I have checked with mark on current state of wall issues and repairs ect and can now give an update of sorts being as there are now a few enquiries and a decent spell of weather. so first up is the
WEST WALL (to remain closed)
As it says, the west wall will for now remain closed.
Some may already be aware already that the marina plan to continue with caisson filling to strengthen both walls. For the west this work is expected to start in March and obviously subject to weather conditions allowing the work to progress. During this work the wall will be classed as a building site and will be closed to all on both levels.
Due to the work starting so soon it is pointless jet washing, time to do it, staffing ect makes it somewhat pointless. Granted the algae this year is not such a serious problem but any moisture /frost/rain ect makes that algae like an ice rink.
The repair work is expected to last until the end of July but needless to say is subject to weather conditions being suitable to do the work which will require a dive boat stationed off the wall.
EAST WALL
currently closed, jet washing was planned to start a few weeks ago but the pipe work and water lines to be used have been condemned by Southern Water as a major Legionnaires disease risk. The current set up has been a spur line from the cafe water supply that ran 3/4 the length of the wall. Unfortunately this was a single one way line that left standing water in the water line and has been condemned as unsafe .
The result of this means that the marina has to put in suitable pipe work with a return flow so there is no standing water in the supply line. This is in hand and being worked on by the marina but it has meant that Mark has been unable to start any jet washing on the EAST WALL until the supply is resolved.

As well as the water supply issues there has been lots of concrete debris to remove from storm damaged areas of the EAST and I’m told that has now been completed.
POSTS & WIRES on the east are still being repaired and replaced as needed and is taking a bit longer than expected due to the high number of posts that need replacing and some smaller levels of damage to where the wires fix to the wall that have been damaged or smashed away. As a result extra wiring and red posts were needed above what is kept in the marina stores.

SO WHERE does that leave us with regards to opening the east to anglers…….

Mark is working on something and has a plan of action, if the weather holds he will be starting work on the EAST lower levels very soon. He is targeting March but obviously having the right equipment in place makes things progress quicker than has happened this year.
The work on the wires and posts should be soon finished and there are some minor hole repairs to sort on the upper walkways. While that continues Mark will deal with the excess algae issue and as mentioned he is hoping to have the EAST OPEN somewhen in MARCH.
Yes March is the aim, no we cant say when in March as we are still restricted in repair gear and water issues. so will it be early or late March ? hard to say but if the weather holds the plan is to have the wall open in MARCH (somewhen)

While the west is closed there will not be any night fishing as things stand. The east once open will open on a daylight only basis.
While we all realise people want to get onto the walls to fish for the early plaice the deciding factor is safety insurances, so, please be patient, we are very nearly there.
F

Is the 1st actual post with info for this year. being the case I should really start with happy new year and welcome back, not that there is much to come back too as yet.

So…, where do things stand this year. ?
mark is now back from his hollibobs and the 1st update of the year is as follows

EAST WALL , currently closed.
The is some work happening on the EAST in the way of smaller repairs such as re-wiring of th red posts and I hope also replacing of damaged and lost posts. Higher end there are some concrete repairs going on and although a new wall check by mark has not been done yet there is quite a lot of heavy damage that needs sorting on the bays just above bay 10.
Jet washing on the east.
It seems that there has developed an issue with the water supply on the east side of the marina. It may be a single inflow & involve any branch off said pipe it maybe more but don’t have details. The upshot is that there currently is no water supply to the taps we have access too so that the jet washing can begin. we are ready to start the jet washing on the east but atm lack water so a start has been delayed.

WEST WALL, fairly decent news in that the algae this year is not as heavy as in past years but it is known that there will be some major works carried out this year by marina developments. Mark as yet does not have any start date for thes works and once they begin there will be no access to the west for angler for the duration of the work.

For the above reason Jet washing has not begun and wont start until the development work dates are known. It is pointless Mark starting to knock his arse off jet washing if the west will get closed too all within a week or even a month. The extra work preparing the west VS the few that would get to use the wall before it is again closed is minimal and not financially viable.

Needless to say, as soon as Mark can provide me with the relevant info it will get posted here and onto facebook.

Im informed that Shop hrs are currently 7am to 12pm daily

Well here we are again although I will resist typing out the lyrics to the Queen song! Anyone would think that lack of posts means that its November and nothing going on out on the fishy front ! not quite so, more a gap in posts due to a few health issues and away from my keyboard for a few days. so, wtf is going on out there ?

Lets start with the obvious to a few of you but maybe not all.
Simply put , SQUID, squid , squid and more squid. It is quite extraordinary, high pressure, the gulf stream where is should be and unusually clear non autumn winds have created perfect conditions for the squid to come inshore as do what they do best but there is more.

I have been on or around the marina almost daily for 25 or so years and never ever seen the quite extraordinary numbers of squid in Sussex waters and especially around the marina region, boat crews , owners & users like shore anglers are all saying how they have never seen the likes, the sheer numbers are honestly stupendous.
Standard squid times for the marina tend to be 2 clear “runs”, the first in spring often arrive at the same time as a run of mackerel that I believe come up from the bay of biscay and if the weather hold will be around the marina for about 10 days usually mid April, Im guessing the squid follow them in on the food building energy so as to get giggy giggy with it, the squid run can be anytime in April feeding into May. The second run is usually in October and if the weather holds will feed into November, these squid are larger than the spring species (na cant recal the species names).
Its quite noticeable (normally) that the optimum time to catch the spring squid is during daylight and very few seem to be caught after dark. The revers is the norm for the autumn run in that the best time to catch is at night although they can be caught during the day.
This year ? well wow. numbers have exploded as the weeks ticked on and we have had squid since mid september this year, mostly at night but as the weeks ticked over the numbers not only slowly increase but the day catches also increased. As I type we now have had 2 weeks+ of huge catches. Some anglers have been catching 50-70, 50 is not atm an unusual number for the dedicated. Charter boat Likewise are seeing catches of stupendous numbers, one boat from the marina clocked up over 500 squid with the skipper moving on and actually stopping the squidding in favour of catching some fish. The catch numbers remained high over the weekend but, a word of warning, it looks like those “perfect storm” conditions are to change in a few days so if you havnt topped up on bait squid yet now is the time to get down age get in.

Now, at the beginning of this post I sorta hinted that there was more going on than squid ! well there is.

While there was a lull in the fishing post September I guess with water temps and weather patterns moving away from the summer cycles and bringing Autumnal conditions the fishing again like the squid has shown a little upturn, not to the levels & number of the squid but defo better than normal for November. October tends to see the changes of summer species moving out to deeper water, bream bass, wrasse & the like see an obvious slowdown as has been the case mostly but, the last couple of weeks have actually seen a bit of an upturn and a change from the standard whiting, codling if lucky dogfish and eels. Yea I said lucky !.

Now, where were these reports then you may be thinking? Well there were plenty of reports out there, just not here, time constraints, boring life stuff and occasional CBA days lead to the current gap of a couple of weeks no reports even though there has been quite a bit going on. Bass numbers may have thinned down as the better fish move off shore but is seems that some have chosen to have a late stay and there are still regular catches on the wall. yes the sizes have dropped but there are still 4-6lb fish being had on the walls and not only in darkness. This week alone on the walls there have been garfish, squid, bass, squid, red mullet, squid, gurnards, more squid, plaice, squid, 1 or 2 sole, squid, cuttle fish, did i mention squid ? herring (yes herring, no red ones though, some squid had also one of the charter boats even mention that there were still some mackerel out there.
Now that I mentioned charters I think I should add that they also are having a fantastic time out there, a few have added and adapted so that there are regular squidding trips to be had, turbot I believe are still on itinerates, pollack & cod are staples on wrecking trips. Rays are still being caught with the overall picture of November fishing being excellent.

Now if all of that lot wasnt enough you may think well , things couldnt be better ! , well yes they could and are. If you dont fancy a boat trip for fishing there is more than just sight seeing. local waters are being swamped with sealife at the moment, its quite extraordinary, we have seals getting in on the feed, dolphin pods are still here at least 2 months later than usual, Tuna shoals seem to be getting spotted all over the place and often from the beach !, not enough ? , Robin Howard got some pics of a minkie whale breaching barely a mile or so off shore. Thresher sharks and bull huss are this year common events, I think it is fair to say that Sussex waters at the moment are quite blessed.

Thus as I round todays post off you can see that the fishing for this year is not quite done but I suspect this “final surge” may not last much longer as next week there are some changes to the patterns we have recently enjoyed. If you have a day or 2 spare it may be worth getting the road trip plans in place quite sharpish.

And with that I am gonna sign off for today and wish you all happy hunting and bid you all ADIEU
F

quite simply put the sea is currently alive with squid. They are being caught during the day, easily at dusk and it seems much of the night. If you want anything other than squid or maybe bass of the west id say venture over the east wall as currently they are of plague proportions and I dont think anyone truly has seen the like in donkeys.

And with that I will bid you all a rapid ADIEU!
F

Surprisingly mild conditions have defo proved good for those wanting to catch squid, especially once the light has gone. General sizes are/have increased and while the weather holds its defo worth getting a go at them.
There are bass still around on both walls & still plaice to be found. Much of the summer species stock is now moving o as the temps drop and whiting is fast becoming the go to fish. There are still codling out there but like the pollack I gather they are starting to head out onto the wrecks now.

Reports are thin on the ground and angler numbers drop away all of which means I have little to post here re updates.
thus, until next time I bid you all ADIEU
F

A quick round up of sorts since the last one a few days ago.
Recent blows have left some damage on the lower bays that we hope gets dealt with next week so some bays on the lower section of the east remain closed Until sorted.
Over on the west night fishing is beginning to be stepped back as the autumn weather starts to take hold and numbers wanting to fish slow up. This week the west is open Sat & Sun and as far as Im aware will be the same next week but please keep an eye on the home page and there may be some late announced openings still if demand is there.

Catch wise things are starting to slow down as far as summer species are concerned although bream and wrasse can still be found and at this I cant resist saying they are in the “usual places” (take a look at the wall guides). bass are still to be had but I suspect not for long now as they are expected to start finding deeper waters for the winter (yes they often prove me wrong) I fully expect squid to be caught this weekend as we hit a patch of calmer weather for a few days and im aware that the lure boats have had some over the last couple of days they have been out.

Rays and conger are being caught along the local beaches as are sole and Dab although the dab are not that common on the walls they do happen ! Plaice are still about and it seems that the sizes are improving over those caught in the earlier part of the year.
Feed back from any night fishing atm is almost non existent so as far as the wall is concerned I have got nothing, zilch, nada, absolutely nowt to tell you how the west is doing at night BUT, based on the few reports Ive seen from the beaches west of the marina id say there was a chance of rays, eels, squid, sole even a mackerel or 2 to be had out there, & yes I have seen the catch reports.

Looking a few decent days ahead to get out on the water. The local charters are doing well and some are running specialised squid trips for anyone that fancies a bash, it should be decent also for those with access to a fishing kayak with calm clear forecasts for a week or more ahead.
Yes things are slower, that or its simply that the weather has put people off venturing out and posting up reports in the various FB groups.

Its Friday as I type and have already had a couple of invites out to “fish” that is already getting some serious thought but 1st a small matter of football and and a trip to the Amex tomorrow, (john, are you going ?) BHAFC Vs Wolves with a rare 3pm KO, Sun or Mon look possible to go have a dabble {if my body is in the mood} followed by WED evening BHAFC play Liverpool in the Carabao cup (should be fun) followed by an away game next weekend against Liverpool in the league ! fun fun fun eh

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

My usual platitudes for not posting any updates in 11 days ! shame on me, so whats been going on since then. Wellllllll it has been somewhat mixed. Autumn weather and night temps have arrived meaning random blows impacting water quality , temps, and days the walls have been open. Overall mark has tried to keep things open so sometimes things get closed at last notice so the most recent info is not already posted to the website or Facebook, it is the nature of the weather at the moment.
After the squid comp the Saturday fished quite well especially for squid although the signs are there that the squid catch rate is defo slowing down inshore, likewise the bass size quality seems to be reverting to schoolies although there have been locally some over 5lb it does seem that “just in size” is being muttered a fair bit. A few plaice were had but not aware of any bream, in fact this last week does seem that bream as well have tailed off and the switch from summer species to winter whiting is upon us.
Sunday saw the east wall closed as was the Sat/sun night on west and any hoped for opening Mon Tues also fell foul of the weather gods.

That brought us to the wed that saw the EAST open and west closed, conditions needless to say were not great and the water change to Autumn colours was obvious and was more of an eel day than anything. V few fishing but there was a decent bass posted up on marina group but was defo tough going for those that gave it a go.
Thurs to the Sun both were open but customer numbers were very low other than at night on the west where there were still loads going for squid with a reasonable level of success. Bream numbers had dropped to near nothing , a few scattered flatties, conger, schoolies,a couple of scad & the occasional whiting and squid mostly night caught although one or 2 were landed by those trying during daylight.

On too this week and Monday saw reports of squid from the night session and similar Tues night, a few morning mackerel and Gar fish had been reported in the 1st half of the week & squid on the west at night but numbers caught clearly dropping away. Ive no idea if there are horse mac about as it seems no one has been trying for them this week and the night fishing had been dominated by squid fishing. Bass were ticking over but again sizes were smaller than previous month. As I type this blog a nice Bass have been posted of 6.8lb caught by Lee Demario on the east wall. Piccy below.

Things have slowed down on the walls. Part from lack of reports but those reports have slowed up simply because few are posting catches and fewer are fishing the walls to post reports. Social media can be a great thing but can also be a curse. Anglers seem to be chasing catch reports and assume nothing is going on somewhere because there are few to no reports. It seems gone are the days when ppl just went fook it , im off fishing and instead decide a place is not worth going to simply as they have not seen catch reports.
I may get the wheels out and take a mooch down the marina, sun is out and looks quite mild out there, but, may is the dominant word having been out fishing yesterday evening. Something quite rare for me these day. Not only fishing pre sunset but I actually fished into the night on the west until 10.30ish with Colin. Only caught a a tiny pout but did enjoy being out and actually having the energy to fish at that time of day (quite rare)

Things were v slow last night, despite a large moon, huge tide of about 7.3+ at midnight and loads of rods on the lower bays of the west all targeting squid. It was quite odd to see for me as Im so used to daytime seeing everyone charging up the walls to get the higher “deeper water” bays and yet last night the “ignored low bays” during the day were packed with people squidding. Robins legacy of boosting squid fishing on the marina is now a firmly established thing

Apologies for the post delay, body and brain are sometimes not in harmony together 🙂
Regarding Friday evenings squid competition I believe most that attended not only enjoyed it but also feel it went well baring a few mins delay while I made sense of the final tallies. More on that shortly but I feel I should get the thanks out of the way first or they will likely be overlooked.

So, thanks to the following:-
Philip Metcalf, who runs the tacklebox and asked me if I could chuck this together
Robin Howard, his input into setting this up was extremely useful and he also provided a squid trip to add for the winner
Mark Robinson, who runs the walls and agreed for us to use the EAST wall in extended wall hours
Nick & Doris, who kept the cafe open for the duration we were there and even acted as guide for late arrivals
Roman Gancedo Rey who once again provided custom squid jigs as extra prizes
All of you who attended, without you there is no comp, yes we will be back next year

so, over to the

2024 all England Squid competition

Unfortunately the squid this year declined to play in the spring meaning for the 2nd year running saw no squid event. As a result the new owner of the tacklebox messaged me and asked if there was some sort of comp that could be set up on the wall with a nominal entry fee and the pot paid back 100% to the winners.
The obvious was to try and run the squid event in the autumn once that “squid run” was underway. A risky idea as is well know Autumn can bring erratic weather large water swells and strong winds impacting on the walls ability to be open and also reducing water conditions that would be unsuitable for squid.

I was advised that trying to sort dates for squid in Autumn may be harder than cat herding, I fully agreed with that advice but didn’t want a repeat of last year that a very established comp on the marina faded to nothing.
After messaging some of the known squid anglers for input and having some extensive chats with Robin Howard we came up with a date suitable for the event and suitable for the squid that had started to show quite early this year (imo) and tinkered with the format of squidding over a midday tide. The Autumn squid tend to be more active in the early evening into the night hours. Yes they were being caught during the day but the squid activity was higher at night.

The date was set SEPTEMBER 27th for a shorter comp from 6pm to 9pm a twilight into dark event.
Mark Robinson cleared things for us to Use the EAST wall with a later than agreed closing time, 30 bays were reserved for the comp with the proviso that any anglers still fishing the set bays had been warned that they would be asked to move off the set bays.

Phil Metcalf from the tacklebox said that all entry fees paid in would be paid out as shop vouchers 100% split into 2 main voucher prizes and Junior prize with 2 further prizes to go to runners ups.
Wall fee’s for 1 rod would apply specifically to the extended hours event and an entry fee of £5 for all.
Thus we had prizes in order of 1st to 4th with the proviso of 1 prize per person of :-
Longest total combined length of squid and the said squid trip from Robin Howard
single longest squid
2nd longest total length caught
2nd longest single squid
We also had a voucher for best junior.
Thus we were hopefully all set to go on the day with the only thing to do was chalk the bays the day before and keep our fingers crossed the weather would behave……

And here I should now mention that I cocked up ! having fixed the date a month or more in advance my wife picked her moment and reminded me that the 27th was the date I & her would be in Eastbourne to watch Showaddywady in concert ! OOPS, a rapid run around resulted in a warden or 2 being commandeered to do the sign in and over see things, great all sorted , cafe people informed of the comp a week ahead sit back relax & chill

The weather ? nope It decided not to play ball !
Typical autumn weather started to close in from the Monday and with everyone watching the weather things were touch and go with the hope of a crack in them conditions. Come the Wed it was obviously fooked so reluctantly call it off and being as there wasnt a planned back up date looked at that seemed it.

For me, I returned to Btn on the Saturday and thought what to do, I spoke to Phil and said ok, I could run it on the next Friday but the conditions wouldn’t be great even if the weather held and it would be a one shot or cancel again until next year.
The general opinion was do it, and thus word was again put out that Fri 4th would be it, a dropping tide in the dark for squid, for me It was a totally unknown as to what would happen, most squidding locally seems to be mid tide and I had almost zero feedback of squid attempts on low water but little option to go for it, or to cancel.

Thankfully the weather held enough to go ahead even though the water was still somewhat coloured. We had a mild evening and a slight northerly which was tbh the best we could hope for and so the day before I went down and chalked the peg beginning on bay 10 as the 1st peg and chalked of 30 bays in Brighton pink chalk. Had a chat with Nick & Doris who run the cafe on the east and they said that they would stay open on the night for the duration of the comp.

Friday sign in began at 4.30pm
and as I arrived there were already quite a few waiting and thus it was straight into getting squidders signed up so that they could go and find/set up on their randomly drawn pegs.
PHIL METCALF from the tacklebox had set the entry at a fiver and said that the top 2 plus (if any) the top junior would receive shop vouchers based on 100% of the entry fee, and there would be other prizes of a cool box for 3rd and 4th. ROMAN GANCEDO REY also arrived with some of his custom made squid jigs to give to the winners.(more on that when I have finished waffling the biggest report post ever 😉 )
The final prize was supplied by local fishing guide and skipper ROBIN HOWARD of a squid trip with him adding to the 1st overall prize.

As people signed in they were reminded/advised that for this comp all headlight were to be filtered or blue lights so as to filter out as much as possible the glare often given out on powerful 5000+ lumen lights that seem to be common place. As well as the blue light enforcement those taking part were reminded that there would be a ban on any other lights fixed to the wall or in the water but small hand torches would be ok if needed to see kit and gear as long as they were kept wall side.
Before the off at 6pm, I did a swift count of entries and with 2 dads and 3 juniors still on route and 1 other known late arrival we would have 38 entered, IMO not too shabby being as things had been called off completely the week prior, plus 38 was very close to numbers on the previous 2 comps that were run on a Sunday daytime in the spring.

Thus 6pm came and the comp began in dull daylight and within 5 mins of start the 1st squid was caught, please forgive me I cant recal for the life of me who landed the first but I did keep the list of who caught what and on which bay that I will list here in a while. Shortly after the 1st a 2nd was caught and things were looking quite decent considering things were almost thrown together last minute.
Come 6.30pm all entering had found me and got themselves in place and squidding. I will now mention that NICK & DORIS from the cafe had played a blinder, as well as agreeing to stay open, NICK acted as guide bringing up the late arrivals to me as we had draw pegs for them as requested, not only that NICK had made it clear that if people order he would deliver to the pegs that people were fishing, very unexpected and super helpful.
As the light dropped it became clear that the no extra lighting was working very well. Not only was it reducing the infamous light levels on the wall but the low light levels meant the general chatter noise was evidently lower that had been the almost “normal” people were very chatty during the comp but as the light dropped e headlamps got turned on the vocal levels clearly lowered. The Irony of the change to the lighting that night was that My mobile scooter front lights were the brightest light moving along the east wall and drew a few chuckles and comments about not having blue lights on my wheels !

Come 9pm I was on the lower pegs and as I travelled up the wall I was please to see that people had at 9pm promptly started packing their kit away resulting in barely a word from me that the comp had ended.
Rather than sort the prizes out back at the Tacklebox as originally planned it was sensibly decided to “get it done” on the benches by the cafe who was still open and remained open until we had all cleared off, a nice touch from them of which many took advantage to grab a final drink.

Now came the “figure it all out” bit with the results and once all the sheets were in, we not only had an obvious 1st , 2nd and a JUNIOR who had caught, a quick count told us 16 squid had been caught in the 3 hours on the low tide & slack water. A decent number and better than some of the spring events in past years. All in all things worked out well and we will look at running another one in the Autumn next year, perhaps even two comps if the spring run happens next year. And so, I finally get to who won what and will list all of those who caught and where below the prize winners.
PHIL METCALF had indicated to me that the prizes would be one per competitor so should someone be eligible as such for 2 of the prizes they would need to pick their choice , he also indicated that not only was there a junior 1st prize but he would also give a little something to all 4 juniors that had shown up and stuck it out to the end of the comp.

And so we come to the prizes of which PHIL indicated another change and instead of vouchers the first two would split the pot of £190 equally so CHARLIE and MAHDI received £95 each !

1st total combined total length was CHARLIE with 3 squid at 22.5/18 & 17cm total 57.5cm he also won the squid trip with ROBIN and a custom jig from ROMAN
2nd with the largest squid of the comp was Mahdi who landed a squid of 24cm and as well as the cash prize got a custom jig from ROMAN
3rd prize would have been for most individual squid which was 3 from CHARLIE and with the 1 prize p.p. JAMIE was awarded 3rd with 2 squid of 16 and 18cm which was the 2nd best total length and received a cool bag from PHIL
4th prize for runner up on single squid length was JOHN A with a squid of 21.1cm and also received a cool bag from PHIL

On to the JUNIOR prize and im please to see a jnr catching squid, youngsters catching targeted species has a sort of buzz all of its own so to the winning junior
FINN KELLY with one of the earliest squid caught and a decent size of 20cm who received a shop voucher for £15
The final award(s) went to all 3 of the other juniors that showed up and were all give £5 out of PHILs pocket which was a nice touch. Three of ROMANs lures were also given to the juniors (yes there were 4 of them but we only had 3 to share)
Well done to all the juniors who attended and with parental permission thier names are listed here as…..
FINN KELLY/EDI GILES/ALEXANDER and ARCHER well done lads on not only sticking it out but your behaviour was excellent and deserved a mention. Hopefully we will see more of you all fishing.

Finally I will list in random order who got what on the night.
MAHDI 1 x 24cm peg 22 add 10 for the bay number on the wall
MIRH TRAN 20.5 & 16.5cm peg 11
JAMIE 16 & 18cm peg 16
CHARLIE 22.5,17 & 18cm peg 13
JOHN A 21.1cm peg 27
ROMAN 16cm peg 21
MASARO 18cm peg15
LEE S. GIBBS 17.8cm peg 26
JAMES 19.8cm peg 9
CAILIN 21cm PEG7
DARREN P 17cm peg 18
JNR
FINN 20cm peg 20
A big thankyou to all who attended, without you there is no comp and regarding the nights lighting on the wall or lack of I will put up a separate post regarding future light use on the marina walls.
well done all, this years comp was a pleasure to do and was great to see that all pegs on finish were clear of litter so the wall close down was done very quickly

And with tat I bid you all ADIEU
F

Hard to miss if you are reading I guess, but, yes, the comp is going ahead, so if you are attending I will see you there.
Weather man say today is Sunny but looking out of the window its mixed sun and cloud cover and about 15 degrees with a light northerly breeze of about 6-7mph all day and same tonight so conditions look ideal .
On the fishy front I took a trundle down both walls yesterday for a look see and also to chalk up the bay/peg numbers for the comp so peg1 is on bay 10 by the 2nd set of steps.
so, whats going on ?

Unfortunately there were not too many fishing the walls yesterday with more on the west than east. One regular(dave) who often targets mullet did ok yesterday on the WEST with 2-3 schoolies and one decent keeper bass. He also had a decent sole, plaice, a small conger among other bits & pieces. He also fished the EAST on Wednesday fairly high up and again managed to land some decent sole and a couple of bass.

The water has taken a little while to clear but today looking better than it has for a week or more and with a minor stir up coming tomorrow evening today looks like it will be the best of this weekend unless like ducks you are happy to be out in the rain(forecast on XC) that looks to be the main feature on Sunday.
There is a small change of the WEST having to close Saturday night BUT the forecast is often a little over actual so expect the website to show open as its likely to be a decision of the warden on duty Sunday likely will be a bit choppy and rain most of the day so the west while prob open will be a tad lumpy ( hint, id go east! )

Ok, the fish report is very thin on the ground if based on one blokes report eh ! but in all honesty this week on the east has been very quiet, I saw 5 people over there yesterday afternoon and the only feedback I have had were for mackerel hunters ( dang hard work) and others saying things were slow going. on the plus side the low bays on the east have been doing ok for those looking for bass.
there are still mackerel & horse mac about but like the bream numbers are thinning but that may only be due to the up n down conditions of the last 1-2 weeks where we have had a day or three of calm then just as things clear another minor blow pushes through in a true autumn blows pattern !. Not great for the fishing unless you are looking for bass, conger rays and sole in the murky water. Yes sole are doing ok thankyou with some of the regulars picking up some very nice slabs off the walls and local beaches.

Further into next week it looks like another blow builds from Monday (expected open but west will be choppy) and Tues it looks like a day that is right on the edge of being closed if the forecast is accurate but will update home page closer to that event. Wed Thurs XC is showing a storm like increase in winds and mostly rain all next week. Expect both walls to close Wed & Thurs. Beyond Thurs it looks like the blow sits westerly but again is too early to call conditions.

Well that’s it from me today other than to close with a “see you there” if you are attending the SQUID COMP, other than that I as usual will bid you all ADIEU
F

Somewhat lacking this week on fishing reports, the marina fb page also v quiet so cant really give a decent update today but will be down there sometime today to chalk the numbers on the wall for tomorrows squid comp

YES the SQUID COMP is definitely on tomorrow
Sign in is from 4.30pm onwards by the cafe on the east
no you dont have to notify anyone in advance if you are coming.
Comp starts at 6pm finish 9pm prizes will be done straight after by the cafe to save everyone trudging back to the tacklebox
It is £5 to enter and then a wall charge for the 1 rod (adult £6 & jnr’s and seniors £4)
2 hooks or 2 jigs max may be used 1 rod only
headlamps must be blue or filtered (blue)
please note for this event there will be no lighting fixed to the wall to shine on the water and this includes no underwater lights. Headlamps only, small lanterns by kit boxes will be permitted provided they dont light the area like a beacon and are low light levels.

Prizes

there will be shop vouchers to be won which depends on number of entries. 100% of entry fee will be used for shop vouchers so if 40 ppl attend there will be £200 up for grabs in vouchers.
initial prizes

1st (greatest total length combined)
A squid trip with Robin Howard plus a tacklebox voucher voucher

2nd( Longest single squid or cuttle) tacklebox voucher

3rd ( most individual squid & cuttle caught) tacklebox voucher

there are im told various items of tackle up for grabs and possibly a junior prize depending on number of entries

 Roman Gancedo Rey will be donating some of his own hand made squid jigs to add to the prizes

Many thanks to Philip Metcalf who has provided the Tacklebox Vouchers
and thanks to
Mark Robinson for providing the wall space and later time finish for the east wall

See you all there tomorrow , and until then , yup you guessed it…. I will bid you all ADIEU
F