LOSS OF NIGHT FISHING
it seems that some people still don’t understand that the top level of the east is NOT A TOILET.
Contractors have again complained that night anglers are using the upper level as a toilet and they continue to find faces and urine all along the upper east left behind by lazy anglers.
If this continues the EAST WILL CLOSE UNTIL WORK IS FINISHED.
Anyone found on the upper levels at night will be banned.
Help up prevent this, let us know of anyone doing this, stop your mates going up there, if it doesn’t stop the east will close until repairs are finished, It is now down to anglers to help self monitor.

Crunchie day anyone ? no ? oh well 🙂 … Not a massive amount to post, yesterdays excitement was on the west and not a case of lots of fish, rather a fool jumping across the caissons who slipped and fell in at 5am with a lifeboat rescue… Id post my opinion of wasting time and resources but most likely it would be offensive. On the fish front, not much to say about mackerel as things were slow all yesterday and not great this morning but that is the nature of the beast….fish move and it wasn’t Brighton’s turn I guess. On the bream front things are good but yes still tons of little ones stealing baits but stick at it there are larger fish to be had. Other than that… there is little to say as simply put , i lack feed back from the walls/
F

Plenty of mackerel to be had in Brighton, finding a decent pattern and time is proving not so easy. The good news though is that if you show up around 4-5am there is a strong chance you will get some. The bad news …… they don’t always show on both walls so it can sometimes be an early morning lottery.

Most of the feed back posts and reports at the moment tend to be focusing on mackerel, perhaps because of the “when are they in” conundrum.
The best I can say is usually they show after 1st light and are often done by 7am as the sun fully rises.
Mon evening there was a few shoals about as the light went and this proved to also be the case last night with a large shoal on the west and across the face of many of the beaches that seemed very busy with rods the nearer you got to the marina last night.

Other species catch report, … there have been some decent sized cuttlefish caught in the last few days and some anglers are now reporting “ghost bites” and “pull backs” with no take that I suspect are cuttle doing their thing in the water so may be worth using a weighted jig out there.
Bass are ticking over , best again at low light levels rather than tide state especially so with the small tide and bright full moon looming.
Red mullet are now more of a common sight often over shingle and rocky marks.
Plaice in shore seem a bit hit and miss for decent keepers but doing well on the charter boats and private ones that are fishing inshore marks.
Bream continue to be reported everywhere, mostly the juveniles that are now rampantly on the feed and plaguing anglers like piranha in the water although there are some decent ones to be had as well.
Spider crabs are still there, mostly an issue on the east but again the numbers out there are thinning quite quickly.
Finally a note on something for the younger anglers out there… Micro species (blennies, Scorpion fish, pout, gobies etc) are there in numbers straight down the sides and in the V’s which with a scrap of bait or even human foods will give the youngsters a taste of using bait and catching fish and is (IMO) a great way to introduce the younger ones to the joy of fishing.
Till next time … over n out
F

I lack any decent reports from Sunday evening so can only speculate that it may have been fairly quiet .. or a steady tick over which means a few plaice bream over the high on rockier bays (see wall guides) and a scattering of mackerel/horse mac & a bass or two.

what i can confirm is that 1st light today saw loads of mackerel for a short while on the east and likely as not similar on the west.

At this point i have to remind everyone (most regulars get it but gonna say again) that bringing trolleys from stores or the marina is not allowed.. you are allowed to buy your own trolley or wheels to carry your stuff but u will be asked to remove the trollies that are not yours or ..leave.

As we rapidly get into the madness that is mackerel season I would try and ask people to only take what they need or take what is a sensible amount but am sadly already seeing huge buckets being used to stack mackerel 15-20 deep crushing un-gutted fish at the bottom, no doubt a few hours in the days heat followed by a 2-3 hour drive in a hot car boot will likely as not render fish inedible or possibly poisonous ! such a shame to see as wardens do their best to educate and show how to preserve and store fish at its best….. sigh
ho hum …signing off
F

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