Well, are they in ? or was it a mir-a-geee ?
Yesterday when I popped down for a nosey and went onto the west who did I see? well booger me tiz was Dave, the dude with the bike who usually lives on the high bays of the east. He, of the bike had been down a couple of days before and was packing up when I had arrived and mentioned that he had managed a couple of bream and also a few mackerel, the same as posted by Mark a few days ago.
Well shock horror, Dave was back on the west fishing, & trust me this is a rarity in itself and it seems that lightening does strike twice coz here he was and again catching mackerel and bream, wtf is going on.
Anyhoo, after a quick chat with Dave and a few others I drifted over too the east too find Tommy and Robin of BIF1 lure flinging on the low bays. A quick chat sorta said that not much was going on there even though the water conditions looked quite decent and a fair old tide which was quite a lot calmer than the west side that was a little choppy due too the westerly breeze. It seems the cack looking yellow shade in the water had finally given way too some decent looking summer water(until southern water do another dump) Anyhow, the bass today (or yesterday should i say) had decided Monday was a rest day even though the spider crabs did seem too be out in force.
There was quite a few fishing the bend and numbers were better than of late. For some reason the walls have been unusually quiet of late, I guess social media has its part too play in that many follow fish reports too better target where too go and dented incomes of late being squeezed too break points add too the lower numbers but with so much happening with the bass down here Id expect some level of increase in numbers that doesnt seem too be occurring.
Anyhoo I digress, back too more fishing the bend on a Monday. Now.. being honest re number vs fish caught a this point Id say the lower part of the east was under performing but as I passed bay 12 steps there was some activity with a few bream being caught and as I moved onto the bend properly it was showing signs that summat else may be going on and decided , take the wheels too the end and work my way back Doing this does give an inkling too quiet days and more hopeful days simply by numbers ratio of those stood bait changing, those stood feathering and those sat bored waiting for some activity and it was clear that something was going on all along the straight part of the east.
And thus, about bay 55 I swung the quad around part due to the uppers section being empty and part as someone had caught me up asking for some feathers and weights a bit lower along the wall at 45ish. Three lads fishing there it seemed had found a few fish and while mostly looking for mackerel which they had found had also caught a Bream or two over the sands of the straight section!
Yes its easy too think Bream ? so what but, on bay 45 is 99.9% sand and sand left & right for more than 10 bays each way. Now I realise some do catch bream out on the sand but by choice Bream tend too be near the rockier type of ground so are less common up on 45 that most realise.
As I worked my way back along the east it turned out that there were quite a few people catching a mix of bream and mackerel. No huge numbers of either and no signs of mackerel shoaling but they were there and I gather stayed for quite a while yesterday meaning that most above bay 22 caught a few of their chosen targets.
Thus Saturday and Monday ended up producing some mackerel. Now its easy too mock and ask, why a longish post about mackerel, comments like ahhh ya just posting too bump numbers but truthfully its more about the fact that we had some twice in 3 day than any method too boost angler numbers. It is becoming very clear that reports of a poor stock year and ICES reports that deal with fish stock numbers did this year for the first time list mackerel as “AT SEIOUS RISK”. Numbers of them are very obviously low not just on the marina but all along the south coast numbers have dropped alarmingly and as a result seeing 2 out of 3 days with mackerel has become unusual. i DON’T HAVE ANY ANSWERS, nor do i know how the situation can be rectified but as it seems right now something has too change before we loose yet another species either as a thing of the past or as recreation anglers we lose the right too fish for them. Spain and Portugal have as I understand it banned shore rec anglers taking mackerel and France this year set a limit of 5 fish per day !! wtf , imagine that rec anglers stopped from fishing or mackerel because some greedy countries in the north Atlantic want too reserve the last stocks for themselves ! FFS no thanks.
anyway, of the soap box and onto the what else bit. There have been a few skinny plaice of late but no specimen catches and prob none worth taking for the table. There are wrasse about and it seems they are a bit partial too live prawns if you can collect some on the low tides. As mentioned the crab invasion continues and the local bass I swear are near drunk on them. Gurnards have again started too show up and Id be surprised if we dont see a few red mullet showing up on the west extension very soon. The bream on the east are a mix of black and guilthead on the east and mostly black on the west wall. I gather there are a few mullet being caught but it seems only a very small number are curently targeting them a fair amount of micro species are lurking down the sided and in the Vs and while I have very little night info there are Bass and horse mac being caught. Final comment on species goes too the cephalopod of which we are seeing the occasional squid but the better numbers atm are for small pebble cuttlefish.
Thats it for today, I will have a poke about later on the walls and see whats going on, night fishing looks good for the whole week and for a change the weatherman seems too be smiling on us all. All done, & that just leaves me too say, until the next one, I bid you all ADIEU
F
