Yeeee haaaaa ride em cowboy…

So, I took the quad for a lazy spin around the marina yesterday, for those still unaware, the WEST WALL will be closed to all for a few months and the last estimation is late September before anyone has access, and yes it could be longer, its very much of an unknown at the moment.

Anyhoooo…
Over on the EAST after indulging the 2 very friendly dogs at the cafe & asking the owner I i can fatten them up with dog biscuits I rolled onto the wall having passed MARK going the other way who informed me that the last bit of jet washing was almost finished and the whole of the east is now available to fish from.
YES ALL OF THE EAST IS OPEN and opening hours are currently 6.30am and gates are locked at 8pm
FROM MONDAY 19th MAY the EAST will CLOSE AT 9pm

And from that update we go to a fishy update/ wall round up for yesterday. not a massive amount of anglers yesterday but was pleasantly surprised to see some old familiar faces that have been regulars over the years as well as a few current regulars like James with his lure rods. Unfortunately Im chronic at remembering names, even when I have seen some people fishing for more than 20 years, My excuse is as always , for most im fairly easy to remember being one of the points of contact and the facebook group as well as my ramble on posts(like todays is rapidly becoming.

As I was saying about familiar faces, the first had so many layers on I asked him if he was not cooking in so much gear & stopped & chatted for a few mins to find out that there definitely had been mackerel caught, some of them quite big and plump and he had seen a couple of plaice and bream.
2-3 bays up a couple were fishing that have been visiting the marina for some 30+ years and over the last 10-15 years often with another wall regular Armando Britto, yes a name I can remember, mostly as he often likes to book the extension over night and fish until about six am. Any hoo the couple were in their favourite spot on the east, this time without their kids…. not that they are kids now that they are now in their 30’s and wall regulars themselves.
Spent quite a while catching up and found out they live near Wembley stadium, (something in my head says they have told me this before) and the obvious thought occurred that if I every get Wembley tickets I probably have somewhere very convenient to crash, so if they are readers here they are now forewarned on what may be in the wind. 🙂 Well, when I returned from the higher bays the husband was reeling in something that ALEX glanced at said “looks like a dab, cba to get a pic” well nosey old me looked & thought, thats no dab , go look closer its too big for a dab(yea the do go large sometimes).

was it a dab ?
Gawd no, what he had reeled in was a 33cm “small” turbot that was quite plumb & by my estimate around the 2LB + mark. larger than most Ive seen on the wall & not such a common catch this far inshore. while helping him disgorge and check my size list on website like a plonker forgot to get a picture so guys if you read here please get a pic if it hasnt already been eaten !

As members of the marina group will know earlier in the day a large (for the wall)conger that looked close to 6foot long & will be on the gallery today once ive finished my essay :).
Mackerel while not showing in shoals do seem to be slowly increasing and are still mainly a couple before & after the high tide but as I understand it there were a few early on opening also and regarding high tides I cant confirm but suspect most of the bream caught yesterday were also close to the high.
Now news for those that like to chase the mullet. Yes one was caught yesterday, Ironic that “mullet Dave” was set up in his usual manner for a couple of hours when along comes Roy, sets up 2 bays from dave and near first drop reels in as I was told by dave a 3lb mullet. It defo made me laugh when dave told me, he certainly looked miffed 🙂

Now what with the conger, the mullet and the turbot one may have thought that that would be it for the day regarding lesser common catches for the day amongst the plaice, flounder, dab, bream mackerel and schoolie bass but after chatting with MARK there was another tale to tell just before closing.

As most are aware the wardens usually remind people 15 to 30 mins prior to gate lock time to start winding in & packing, last night usual time for Mark about 20 mins to go everyone was getting the nudge as usual & Mark on getting to a couple of the mid wall bays found two single anglers one being a teen asked mark having packed 95% of his gear if he could have 1 more cast, Mark agreed and worked his way to the gate to wait for all lo leave. With everyone off bar the 2 singles mid wall Mark went up to give them a nudge only to find the lad with something large in the net telling Mark that he had caught a STINGRAY!
marks thoughts, “yea right Stingray, more likely a thornback” On opening the net for a better look I can just Imagine his face as lo & behold a 9lb+ STINGRAY !, what a way to finish the day off. Like myself earlier Mark overlooked getting the piccy so I just hope the lad did.

Today seems to be off to a decent start although at last post to the FB group there were not many fishing(I expect with decent weather & a high at 14.46 it will fill up. Catches today already have been plaice, dab, mackerel & schoolie bass plus, potentially a decent sole although my brain says prob flounder because the angle is quite hard to judge BUT will give benefit of doubt & say it was a sole without a clearer image.

MAY ROT UPDATE
on the lower than 50 bays the rot is very visible in the water giving an almost nuclear glow to the water although yesterday above 55 due to the tidal drag outwards looked much better and while the rot is obviously there the visibility higher up was decent and I could see the rocks clearly a metre down.
Well thats it for today, I will probably take the quad down again today, my in head plan is to get out & about as much as possible even if im not fishing. I still enjoy the social side of being on the marina walls and chatting to the various anglers & seeing what’s being caught(as well as feeding biccys to everyone’s dogs :).
And with that my ramble comes to an end and until the next post(maybe tomorrow or next week) I will bid you all ADIEU
F