Jeez where did the summer go ?
Did it ever start / seems not !
Anyhooo, reports last night were good from the west, plaice Bass, loads of squid, Mac on 1st and last light unsure if the high tide played as well but at the right times there were expected fish with bream catches finally in the “good numbers” range and a steady tick over on bass. I wonder if anyone has tried live baiting a squid yet ?

plaice also recorded yesterday on the west wall and last night a decent codling of about 6lb for one angler, not bad for the west !.
East wall catches tick over although its in a funny mood regarding catches. Needless to say that some bays prove far better than others but I guess that’s part of the joy of fishing and figuring out which bays will be optimum on the day you visit.

Again “over there” , there have been bream catches , wrasse, bass, yes mackerel and some daylight squid. They are not exclusive to night fishing. Gar are now actually showing up in with the mackerel and sprats that seem to come in in swarms along some bays and nowhere near on others . As I said, its a little bit odd and not the usual expected patters on the EAST wall.

re the night fishing, as usual a reminder that anglers must use either proper blue lights or ensure that their white lights are filtered. There are lots of options on doing this from the basic blue marker on your lense cover. The wardens once i get down there will have a fresh supply of sticky back blue transparent filter that is easy to use. at the least, when you go shop in some of those smaller stores keep the blue carrier bags. The are great for covering the under water lights and easy to cut to shape to again fit over the lens covers.
Basically anything that will put a blue tint on the bright light.

Yes the message is finally getting out and I’m collecting a few pics over the next few weeks so that I can put up a post on the FB group showing the results . Anglers are getting the message and the difference is clear to see on the wall at night.

With the big burst in the fishing it goes without saying that the west wall at night is very busy, sometime the duty warden opens up the extension and other nights it has/can be booked for use at no extra cost. The decision on opening is at the discretion of the guy on duty.

Ok folks thats enough from me, tomorrow see’s the Ace cafe “mod” reunion on the seafront so expect central Brighton to be very busy.
Until next time I will again bid you all (4 of you) ADIEU
F

Well as I type its piddling down with rain, last time I saw it like that at this time of year the fishing went mental for mackerel and the irony was that only 3 people stayed to catch them so gotta chuckle as i sit here nice and comfy remembering the day.

Talking of fishing things are good out there atm, as said on previous post the water is now alive with whitebait & sprat baitfish which in turn has drawn in mackerel shoals that had sat offshore in deep waters ( i have a theory to that) with the mackerel have come horse mac(scad) bream catches on the wall seem to have exploded also. Add to this bounty there have been plenty of bass and sightings all along the South coast of tuna and huge bait balls that the gulls have been going mental over.

If all of the above wasnt enough there is squid in the water in their 100s maybe thousands. Yes they are being caught during the day but they are far easier with less work to catch at night with some anglers getting 40+ and stocking up on them as bait.

The west wall for obvious reasons has proven very popular at the moment and night fishing has been non stop and very busy. Get there early or plan on about midnight as some ppl filter away.
Regarding night fishing on the wall I will add my usual reminder that all powered lights /head lamps/torches/underwater lights even battery tip lights need to be either blue light or filtered in some way with options of blue markers, sticky back plastic (transparent type) or at most simple a blue carrier bag can be used (best use a double layer.
Why do we ask this? Because the power of todays lights are huge and a single beam into the cabin of an active boat can blind the pilot and even for a few seconds can result in lethal accidents. The marina is a working harbour with a fixed active lifeboat so please ensure you have the correct lighting needs. (filters will be available from duty wardens)

well thats it for today, until next time i bid you all ADIEU
F

Happy Sunday everyone, so a quick…ish round up from the weekend. Both walls are doing ok for mackerel with the best atm 1st and last light but.. that said its not the rule as they are in and out quite randomly during the day if its not too hot. Loads of baitfish & sprats in the water which of course is now drawing everything else in to feed in a bit of a frenzy at times. Plaice Bream and Wrasse being reported daytimes on the east as well as the above mentioned Mackerel.

Its worth noting here that as the light draws in through the evening that the EAST WALL will start to close earlier as the agreement is to close before the light goes fully. Current time is now 8pm daily.

On the west things are somewhat similar with mackerel 1st light , tons of bait fish in the water, plenty of squid on both walls and last night producing a very high number, great to eat fresh and also great bait in general and decent also for them cod that are now being caught from the shorelines (ok codling).

While on the topic of last night the west had one of its best nights for a long while with mackerel, horse mac for much of the night and then early light mack again. Bass, Bream Eels , yup with it being breezy the water has been somewhat coloured on the west(clearish on east !) so plenty for all, (sadly we do get the greedy feks that seem to think its ok to show up with 5 buckets each & expect to load up)

So on the fishing front every thing is rosey, or so it seems. One downer muddying the waters though and that is people fishing the extension last night seemed to think it was ok to fish inside when no one is looking!.

Please dont, the wardens have been instructed to crack down on this , its dangerous to boats, causes issues with headlamps pointed out over the entrance causing risks to boat owners leaving the marina. While some think its ok and “where is the harm” fishing inside will see anglers lose access to the extension or it will revert to “wardens and trusted ppl only” peeing off those unable to get on there but not only that, it risks the use of the west wall in general to anglers. So please if you see people fishing inside, have a quiet word if you wish but more importantly, let a warden know its a happening, if you can get a pic without a risk do so & send it too me, I can make use of them.

Well weatherman says it looks good for the following week so if ya can Id get out there while its playing good in the water !. Yesterday one boat owner over in shoreham reported they saw tuna jumping right alongside their boat! If ya fancy a go for one of these beasties give Brigand Brighton a ring, number is on the charter page, they have now clocked up a decent handfull of tuna catches with pics all over facebook and the local papers. Defo a time to be getting out there !
Well, thats it from me, so, until next time I bid you all ADIEU
F

A post to make you all smile. Contrary to the theory that the 1st decent amounts of mackerel arrive on a big tide, the fish, as usual have proven every theory wrong.

It began on Tuesday with Mark reporting mackerel and then posting a piccy or two so I waited for further reports to come in and they didnt on the day. Yesterday morning things kicked of early with a shoal of mackerel breaking the surface off both walls. as the day progressed so did the catches. As mentioned yesterday squid have firmly arrived, dont ask me the type as Ive no idea until someone points out the obvious to me but, they do look like the ones we usually get in April, surely they are not that late? pass !

Anyhooooooo squid are in
mackerel are in
bait fish of all sizes are in
Brigand Brighton has told everyone that TUNA are in and they are booking more trips, Yes this charter boat has a licence to chase Tuna and have logged their first already, if you fancy it, take a look on the charter boat page for the tel number and get booking.

Finally the sea has got its THANG on and has exploded with fish. Hows the weather you ask ? glorious, at least a weeks worth of decent weather ahead, mackerel on both walls today and yesterday soooooo

Ya know what to do, come on down

And with that, until next time Im orf and will bid you all ADIEU
F

Well the last 10 days have been somewhat disruptive with near Autumn-like weather so in truth little to report on other than confirming my suspicions about squid or cuttle in the water. NOW is defo the time to get them squid jigs out of cold storage and give it a go. Day or night they will be about for a couple of months hopefully and assuming the weather doesnt go tits up driving them into deep water.

mark reported yesterday that the mackerel “were in”, now not having seen much in the way of other reports Im gonna say there were quite a few caught but am still awaiting news from today. Granted ive not looked at facebook yet today as I type this out.
Are they in ? … … … probably.
Defo been a bit thin on the ground this year and 2-3 weeks later than I expected, oddly if they are in , they have arrived on smaller tides, most unusual. Bream, plaice & bass in the usual places and the weather man is indicating a decent week of calm ahead ! lummy has summer actually arrived or is it simply taking the pee and buggered off this year !, come on mother nature bring on the fish 🙂

Yep a bit short and sweet today but having gone to the footy game last night im bloody knackered and totally lacking in energy to do much of anything today.
So thats it & until next time I bid you all ADIEU
F

Now I know there are some other oldies reading the headline and thinking That rings a bell in the back of my head so, if ya haven’t got it yet, try this –>

“I like the way you talk”
“I like the way you walk”
Have ya got it yet ? need another hint ? ok –>
“Let me hold your hand”
“Try to understand”

By now it should be stuck in your head like an old fashioned ear worm !
So the weather man says

“Let the 4 winds blow”
“let em blow let em blow”
“from the east to the west”
“I love you the best”

One of my fav Fats Domino tracks seem very apt as a warning or at least alert to what is expected to be a fairly blowy week that impacts the marina wall very much this week.

But

before all of that a swift round up of what I saw & heard this week down the road from my house 🙂
Not the best of weeks but by far not the worst so far for what really has been quite a miserable 1st half of the year for sea anglers in Sussex this year. Very much missing this year on the marina for the 2nd year was the early squid run and the 10 day 2 week normal spring run of mackerel that I usually say come up from the bay of biscay region, granted im not 100% sure of that but im fairly confident is such the case. I also suspect that spring run is linked in some way to the early squid ( more of that in a bit).

Sussex fishing not only has been disrupted by constant Autumn like blows, lower sea temps than normal (odd in times of global warming) the very much lack of whitebait and fish fry against the walls (I blame the constant cycle of blows) all have combined to crate a situation that has made this years fishing from the shore very poor. In contrast the charter boats have been reporting decent trips when they have been able to get out, the real issue for them is the weather and being able to get out there and att’em!

So a little less of the misery about conditions being poo what hasn’t been so poo?
well……. on the days we have avoided high winds and actually got open the night anglers have cheered up to the arrival of horse mackerel and the beginning of the week saw a few early morning mackerel, not many but a few on both walls.
Now while there hasnt been much whitebait (I did mention seeing some on higher bays) It has slowly been increasing, possibly (or coincidence) tying in with the reduction of spider crabs swamping both walls determined to cut as many lines as they could. Yes there are still quite a lot on lower EAST bays but the WEST is almost clear of the blighters.

As a result of changes below the surface, we have had 2-3 dolphin visits swimming the lengths of both walls, lovely to watch but a pain for trying to catch fish! the good news is that mackerel have been around nearly every morning but in small numbers , few ppl have managed more than a handful. By Thurs wardens were tempted to say that mackerel have been/are there every morning, the truth is sort of so but mainly the high tides out of the sunshine heated hotter periods of the day.

Bass are still there for those that have the know how but the seemingly drunken like state of Bass feeding on the soft crabs has eased back and they are becoming again the elusive fish they are known as. Plaice and other flatties are still a bit few and far but in the more stirred up water sole have done well not only on the east bend but also high on the east and west for a change.

There have been confirmed gurnard catches this week but I lack pictures and bream takes have definitely improved when conditions have allowed but this week thinks have been quite choppy and the water stirred up with erratic wind levels especially the early evenings recording a bit higher than forecasted wind rates.
On to the weekend & Fri proved that there was a steady tick of morning mackerel but little to show any shoaling signs and as the morning drifted to evening things were slow for the few fishing.
Perhaps the lack of anglers is why there are so few catch reports but looking around FB groups it does seem true that things are slower and harder this year, be it conditions, less fish inshore or something Ive yet to figure out I don’t know but it has deffo been harder on the walls this year than and I can recall in the last 25+ that I have been regularly on the marina.

So ffs have I got anything decent to say I hear. Well yea sort of, that past weekend at night has picked up, while not tons of ppl fishing, night catches over the weekend ticked of decent numbers of horse mac, a plus for some of the regulars, also the return of thornbacks being caught, (I never thought I’d miss that !) bass & even some plaice on the west, yup not just on the low bays. now dont assume there are loads, but there was enough to say things are less lean for plaice than this year had so far been. and yes there have been mackerel in the early light of the day.
Sunday I took the quad down onto the east, and west for a nose and chat with the wardens and anyone else willing to chat with me and managed to catch up with a couple of familiar faces on the west wall although I didnt really recognise anyone fishing on the east.
That said If he reads this,(not sure he does) one regular will be thinking , ahem, you saw me! and yes I did meet one but he wasnt fishing he was unloading his car to head onto the wall. Now, you may wonder why I have singled out this moment, well it is simple and comes with a warning/heads up to all anglers using the east wall and the car parks that end.

Officially there is NO PARKING (without permits) in any of the east car park areas for anglers.
you may get a green ticket at the road barriers to drive down and unload/load up, you have an hour on getting said green ticket BUT
IF YOU PARK down there you are highly likely to get a parking ticket in the post 2 weeks later.
The marina is patrolled by a separate company, marina security will walk past you & not say a word, BUT, please take notice, don’t risk a ticket, the dudes that patrol are over keen to give out tickets.
Parking can be done down there but, do it the wrong way and they will chase you for fines! Any blue badge holders that find distances an issue , please message me in some way as I can often find a workable solution for you.

Right, back to my visit on the new quad :), as I posted to the FB group yesterday I got down on the west about 3.30pm and the wind was 5 building slowly to 10mph or so over the expected forecasts and almost as I arrived so did a small shoal of mackies being worked furiously by gulls tantalisingly close for all to see but then were just out of casting range and for a moment was tempted to drop down to the lower level & see if I could borrow a rod for a fling or two at them 🙂 Anyhoo as the wind rose the mackies did oblige and came a little closer allowing most there (maybe 20 ppl) to get some casting practice and claim a few each for a while. The down side was that the wind had crept off the SSE and started to veer to the westerly causing some cracking water spouts as the tide dropped.
Sensibly those that didn’t pack up & run for the hills moved lower on the wall below the bend to reduce the chances of a good soaking and maybe a few more mackies but they were proving as challenging as the conditions. They did eventually settle early evening & I lack any night report for Sunday.
Over on the east things were half n half, the lower 15-20 calm as you like but the front end started to get a thumping pushing anglers onto the lower bays. Thing over there were slow that day but there were bass & crabs on the low bays and a few bream were had as were on the west but overal slow.

Tellingly some people reported “odd pulling bites” that produced nothing. After a quick check ppl confirmed the “bites” were more a pull back, down and away & then ping , it was gone which to me strongly hinted squid, I knew of 3 confirmed catches on the WEST (1 at night) & 2 of them were unintended hook ups. Now at least 5 people on the lower east were telling a similar story so, if the weather allows I’d be looking at breaking out a squid jig or two !

And so I come back to the title of todays loooonnnngggg sermon:) It seems were are about to be visited by the tail end of some hurricane meaning that today (mon) the walls are open and the west will be open tonight, beyound the morning the WEST will then be closed (see home page) and is expected (all being well) to re open SAT morning after an inspection some time about 6am.

Likewise over on the EAST WALL it is open today and closed TUES, beyond that I will post info as I get it. WED is too early to call right now (mid day mon) and a decision will be posted re will the east open WED. likewise Thurs & Fri look like a full close with SAT being the morning of check for damage and hopefully opened up.

SO, the WEST WALL will shut 1/Tues, 2/WED, 3/Thurs,4/Fri and open sat, hence the 4 winds 🙂
I hope you all have a great week and until the next yarn I spin I will bid you all ADIEU and shout out BHAFC are TOP OF THE LEAGUE 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
TTFN
F

So, while I have been a bit remiss in posting it seems things have picked up, well a bit anyway. While I was at Brighton’s last friendly before the footy season kicks off it seems that a few mackerel were had on the morning tide, nothing special some would say but most of Sussex and huge chunks of the South coast has been ,shall we say lacking in much of anything.
There has clearly been a lack of bait fish along the wall to attract much of anything other than some pout & bream here & there although the bream on the quiet have been on the increase.
Local reports over at Shoreham indicated an upturn in catches though and my last trip on the west was a fair improve on all but one of my 4 previous attempts at catching ! As I remarked on my last visit to the east wall, I had noticed the presence of some baitfish down the side, granted just on the high bays but enough IMO too think we were not far from an upswing.

Well it seems that now we are seeing at least some mackerel every morning and the last 3-4 nights have had horse mackerel in varying numbers. This mornings “mackerel run” was a bit larger than the weekend with most catching at least a few this morning in the rain. Now before anyone starts promising 20-30 fish to each of their neighbours , cousins and grannie Mathews up the road who has a cat that eats 10 fish a day be warned, atm they are a bit intermittent and very erratic, I would say they are here with caution and wouldnt yet say “they are in”. Some reports will get exaggerated some will be accurate so if you ring someone up on the marina and they say to you “yea mate they defo in” please dont get to grabbing 4 rods, 10 buckets, and 50 sets of feathers. Ive not seen nor hear of any big shoals yet, not even are the boats in deeper water are seeing shoal yet, so be prepared for days when they may not show. Also please keep an eye on weather forecasts for the marina, which leads me onto a word re the weather & you guys traveling.

So so often on the marina wardens hear them fateful words, “I travelled 3 hours yesterday and you were not open” Please guys before you travel, take a look on the home page, there is usually at least an advanced warning and as soon as I get a close notice I will post it (unless its 2am and im in bed!). While it may be sunny or dead calm where you live it may not be the case where I live !.
There is a link to the weather on the marina home page, please check, it may save you a wasted journey.
Now while Im gabbing about the weather, as I posted earlier this week there are issues again of adverse weather and I can confirm that the WEST will be closed THURS 15th very much likely Thurs day from 11am or sooner and there will NOT be any night fishing on Thurs. The west should be back open Friday morning.

Other catches ? Sunday I met a friend fishing on the West, stupidly having been out most of the day b4(footy) I thought Id take my rods with me and have a dabble, Dumb error as I was very knackered from the day b4 and truly should of known better but thankfully no harm done. While there after the high tide there was a steady tick over of bream, even a few plaice coming out on the drop, no bass but a reliable source said there were some from the morning. No sign of gar but im told Shoreham west has had a few so definate signs of that upswing that had been hoped for, such a shame another mini blow pushes through tomorrow on the SWesterly winds.
Looks ahead (touch wood) we do have a clear spell of about a week or more(my magic seaweed only works a week in front) so I fully expect things to pick up rapidly. While the tides this weekend are quite small (10/11am highs) things do look very promising over the coming week.

With fairly unstable weather the water has been somewhat coloured but the east has still produced bass at either end, have hear mullet mentioned but suspect that to be old catches & not this week. Sole have done well in the coloured water and defo worth a go for on Fri/Sat and strangely for this time of year a decent sole was had on the west as well. Plaice do seem a bit scarce off the east at the moment but perhaps even they will get a boost from arriving bait fish. Gurnard also put in a visit although the 2-3 reported this week were quite small.
Finally of the fish front Id say its time to get them prawn nets and aerators out as them pesky spiders have all but finished their fun & games against the walls and the bass will be hunting an alternative.
Well thats enough from me for today so , until next time, I bid you all ADIEU
F

A delayed report and round up, did mean to post up over the weekend but then made plans to fish Monday on the west so thought, do it after, yup, distracted and a bit off colour meant its today that I got my arse in gear!
So whats going on over the last week since I mentioned seeing whitebait/fry down the side of the wall high on the east? (I think I mentioned it but too lazy to check my posts!)

TBH no big changes, plaice are thin on the ground on the east and very hard work on the west. While the crabs are thinning they are still a pest on the lower bays of the east but not so sure if so on the west.
Bream numbers I would say are definitely on the up & some over the weekend were decent sized for the walls. Yes bass are being caught, its almost like they are getting drunk on crab meat, perhaps the crab is fermenting inside them !
One or 2 reports of Goat fish aka red mullet and Ive seen a couple of small gurnards being caught on the front end of the east. Very little news about rays over the last 2 weeks but they have been fairly regular catches on the east. Pollack have been had on the west ext and scattered along the east but numbers are few, likewise there have been mullet catches but little further info as to the sizes of them as few ppl are chattering about them.
Wrasse continue to feature in catch info though numbers are more 1 here & there every other day or so. Finally on the round up a word for those looking for mackerel, Sussex has hardly seen any in shore but they are out there for the boats and TBH I had expected the numbers inshore over the weekend just gone but it seemed only a handful were caught over the weekend, why ? Im not so sure, it may be the average water temp being lower, it may be that the fish are late, or it maybe that the numbers simply are not making it onto the south coast. This is the 1st year that Ive noticed official reports tagging mackerel as “at risk”, I hope its not the case but there are some norther countries with huge quotas and adding that to the damage these super trawlers are doing to fish stocks in general I have a grim feeling that mackerel stocks are close to falling to a dangerous all time low. I hope Im wrong and the delay is merely seasonal changes and the Mackerel being “IN” is very due to happen.

Now, how did I get on fishing on Monday?, well for current trends on the wall Id say ok, for me fishing id say not so ok. I went on the Extension with JNR(Michael) about 11.30am HT was just after 1pm and stayed until about 4.30pm.
Nothing happened until about 12.30 when bites suddenly turned on and fish were stripping the black and sometimes squid of the hooks, not bad considering we didnt have any fresh bait and some of the black was so old it was turning into self oiled bait! Mackerel, crab went untouched and I even carved up a decent sized pout as fresh bait to gain nothing ! if there wasn’t any black on the hook it wasn’t touched. By high tide the bait was being hit as soon as it was in the water and I caught 3 pout one after the other quickly b4 my lad landed a bream. By 2pm the bites had slowed right down and we both were casting around to find any sign of a bite. By 2.30 it was dead & while we stuck at it until 4.30 there were no further catches. We ended on 7 pout of various sizes and 5 bream of which 2 were kept and no signs of them pesky crabs. didnt hear of any mackies caught on Monday but for a change I was away from ppl and could focus a bit more on what I was doing rather than chatting to all passing by me 🙂

Well thats it from me today, until next time I will bid you all ADIEU
F

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
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