Well what can I say about Friday on the walls. Well after 2 evenings/nights that did ok for mackerel and very well for horse mackerel, even a decent bass or two Friday was not so good.

In fact Friday bar a few fish Friday morning and a Decent bream in the evening the daytime was a bit of a brutal bust ! What me saying the wall fishing was cack ! heavens above did I really say it was shyte ? Yup I did. Everything yesterday afternoon was looking as if the evening was going to be ideal. I had even popped down onto the west after 5pm for a chat and socialise. Got told how poor the day had been and was there to take a picture of the only fish I saw on the west while there. A fairly decent Bream that regular angler “MO” had caught by the toilet block… but as they say.. that was it.
Me chatting away as I do remarked how it looked as if there may be a late flurry of mackerel possibly with horse mac mixed in as the sun dropped below the BTN (well Hove actually)skyline but even that thought I found out later was a bust. Who’da thunk it eh, me being well wrong (again) I bet there were a few cussin me last night for sure !….

Thus as I type up this report the sun is up and already feeling that the day is a bit of a scorcher (again) and all I can say is if you are planning on fishing the walls please take plenty of sun protection and prepare for a hot day which will be very exposed. Them walls act like a sun trap so please make sure you are well supplied with water because the sun is cooking ppl to a crisp out there.
As a final note I have just seen a piccy on the book of face of a gorgeous large 4lb ish cuttle fish filling a drop net on the west for one happy angler .
No report as yet of activity on the walls so will catch that bit up another day.
Until then folks have a great weekend and I … will bid you ADIEU.
F

Good morning all (afternoon no doubt by time you read this) but hey, lets get down to it with some news that quite a few wall regulars have been waiting for.
Horse mackerel, yes, in numbers for the last 2 nights, Ironic it was when there were not many fishing and this resulted in more caught than there were fishing over the last 2 nights.
Am still waiting on a decent update for last night but aware we had a shoal or two show up last night as well as WED night after dark.
Are there still mackerel ? yes there are, smallish shoals continue to appear over the high mostly and id say right now the best of things are early morning and last light.
Now with that info comes the down side for anglers on the EAST as by now most will realise that the fish are showing up often before opening or just as the warden is trying to shut the east down.
Please, please please, help the warden, I realise how annoying it can be to have the fish switch on just as you get asked to leave but bear in mind that the hours on the east are beyond our wish to change them. We open at 7am so as not to have anglers traveling through the marina as early as 5am to get there first. Likewise the closing hours have been agreed upon with the residents who have endured all that comes with living close to a very active and often noisy fishing wall.

Angler problems when opening and closing the east will fuel the calls to close them to any fishing so please when asked leave the wall as swiftly as you can. TY

Back on the fishy front besides the Mackies & horses we have been getting some very nice BASS catches often in the 4-6lb range and live baits are doing very well ATM.
I am please to say BREAM numbers are slowly increasing on both walls but are lower in numbers as yet to normal seasonal in past years. Likewise Wrasse have also been ticking over.
Reports of gar are sketchy but Im told there are some and often mixed in with the mackerel shoals.
SQUID oh where o where are they, reports say they are there but catches seem very quite , on the upside though there have been quite a lot of cuttle fish caught and best spots Id say to look for the ink left behind on the walls. WEST definite ink markers so I suspect similar on the EAST
Plaice … hmmmm there seem to be decent though not great numbers of spotties but the sizes leave much to be desired and many are under recommended size for keeping.

The fishing is picking up but has been (I suspect) greatly hindered by a constant north wind and a stubbornness of that May rot to fully disperse from around the marina.

I will finish with a reminder that at night the WEST wall is a blue light region and all powered lights on the wall should be blue, chemical tip lights can be any colour and the marina are pushing quite hard for this to be enforced.
As a temp , blue markers can be used to tint lenses and myself and another warden are sourcing affordable blue lens lights as well as a covering for people with white lights, meantime please help us here, even blue carrier bags can be used to cover lense glass as a temp fix, TY all
Until next time Adieu
F

Well, here we go confession time, I have been intending to put a post up ever since Saturday evening and one thing after the other have caused distractions and drawn me away from the keyboard and my intended post(s) haven’t got past the good intent stage !

Thus I best be getting on with it.
Sat evening on the WEST I rapidly found out how poor the day had been following on from the 4am run of a small mackerel shoal of which most had a few and some managed a bucket of mackerel, the run had fizzled out by 8.30 am and like the EAST wall there were fish from opening at 7am but there also the fish dried up.
By 10am with the sun slowly cooking most people and the north wind playing havoc with any attempt to float fish AGAIN the fishing truly had came to a crashing halt almost until the early evening 7pm is when a trickle of fish began again. A similar story on the EAST with a very slight up side of a few mostly undersized plaice.

IMO there is still may rot clinging to the marina area hampering things and we do need a stir up type of storm and some warmer weather. The days are getting hotter but mostly due to the north wind thats lasted over 3 weeks is keeping the night air cold and the sea temps down on normal year measurements. The result still large areas of may rot (algae ) and again my view its kept the fishing a few weeks behind the normal.

The evening we had an issue with someone declining to leave the east wall at 9pm that resulted in marina security having to attend and the wall as such was over an hour late being secured for the night. Sadly all this will do is further cause issues between the marina and sensible anglers and long term could easily see the east full closed to anglers.

Back to the fishing and SAT night on the west was cold tolerating that damn wind, there was a fairly decent run of mackerel and bass that began about 8pm ish but overall the night was poor and the night warden didn’t have much to say on that side of things all weekend.

On to Sunday and to be honest things were very similar in fish patterns , early morning Mackerel, Im betting the beaches from 3am would be worth hitting on any of the small groynes but, please be aware of tide times, no one wants to be stood on an outcrop or groyne and have the tide come in and cause you safety problems. It is very easy to be swept of a small groyne by a rogue wave !
Like Saturday the Sunday evening things were very similar in some fish activity from 8ish towards midnight. I dont have any info on what happened after midnight though.

Monday & Tues in all honesty were tough going on the east a better morning early Monday but Tues again tough going. The sooner something happens to bust up the rot around the marina and close in on the beaches the better. Grante some areas have now kicked clear or are a bit better but I suspect the real trick is finding the clearer water from the beach or finding some structures that have less of an issue… unless of course you have access to a boat… out there the fishing is good. ! ahh the irony of calling it may rot now that we are in June! BAH humbug tata 🙂
F

An early type up as a follow up to yesterdays burning question of are they en 🙂 the answer it seems is OH YEA BABY. Fri evening saw the mackies hit the wall in numbers and from early reports already posted up there are plenty of mackies to be had.

Second bonus report for this morning is that there are signs of squid in more than ones or two’s.
I will message Mike P who said his group was willing to host a squid comp to see what can be sorted as we monitor the situation … could the squid finally be in also , things looking much better this morning… now if that North wind would just do one …
happy days , tight lines all
F

Well we have had a sluggish week on the walls, a few Mackerel every day then a large shoal spotted of the marina WED evening just b4 the light went. Thurs morning saw a flurry of Mackies on the east but nothing special but I understand things have been better with catches on both wall….could they be in ? , cant yet say yes as we do get the odd day when 100 or so fish get caught then its back to 2’s & 3’s time will tell.

Cuttle have been spotted also, a vid clip posted on thurs (again thurs)of a cuttle swimming backward had a few people briefly foxed but interestingly one person commented that they had seen others earlier in the week, could there be a late arrival of Squid & Cuttle, hopefully the spring run is about to begin.

Other than the usual suspects of Plaice Bass Conger and a few Bream & Wrasse there has not been much to report, mostly there is tons of space on the walls , even last weekend there was space and the weather was really good apart from the flippin north wind !

Talking of “that” North wind the forecasts show that it will be with us for at least another week so if you are night fishing you may want to pack some warm gear as it can get somewhat chilly once the sun drops below the horizon . Daytime temps look best on Sat with XC weather showing a peak of 18c sunny and prob the warmest of the weekend.

This weekend the WEST WALL is open all night FRI/SAT & SUN
The EAST WALL will open 7am and close later at 9pm each of those nights.
Well thats it from me, not much said but signs that things are picking up finally. ^m tides with highs around mid day and midnight this week so them early morning Bass should be lurking this weekend for those using lures.
And with that I will say adieu
F

Well as the title says I wont start with any fibs and big the fishing up by saying how wonderful it all is at the moment. To be brutally honest it a bit tough going! While saying that all the signs offshore are right for a fantastic summer , yea I know how the fek does that help right now coz you lot want some fish to catch.

So whats wrong ? IMO the MAY rot has got a good grip, water temps have not risen that much and we are still getting lots of northerly breezes (usually helpful) that are keeping the night air temps chilly , and with the northerlies not very strong the algae is not being blown out to sea to disperse. The result is the water has stayed a cloudy green that does the fishing no favours for species that like to rise through the water depths.

We have a dredger working inside the marina, mixed good and bad, the dredger and the ship that carries the crud away often disturb the fish but there is a bonus when the dredger works the entrance. The entrance is often crammed with sand eels and other burrowing grubs and sea species that the bass enjoy. Catch the dredger working the entrance with a favourable tide and the result is that the bass run the east wall on the feed ! Trust me, Ive seen it happen a few times and there is a sudden surge of bass caught as it happens.

So there we have it, 2 paragraphs on why ppl are struggling to catch and nothing much about what’s being caught other than a hint or two about Bass ?
Plaice are still in general barely legal sizes and most should really be returned, As I often say , If it wont make a decent meal, put it back to grow some more, take a pic & return it please.
Flounder & dab all but vanished although occasional flounder do get caught after a heavy rainfall.
Bass , ticking over quite well, averages that people are keeping fall into the 3-5lb sort of group, Lures and live prawn working well.
Gurnard, not had any reports directly but they should be out there on the sands.
Spider crabs are starting to build in numbers and its a good time to remind people that there is a minimum size of 12cm from nose to butt on the shell and a max of 20 crabs p.p. per day.
Wrasse, numbers of catches now slowly increasing day by day and are doing better than Bream atm
Bream, numbers still down most likely due to the may rot and more on the east wall than west at the moment but that should change soon.
Congers, seem to have made a showing this week just to tick me off as I said last week they seem to have tailed off in catches, perhaps they dont mind the rod as they have been caught on both walls this weekend.
Mullet , all I can say here is , where are they or .. where are the catch reports for mullet this year , noticeable by absence as yet.
Sole, there seem to be some good catches along the beaches this week but not yet reported on the wall, mainly as shut at night.
topknot, not a frequent visitor but one or two reported on the East this week.
Mackerel, a few being caught each day, usually close to high tide but they are not shoaling yet inshore.
Rays are showing up in a fair few beach reports now so should likewise start
As you can see from the above there are fish being caught but picking the right time and spot is not easy and there are too few clues to figure out what time would be best or where on the wall would be ideal for a decent session as yet.
TBH its somewhat frustrating as like last week the signs offshore are very good, the boats are coming back with plenty of fish for everyone be it wrecking for cod, pollack & bass or the inshore marks which are producing some very good bream, better conditioned plaice and a good number of rays. Add to that turbot trips all add up to it being worth booking one of the trips out of the Marina.
Dont want a full day ? well look to the lure boats for a 2-4 hour trip, they very definitely can put you over some nice fish.
So the future looks bright while the catch reports are light (see what I did there 🙂 ) Anyhoo for me with the gorgeous weather going on id say just do it, get out on the walls in the sun and simply chill with a rod or two in the water because you wont catch if you dont get them line out.

Enjoy the weather folks, until next time, over n out
F

NEW FISHING PRICES START  1ST JUNE 

DAY SESSION :- 6am – 6pm

ADULT 1 ROD £6 & 2 RODs £7/ EXTRA RODs £4 EACH

NIGHT SESSION:-6PM-6AM

JUNIOR/OAP 1 ROD & 2 RODs/ £5 EXTRA RODs £3 EACH
HAND LINES £3 EACH

Here we are, born to be kings
We’re the princes of the Universe
Here we belong, fighting to survive
In a world with the darkest powers

OPPS wrong place thats Queen innit… ah, well Here we are again …. with another weekly ish lazy posting sort of round up, and there are whispers of SUMMER in the air.! OMFG! yes it’s true. The weather has finally picked up and the evenings are finally getting warmer at 8/9pm and about time too says I so lets get straight at it and give a fishy sound off.
SOLE, not on the wall but defo now on Brighton beaches the last couple of days so expect em
Plaice, all the usual sandy marks still bare minimum in sizes though
Bream Yes yes yes yes & about time too on both walls “OCCASIONALLY decent”
Wrasse plenty it seems on the west
Horse mac, some caught fri night on west (1st reported)
Gurnard, one or two here n there on the east.
Dog fish, rumour has it that they have buggered off , treat with caution.
Rays, yea sort of, just not on the walls
Bass, yup and doing very nicely ty, barely a day passes without a 4+lb fish caught on one or other wall.
Hound pups, high chance of seeing these, they seem everywhere.
Mackerel, daily catches in 2’s/3s mainly over high, pick a wall and wait for high, best bet mid wall.
Micro species down many of the Vs for species counters.
Mullet, not heard of any caught but often the way , expect in usual marks.
Topknot, not a very common fish but been a fair few this week on the east.
Flounder, still some to be had.
EELS reports dropped off for now
Whiting, thinned out a ton and v few seemingly about
Squid still waiting, unusual in absence this year
Cuttlefish as above.
Sand eels, Evidence of decent stocks close to shore check out the (BIF1 blogs)
red Mullet(goat fish) very much expected on west.

I think that will do it as far as species tallies go. Bear in mind this is a tick of of species where at least 1 or more have been had on or very near to either wall so dont be fooled into thinking “shit look at that load , best get down b4 they are all gone. Its not a trick or trap as fishing has been slow this week but as I originally put. The signs there are good, half mile off shore the fishing is very good. Charter skippers are coming in with happy customers. More than one boat has posted that the Turbot time has arrived and the bream fishing is excellent. There are decent cod and pollack reports this week for the deep water anglers and some great bream and plaice for those going lighter. The conger reports have thinned this week but I have no accurate info but will ask about.
So looking good for the next week or two as the weather starts to behave for us all and with that I will sign off.
F

SO ! what a funny old week this one has been in RL (real life) 15 month kidney C all clear plus another all clear for a growth in my intestine (long story dont ask) while sort of waiting to post up daves news (see home page) and retirement. Knew the announcement was coming for some time but to actually see it posted live and know things are all changing on the marina has a strange feel too it and feels like a huge hole in normality, or at least mine.

As far as the website and facebook group are concerned there may be a minor change here & there over time but as such that will be no change and a straight carry on.
Yesterday took a pootle down onto the west wall part to socialise, part to catch up with the wardens working and part I guess to see what’s going on. As a result of that visit a bit of a long post (yup you have been warned) a catch round up and a little bit of musing over the last months fishing on the walls that IMO has been somewhat stand out in that it hasnt had the usual or expected patters for this time of year that most including myself have come to know.

Right then , a brief round up of the cathes and sea states etc and then onto one of my old bloke ramblings!….
:-Bass, yes , thank you very much, while the tides have got smaller this week and the catch rates seemed to have declined a little the bass catching has remained very consistent. Ask the likes of Lee “the plumber” or Robin & Phil the warden and they will tell you no doubt that the bass fishing is doing well, I suspect the sizes are down for this time of year normally but that does seem consistent with the rest of the last few weeks out there.
:-Bream, yep, as some would say I used the “B” word, well for the boats the bream fishing im told is superb yet on the wall this year (yea its still early) Bream catches seem quite a bit down, likewise so has the wrasse catches. yes we are still clogged with may rot but the proximity that the local boats are catching bream should indicate better than is on the wall… still the weather has been somewhat variable and IMO defo a cooler April on average than many recently.
:- Plaice, catches have ticked over at a good rate but again for me the sizes on average are quite a bit smaller this year, it may be in my head but again another common species on the walls that is off to a slower start than normal.
:- Squid, where are they ? I saw a couple of reports early April and then almost nothing over the last 3 weeks. Yes we are now on small tides and not expecting much but that “usual” squid run has not happened yet or its occurred further along the South coast… Ive not seen the usual pics asking about the egg clusters yet so have they or have they not come in to get Jiggy and spawn ?
:- Mackerel, intermittent and am told there are a few caught on the walls each day yet a mile out to see there are loads swimming about, many of the normal may species seem to be off to a slow start and we seem under a plague of hound pups and dogfish.!

As above the water is seemingly thick at the moment with dogfish and hound pups very much on the feed. Other activity on the walls and locally are the rays, mostly Undulates but also thornback there amongst the ray takes that seem quite common or dare I say normal for this time of year. Conger takes seem to have tailed off for now but no doubt will still tick off as the months pass on the walls. Gurnards are occasionally being caught out on the sand on the East but over all things have been quite sluggish this week.

Time of year ? probable (may rot very evident) Small tides ? probable, late start to season ? possible. What I can say though is that with social media more and more people seem to wait for catch reports and then go to the places that have had decent sized fish..IE report chasing. perhaps also a sign of the times that there is a lot less money about at the moment and finances mean that more are staying local to themselves until the summer reports start coming in with the warmer conditions.

Conclusions :- May can traditionally be a dull month, I suspect we all sort of look back and see last years fishing as better than this one so far but I also recall months on the wall in the past where the weather had been superb, sparking water and zilch being caught on the wall other than tiddlers down the V’s. To me MAY ROT or algae bloom is very evident in the water, just watch a boat pass and the water is churned into a pale milky green still. Some think its breaking but I saw very little sign of the algae fading or dying off. When it does many think its some level of pollution with its eggy sort of smell and brown foam like appearance and on small tides if it was fading there would have been much more froth or foam on the surface. Thus I guess the water is now warm enough to maintain the growth rate faster than the rate it dies off. May rot in May ! fancy that.

Temps in the air and water for April were low and we are still getting chilly nights, add that to poor catch reports along the coast all seem to add to a malaise and feeling of torpor or sluggishness of little happening so cant be bothered type of feel to everything !
I dunno, it may just be me but so far I’m sorta not feeling the get up and go that fishing can bring to everyone. Hopefully now that we are mid May the weather will finally improve and the fish numbers as well as the general quality quickly improves.

April I expected the squid run followed by a 10 day 2 week burst of mackerel, somewhat strangely it hasn’t happened and that also I think has added to the feeling that April was a very strange month and not the normal on the walls. May is looking a bit like very normal and sluggish until that algae bloom clears off. Best look, I guess to June and some nicer weather and much better fishing on the walls eh
until then.. adieu
F

marina walls and shop get new management and owners

A message from Dave and a changing of the guard

Well I’m sure most of you out there have heard the rumours of my intention to relinquish the management of the marina fishing arms.
  Well here it is officially!

From Tuesday 16^th of may one of my wardens, namely Mark Robinson takes over that responsibility.
  Mark has worked hard over the last ten years to earn this chance to manage what is in effect one of the biggest sea fishing venues anywhere that is open to the public, and I’m sure  you will all wish him every success.

Also on that same day I will be saying goodbye to my shop “The Famous Tackle Box”. The new owner is Philip Metcalf who has a good knowledge of all things sea fishing and will retain all my wonderful staff through this transition.

I would like to say a massive thanks to all my wardens who have helped over the last 28 years, YOU Know who you are, dready, Keith, Bruce, Phil, Frank and the many others. Without their help I could never have carried on for so long.

Thank you also to all of my staff, past and present in the tackle shop and of course all of my many customers old and new, both on the walls and in the shop in all of its locations.

At this point I would also like to thank the many friends that I have made along the way, I will miss you all.

Special thanks also for all the help with the social media and maintenance issues goes out to good friends
Frank Parker/ Craig Gosling/ Robin (fishyRob) Howard/ Steve Cooper and anyone else I have no doubt that I have missed out here.

I will still be about the marina, Jet washing (surprise surprise) and assisting Mark with some of the maintenance jobs.
I can’t wait to do some fishing on the walls so I may well see some you all down there one day soon.
Last of all my thanks to the marina directors John Davey, Andrew Knight, and Colin Tribe for all of their support and backing over the years and thanks also to their security and cleaning staff
Thank you all
Dave Grinham
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
A note from myself (frank)
I like a few out there have know these changes were coming but to see it actually in text on the website still comes with stirred emotions.

Ive know Dave as long as Ive known the marina, either to fish it or as a warden or indeed at times in the shop but much much more than that as a friend to myself and family and to the many anglers he has helped so freely in so many ways.

Obviously I wish Philip Metcalf and Mark Robinson the greatest success with the shop and walls which have been since I was aware of them:) but boy does it seem strange that there is now a changing of the guard so to speak!

Needless to say any help to both I can give will be given and this website will continue for the benefit of the tacklebox and the marina fishing walls.

Dave, your familiar face will be missed in the shop and on the walls not only as a boss and familiar face to many but mostly as a friend by the many whose lives (Including mine) you have touched. Hope to see you out there fishing really soon.
regards to all
Frank