WALL CLOSE UPDATE 17th OCT

both walls open Tues day
No night fishing Tues
WED closed
THURS closed
FRI open
Night fishing FRI TBA
SAT open
Night fishing SAT TBA

It would appear that the local waters have been invaded by a glut of Squid (finally) with many boats getting in on the fun. Charter and private boats alike are returning to port with wonderful clean up jobs on their hands(not great if its you cleaning) and lots of squid often in a short spell of time.
A quick google tells me the species for those curious are as follows
“There are currently two species fished in the UK, the veined squid (Loligo forbesii) and the european squid (Loligo vulgari s).” no boat? no problem there are also plenty being caught from the local structures and the bulk of them are close to the bottom. Method is usually a slow jig up & down and most common methods are via
A jig set up under a float and set quite deep.
A weighted casting Jig(egi method) fairly close to the wall
A single or double in line jig(s) set with a weight to cast (similar to egi)
I have also seen them used on double & treble boom rigs with a weight under the set up.
Well worth a go for squid atm as other than decent eating (best flash fried while fresh) they also make great winter (or even summer) bait and are easily frozen.

So what else is about, locally there are still Guilt and black bream in the water, Bass are an all year feature these days, Im told there are mullet but those ive heard of caught are by dedicated mullet anglers but may I guess be one of those species that people get unexpectedly for most. Yes there are still mackerel & horse mac about and i have seen some piccys of undulates locally caught.
Plaice are best from the east wall and it seems like there are congers every 2-3 hook ups for many out there and are becoming a bit of a plague. The dreaded dogfish are making their annual show up and numbers building quite rapidly as the summer clarity starts turning to its winter brown. So far not so many whiting but as the nights get colder (yep temps dropping fast) one thing is certain from the marina , whiting & dogfish , ok 2 things.

James fished over the weekend and put a post up on the marina FB group of a decent SHAD, yes there are still some about and very sensibly posted that not only did he return it but also pointed out why being as the numbers of SHAD are at risk and are currently protected by the Fisheries rules. Thankyou James for the reminder to all on the group.

Having mentioned FB leads me onto the many posts that can be found there of a recent recording of some magnificent Tuna chasing and feeding on Garfish, its a wonder at the numbers of Tuna that any Gar are escaping them and reaching this far up the channel but they are and are currently in Sussex waters in good numbers with plenty of recorded catches over the weekend.
Still on FB posts , over the weekend Lee posted to the group of his latest trip with his 2 lads who had a great day fishing the east higher bays on Saturday and as well as landing (with help) a decent 18.6lb conger went on to catch plaice, flounder, guilthead bream and a nice looking topknot, well done all & if dad gives permission I will post a pic of the boys with said giant sea slug 🙂 well done all & ty Lee for sharing.

Over the weekend it was nice to see Ali, a well known face catch a decent bass and Niko shared his 1st fish (an eel) in over 8 years, welcome back to the world of sea fishing Nico. on the down side also returning was an overweight(looked it) seal lurking in the water off the east wall which may have accounted for some having a poor time of it at times of which that included myself. I actually got out twice(2-3 hrs each time) last week and blanked almost twice but for a v late on take of an Eel.

We do seem to still have quite a few summer species being caught, possibly due to warmer than seasonal water temps but as the nights get colder I expect that to change quickly so best get at it before them chilly northerlies take root. We are almost at the time when coats stay on while fishing & defo a case once the sun drops as was very clear Sunday evening.

That is just about it other than a quick note re the weather. We are defo now well into the Autumn with colder air temps and frequent rainy spells so while it may looks bright and sunny prior to travel I will remind you all to pack something warm and a winter coat as you will need them, cold hand season has arrived 🙂 and on that note I will sign off and bid you all ADIEU
F

^{Not a bad few days on the wall with fairly steady fishing, plenty still on the species counts and I guess the water temps must be a little over the normal October averages.
The has been plenty of bass about, mackerel during the day and horse mac at night. A decent cod (for the wall) was caught Sunday night by Armando amongst other catches. On the east there has been plaice, gar, wrasse gurnards and a few varieties of ray.
Add into the above and there have been mullet, conger and there are still bream to be had, not bad as I said for the start of Autumn. Conditions have been a bit stired up with a fair bit of weed being reported, but not that bad that the squid didnt want to return. Robin on BIF1 had had quite a decent haul this week! get them jigs back out 🙂
Thats it for now, short but sweet I guess so I will bid you all Adieu
F}

Well it seems I got it wrong by a full mid-day tide cycle didnt I ! what T F! am I talking about then?
squid ! thats what, There was I on the wall 10(ish) days ago looking at the tides & conditions and thinking to myself that I recon them Autumn squid might, just might arrive earlier than mid October this year and suggested that the 7 days between wed 20th up to the 4th of |Oct should be good for early squid.
Well I admit it , I was wrong. As the title suggests it seems that they have well and truly started arriving with a few being caught early mornings as the first chinks of dawn lighten the sky but more likely dusk into the dark at night. One or two have sprinkled the wall over the last seven day and then Tues evening a well know and active chartering service landed one or two confirming more water activity and Wed just like that it was announced. Biff(1) bang bosh a handful of squid ! and and another of Cuttle on one sailing at dusk with more squid confirmed on the lower reaches of the west. Are they fully in ? dunno but there is only one way to find out & that is to get on out there with the jiggy jigs innit!

Over on the fishy front things are still a little hit an miss but the west wall is seeing little bursts of plaice on the sandy marks with a fair few of the plaice now making minimum sizes. Bass one of the wardens who regularly targets bass from the end of the extension feels that they are a bit of a struggle and I suspect that is more to do with the dredger working early in the marina so its likely better to wait till its finished an have a chuck as the sunlight drops into darkness.

Bream on the wall, what can I say other than that most people again on the walls are struggling to find fish , ironic as the boats seem to have had a glorious year on them ! If you plan to fish during the day I say hope for one of the cooler or overcast days as the fish are reluctant to oblige many people during this weird September hot spell! .

Gars are now doing very well for the float anglers, yes you can get them on feathers and tinsel but Gar are far more entertaining when getting a strike on the float set up. Don’t believe me ? well I’d then say you cant have tried it as I don’t know of a float angler that wont recommend getting a hit from a Gar or Mackerel. Float fishing is not elite or for the fishing snobs its an entertaing way of giving some sport rather than merely casting feathers and yanking in on a multi hooked up line. The buzz of a strike and keeping the fish on while drawing in is a great feeling and that buzz is far better than the one given from connecting with a bunch on feathers. very recommended folks.

So what else do we have out there, sadly we still have (or the buggers came back for another go) Spider Crabs out there mostly along the middle areas of both walls and they are getting quite effective at bait steeling. Also please remember if you are crabbing and not keeping a smallish one as bait there is a legal size for spiders and other edible crabs , for spiders measure from nose to rear of the shell , to keep they must be 12cm with a max take number of 20 per person per day, a size chart can be found on this website at this location https://thetackleboxbrighton.com/size-regs/ for shellfish and all other fish you are likely to find on the walls and along the Sussex coast.

Ok so the last paragraph wasn’t really about what else… but it gave me a chance to prattle about spiders again :). Ok Red Mullet or as some call em Goat Fish can currently be still found usually in amongst the rocks on the West wall (possible over the high rocks on the east, its been so long someone has reported one on tat side Ive forgotten. Someone remarked that there are still Red Mullet on the east side but I have not seen any pics to confirm.

Mackerel are currently very thin on the ground which IMO is quite a surprise, likewise Horse Mackerel seem to be around in bursts on irregular nights so hard to suggest a “when to go” for them atm. There have been tons of bait fish in the water running both walls including Smelt that are of a decent size if that is your thing and I know of a few people that lower a landing net into the water to catch the bait fish to take home as Whitebait, very nice if you like eating tiny crispy fish, try it if you haven’t, they are surprisingly good eating. Wrasse and Eels are about but not in great numbers but every now and then a pic on the facebook group gets posted. Likewise is is common for pics of Blennies, Scorpion fish,(Bullheads) Gobies all among the smaller stuff luring down the side of the walls stealing bait while you fail to watch your rod wiggle in the bright sunlight!

Ive mentioned quite a few species here, and reading through you could get the idea that there are good amounts of fish being caught but in all honestly things are a bit quiet at the moment. The best fishing is in an hour or two first thing just before or as the sunlight breaks the darkness before the heat of the day gets underway. Boats measuring water temps are still reporting higher than expected water temps in & around the marina, but far better for fishing further out for the boat, check their reports to see just how well they have been doing recently.

This coming week air temps ease off with current mid day estimates at 20-21c but slipping back towards the weekend with estimates at 17/18c so much of an ease of to the last couple of weeks. As we creep towards the weekend things will also cloud over a but so again a bit cooler with winds starting to rise with “bumps” Sat night potentially shutting the WEST at night if accurate but again back open for the Sunday daytime, there is a possible or potential loss of night fishing thus for Saturday into early Sunday and possible issues Monday night spilling into Tues next week that is looking more unstable so please keep an eye on the home page and FB group for weather updates as Tues & Wed could also be disrupted by high winds hopefully beyond Wednesday things look to improve and water temps should have dropped a little producing some good fishing conditions for what will be left of the month.

So now more words for the night anglers re powered lights in that to all anglers fishing at night please be aware that there is a blue light filtering requirement on the wall as instructed by the harbour office and marina security. If you dont have filtered lights and (NON GREEN or RED in the water) filters can be obtained from the duty warden and a simple fix for underwater lights is to put them inside a blue carrier bag, supply your own please.

Final words, honest, please note the lower levels on the marina are for anglers only, the rule has been there 20+ years and can be seen on the many old signs fixed to the walls at the bottom of the steps down. there are also some signs on the upper levels just prior to going down the steps. as those signs says

“anglers only on lower level and ALL ON LOWER LEVER must have a permit”.

This means if an angler has other people with them on the lower level they will or should be expected to be charged.
For many years this was overlooked by wardens but due to over crowding issues, especially at night the wardens have been instructed to charge on the lower level.
Having had a chat about this decision wardens have been given some latitude now to give some consideration to spouses sat quietly with their partner fishing likewise to single parents with a child fishing but please, dont kick off at wardens if they ask you to pay, that is the instructions they have and are expected to do their jobs.
Well thats my ramble done for this day so this “old man” (if you know you know) with bid you all another ADIEU for the day
F

Afternoon world(at time of typing) for those of you that have no idea what this old fart is meaning by the title its quite simple. There was an old ( 90’s) TV advert for the chocolate sweet called crunchie that used to have a count down of days until it got to Friday which it termed “chrunchie day” by saying ” Its Friday , its Crunchie day”. Anyways enough of that malarky what about a catch report ?

Well to be honest daytimes while the weather has been awesome the fishing has become a little pitiful! infact using my words crap!, there i said it. I even had a dabble on the extension yesterday & fished with squid, black & mackerel from 3pm til 6pm over the high and all I got was nibbles and cut off hooks , Yes for some strange reason there are spider crabs back, mostly hand suze and generally too small to keep but they seem to be again massing mostly on the east but some also on the west!.
News of a squid on Robins boat early dusk one day this week caused some chatter and one of the wardens mentioned one also caught on the east possibly on Thursday. but that is it so far this week on that front although as said to someone on Sunday I suspect they will be early and the fishing on the week around that last weekend of the month may prove to be very good fishing if the weather and calm hold.
Back on the fish front yesterday there were a few gar on both walls and likewise some mostly undersized plaice on both walls, an occasional gurnard & red mullet but for many the day is made up catching plaice of which again the sizes are somewhat small. The bream on the west yesterday were very small and returned likewise a bass was intercepted from going into a box as again undersized. On the whole for this time of the year the fishing is very slow almost to the the level that in past summers when things have been silly hot the fishing dies and everyone is left baking in the sun and staring at the water!
Its so like that I suspect the heat is putting the fish to sleep.

Thankfully while the weather looks to be holding for at least a week or so the daytime temps look to drop from 26-28s down to 22/23s and a little more bearable so in theory things should pick up.

On the mackerel front the wardens atm are seeing maybe a dozen all day and those on the walls feathering are mostly wearing themselves out in the sun, on the plus side they go home worn out and I suspect sleep well!.

Night fishing while better than the daytime return is not massively better, the occasional cuttlefish is coming out an no doubt now there will be a slow increase of squid at night as we lead towards the end of the month. There are horse mackerel there as there are bass but it does help to be in the right place at the right time especially if looking for a decent bass.
Thats it for this week so far , hopefully the weekend will show signs of improvement as Im still hoping to get out and catch a few bream this year before they clear off or I get my knee surgery.

Again a final note re torches/head lamps and powered lights on the marina, we are now operating a blue light policy , all white lights need filters which if you dont have you can buy from the duty wardens on the west wall. Please help us with this and if you are there get your lights filtered and please encourage others to do so. There are some that are getting agressive with the wardens and they are simply following instructions from the marina harbour office and security instructions. Blue lights on harbour sites are becoming more and more common and likely will become the norm
thats it from me today so as always now I will bid you all ADIEU
F

Ok an honest update/ catch report before I even stab my finger to do a blood sugar check !.
So its not great news atm, after talking to 3 of the wardens I can honestly say that compared to previous years at this time its crap. Yes the species number is there not though the amounts of fish. Deeper water venues fared much better than the marina while the summer weather has been topsy turvey( ie crap)..”-3 days of wind colouring the water and disrupting inshore fish then a day or 2 of calm right through the summer has meant a lot of the fish have stayed off shore where the boats have been having a ball.
So whats going on ? 100 crap weather has meant the inshore stuff that is usually there has stayed in deeper water for its own safety BUT , yea always a BUT , … but its a good but (honest guv) we suddenly now have a clear run of decent weather.(i will get to the report for the weekend but im delaying it an making you all read a pile of waffle first ;).

IMO that clear run of weather will see this month start to pick up, the big shoals of mackerel have not arrived YET, likewise the hatching bream and wrasse are now moving away from protecting parents into shallow water so there may even be a burst of small bream sandeels and the likes of other smaller (large fry) species heading inshore. What does that mean for anglers ? Initially there should be a pick up/increase of small fish but also varied species . The weather looks like holding for at least 10 days of late summer. Get past the small species run and Im betting the larger parents of all types will be coming inshore to feed and fatten up b4 heading back out to deep water. I expect the fishing to get better over the next week as we get into September with a bonus big 7m tide coming at the end of the month that as well as the bream, mackerel and other fish inshore may even bring the start of the Autumn squid run. yes a big expectation but I have a feeling we are about to get some decent fishing on the wall.(which is overdue this summer)

Ok onto the catch report, overall loads of species although it comes with that BIG BUT ! the numbers caught is quite poor, eels small plaice, likewise, Bream, Wrasse, Mullet, red Mullet, Gurnards all the usual summer stuff are in small numbers this weekend with wardens saying glorious weather but hardly any fish. The best has been early morning and shortly after it gets dark and into the night. The bass horse mac and mackerel are there but its slow going and pinning a “BEST” time to fish over the last weekend has been a case of pot luck unfortunately. Mackerel have had little flurries prob beast early in the day but only a few here n there to keep ppl worn out feathering!. likewise horse mac have been there , nowhere like usual numbers but again can come in bursts with ppl doing well one day and struggle another. Bass anglers that know their stuff on the marina are doing ok but other than the 12.11 beastie on the west most takes are in the 3-4lb range at the moment. I realise its a bit of a crap picture atm but im confident that its about to pick up,BUT, yea the BUT again its hard to say how soon things will pick up. 3 weeks ago things suddenly turned on and the fishing looked properly underway and then that fekn weather did it again and blew like a hoolie disrupting it all again…. it will get better … honest.
I was on the wall last night and the day round up was poor although I did see a cracking bream caught on the extension around the high tide that was likely 2lb plus. As I left close to 9pm there were 5-6 on the wall with the day anglers having all gone home who were feathering in the hope of some late mackerel.
On that note of night anglers it seems the message about using only blue filters on lights is not fully getting there. Marina (harbour) policy is now that all powered lights on the wall or in the water should be blue or blue tinted. If you dont have these you will be asked by the warden to sort it out or not use them.
Underwater lights can easily be put into a blue plastic bag that can be got from many small corner shops.
Headlamps and powered tip lights should be blue or blue tinted , likewise torches. There is blue tint sheets of sticky back film in the store on the west so please get them from the night warden for a token cost, each sheet will cover & tint at least 10 lights and are easy to sort, ty

And on that final note I will sign off with the usual ADIEU
F

Well here we are and into Autumn, seems the weather gods have been having a laugh with everyone, what the EFF happened to summer?
Oh well , a bit of a meagre report full mostly with scraps unless your name is Glenn!
So lets start, we have had 2 days where garfish have been caught on the east, today they started 2 hrs before the high, no doubt Glenn will be after them tomorrow. Bream seem to be ticking over now that we have some settled weather but I recon things are fairly slow. I suspect all the winds we have been plagued with have totally wound the fish up and as a result both walls are suffering still. Hopefully a few days of clear weather will start to make it worth having a dabble.

12 lb +, yea but 12 lb what?, well a decent bass was landed on the west yesterday morning and caused a stir as the angler chose to take it home. Some insisted it should go back on the forums which is a shame as most anglers rare get to see yet alone land such a fish and if was me I’d have said aaaaawwwwweeeeesoooommmmeeee and then knock it on head for eating later.
Now some think a 20 year old fish like that should go back, not me though. Why ? well its had its breeding years & im of the view that in taking the biggies it is far better than taking decent matured breeding bass of 50-60cm out of the water.

Good luck to the dude that caught it , when cooked I hope it tastes fantastic :).

Other catches over the last few days, well yes there have been some mackerel but mostly in the morning early and not many of them. On the other hand horse mac are doing ok at night . There seems to be fewer Wrasse and gurnards being reported although like the goat fish/red mullet they are out there. And with the mention of mullet that rounds us up quite nicely in that I heard confirmed a decent mullet for east wall regular Roy Arnold although the weight is not known to me.
Finally a reminder that there is a blue light policy at night. Please dont give the night guys grief over this, like Shoreham we have been asked to ensure the correct light colours so they do not clash with navigation lights for any boat traffic that may be about . This includes blue lights in the water not green , many thanks.
And with those last few words i will bugger off to the footy to watch BTN Vs Newcastle thus I bid you a grand ADIEU
F

Wow ! we have actually had some decent weather, infact its been enough to finally clear the water from that murky green/brown colour that seems to have been a fixture since the rot broke up. The result, the fishing is on the recovery mode with plaice bream gurnard rays all on the caught list, a few mackerel in and out and horse mac for the night anglers on top of the bass number.

Now that I have mentioned night fishing I will again raise the issue of LIGHTS on the wall and remind everyone that there is filter material available from the wardens on the west wall at a token cost . All anglers are asked to comply with the blue light code when fishing the marina. Some anglers seem to be getting agressive with the guys working at night regarding the use of filters and its simply not on and ppl are simply putting fishing at night at risk. Please pass the message along, the light filter ruling has come from the harbour master and wont change. What will change is the fishing at night … it will get stopped for all so please help us pass this message along.

Thats it for today so I will bid you a good day and .. yup … ADIEU
F

Plenty going on now that we have some settled weather,( & its nice to have something to report) while no big shoals there are mackerel about. Looks like the gar are starting to arrive with catches happening over the last couple of days on both walls. Likewise on both there are bass, no great sizes to report but plenty for the lure guys to plug away at 🙂 pun intended! .. Both walls also producing bream with recent reports also of rays on the east.

Plenty of micro species just down the sides of both walls to keep the juniors occupied and Im please to say the spiders have all but buggered off :). Plaice and wrasse to be had though people may want to check some of the size regs prior to keeping plaice atm. Gurnards are about out on the sandy areas, small hounds and dogfish are about when the water is coloured as are the eels, and for those night guys looking for horse mac… there have been decent amounts on the west. Finally on the fish front that has been reported are mullet…finally..

well from me today is, as the toon says, “t-t-t-thats all folks” yup i’m gonna type it …ADIEU
F

well as the title says, long time no see! It really is a case of having had little to say as we endured a sequence of very blowy days then open for a couple of days in very coloured waters. And so the cycle seem to continue through June & July and now into August! FFS someone has nicked the British summer!.
Hows the fishing ? erratic to say the least, mostly coloured waters produced eels ,residential bass,a few flounders and a mixed bag of scratching for most fishing.

There have been mackerel once the water cleared and then would again come that flipping wind to stir it all up. Great I guess if you are hunting bass in the larger surf but i got the impression that even the bass guys were strugging with some going over to the dark side and hunting carp(some claimed the carp were really Pike ! yea? na, dont tell him P……

Also I have little to say as the reports have been very thin on the ground and little info has been filtering back from the walls.

Hopefully this will change and the weather starts to settle… I bet summer arrives just as the kids go back to school (poor buggers !
oh well , until next time I bid you a hearty ADIEU
F