports I’ve seen. Wrasse, red mullet, gurnard, sole, plaice, rays, hound pups, even the odd small turbot are among recent reports and catches. Summer it seems has finally arrived.

A final note and reminder for those visiting the marina, please, no glass, BBQ’s or trollies on the walls and if visiting at night keep the noise to a minimum, the marina is residential and we want to avoid noise complaints
TY all
F

plenty of mackerel last light and first light this morning, bream and bass doing well.
A reminder for those coming to the marina for mackerel, please fish responsibly. Dead fish all over the hot concrete is not a good message or image to send out to the non anglers using the marina.
Bag up, box up, kill your fish and keep the area you are fishing clean or at least tidy please.
F

I was going to post last night but in all the excitement over some fish I forgot .. ok i’m fibbing but….

Finally a few mackerel showing up for those that travel to purely fish for mackies (carry some bait and get more choices)
After mid week start the fish numbers have slowly been on the increase, granted mainly 1st light or silly o’clock in the morning. With Mondays high tide at just about 2am it was perfect for a run of fish about 3.30am for an hour or more . Mostly on the east side with a second run Monday evening on both walls as the sun was dropping in the sky.

Plenty of excited anglers this morning with the duty warden developing the bug also and saw the need to send me piccys at 6.30 am ! wtf ! yea thanks for that ! jeez.

Anyhoo it’s beginning to look like the Mackerel may be in or at least starting to arrive in some fair numbers. Granted still early morning first light and again in the evening, usually both walls but please don’t quote me on that as sometimes they only visit one side so It aint my fault if ya pick wrong ok 🙂

bream, bass, plaice, horse mac also to be had in decent numbers and ive noticed a few gurnards now showing up also.

thats it for today folks …. please form an orderly line .. ty 🙂
F

well here we go, BHAFC had a nice warm up yesterday…opps wrong page.
And now the fishing gossip :),I was going to post yesterday but simply ran out of time ! not bad for a skiving lazy git that does nothing but sit on my butt and collect money eh ! So what can I say re fishing today ? … some , note some , mackerel have arrived or at least 2-3 early mornings ppl have been catching, east mostly but west also, generally finished by 7am but that has been on hot days and has been a bit cooler this weekend so ya never know they may just hang about over the high as well as 1st / last lights… worth a go !.
Also on the fishy front bream and bass are now doing well in the usual spots, if you dont know them take a read on the wall guides, its worth a look. Micro species down the side and what some call whitebait (not much), some nice plaice to be had out there atm as well as sole and horse mac at night. Summer it looks like has finally got here and the fishing is becoming consistent.

enjoy
F

I Spent a day away from home(shocker) so the usual weekend post didnt happen. So straight onto a round up from Friday I guess .
The last few says have seen flurries of mackerel activity mostly just as the sun is starting to break the dark up , yes I know, its called sunrise ! so that bit done mackerel are also showing up as the day cools at the other end also , usually after about 8pm into sundown and dark properly.
Not loads but enough to keep most people satisfied.
Other catches I guess most would say the usual plaice and bass.
The crabs are there but now beginning to be less of a pest and more a case of the normal summer activity. This also follows at the hound activity is dropping away to a case of curious pups being caught rather than nearer adult sizes.

bream catches doing quite well although I dont hear as much about wrasse catches anymore but guess that they must be there but rare mentioned.
Little to no gar activity and an occasional catch of flounder mostly on the bend of the east and sometimes low on the west.

No great news tbh over the last weekend and the usuall case of struggle in the fierce sunlight.
As I type things are somewhat blowy out and likely causing some issues on the west although Ive not hear back from anyone on the ground.
I don’t see any early issues from wind over the next 7 days but will always post a heads up if a wind bump shows itself
Thats it for today … over n out
F

well last week wasnt one of the most productive on the walls but the boats private and charter had fared much better, as a result I did a bit of scouring back on some reports this week to fill in some gaps and maybe put a bit more info up and out there so bear with me if it comes out in a bit of a jumble.
Monday was a case of very much like the weekend that it followed with fairly low catch rates and little to report on the walls other than the easts back up plan of target any plaice on the sand and both walls see what is on the feed down the sides in the cloying heat with a lone report of a 5lb bass!
Tues ticked around and a bit of nagging on facebook and a look at the boat page & a peek at Robin Howards (biff1) reports (bad eh 🙂 ) saw the standard plaice to be had but mainly undersized with the boats reporting some decent bass to be caught in the bait shape or manner but some good sport also on the lures that also produced dome pollack on the eastern side of the marina.
The higher bays saw a sole or two and there was an increase of the tiddlers like blennies and gobies, oddly Ive not noticed many bullheads(scorpion fish) so far this year.

The crab activity is beginning to slow but are still quite evident but the sizes now are a fair bit smaller than previous weeks and it seems to me that lures are getting “ghost” knocks again either form possible squid but more likely Cuttle venturing in closer to the wall.
Come wed am early one boat on his way out reported plenty of mackerel all about the entrance and that the bass fishing for the boats locally has been good for the last week or more with a catch by end of day of cuttle, bass tope and plaice. On the walls the bream reports increased with the bend on the east definitely showing results over the high and low marks. Over on the west mid wall and extension were also seeing bream results. Oddly there have been a fee eels also being caught in the clear water. The afternoon proved a bit too bumpy to handle the lures on the boat n took the afternoon off.

Thursday saw reports of pollack bass and lots of bait fish over on the lure boat front, over night on the walls there had been bass low on the east and flurries of mackerel mixed with horse mac skinny plaice, bream on both walls in “usual places”.
Once or two concerning reports of people parked on the east fishing for bass and then taking them to the car to then “fish on” which does raise questions about their parking there in the 1st plaice and possibly how many bass did they take.
Ive been reliably told that the security will increase checks down there and possibly start the process of “the ticket/fine is in the mail” so please, avoid parking on the east side as i’m sure no one reading this wants an £80 fine in the post. As to the bass, one of the messages said … “yea, IFCA will be sending a regular patrol onto the marina.

Friday morning if reports are put together seems to have started with a mini fish frenzy with the walls seeing plenty of mackerel landed comfortably before 7am ! likewise the early run for a lure boat remarked similar with bream, plaice gurnard and bass bashing their lures pre breakfast ! a promising start but on the walls that keen beginning slowed into the seemingly usualy pattern for the currently scorching days of everything to now go slow, those in the known bream slots ticked over a little bit likewise those over the sand on the east saw a few mostly small plaice…
Highlight of the day to be honest was the multiply fly overs of a Korean Jet formation team putting in some practice prior to their shows at Fairford this W/End just gone.
Friday night though tough for many showed the chalk and cheese factor the heat can have with in some spots fishing ok but in the dark most people thought it was dead as there was little fanfare or daft excitement at night that a catch can produce as ppl forget that they are in a residential area!. 7 & 6lb hounds were reported with a few smaller also, dogfish you sandpaper arms showed in the morning, a few eels remarked upon as well as sole, bream, mackerel & horse mackerel , wrasse and even a tope got mentioned coming in at @ 9lb with some reasonable bass in close on the east. I also heard of a decent flounder though I didnt see what size.

The weekend arrived with a LISA meet booked on the extension as mentioned in an earlier report and the heat of the day went to town on the wall baking people and seemingly the fish as well that very definitely didnt want to play with the exception I guess of a few bream on the extension and rockier areas of the east. The night was a fair case of a bust also with the meet clocking up some bream eels a mackie and one horse mac ! other than that it was a case of tiddlers down the side or go home ! many did!. The boat side fared a bit better with skippers knowing their marks and finding fish for their customers be it plaice bream or bass. Saturday did see a couple of lobsters of which one was returned , the other was fate unknown.
Finally Sunday came along with the breaking light seing caught a 7lb smooth hound with a poor prior night reported Sun didnt hold much of a promise but there had been a few mac in with some horse mac but the day on the wall settled down to be a long hot slog much as the previous week had been. Robin out early with a crew came across a pod of dolphins between the piers playing catch with an unfortunate mullet and their trail of passing was quite evident in the water. This followed by a seal sighting showed why a 180 was needed and a new search of sea was called for well away from the playing dolphins!.

I lack news from Sunday night on the wall so have little to say there but, if you have managed to read this far amongst the loads of text n little to say, not only have you done well …. or just cut to the bottom I will end with a heads up warning but it does come with a little bit of decent news.

As posted on the home page Tuesday has had a high heat alert and Dave has taken a precautionary route and decided to close both walls and the shop at ll am. Not only as a duty of care to the staff working in the shop and the duty wardens on the wall in that heat. But there is also the matter of duty of care to wall users, there is little to no shade on the walls and can act like heat traps hence the decision to close the wall and shop.

At time of typing the shop will open 7am to 11am
the wall plan is to open about 6.30am till 11am, as said at time of typing as it may be a case of getting the wall open a little earlier than that so keep an eye on the home page …

The good news ?
wall charge for Tues has been reduced for 1st rod to £3 for Tues only
Thats it for now , over n out
F

A quick heads up re closing time today for the shop will be 4pm and tomorrow it will also be 7am til 4pm

It seems yesterday on the walls for most was quite a bit of a bust ! with just a few bream on the walls scattered about and a lot of bits n bobs to quote one person and that was sort of spread across fairly much both of the walls, some plaice (small) with a few eels reported !
it was a similar story on the east side as well.

As the night crept in the best thing it seems was the sunset for those on the west with everything else somewhat brutal. It looks like the highlight of the night happened 1st thing this morning early with a smooth hound on the east side.
The west extension was booked for the night and the sum up from those there were some bream some tiddly not worth it live bait and a mackerel and a horse mackerel

and yes that was the mackerel report for as such….. both walls! go figure.

Yes it’s flippin hot out there so I will again state the obvious, take plenty of water while (if you are) out and try protect yourself from the sun as much as possible.
Sun stroke is a nasty thing and can creep up on anyone including those that feel they are used to it and “fine out in the sun”.
Stay safe folks as there is next to no shade out on both walls and that heat is not only brutal but can be lethal

BOTH WALLS CLOSE AT 11AM ON TUESDAY 19th.(open 6am)

the
SHOP will open at 7am on Tuesday 19th and close at 11am

While the heat is knocking the daytime heat on its butt the night and very low light times are fishing quite well. bream are on the increase quite nicely now aas well as a few wrasse in with the shoals. Not so many mackerel but they are showing almost as it gets dark/light as well as horse mac mixed in with them. Fewer hounds now but the crab activity is still there.
Some anglers have raised about unusual activity of anglers catching on the walls and nipping to their cars with fish, te suspicion is that maybe someone is keeping fish they shouldn’t be but perhaps they simply feel the fish will keep better in their cars!(im not sure thats a great idea in this heat tbh). Anyhoo it has been taken on board and some steps have been put in place to monitor this sort of activity.

The “LISA” group of anglers have a meet on the extension tonight starting at 6pm , if you wish to know more about them there is a page link on this website, alternatively pop down this evening and have a chat, they are a friendly bunch and I understand there are a few spaces left if u wish to join in. Its always a friendly comp and funds are raised for the RNLI locally.
Anglers wishing to book the extension for a private session/meet etc may do so providing they have a group of 10 anglers. The organiser will be provided with the gate key allowing a lock in, over the last few years its been nicknamed “Cagefishing”, there is no cage but the gates gave it that appearance. Basic set up is , the organiser collects the key from shop or warden, and meet starts at pre arranged time, normal rod fees apply with no extra charge to pay. At end of agreed time, organiser (who is responsible for all there’s behaviour) will return key to shop or duty warden which ever has been arranged ensuring that the extension is left clean and ready for use.
Booking via the shop and David Grinham

Finally today there is, as many may have been made aware by the news in the last couple of days constant

HEAT WARNINGS being broadcast.

As a duty of care not only to staff but anglers as well dave has take the decision to

CLOSE BOTH WALLS AT 11AM ON TUESDAY 19th.(open 6am)

the
SHOP will open at 7am on Tuesday 19th and close at 11am

Howdy doody everyone, glorious weather out there atm but unlike the weather the fishing is not so glorious and defo a tale of 2 halves.
Daytime fishing is quite a test for everyone atm and the best of the catches seem the bream and plaice but even that is limited to one or 2 spots on each wall. often to catch in the day you need to be very early or quite late and the spider crabs seem to be having their way with the water still . all in all fairly poor and very tough going in a brutal heat and unforgiving sun…. plenty of fluid and plenty of sun screen.

Night time fishing, there is some good news if you are looking for mackerel but its not great news. We have been getting small flurries, at almost dark either near night or the half dawn light a few mackerel are showing mixed up with better numbers of horse mac. Due to spider crabs we are still seeing bass activity low on the east as well as a few hounds and rays being drawn in also.
Bream can be had over the high and sole and plaice also over the sandy areas but overall it is fairly slow and much like hard work. The hot weather looks to continue well into next week so please check reports from more than one plaice if you plan to travel a long way for some mackerel as there are not many showing locally on the marina.
On a brighter note for those with smaller children there are lots of little bits down the “Vs” close to the wall on the lower half of both walls so if you have a small 6foot rod it may keep them occupied having a dabble down the side with a little bit of bait (almost any food u can get on a small hook).