As many will know the marina walls were closed yesterday for the occasion of HRH the Queens funeral. Prior to that catching thing’s up while the weekend was slow for most hunting mackerel, over on the bass side of things they quite well with squid baits proving popular for many. Strangely that brings me to a familiar phrase so YES, the SQUID (and cuttle) are most definitely in around Brighton.
one angler i’m told managed to bag up 20+ squid on the west through Fri or Sat night (sorry not a lot in detail) as one happy angler told me Sunday afternoon while having a chat.

The offshore boats are also reporting large numbers so for those wanting a stab at them now seems a great time for cephalopods around Sussex shores. While talking shores and local catches, the marina may not see many COD or codling but the beaches seem to be teeming with codling many sub 5lb (please watch the min sizes) but there are plenty of anglers saying its the best start to Autumn they have seen in a fair few years and one local private boat managed a lovely cod of 10+lb while out yesterday.
It does seem time to get a boat trip under the belt locally as cod, squid Turbot trips are all thriving and there seems also to be a late burst of bream activity with many boats reporting plenty of 2-4lb fish out there on many of the usual marks.
One angler sent me a pic from the weekend of the largest garfish I have seen on the marina for a couple of years and I will try to get it up on the gallery this week with a few other pics I have been hoarding back to upload as a batch on the various galleries.
Tons and tons of decent species out there right5 now so well worth baiting up unless you are targeting mackerel which seem to have strangely dropped off the map over the last 2 weeks. Some poor weather yes but not enough to account for the distinct lack of shoals this year. There has been a decline year by year but last year to this is quite a shock in less numbers than expected. I suspect the sudden drop in air temps may be a factor even that cant make full sense of it all.

Strange thing is I cant help but feel the temps may rise in a week or so and see a late October flurry of mackerel, as they say time will tell.

The final bit of news I can’t report in detail as I have yet to get further information and permission to post further details.

I have the sad news of our former warden Colin’s recent passing in the care home he was being looked after following a very serious period of time in hospital late last year with health complications and covid issues. While in hospital I understand he was revived on a few occasions and had been transferred to a care home for closer care after being left unable to walk unaided with much recuperation needed.
Sadly, news came through that Colin passed on or around the 10th of September and will be greatly missed by many on the marina and my thoughts along with others go out to his son and family. Funeral details are yet to come.
F

Things fairly quiet over the last few days but still plenty of bream and plaice out there to be had. Gurnards still about over the sand and red mullet had over on parts of the west wall.
The bigger story this week is the increase of catches either on the wall or very close of squid and cuttle fish who seem to have started their Autumn run, not prolific in that they are easy work but for those that regularly catch they will be there for them. other catches about are bass, wrasse sole even a lobster or two im told have been reeled in now the crabs have gone back into the deeps.
Rounding up whiting have been slowly arriving at night alongside the horse mackerel and garfish have made what seems a bit of a rare visit this week, numbers for them seem very down on usual number.
Thats it for now bar a reminder thaat Sunday the west will close at midnight, and both walls will remain closed on Mon 19th as a mark of respect for the queens funeral.
For those wanting bait that day the shop WILL OPEN 7am to 11am Mon.
F

Dave has chosen to close on the day of HM the Queens funeral on Monday the 19th as a mark of respect, The Queen did open the marina for public use so as a mark of respect for the countries Queen of 70 year the wall will close.

The night session on Sunday 18th will end at midnight with the walls close on Monday the 19th.
the SHOP WILL OPEN on the 19th from 7am to 11am for anglers wanting bait to fish the beaches as many will be out as the day will be classed as a bank holiday.

Yes it was Sunday yesterday so how did it fish , well on the west again it fished ok for bream but 99% on the wall were waiting on mackerel. Lesser number Sunday (people) than the day before and was gated over for about 2 hours so most got onto the wall fairly quickly.

The incident on wall Sunday,
One incident to speak of on Sunday with a dude fishing the ledge under almost bay 1, and with the wall full 2 guys fishing bay 1 ended up crossing lines and starting a verbal fight over how and where lines should be.
This escalated quickly into threats and violence before I could intervene it became quickly a screaming match.

The dude under the wall should have moved and had been earlier advised by security the same but chose to stay. as he got wound up further, he then chose to come up onto the wall shouting and trying to pick a fight fairly aggressively,
by this point I was already trying to talk to the angler and calm him so I could resolve things, but…

If he reads this, I thank the regular that assisted myself in separating the now aggressive pair and calm the situation down. I very much doubt just myself would have managed as both kept confronting each other as I tried to split them … Id push one back away and other would then come close behind myself making it hard to split and talk/calm either so the intervention of the wall regular (sorry I have forgotten your name again & did tell you Im crap with names) but Im very grateful for your step in.

One of the pair chose to ring the police (he had a small son) as he felt over threatened and as were parked close to the wall on the beach and I fully agree with the choice he made, and security confirmed they had the incident caught on their cameras but were not needed to assist.
Plenty of witnesses if needed for when the police arrived (yes it drew the attention of everyone in eye line on the wall) who did attend and spoke to the 2 dudes and myself for views of incident and things all settled down again with the guys fishing bay one moved up to bay 24 away from any further incident clashes (Yes, the troublesome one was still fishing under bay one on that ledge!) so, it wasn’t really started by anyone on the wall, the police I believe did go and speak to him on the ledge) Once moved things calmed back down allowing people to fish again. and the silliness was over

It was again tough going on the walls as the water was still very sandy colour with heavy silt in the water from recent windy weather and as a result only a few mackerel were about to be caught. Plaice were coming up at a steady rate for one gent on bay 4 who took full advantage of the low bay and sand patches with a few gobies and other micro stuff scattered along the wall. Early arrivals also had some horse mackerel and some pout of similar sizes to the said horse mac. I guess I only saw about 30-40 in total caught but, the tides are cleaning the water up and come Tuesday the water should be much cleaner and mackerel I recon will be back in numbers come mid week.
there were a couple of eels caught in the coloured water and both walls saw some reasonable bass caught.
Over on the east things were little better and tough going as I understand it but there were bream and wrasse on the rockier bays but the sand on the front of wall was somewhat stubborn for fish although there were plaice, gurnard and again horse mac caught in the coloured water. I didnt hear of any sole caught but would be surprised if non were had. Again mackerel were almost non existent and the water need to clear the silt that is still holding in the water.
Thats it for today

F

A charity bike ride into Brighton will make the city centre busy so best to come in via Falmer exit on the bypass or seafront route from the east of the marina today.
Fishing yesterday on the west was quite tough with a lot of colour and silt still in the water after the wind and rain this week (the rivers flush junk out as well as Southern water !). Weed while there over the high tide is less of an issue and should by this mornings tide be a lot clearer.
While I said the fishing was tough those targeting bream on the extension managed a couple to keep but defo hard work. High tide came with little else caught ad mid day but many persisted with the feathers (west wall) and about 3 hrs after the high the bays above 127 got a small reward of a small shoal flitting in and out for 20 mins. It did surprise me as I seriously didn’t expect any until later tides and those that caught had the reward of some big mackerel that would have easy passed the 1lb mark and about 35-40cm !

It took me till near 4.30pm to convince a couple of blokes fishing bay 5 to put a whole squid out on their right and to rig up for flatfish, water colour looked good for daytime sole and as time ticked on with the low light level I thought it would increase their chances of a catch other than watch all the feathers fly. Ashley also had a chat with them about various rigs and why they would be used and what for which helped them understand the ground and set ups a little more and they seemed keen to learn. I hope they stuck at it and got their reward as the tide turned at 6pm when I left as its rare people arrive and set up for mackerel and ignore what people say about changing things a little to target other species. (they did keep a rod set up with feathers just in case any showed up.

That is almost the entire catch report for the west wall ! but is hardly a shock when people show up determined to only catch one type of fish without being willing to swap things about and open up to fresh Ideas.
How the east fished I dont know but Ashley did go to the east about 6pm to close the wall down so will chat with him later and see if he has any news.

Either the fishing is poor or the wardens at the moment are forgetting to tip me off to what is being caught.
hey ho, til next time eh
final note, Its not definite yet but Dave is very likely to close both walls Monday 19th Sept as a mark of resect for the Queen, after all she did open the marina and while some may think its a silly Idea many will like the idea and that doe’s include myself but I will confirm it asap.
F

Advanced warning for those traveling into Brighton on Sunday 11.09.22 that the London to Brighton charity bike ride is going ahead so the main central road into the city will be jammed.
Best advice travel via bypass and in via amex route into the marina

Nothing really to report. A week of winds and loads of rain, some shut downs on the wall and not many fishing. A few Bream and wrasse reported but that wont really be an accurate picture of whats happening simply because I lack reports but thought I should post something up to reflect why the lack of reports.
F

I had done a large post Sun morning , got distracted and didn’t finish typing it all up prior to rushing out to watch bhafc play at home !

the up shot is a days missing so a quick summary.

NIGHTS this weekend have been busy with the gate over each night to control numbers safely and the queuing as gone well with little to no issues with some visitors praising that it had been done to prevent over crowding.

on the catching bit, well all week the daytime has been very tough for those wanting mackerel with them not being caught before 6pm or even 7pm thus giving the mackie hunters a tough old week of frustration.
Other catches over the weekend include a couple of decent bass of BOTH walls, evening mackies for both, gar on both, the first squid and cuttle this weekend on the west for a fair few weeks (are the quid going to show early? ) plenty of bream again on both if you know where to look and 22/23 on the east has been throwing a few surprises for good bream !. Plaice on the east sole on again both Waa hoo eh! , giant sea slugs have died away on the cleaner water BUT … yea that word , but a few whiting are also showing up (signs of autumn! ) A few wrasse have been caught but I recon the numbers are very low again on both walls and hope the trawling damage of the past hasn’t changed the numbers for good .
Along the walls tight in are still the micro’s of blenny , bullhead and goby assortments as well as tons of whitebait feeding just about anything with a mouth !.
Is it me or are the prawns in lesser numbers this year ? or have they simply dispersed more ? dunno, that one may be me noticing less and less people using prawns as live bait.

other news, for those that remember TONY WADEY a plaque has been fixed up on the east arem I believe on bay 58 as a permeant memory marker for those who remember him and we have just ticked past the 4th year of Eddie Tannocks passing.
Almost Finally an incident that needs to pe reported as the incident could have been far worse than simply a fool fishing where he shouldnt.

Early arrivals to the east during the week saw whitebait in the harbour around the fuel pontoon. As they had got there so early not only would they have been causing a disturbance to residents from 5am onwards but some chose to rig up and have a tinker in the harbour with feathers and flying lead in the direction of not only the fish bubbling in the marina basin but also in the direction of the fuel pumps.

I can only say THANK F**k no lead hit the fuel pumps of lines , it beggars belief that anyone could have been so stupid or reckless endangering everyone in the vicinity and possibly further away, thank gawd nothing more sinister happened other than a few cretins got bollocked and told to leave permanently.

Please please please help us in any way you can safely. I’m not asking anyone to jump in or face these fools down but please find a way to contact someone that could do something other than look on helplessly. A text, a facebook message a phone call from a safe distance to security(24hrs), tacklebox (if open) marina office(24 hr) msg a warden on fbook including myself and David Grinham, most of us are on there.

There are minor changes to open/close times on both walls so please check the home page for latest on that and one other change this week in the
NIGHT SESSION ON THE WEST , no nights this wed/Thurs, Normal nights Fri,Sat, & Sun , back to normal the following week.
F

I spent the daytime on the east wall yesterday, in general being a visible presence but also offering guidance where needed such as dispatching fish asap and best storage among other stuff and generally chatting with the anglers that were there.

Fishing in the morning was slow and there was a bit of an unpleasant NE breeze/wind to add to the issues of dragging lines on the currents. Thorough the day a few small bream had been caught even around bays 27/28 with some plaice of mixed sizes but if we are being honest most were there in the hope of mackerel.
They didn’t disappoint but were erratic as the first batch flitted in and out for 20 mins on the front section around about 1pm , (yes , tough going ’til then) and were gone as soon as people had got going but most had a few.

A second burst happened as the high tide came up for 3pm ish and most then managed more than half a bag each. I will add through the 2 hours I had been busy making sure those there knew that we expected all catching mackerel to dispatch the fish prior to storing the fish. Some I showed how to guy and clean their catches of which a few took to it like ducks to water while others were more reluctant but did comply.
I stayed til 4ish and by this time a few more flurries had happened and am please to say that yesterday everyone I saw were getting the message about killing their catches quickly. One minor incident quickly dealt with but other than that a decent day on the marina for many with a few tips given out on catching bream and plaice and i’m happy to say a clean wall on the east which now closes at 7pm daily.

Over on the west the fishing pattern was much the same and a quick chat with the night guy told me that Wed night while busy on the wall saw no real incidents other than the usual busy time management and the west gate closing over for a short while so the duty guys could rebalance where people were fishing and to check the numbers, once that was done the few queuing were allowed up onto the wall having sorted what bays were available. Catch report was a bit vague as the west can be sometimes so suspect no great catches other than saying a normal fairly busy night on the west.
Thurs day over there started fairly quiet and didnt really start showing signs of being busy until near mid day, catches sort of mirrored the east as far as mackerel were concerned , a few flurries leading up to high tide with better catching for a couple of hrs from 3pm’s high.

With mackerel season upon us yes the walls are busy and there are extra staff about to reflect this. If there are issues people do need to please contact the warden or even someone on the facebook group or myself(frank) so that we can sort or resolve issues as they arise. The wardens are not miracle workers but sometimes try to walk on water :), please let us know as it happens and we will try to sort it out.

Sometime the older hands using the walls have a tendency to forget their fishing origins of being on the wall as teenagers first looking for mackerel either to sell for a few rigs or fags. Many of them I have seen grow up , as have Dave and Keith who still helps from time to time so please have a thought in the summer, maybe a little less knocking or even blaming the “mackie bashers” for over busy sessions on the wall or even trouble caused by numbers when hot heads lose their self control. The crowds are there for the same reasons most anglers are , simply put everyone likes a fish or two in the summer so it must come as little surprise that the walls are busy on sunny days and bank holidays.

please help us keep control and be our extra eyes and ears when needed.
ty
that’s is from me, Football on Sunday Btn are home to Leicester so am unlikely to be on the walls this weekend 🙂
have a good one folks , I sure will be 🙂 .. over n out
F

yay the bank holiday is finally over and the numbers on the wall have eased back after having to gate off and run a one in one out system on Sunday all day on the east ’til near close and well into the night on the west wall followed by similar again on Monday i can say Tuesday is much calmer. granted the lack of mackerel reports probably have slowed the crowds that had it tough during the day. Ironically yesterdays report is a little different and almost a little hash for the many that fished the east !.

Things started busy but not manic and the east never quite filled although the west had to again queue people up for much of the day ( and trouble free I might add). So in its way busy also on the east but very few fish in the sunshine , a small flury of mackerel on the front end was in and gone in a few mins and a hand full managed to grab some, a few bream and a few plump plaice were had but that was it to be honest and many had turned for home by six pm although the west was still then very busy.
Anglers had been told to finish up about 7pm to allow me to get home and just prior a shoal of mackies arrived in the lowering sunshine(always the way). This resulted in some furious feather chucking as the time ticked down. a bit of time licence and some pushing their luck resulted in all getting a decent amount filling their bags/boxes and cool bags while being nudged to wind it down of which they did allowing the wall to be locked and gated by 7.45pm, the west remained busy well into the dark and am yet to get any reports from the last light and beyond , the daytime there again was tough on all.

the up side of yesterday was again seeing many old faces and even one or two from the FB group that I have often managed to miss in past years thus a quick hi to Gary Bowring if he reads these and also a shout out to marina resident John who showed up while I was sat by the cafe and who is always good to meet and catch up with .

Glad to not be down the marina today or indeed the next few days as my old bones are seriously feeling it today !

I am still this morning contemplating starting a hall of shame on the marina website as sadly even with patrols on the east idiots still insist on climbing up onto the top level of the east, some fortunately being intercepted before they can use it as a toilet but it seems the determined will try as soon as your back is turned in broad daylight and then use the old chestnut when caught of
“I didnt know the rules”
who in their right mind think its ok to urinate on a footpath or would ? sadly some still think its acceptable so i’m beginning to think it is acceptable to make their faces famous and post it up on a new gallery for the website , oh I so wish we could get names to add to the images !
Ho hum for now I will collect the pics.
over n out for another day
F