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).

An up n down week, some good, some poor and other bits downright cack!. As reported, Thurs morning promised so much with a pre 7am flurry of fish mostly on the East but it then fizzled out under the sun as the heat of the day came up, and tbh that was about it until it got dark, joking ? nope, it was proper naff. The nigh time fished better, couldn’t be worse that was for sure, with bream, wrasse, a few small rays on the low east and some Bass to about 6lb, sole and plaice over the sands and tbh that has been the pattern of it all will. Ok, so-so through to not bad at night and tough going in the sun. Yesterday was a beast, I saw maybe 2 fish on the west with the east little better and tbh that was more than most saw. Using my own words , Sun day was brutal, scorching hot and my bet is there are a lot of dehydrated and sun burnt people out there this morning.
If you plan to fish this week during the day, find some shade if u can and carry plenty of water and sunscreen, its looking nasty out there.

F

So, we have has a bit of an odd week, some mornings ok, some day not great and better nights in general than the days. So, lets break it down a bit, Last Sunday was a stare at the water day, while sunny it was quite blowy on the west making anything west side hard work for 2-3 day including the Sunday. catches Sunday were bits n bobs with little to should about on either wall but a few noted a flurry of garfish on the east that promised mackerel but disappointed with a no show.
Into Monday day and skipping a night report for now produced lighter wind but still a hampered west. the front of the east struggled but those on the nearer bays fared a little better with a few bream and wrasse to show for effort. Tues wed almost cloned the catch rates with more sunshine than fish but thurs even did hold some promise with a few mackerel and as the light went some horse mac were had as things got dark…

Now I mentioned the dark I can round up the night fishing that simply put is better than the day performances , possibly the benefit of the spider crabs doing their thing just away from the walls. As I mentioned in another blog the east wall has seemingly been blessed with them this year as the catch rate at night has improved with hounds bass and rays coming in close on the feed. And as with most things on the east side the shore prawns have also proven to be a useful tool for those collecting the live ones with results of bass hounds and im told a ray or 2 also! go figure.

Wed night woke up after dark with horse mac in & out through the night in small flurries with a nice run as the light came up of mackerel to both walls but the better numbers being caught on the east… not 1000’s of them but enough for most there to be kept happy until it faded about 7 to 7.30am which resulted in a few bosts going up on the marina FB group that triggered some needless mocking and bickering that had to be sorted.

thurs day once the sun came up fully settled into the same pattern of sluggish day slowly picking up as the evening began and cooler temps on the walls. Night reports again indicated bass hound and ray activity with again some horse mac mixed up with wayward mackerel that brings it all back today 🙂

after a quick call from Dave I can confirm the shop will have fresh black and fresh ragworm for 7am pick up sat morning so at time of typing there is still time to ring the shop and get an order in .

dont forget , we have moved and now opposite McDonalds
TTFN
F

As of today (Monday) we are now in our new location, some of our longer time visitors may say gone back to where we were originally 🙂
Our new location
We are now directly opposite McDonalds (across the road) at the top of the pedestrian access ramp, and along side the WEST QUAY pub.
We have also reverted back to our original opening times of 7am , yes 7! closing times as posted but can be flexible if demand calls for a later opening in the better summer weather.

full postal address:-

The Famous TackleBox
The West Quay
Brighton Marina
BN2 5UT

Catch report of a sort.
I took a drive along both walls yesterday in the new(ish) 4 wheeled chariot about lunch time yesterday. There was a westerly breeze (about 12-15 at times)causing things to be somewhat choppy on the West most of the day but particularly noticeable closing on high tide and as the water dropped afterwards. Resulting conditions were not ideal for a summer’s day on the west(a bit better on the front of the east)
Catches and reports in general were not great with most struggling to get much more than wet from water spouts or a few tiddlers being reported.
Most of the previous night visitors had gone or were packing having struggled to stay to see the high tide in the hope of a few mackerel which did not happen this weekend. Im told people though some were “maybe” caught Saturday but seems a case of “they heard or they were told someone else heard etc so hard to verify although thurs fri catches could be confirmed. So to sum up on the mackerel front in Brighton V Very patchy and atm …. not every day and mostly early evening if they do show.
If you are traveling 100+ miles for some mackerel i’d suggest deep water venues such as in kent (Dover area) or even Portsmouth area.

Other species also struggled over the weekend although I did see a few small bream and a couple of silver eels the general info I got back on both walls was that mostly scratching was the order of the weekend with plaice, bream & wrasse out but only small stuff and the rest were the likes of blennies, gobies and small scorpions down the sides.

Night time reports indicate somewhat better than the daytimes with some very good sole reported and caught, mostly on the bend or just below , with a few also to the high 50’s bays. There were some bass but most were under the 5lb region. The lower bays at the moment on the east are doing quite well due to the continued activity of the spider crabs peeling (moulting) in the vicinity of the lower bays on the east… which is a change to the usual invasion that tends to happen on the west side of the marina. Defo a benefit to anglers utilising the lower bays on the east. As said both walls struggled yesterday to provide much over a few cm but suspect last night may have produced better than the day did.
F

yep , It’s Friday , It’s five o’clock it’s crackerjack opps what was I thinking !
Fishy updates.
The last couple of days have seen mackerel on the walls in reasonable numbers but seemingly atm over the high tide and only in short bursts.
Thus it really is a case of be in the right place at the right time or you will miss them. There are a fair few posts on the FB page of mackies and they mostly are from the warden as he does his rounds sharing catches.
Likewise any nice pic moments he tries to grab and share with the group so always worth a check back here to see how often i’m posting blog posts, and maybe sometimes, read between the lines on what I’m posting. If you are after one species check multiple sources and don’t rely on a few pics on the marina group.

The last couple of evenings to tie in with the rise in mackie catches the walls have seen an increase of bass activity (or more anglers with know how) and while the mackies may have got them stirred up the catch rate using live prawns is very very good. (prawns can be found on the shoreline east of the marina)
Plaice has become “old faithful” and ticked over reasonably since early March and we are now seeing more Bream catches on the smaller side so that tells me the nesting is all but done and summer is almost here properly and bringing in catch reports of more bream and wrasse on both walls.
The spiders are still peeling (mostly lower east this year) resulting in decent bass and smooth hounds still on the low east baysmeaning if asked where to go i’d likely as not say well east… low 1-8 target hounds n bass, 6-12 target bream, wrasse daytime and add sole in the night or dirty water. 10-16 mixed bags of bass, bream, plaice sole, even dab & plaice. once past 16 the world is your oyster as you get out on the sand and will find , plaice , rays, bass, all sorts. its simply a case of figure out what they want to eat and when they are feeding :). Mackies when they show can be on almost any part of the wall but near always an easy catch on the bends of both walls which is why they both get busy in those spots.
Night time fishing though it may not seem it from this update is doing very well with some good sized bass, mackies, horse mac, sole plaice, bream and various rays being caught so well worth a visit this weekend.

And finally an update on the shop move that gets ever closer.
Dave tells me that the phoneline will move into the new location on Monday sometime so don’t be surprised if you try to ring and cant get through or get a dead tone. BT have the phone at its mercy and no clear time has been given for what time they will sort it.

The new location as previously posted will be in the glass box alongside the west quay , it was going to be a waiting room for the Busses but the changes to the route never happened so its sat idle for some time.

I think the new site will be better for all especially those out on boats as the shop can now go back to its old opening time of 7am and is much closer to the boats and easier access without any noise disruptions.

Thats it for now
F

Not the greatest of reports posted this week but things are picking up .. honest guv they are.
Reports of mackerel are getting a little more often but generally they are flurries and you have to be in the right place at the right time. Ive seen reports from people that have been told they went on the wrong wall & that is a common thing as the summer starts to actually arrive and bring in the fish.
Nights are defo fishing better than the days with mixed bags of mac & horse mac as posted earlier in the week. bream , still struggling to get better numbers but they are doing better on the west wall & prob best spot for them on the east is bay 6 to bay 10 area over the rough ground. Cuttlefish are doing well but not really hitting squid lures so maybe worth going for the stem with spikes type so you can add some bait(mac is good) to the stem. Plaice continue to tick over and sole catches are increasing with some decent sized fish during the night. The best of the rays have been caught at night although some are being hooked daytime also. Bass seem to have had a good run this week and reports of gurnards are increasing on the east.
Evening sunsets seem an excellent time to get a line out & ppl remarking on the whitebait down the side as the days heat cools.
Over all this week its been mixed bags for most, mackerel hunters are a bit frustrated as the shoals dont stay long and some days they dont hit both walls or even at the same time , so more chance finding them than planning.

Good hunting folks, the weather looks fairly stable over the next 7/8 days so not expecting any sudden close downs
F

I missed a few days for posting , mainly due to the hint in the title , things have mostly ticked over with no real shout outs. Dave worked the wall or went up there for a nosey early evening and may have taken fish with him . The day had been somewhat quiet in the full heat of the day but as things cooled a bit there was a small run of mackerel on the walls and an past visitor returning whom he used to jokingly call “Tango” obviously his private joke & perhaps ive now outed dave 😛 😛 .

On the catch front there seem to be loads of cuttle in the water & have been so for a week or so with numbers seemingly still increasing and no doubt on remarking on it I’ve jinxed the catches !
Plaice are somewhat up n down in sizes with little consistency and as posted previously there are horse mac & mackerel coming in as the light goes. Black Bream & wrasse seem stubbornly lower in numbers than previous years and am still hoping for a better pick up rate than is there right now. I likely as not said prior that with trawler activity curbed the seaweed and indeed seabed should show a slow improvement over the next 2-3 years. It does look like there is sign that guilthead bream are becoming more common on the higher bays of both walls which is encouraging. Night catches include mackerel , horse mac, assorted size & species of ray and bass takes seem a consistent size around the 4-6lb mark with prawns doing well.
Plenty of live baits in the water yesterday evening but lacking during the full heat of the day. A few gurnard out there on the sands and ive heard a whisper of mullet on the high east bays but not had that confirmed with a name to the reports.
Looking good for the weekend and no planned shut downs.
F