Well, I am guessing that those reading this can guess where this post is about to go and its not down a rabbit hole !
As some already know and for the benefit of those that are un-aware, the marina does seem to have its annual plague of spider crabs which have come inshore to “moult”/peel or in otherworld’s , shed their old shell and harden up a new one.
While most anglers see this event as a pain in the rear with cut off hooks and lack of catches there are a smaller group of anglers that know these “soft” spider crabs make fantastic bait for bass and hounds of which are being attracted to the walls in decent numbers for the first time in a few years.

Now, the rise of the spiders may be great for the bass anglers it does come with a word of caution being as the marina is within a marine controlled zone (Beachy-head west) thus we can be watched a bit more closely at this time of year, part for the bass rules and also the fact that the collection of bait in these “ZONES” does come with some restrictions. If collecting for bait please be aware that the minimum size is 12cm across the main shell and there is a limit of 20 per person. If the duty wardens happen to talk to you about this ignoring them or even swearing at them does you no favours so please , help us out a little and check out the websites “size regs” page, they are there for a reason and the wardens are expected to inform anglers even if some think rules dont apply when they fish.

So what else is going on ?
TBH the last week or so has generally been quiet. A day or 2 here and there closed on the west due to poor conditions, a few bream and some wrasse as mentioned in a prior blog, slow going even on the plaice with the night fishing other than the Bass being somewhat hard going.
I was messaged by one night regular to say they fished the extension one night as a group and had the usual up there of bass & bream but I was quite surprised to hear they also landed a decent pollack. Yes they are caught up there but more often the pollack tend to be landed on the east. ! go figure eh.

With things away from the spider crabs somewhat quiet there are those that would say the highlight of the last week was that 2 porpoise (or dolphins) type not properly ID’d cruised up the WEST wall close enough to touch and then for good measure did the same on the EAST swimming very close to the wall down its nr full length. Great see but crap for the fishing id say !

For the jiggers out there a heads up, now I may be barking up the wrong tree (or just barking ! ) but I suspect there are anglers out there getting what seem like ghost bites and pull backs on their lines, noticeable enough for said anglers to bring in their lines only to find nothing there and them convinced the bite was good. I suspect the culprit(s) may be Cuttle fish or maybe even squid yanking chains out there so, it could be worth getting a squid jig out in the water for a look see.

Well I think ive teased you long enough & guess I should use the “M” word being as Im being asked
“where are the mackerel” and comments like “why are they late” this year.

well, IMO they are about due rather than late. I have said it loads in the past but will repeat it anyway that the global surveys done to asses world fish stocks some 15-20 years ago claimed that the biomass of mackerel fry was good…but…… they have started to go further north under the ice to breed. This means a delay from past seasonal timings. By time they swim further north they then have to return to European waters adding 2-3 extra days to the migration routes the fish take. This means that the traditional summer arrival gas slowly got later on the calendars.
Spread over 10-15 years this I think has added easily a month to when the mackerel would or could be expected to arrive in the channel meaning that the end of June standards in the past have become the end of July.
another downer (im full of em eh) is that last year it was announced for the first time ever that mackerel stocks are “at risk” due to over fishing. Norway, the Faeroes Islands and Iceland some years back announced they would add 500mil tons to their mackerel quotas due to lack of Atlantic “Blueys”, tie this in with super trawlers at sea constantly and we have a situation that I feel will in time collapse mackerel stocks.
I have been on or around the marina for 25+ years and definitely seen a drop in the size of shoals in & around the marina as well as the seasonal arrival of them becoming later & later in the year! its not a great picture overall.
So to counter the doom feeling for mackerel I will say that being later in the year the mackies may be but it does seem that the length of time they stick around has changed very little meaning that with a late arrival they can stick about shoaling longer in the year also and can hang about almost into November when the weather holds so, for the average angler who fishes on their own there is the benefit of mackerel catches without hoards of families all getting in on the easy fish crowding out beaches and piers 🙂

I’m not sure how much longer the crabs will remain inshore but hopefully they will clear off very soon as it does seem that other species are somewhat reluctant to come inshore foraging amongst all them pincer claws. We are seeing fish, plaice, bream, wrasse even a mullet or 2 being reported as well as rays, hounds , yes and doggies and at night there have been horse mac although like the mackies no signs of shoals as yet.
I have been saying to many that end of July the last weekends tides look useful for mackerel and that weekend is now almost here so will be interesting to see if we get extra anglers this weekend or not. Red mullet & gurnards are v thin on the ground but have been reported and the boat skippers tell me that there are mackerel off shore with numbers climbing as are the average water temps (all be it quite slowly) so hopefully with a bit of decent weather this weekend things will start to kick off & YES, Im aware I said that not too long ago but it is due.

Ok ,I think that is enough of myy waffle for today, so until next time I will, as usual bid you all ADIEU
F

Well its been a while since I used that sort of heading but its been a few days since my last post so I thought I’d get my @rse in gear especially as I posted on the book of face that I had gone fishing…although there was little to no catching involved of which I will expand in a catch report further down this post.

So, Waaasuupp, well in spite of my 3rd blank in a row there are signs that the water is pulling itsself out of the doldrums … a bit. Yes, yes ,yes I said a few weeks ago almost the same but in my defence since then (the may rot ending) the weather has been up n down like some call girls knickers. Unusual wind patterns (my wife says im describing myself here!) forcing shut downs and very coloured water, seasonally low temps of air and water (global warming my arse!) and I guess shallower water than some venues such as Dover have all taken a toll on the inshore fishing patterns.
Yes the boats are doing very well but the fish seemingly have been reluctant to make the jump inshore which is what we all want. The lack of SQUID this and last spring also had a lack of the early spring run of mackerel that often hits the 1st two weeks of April failed to happen this year and likely as not is a combined event. Logic says the squid follow the mackerel shoals in and simply put, that didnt happen this year and may be something to the weather patterns, some Aprils in the past when walking the walls I have been getting some serious sun tan going on with hot Easters and very busy walls! now this year we have so many indicators of cooler conditions in the air and sea.

So is summer feked this year ? I doubt it, Im guessing Sept Oct will be milder and warmer than the usual average temps. So where does that leave us with the fishing ?, Id say not too bad if Sept/Oct is mild as the standard summer season will roll on for a few weeks keeping the traditional Autumn winds away for a while longer so I will keep my fingers crossed on that as the intent to hold the squid competition is still there for late October.
While on the topic of comps on the wall it is hoped to run some providing the fishing pics up and have in mind as well as the squid to likely run a bream comp on the west and a plaice comp on the East with perhaps a bass one also on the West one evening.

Righty ho, a catch report & round up starting with yesterday of which started with mackerel posts on the book of face from the morning high tide. There were also reports of bass on the low east bays of which chatter continued throughout the day and stayed while I fished on the east bay 9. No luck there for me even though my lad(forever known as JNR) managed a small bream at distance, little to no action for either of us until about 30 mins b4 the high when bites and bait robbing increased but try as I might it all proved fruitless and I swear the spidercrabs were down there waving their knives and forks screaming for more! I had 2 trace hooks cut clean off without a twitch from the rod.

Elsewhere on the wall that chatter of a bass turned into “some bloke has a small bass in his bucket” prompting me to go have a looksee under the guise of a cafe visit & general chat (yes I spent too much time yapping again!). One dude had 3 nice sized wrasse in his box and I advised him to change the water as it was warming up and also to gut the fish, the benefits ? fresh sea water an obvious one of preserving the fish better and gutting prevents the fish souring.

That bass that everyone could see with its tail up in the bucket ? well that one turned out to be a decent bream plonked on top of some large spider crabs being used as bait. As a result I suspect the low bays were as much a struggle yesterday as was the rest of the wall when I took the mobility scooter up the wall for a chin wag.
Please to say there were a fair few regulars out fishing in the late afternoon who ignored all the yapping from those that moan about how they wont fish the marina because its overcrowded. I arrived on the wall mid afternoon on a sunny Saturday 3pm ish and there were plenty of bays to chose from especially as we had planned on fishing somewhere between 8 & 14. As it turned out from my yapping(I claim I do it to find out whats being caught) there wasnt a massive amount of fish caught during the day.

So, what else was had other than the morning few mackerel and the bream & wrasse already mentioned. Well, a bream or two on the bend, likewise wrasse, I saw a gurnard further up and a couple more wrasse(please to see their numbers climb) mid wall produced wrasse, bream a smooth hound of about 75cm (RSL is 51cm) gurnard also scattered along the wall over the 2nd high of the day again there were mackerel on both walls but not in any numbers , those that caught were mostly single fish and it took serious work to get more.

The higher bays produced a mullet for Roy a couple of schoolies and wrasse again caught. Obviously they were not the only fish through the day but on my chats some had been on the wall since opening and the general story was “I saw a fish or two come up near me”.

Now, while the above sounds a bit grim the long range forcasts are looking better, The bump of wind Im watching on Tues has lessened and may end up nothing giving us a week of staying open and generally calmer waters. From mid week the temps creep from a lowly 18/19c up to 21/22s so the signs are there.
Through the week similar patterns to yesterday were repeated and the bass fishing in and off shore is good. Mackerel numbers have increased but no bursting shoals as yet. We also saw last night the return of horse mackerel and this mornings reports indicate some mackies again being caught.

What is really needed now is a decent spell of calm and sunshine to bring that water temp up & maybe next time I fish the east wall I will have a go around 30 ish & see whats going on…

It was nice to see plenty of familiar faces on the wall and I do my best to stop and chat but in doing so I tend to focus more on chatting and less than what I am trying to catch. Maybe that is more due to being on the EAST with more ppl wandering past and stopping for a chat or maybe the fish are not really there yet. Undecided now on weather to fish the East or West next time but the likely influence will be indicators that the bream are picking up properly on the west or not!.
Anyhooo, I think thats it from me today, so, until the next one I will bid you all ADIEU
F

For those living on the coast conditions are obvious but less so inland so a quick update on the walls currently being CLOSED.
As I posted , BOTH WALLS are CLOSED today (apology for the late update was distracted yesterday) and there will be NO night fishing this weekend as the
WEST WILL remain CLOSED Fri/Sat & Sunday and will re open on Monday at 6am providing there is no obvious damage that needs attending.
Again as posted the EAST is CLOSED today (Fri) and Saturday and will re open on SUNDAY 6am ,(ish) again providing no damage issues.
Fish reports are slim other than that Bass & hounds are doing well if you have spider crabs as bait, a few plaice but mainly the earlier part of the week has been bits n pieces as conditions have been somewhat breezy and colouring the water.

I will post here a reminder, It was reported on Thurs of an angler taking 3 bass, the regs say a max of 2 per session and must be over 42cm, if they are in your bag/bucket they are yours, not the bloke next to you, if you are in possession of 3 bass you will fall foul of the rules.
Taking 3 bass is a NO NO and were taken off the wall while the warden was elsewhere but the situation was picked up by other anglers and reported to Sussex IFCA who did attend and as I understand talk to the angler. No doubt they would have removed one of the fish and issued a warning BUT a word of caution, the FISHING GODS that make the rules are often quick to prosecute, which of found guilty can include fined of upto 1k and costs, somewhat costly for the ordinary angler.

While on the topic of restrictions, the marina walls fall within the Beachy head west Marine zone (MCZ) and there are limits on crab collection as shown on the size regs page.
Legally you can take 20 and they should be 12cm across the shell.

Ive heard many comments from ppl that think they can get around this , I’m not saying how as I think they are wrong if put to the test !.
Rules state a max of 20 spider crabs (12cm in size) you may retain 1 undersized one as “bait” to use on next change but, if you kill undersized spider crabs or even remove legs as bait prep you are retaining undersized stock and can fall foul of the IFCA’s that govern sea fishing.

Please stick to the rules, illegal takes irrespective of what someone thinks of the current rules does not help the wardens and in the long run harms anglers and fishing on the marina in general. Wardens should not have to check every bag & box 1/2 hourly to ensure anglers are following the rules.

There have been enough issues on the walls from “anglers” that flout rules or misbehave and I for one do not want to see the fishing on the marina shut down because of a few dickwads that dont give a crap about fish stocks. And with that comment on fish stocks I will add that I wont get into a them & us regarding what recreational anglers can take compared to commercial. The local fleet know their stuff and can be a great source of info & I dont buy into the them & us. We are all anglers in some form and we should be working together to get law/rule changes rather than flouting those already in place, lets face it most of us are aware of the damage the huge factory ships do to stocks across the world yet alone in our waters.
I do bang on about working with commercial local fleets, but IMO its clear we need to work together to get better rules/restrictions or fish stocks that are already crashing will vanish, Please folks, you dont need to give a shit about the politics of fishing, you dont even need to give a shit about the rules but, on the marina we do need to look to what rules and restrictions we have if we all want to continue using the marina as an angling venue.
Please help the wardens and report dodgy catches but also make yourself aware of the size guides on the website. If you dont feel right about reporting directly, ring the shop, message a warden or mark and we will get to your issue without being obvious about why we are there checking on something.

On the Facebook group I bang on about, eyes & ears, its not daft and you are not doing the wardens job for them. They cant be in all places at all times so a private word can go a very long way to get the message out that the marina and its anglers can and are doing their bit .

Ok sermon over, I will leave you now until the next time I fancy a chunter on here, Until then 🙂 I bid you all ADIEU
F

Well the weekend came and went so quickly it almost felt like it didnt happen !. Fishing reports were very slow, so much so that I am all but relying on a few facebook posts with little to no feedback from the walls since last Thursday. Basically its a story of peeler spiders from the east wall. Ive not heard if there are many pestering the west so it may be a bonus for those on that side although to be honest I suspect the west has suffered from higher than usual breezes/winds on the south westerlies !.
The weather and crab situation has fairly much produced a result/report of decent bass catches if you are able to find some peelers, and in amongst the bass are smooth hound pups also on the feed. As robin Howard posted this morning the bass are somewhat obsessed with the spiders at the moment and the hounds are not far behind them.
Hot on the heels of the hounds come eels, Congers of varying sizes and quite a few silver eels (they can also look as if they are green), as mentioned in past posts, please folks , put the silvers back as they have a protection order on them due to some form of virus that is messing up their migration navigation thus reducing the breeding numbers and causing the numbers to crash.

While mentioning protected fish I may as well add here that bass must be 42cm minimum and there is an allowance of 2 per person per day or session. also a note re the per day/per session bit, that does not mean based on per day you can take 2 after midnight and 2 before hence the 2 per day/session is the wording.
Also continuing the protection theme we have started to see a shad or two being caught on the wall. To some they look a little like bass especially in colouring and they also look a little like overlarge herring that are bass sized. The easiest way to tell they are shad is from its fat lip and the fact that the lighted of touches see loads of scales slide off them. Please folks if you catch one of these, handle with as much care as you can using T towels or gloves. The skin is delicate and they should be lowered over the side carefully and released as again , Shad are protected and they are now heading to inshore so that they can breed up the rivers.
There are plaice and sole out there but conditions atm are a bit stirred up so numbers are a bit on the low side, likewise bream numbers are quite a bit down on what I would expect as we get into july. That said Ive noticed on my facebook history feeds that a couple of past Julys have seen late may rot still causing issues so I guess on that basis we are still doing ok.

micro species in the way of Blenies & scorpion fish (bullheads to many)are starting to be caught down the side so there is something to occupy the juniors along side collecting soft back spider crabs for which you will need some form of net that can be dropped down the “Vs” with a bit of bait to attract them. Please note if you are keeping spiders they need to be a minimum of 12cm across the main shell. The marina is within an MCZ zone(marine controlled zone) and we do get regular visist from the fisheries inspectors. All of this info can be found on the size regs page of the site so please if unsure of any of the correct keep sizes take a look at the webpage.

Finally there is a bit of a blow forecast and mark has taken the decision to close the west at night on WED/THURS/ and FRI night as said due to higher than normal wind speeds. I will add here that when we close the walls we are limited to the forecasts and if its decided to close it means that the wardens are off duty and the walls are monitored by marina security. Sometimes the predicted winds dont happen, which is a PITA as yes we could have opened BUT, getting peoples plans changed and back in & onto the wall after telling them they have a free night/day is not as easy as it sounds and as a result the walls do sometimes end up shut when we could have got away with it…. but again getting away with it is taking risks with other peoples safety and there would be hell to play if we got it wrong and there was a serious accident because we opened the walls on a half chance injuring someone or god forbid, a live was lost in poor conditions. Simply put, we are not insured to take risks and that sort of risk would see the walls closed to fishing long term.
Stay safe folks, the sea can be a rewarding mistress but can also be a cruel one. food for thought !

Well, thats enough waffle from me for today so, as per I will bid you all ADIEU
F

And John 🙂
Yup he knows who he is.
So, one or reading today will know that I was on the East wall yesterday with a m8. Colin rang me from London to get an update on the walls as he hadnt been down for a year or more(health & fam) and more to the point he was wanting to fish end of this week. I advised that Wed/Thurs would be a bit of a bust on how he fishes but he was that keen he opted to “do” Thurs afternoon. Thus I ended up on the EAST in a somewhat over forecast breezy- wind blown east wall, the west needless to say for the 2nd day was deserted as conditions on that side were crap and very splashy.
We arrived about 1pm with a high @ 5.09 pm with plans to fish 13/14 knowing the front would be quite choppy. needless to say the 1st 20 bays were quite busy but we slipped in on bay 7 &8 hoping for bream over the high.

Short story, I blanked again but did manage a few more bites than my previous visit, Colin had a couple of colourful Pout. Yup colourful, the skins shimmered in the light much in the way petrol can do chucking up a load of colours.
The longer version as well as the above was Ive been sussed out! 20 mins after arriving Glen wandered down (fishing with his dad) & always good to meet ppl on the wall, familiar faces make the walls as welcoming as they are.
Ironic then that his 1st words were “are you fishing today ” he followed up b4 I could answer with “or are you gonna spend the day yapping again”
yup Ive been sussed, having spent so little time on the walls over the last 3-4 years and far less time even fishing I find myself bumping into old faces & chin wagging with them chewing the fat so to speak and catching up that I spend more time wandering up and down the wall chatting with the many that I know I end up missing bites, not paying attention to rods out and end up posting reports like this one saying how I blanked. I may be a poor angler but boy it seems I can yap at international levels for England :).

As always Glen & Roy was good chatting with you and also getting an indication of things being caught by people actually fishing (unlike myself). Gossiped with a 30 year+ regular in Karim who many will recall used to camp on bays 57-60 many weekends frustrating tons of people who was fishing on bay 1 and doing ok fish wise, more of which I shall round up below. A couple of familiar faces also said hi & gave me their names but, as some may know, I’m crap with names and I guess should start carrying a note pad because I cant recal names for shit !
Also John, a marina resident and angler stopped and had a few words, and as I know he will be reading this I do have good news in that the dude we spoke about is alive and well and successfully has been treated.
So a catch report or round up other than my blanking skills. With quite strongish westerly breezes the fishing on the west was all but non existent for much of the time so no obvious feedback. The east early bays have been doing well for the bass hunters, Karim had a couple of nice keepers yesterday and a starey smoothound pup of about 5lb. Most of the week has produced small hounds all along the front sections of the east and there are plenty of spidercrabs close in to the wall to collect for bait. The bass & hounds are loving them. There have been a few bream but with the wind up the water even on the east has been quite cloudy.
Granted the “fish” round up seems short today add this to the prior posts to get a general idea of how things are going on the walls.

we now have a few days of decent settled weather ahead but be advised , looking ahead XCWEATHER is showing another wind blow westerly roughly WED-Fri and may even cause issues Sat, defo on the west and may cause the west to be closed to night fishing wed,thurs even maybe Fri night next week. Needless to say we will keep an eye on it but, please check into the home page b4 traveling 50+ miles only to find a wall closed.
welll I think thats it from me today so I will bid you all as usual ADIEU
F

In the words of the old song the fishing actually is now actually “getting better every day”. Granted on the really hot days I would avoid the mid afternoon to fish, bright sun & full heat of the day has been killing it somewhat but the morning tides and overnight are defo on the improve.
Now granted that all sounds like either waffling bullshine or a case of OH MY Fkn GAWD get the rods out!, well look again.
Recently with the rot it has been dire, yep the rot has gone and the weather has been glorious for the last few days of which now defo shows signs that summer is almost here and the fishing is picking up. Not yet at the levels we would expect for this time of year but we are close.
A bit of a bump today & maybe tomorrow as there is a wind pick up on the westerly that will likely as not cause it to chop up and get splashy on the west both days but there are no plans to close .
I swear now my brain can hear echoes of someone out there now screaming tell us about the bloody fishing and stuff the winds soooooo, here we go, shall I start with the M word or the B word ?

Someone said wtf is the B word 🙂
If anyone here has come across the LISA group (look on the website) you will know there has been a long running pun about BREAM that started with the kick off over Eastbourne way when the Angling Trust got involved with the conservation side of the Kingmere restrictions re bream takes, long story but in short it became a case on the LISA’;s fish forum of comments like dont mention the bloody bream(again) thus it became the B word! (see I can waffle better than most 🙂 )
Anyhoo,
The last couple of days both walls have seen a pick up of bream in the usual places (take a look at the 2 wall guides) even wrasse have made a show up and one very decent one had high on the east mid week. Bass reports are defo up as are some of the sizes, both walls and also at night. A Cuttle was posted to the marina group for the 1st time in ages yesterday by Masaru (welcome back Masaru) and the quality of plaice over the last 10 days also seem to be improving especially over on the east wall.
shall I now mention the “M” word ? I know some out there get twitchy at the mere mention of the word, welll, yes the last couple of nights have reported increasing numbers of HORSE Mackerel (scad), awwwww was it not what you hoped ? lmao, ya know it. so yep night fishing is finally taking off and the species count is on the climb.
There have been quite a few hound pups caught this week & i believe the best pushed 11lb, not great by hound standards but very up on what we have seen on the walls for a few years. There has even been a v large “Sunfish” spotted a couple of times off the west wall, estimated by one warden as pushing 60LB , now that must be something to see in UK waters and peed I missed it, hopefully it will return. Talking of unusual things in the water the next couple are more a case of the unwanted ! First there is a seal that has cottoned onto the fact that boats are dropping cleaned fish guts and debris close to or around the marina so dont be surprised to see it chasing the nearby fish away from you !, also dolphin activity seems to have again jumped, yep, there is a reason of which I will get to, promise !
Also currently working in the entrance is the dredger, now many think dredger, entrance , fk that not worth going high east or ext west, the dredger feks the fishing ! well, no, not always, from time to time it can and will disturb sand eel nests causing a right old stir in the water if the bass clock em especially on low tides. Ive see loads of decent bass on the higher parts of both walls when this happen, it is a case of being there right time as it happens though.

what else have we had this week (I can hear you screaming again about the M word back there !) until Wednesday there have/had been some decent sole on the east, either b4 the bend or high up on the east as well there have been congers on both walls, one or 2 of them decent lumps and for some reason the early part of the week saw quite a lot of silver eels and I will add here that please, if you catch a silver eel, please return them, they are endangered and a protection order exists on them. If you see one caught and unwilling to chat with the catcher , please let a warden know so they can deal with it.
I will add a few words here regarding wall issues. Im fully aware people can do wrong on the wall and no one is fully comfy approaching others to put a situation right so please, if you have an issue and dont wish to approach , please let a warden know in some manner, there are tons out their with contact numbers for at least one warden so message them to sort the issue, many likewise have my contact on Fbook so drop me a message and I will get assistance your way quickly.

No real signs of garfish as yet but often they run in with the mackerel shoals so they wont be far off As I also posted during the week there have been quite a few varieties of rays being caught mainly on the east. all Ive seen sofar have been undersized so unless you know the required sizes and rules, please, return them as they will easily grow over 18lb or more.

OOOIIIII someone is shouting at the back, what about the M word and whats with the flippin dolphin increase ! well put em together. There are/is an increase in mackerel catches off shore for the boats. 1-2 mile out there are mackies being taken by the boats and being put to very good use with the bass seemingly on a mass feed binge at the moment and to some degree that is also happening inshore. There have been a few mackies caught each day for the last 4-5 day, they can be hard work with feathers and are also taking baits. These mackies are ranging in sizes so likely last years crop returning ahead of the main migration packs/shoals and are a great size for the smokers and I would say likely the best bait for bass at the moment. No Im not having a pop at the lure anglers, trust me they are doing very well thankyou as the current crop of pics splashed all over facebook. For what ever reason the bass activity has very much ramped up.
With regard to bigger mackerel catches I still suspect the decent shoal activity wont start until we are into July with 2 larger tides the likely suspects to see them fully arrive (only my speculation) and my guesses would be the 1st full weekend in July 6th/7th or them most likely ive been saying assat sun/27/28th BUT, yep always a but eh! dont be put off by my waffle, Im often wrong and im predicting something that hides underwater so wtf do i know, they may show up Monday morning in their millions when there are only 3 people fishing having been put off by my doom & gloom.

Truth is you really just gotta go do it. Please dont follow fish catch reports and then go to that venue.
Pick a place you want/like to fish and just go do it, what if you dont catch ? is it really a biggie? you are out, you are fishing and probably also socialising. I bang on about talking to the dudes in the next bay to you so often you may get sick of it but im right. I hear all the time but m8 they dont listen, or they are rude or I dont want to get involved. Well fook, all them crossed line issues and squabbles on the walls can easily be sorted and avoided soooo easily. When you get out on the wall and set up say hi to the guys next to u(or when they get there) who cares if their skin is green or they have yellow eyes or a pink tutu on! they are there to fish, they are there like you are, so say hi, break the ice and have a few words. Later on when that tide is running hard and they are now your new acquaintances them crossed lines are less of an issue and if you are a regular you may be able to advise casting directions to counter the tide runs instead of that last time everyone got into a shouting contest cos some cnut next to you cant fkn cast straight. If you know the east wall you know that tide runs hard, they prob have no idea, help em out with a hello and a few tips now & then, yu will feel good helping someone and they will think, oh its not bad here, ppl help you to improve . Improved anglers along side you are a bloody bonus on a fast tide i promise you
Talk to em, chat to your neighbour, say hi, few say fk off, remember, you are all anglers, different skill levels and expectations but, you all want fish so talk, its true, “its good to talk”

Issues ? any ? well I guess some would say crabs and complain about them spiders but to be honest, I dont think the numbers are so bad this year , either that or they simply havnt truly started to get jiggy around the marina. I hear some mutterings about lost lines but I suspect some of that is poor line/poor knots & snags more than the blamed crab activity. Ive fished a couple of times in the last month and not really noticed any crab issues and on my occasional visits to the walls I cant say Ive heard much so maybe a good thing at this moment in time, hopefully not a bad thing for the spider population as they do make superb bait when softback.

So, overall things are on the rise and facebook’s fishing pages are full of comments like “oh it looks fishy/like bass” and its true, it does look fishy. The water colour is much better even on the days that are a bit blowy. Sometime you just have to ignore reports and get out there and get some of that chill time and relax, for me and many it truly is now the pleasure of being out with a couple of rods out in front f you and staring into space and letting the world drift by as you switch off to the stresses of “normal” life’s shit. 🙂 My last trip I blanked, no biggie, it happens, for me its about getting out there. the fish are a bonus, so go on ppl, take the plunge, stuff the reports and go where you fancy & not maybe where you have seen all the reports. Make it your thing and take back YOUR fishing & not the reports choice.
Thats me done for today, until next time folks, I bid you all ADIEU
f

Gotta love it when you get it wrong !, well not you ME!!!!!
There was me typing out a waffle blog too fill some lines saying how I thought that the mackerel wouldnt show in numbers on the marina & what happens ? YUP! a decent sized shoal of em off the east wall yesterday with those there getting their fill. !
No idea if it was a one off, Its low tide as I type so I wonder what the high will bring today, Oh the irony of a shoal to say im an arse 🙂 🙂

so catch report for yesterday , a handful of ppl on the east bagged up with mackerel & everyone else missed em !, bass, bass, & bass were caught with a few strap eels, (silver and conger) no giants yesterday, a few plaice with a decent wrasse posted to the marina group. Sun Mon not too many fishing over night but there was a post Mon am showing a decent bucket of horse mackerel so Mon saw Horse early hours and mackerel over the high during the day.
Will it happen again ? hmmmm dunno but they were a welcome sight after that may rot.
Finally robin H also posted this morning with a nice vid clip of a dolphin tagging allong with his boat ! ooer , they eat loads !
Thats it for today folks , & thats me over n out bidding you all ADIEU
F

Well dang it, as it says I seem to have done it again and got lazy with the blog page, my apologies to all and also to “Dezzyeleven” who emailed me about when the west was open at night, I have been a bit remiss again (or forgetful) and left the blog posts a bit overlong so I will deal with my email to “dezzy” in that I will post here a reminder about opening/closings when the weather is poor.

Obviously Mark and the wardens by choice will keep the wall open as much as possible, if they dont simply put, you people cant fish and no money is made as the wardens cant work. As a result usually Mark or a duty warden will contact me with updates on weather situations usually the day b4 things crap up but sometimes the forecast is so balanced its hard to call and its left to the duty warden on the wall if they need to shut one or both down. Clearly they would prefer to be open, but, we are dealing with UK weather and not all the forecasts are accurate so they take the chance and run with “stay open” for as long as sensible. Night predictions tend to be a bit harder as once dark its is much harder to judge wave and wind and if its say a FRI night the wall can fill quite fast after 7pm so should things crap up it would take longer for ppl to pack & clear the wall so the warden has to be over careful. Lets face it Anglers can be a tough breed and want to fish in all conditions but the wardens are restricted to venue/people safety, insurance conditions etc so do need to err on the side of caution.

So after all that guff, how does that effect the casual angler that wants to pop down on the off from London or elsewhere,
well 1st is it worth traveling 40+ miles? 1st check the local forecast, if its showing 19mph+ for the Sussex coast from the south or southwest there a decent chance that the west wall may close, with the east you can add winds from the south east.
If that is the case check the website home page or if you have access to it the facebook page for the marina fishing.
I update the website , especially the homepage, either under the weather alert heading at the top or a bit further down the boxes showing if the walls are open….or not. I update as often as I get any news or changes such as weather updates. I will if obvious post a warning of obvious issues ahead but I can only post what I know , or am told so please, keep a general Idea or eye on local weather for BTN and check for updates on the home page. I do occasionally put a mention up on the blog but you will always find a weather alert on the home page. THIS WEEK the WEST will be open at night ALL WEEK as things stand.

So whats happened on the marina this last 10 days or so ?
Well the rot finally looks like its burgered off, hopefully the weather stays decent and keeps warming up so we dont have a slide back to rot reforming.

The dredger is now active within the marina and for those in the know and like a go at bass, when the dredger is working in the entrance it has a way of stirring up loads of sand eels that the bass are rather partial for and will chase them from the harbour entrance either left to the east or right to the west, especially on them low tides. High EAST or extension west is then the place to be !. So bass are doing well, (low tides in particular) plaice as slowly starting to pick up, bream have been quite tough going this week and reports of hounds up to 7-9lb are on the increase as are undulate & thornback rays. There have been a few sole on the east below the bend although I had a fruitless day on east 15 yesterday, tbh I should have known better and followed my gut feeling and fishing up about bay 25ish but hey, fishing isnt always catching and I defo didnt yesterday!. the lasst 3-4 days have been very slugghish on both walls although there are decent species numbers etc the catch rate is a little poor. Yesterday I saw a mackerel caught on east 10 a few silver eels(protected and should be returned) and was told of some rays & plaice as well as the usual bass takes but all in all it was tough going and congers sort of dominated the chatter this week more than ,most and the water didnt really clear until almost on top of the high tide.

Water quality is rapidly improving in spite of my comments, now the rot is gone/done after the last blow it does look like we are about to see some very clear water conditions so I expect the fishing to pick up accordingly (famous last words eh). The boat fishing from what I have been seeing has been excellent, deep water is see producing congers and some v nice pollack and Brigand had a cracking tub gurnard of 7lb+ this week. The bream fishing from the boats has also been decent, mackerel “out there” has been slow so I dont really expect BTN to get inshore (on the walls) shoals of mackerel until late July or even the 1st week of August but I have been wrong in the past and it may happen sooner on the higher tides set around the w/end of 6/7th July but I suspect end of july as the water around the marina is generally shallower than the likes of Portsmouth or Dover/Folkstone areas who near always see them in numbers a couple of weeks b4 Brighton does. Yes ppl catch mackerel here & there, thats not unusual but the numbers that attract the feathering hoards are IMO still a few weeks away.

I could explain my reasoning but today I doubt ppl will want to read more of my waffling today so I will leve you with this little gem, The weather for the coming week (when no rain) looks flipping wonderful with plenty of sunshine days so plenty of time to get out there and enjoy the June sunshine and have a dabble. Aaaannnnd with that I will bid you all ADIEU until next time.
regards
F

Morning world(just as I type this essay :)) and good morning JOHN, was a pleasure to chat with you again yesterday one one of my seemingly rare visits to fish the EAST, it was also good to see you still on your bike and looking well :).

On the weather front things have taken quite a dip and the WEST will be closed tonight and quite likely all day FRI and SATURDAY, SUN may open but it too early to call. The west will also be closed MON TUES NIGHT next week. Further updates will be posted as usual to the home page so please keep an eye on possible updates as things are quite variable at the moment.

As posted I did actually go fishing yesterday with (jnr) my youngest lad Michael, we had planned to fish just b4 the bend on the east with the intent of targeting some sole around bay 14-6 but there were 2 with multiple rods spread across 3 bays and tbh couldn’t be arsed to ask them to free some space so had a rethink and moseyed up t bays 55/56.
Reports along the wall were grim and Mark confirmed things were very poor on both walls especially as there were plenty of rods in the water & v few feathering.
Was nice to catch up with a few familiar faces as I went up the wall and more than one group offered some beer and food (thankyou all 🙂 while confirming there had been few catches, A MACKEREL did seem to be a highlight!. As we reached 56 one regular was just pulling in a Wrasse and he & mate again stated things were super slow.
Water conditions are atm very deceptive, may rot can clearly be seen burning off on the surface in chunky brown foamy blobs with the water in general having a decent visibility for 1-2 meters down, problem with that though is that there is then a thick layer of may rot mid water depth hampering much of the fishing. My son & I manged 3 small plaice in 4+ hours & while we didn’t have fresh worm we had plenty of frozen black, (old and newish) squid, (small and large sized) and some quick vac frozen mackerel. We just about chucked out every combo and distance with 2 & 3 hook flappers, 1 up 1downs, even threw a couple of wishbone rigs at it with my final rig being a large spoon & chunk of mackerel on a 6/0 hook ! Even the lures never got a sniff & it wasnt for want of trying I can tell you. We left the east about 6.30 pm with most ppl already gone but the return walk & chat only revealed a couple of decent bream down on bay 9
In all honesty the last 7-12 days have been a similar story, yes there have been bass often on the low tides but it seems that it is the smaller plaice that has had ppl ticking over for catches although the occasional mackerel does get caught as happened mid week on the west. Overall the last 10 -20 days have been a struggle in the may rot conditions.

I did hear that Shoreham is now picking up re catches and I would say much is down to the river outflow there raising the overall temps of the water to assist disperse the algae bloom. There is something about the marina and surrounding currents that seem to encourage the bloom(algae) to linger almost like it was sticking or hanging onto the east for grim life. Many wise heads are saying its dying and yes it is so some degree but I still maintain my belief that we need a decent 10 days of good sunshine to burn it out. The winds/blows that stir things up have so far done little to disperse it and the northerlies just push it out into cooler water where it again slowly regathers and drifts towards the warmer coastal beaches. As I say, wise heads are saying another week, last week I thought hmmm no, 2-3 weeks of algae on the marina still to come and I sill think we have a probable wait until June’s end b4 we see the back of it locally, Shoreham I suspect is free of it as will Newhaven be clear.

I hate delivering poor news and often its been said how the wardens add reports on facebook to attract the masses but that has never been my way. Yes I will dress up some reports with vague comments so readers look between the lines as they say for the hidden truths & meanings but in general I dont tart up catches to attract customers to the wall, ive no need to and I certainly don’t gain from it. lets face it , if the wardens attracted the masses on their reports all they are doing is making more work for themselves !
My way has always been tell it like it is and if the news is poor try & find something to make some of the news a little more hopeful so with that I will say,
Things are looking up, the weather patterns atm are not helping but overall water temps are rising and the may rot will run its course, as I say posible until JUNE ends BUT, for species counters things have improved. Bass, Conger & plaice seem to be the main stays but bream are becoming regular catches if you know the right bays (look at my 2 wall guides, its still relevant) There have been regular reports of wrasse this year of which they have been missing for a couple of years. Guiltheads are being caught more often than in previous years although the squid have refused to play on the usual spring runs the Autumn runs have been decent over the last 3 years so hopefully we can get a comp sorted for that.
we are getting regular day catches of rays & smooth hounds, one went 5lb on the west yesterday & I hope to upload a pic to the gallery in a day or 2 (stuff to sort), one or 2 gurnards reported over the sands on the east and again on the east dover sole during the day (try just b4 the bend or 74)For the jiggers there are cuttle fish out there & worth a go in the clearer patches of water. Yes there are still dogfish about but I think they are following the hounds. There are a few flounder & dabs out there amongst the plaice and I know of at least 2 topknots already caught this year so its not all about when them pesky mackerel arrive, there are other things to do than spend all day wearing an arm out feathering for something that wont truly arrive on the marina (IMO) until early/mid August, horse mac will prob arrive by the end of this month but , BTN is too shallow for the early shoals & places like Portsmouth, Dover & Folkstone will see shoals b4 BTN does, as I say that’s only my opinion on what I see BUT, dont take what I say as gospel. I try to notice patterns but miss much, the likes of Robin Howard are out there almost daily taking in conditions, patterns and fish habit and can be a great source of info if you can get the dude to speak fish(sometimes a trip with him is worth more than gold) and I thoroughly recommend splashing out on a trip with rob and no I’m not on commission merely saying what many locals already know, he knows his shit 🙂
Overall while the catching has been poor the signs are there of a good and extended summer into September so I will say, its not always about the reports ppl post up, sometimes ya just gotta go and do it what ever the reports are saying. Right time right place come to mind & the various reports are merely guides and one persons opinion. They may give you an idea of what to expect but until you get out there & have a go yourself you wont catch anything, besides, the best thing about fishing for me is the chance to turn the brain off and chill, either with company or as many know often on my own and switching off the noises of the world going by.
Give it a try, get out and turn the world off, you can tank me later 🙂

Until next time folks, as always I bid you ADIEU
F

So Saturday so far at time of typing no reports coming my way but then with the thick sub surface may rot things have been quite sluggish and the best of the fishing i’m told has been in the run up to the high tide. There have been a reasonable amount of species with the obvious of plaice and Bass, Bream and the occasional conger and some mixed rays but most have been patchy and hard work.
Weather wise it stired up quite a bit last night and it looks like another stir up coming thurs night into Friday so hopefully things will get going on breaking up that May rot that does seem to have a way of sticking around the walls of the marina.
All in all very little to add this morning so I will bid you all ADIEU until the next post
F