For those living on the coast conditions are obvious but less so inland so a quick update on the walls currently being CLOSED.
As I posted , BOTH WALLS are CLOSED today (apology for the late update was distracted yesterday) and there will be NO night fishing this weekend as the
WEST WILL remain CLOSED Fri/Sat & Sunday and will re open on Monday at 6am providing there is no obvious damage that needs attending.
Again as posted the EAST is CLOSED today (Fri) and Saturday and will re open on SUNDAY 6am ,(ish) again providing no damage issues.
Fish reports are slim other than that Bass & hounds are doing well if you have spider crabs as bait, a few plaice but mainly the earlier part of the week has been bits n pieces as conditions have been somewhat breezy and colouring the water.

I will post here a reminder, It was reported on Thurs of an angler taking 3 bass, the regs say a max of 2 per session and must be over 42cm, if they are in your bag/bucket they are yours, not the bloke next to you, if you are in possession of 3 bass you will fall foul of the rules.
Taking 3 bass is a NO NO and were taken off the wall while the warden was elsewhere but the situation was picked up by other anglers and reported to Sussex IFCA who did attend and as I understand talk to the angler. No doubt they would have removed one of the fish and issued a warning BUT a word of caution, the FISHING GODS that make the rules are often quick to prosecute, which of found guilty can include fined of upto 1k and costs, somewhat costly for the ordinary angler.

While on the topic of restrictions, the marina walls fall within the Beachy head west Marine zone (MCZ) and there are limits on crab collection as shown on the size regs page.
Legally you can take 20 and they should be 12cm across the shell.

Ive heard many comments from ppl that think they can get around this , I’m not saying how as I think they are wrong if put to the test !.
Rules state a max of 20 spider crabs (12cm in size) you may retain 1 undersized one as “bait” to use on next change but, if you kill undersized spider crabs or even remove legs as bait prep you are retaining undersized stock and can fall foul of the IFCA’s that govern sea fishing.

Please stick to the rules, illegal takes irrespective of what someone thinks of the current rules does not help the wardens and in the long run harms anglers and fishing on the marina in general. Wardens should not have to check every bag & box 1/2 hourly to ensure anglers are following the rules.

There have been enough issues on the walls from “anglers” that flout rules or misbehave and I for one do not want to see the fishing on the marina shut down because of a few dickwads that dont give a crap about fish stocks. And with that comment on fish stocks I will add that I wont get into a them & us regarding what recreational anglers can take compared to commercial. The local fleet know their stuff and can be a great source of info & I dont buy into the them & us. We are all anglers in some form and we should be working together to get law/rule changes rather than flouting those already in place, lets face it most of us are aware of the damage the huge factory ships do to stocks across the world yet alone in our waters.
I do bang on about working with commercial local fleets, but IMO its clear we need to work together to get better rules/restrictions or fish stocks that are already crashing will vanish, Please folks, you dont need to give a shit about the politics of fishing, you dont even need to give a shit about the rules but, on the marina we do need to look to what rules and restrictions we have if we all want to continue using the marina as an angling venue.
Please help the wardens and report dodgy catches but also make yourself aware of the size guides on the website. If you dont feel right about reporting directly, ring the shop, message a warden or mark and we will get to your issue without being obvious about why we are there checking on something.

On the Facebook group I bang on about, eyes & ears, its not daft and you are not doing the wardens job for them. They cant be in all places at all times so a private word can go a very long way to get the message out that the marina and its anglers can and are doing their bit .

Ok sermon over, I will leave you now until the next time I fancy a chunter on here, Until then 🙂 I bid you all ADIEU
F