Poor old April!, she promised so much and in the end bowed out with a whimper ! The fishing on the walls was not that great, there were catches but mostly few and far or skinny returns with a few exceptions.
Best of the month was that bass catches are picking up and the FB group has had a few decent piccys posted on that front. Next up have been conger catches, some decent sizes and a couple of Juniors had a good day on them with their dad on the east, but I will add a word of caution for anglers to please pay attention to the recommended sizes on the website and we do get a few grumbles about small fish being kept and as a rule we do try to encourage sensible fishing.
When on the walls I tend to as if a catch looks decent enough to make 1 meal & if there is even a little doubt people should return those that seem small. It must surprise some to realise that if the small ones go back they may actually grow bigger for catching another time ! weird idea eh
Other catches I hear someone say at the back :), yes there are plaice, catches are on the increase but again please be aware of the sizes on the website, many of the plaice are small and not very thick. While many plaice can be the “right length” often they are so skinny that you would need 2 fish to make enough for one meal.
Again my go too is “will 1 fish make a decent meal?”fish grow, please put them back to grow some more
Thus we get to repeat the “other catches”
Rays have started showing up on the wall, mostly thornbacks but there are undulates amongst the catches and we do try to encourage these to be returned as they are restricted and commercials have a strict catch policy on them with research being carries out towards Devon & Cornwall.
Ive heard whispers of Mullet showing up in the river estuary’s recently so am expecting activity around the marina fairly soon.
I’m not hearing anything about the micro species on the marina yet but that may well be because no one is targeting them or simply not passing on catch info.
SQUID & MACKEREL, yes some have been caught, the tail end of last week saw a cuttle and a squid caught followed by a single mackerel mid week. The next day 2 squid were caught/confirmed as well as a few mackerel on the EAST but since then Ive not really heard anything and there are a few keen squidders that fish the marina on a regular basis.
The walls also saw bream caught over the weekend so hopefully the decent weather with encourage more to show themselves.
Work on the EAST is nearly done and we are waiting for ordered wire to arrive so that the red post wire can be finished allowing us to get the wall fully open.
I dont have a progress update as yet for the west extensions and Night fishing is hopefully starting soon once we get a suitable weather report for a SATURDAY night.
well that is just about it for today, hopefully the weather gods play nice and some decent fishing can be got underway.
until next time, as usual I bid you all ADIEU
F