Now I know there are some other oldies reading the headline and thinking That rings a bell in the back of my head so, if ya haven’t got it yet, try this –>

“I like the way you talk”
“I like the way you walk”
Have ya got it yet ? need another hint ? ok –>
“Let me hold your hand”
“Try to understand”

By now it should be stuck in your head like an old fashioned ear worm !
So the weather man says

“Let the 4 winds blow”
“let em blow let em blow”
“from the east to the west”
“I love you the best”

One of my fav Fats Domino tracks seem very apt as a warning or at least alert to what is expected to be a fairly blowy week that impacts the marina wall very much this week.

But

before all of that a swift round up of what I saw & heard this week down the road from my house 🙂
Not the best of weeks but by far not the worst so far for what really has been quite a miserable 1st half of the year for sea anglers in Sussex this year. Very much missing this year on the marina for the 2nd year was the early squid run and the 10 day 2 week normal spring run of mackerel that I usually say come up from the bay of biscay region, granted im not 100% sure of that but im fairly confident is such the case. I also suspect that spring run is linked in some way to the early squid ( more of that in a bit).

Sussex fishing not only has been disrupted by constant Autumn like blows, lower sea temps than normal (odd in times of global warming) the very much lack of whitebait and fish fry against the walls (I blame the constant cycle of blows) all have combined to crate a situation that has made this years fishing from the shore very poor. In contrast the charter boats have been reporting decent trips when they have been able to get out, the real issue for them is the weather and being able to get out there and att’em!

So a little less of the misery about conditions being poo what hasn’t been so poo?
well……. on the days we have avoided high winds and actually got open the night anglers have cheered up to the arrival of horse mackerel and the beginning of the week saw a few early morning mackerel, not many but a few on both walls.
Now while there hasnt been much whitebait (I did mention seeing some on higher bays) It has slowly been increasing, possibly (or coincidence) tying in with the reduction of spider crabs swamping both walls determined to cut as many lines as they could. Yes there are still quite a lot on lower EAST bays but the WEST is almost clear of the blighters.

As a result of changes below the surface, we have had 2-3 dolphin visits swimming the lengths of both walls, lovely to watch but a pain for trying to catch fish! the good news is that mackerel have been around nearly every morning but in small numbers , few ppl have managed more than a handful. By Thurs wardens were tempted to say that mackerel have been/are there every morning, the truth is sort of so but mainly the high tides out of the sunshine heated hotter periods of the day.

Bass are still there for those that have the know how but the seemingly drunken like state of Bass feeding on the soft crabs has eased back and they are becoming again the elusive fish they are known as. Plaice and other flatties are still a bit few and far but in the more stirred up water sole have done well not only on the east bend but also high on the east and west for a change.

There have been confirmed gurnard catches this week but I lack pictures and bream takes have definitely improved when conditions have allowed but this week thinks have been quite choppy and the water stirred up with erratic wind levels especially the early evenings recording a bit higher than forecasted wind rates.
On to the weekend & Fri proved that there was a steady tick of morning mackerel but little to show any shoaling signs and as the morning drifted to evening things were slow for the few fishing.
Perhaps the lack of anglers is why there are so few catch reports but looking around FB groups it does seem true that things are slower and harder this year, be it conditions, less fish inshore or something Ive yet to figure out I don’t know but it has deffo been harder on the walls this year than and I can recall in the last 25+ that I have been regularly on the marina.

So ffs have I got anything decent to say I hear. Well yea sort of, that past weekend at night has picked up, while not tons of ppl fishing, night catches over the weekend ticked of decent numbers of horse mac, a plus for some of the regulars, also the return of thornbacks being caught, (I never thought I’d miss that !) bass & even some plaice on the west, yup not just on the low bays. now dont assume there are loads, but there was enough to say things are less lean for plaice than this year had so far been. and yes there have been mackerel in the early light of the day.
Sunday I took the quad down onto the east, and west for a nose and chat with the wardens and anyone else willing to chat with me and managed to catch up with a couple of familiar faces on the west wall although I didnt really recognise anyone fishing on the east.
That said If he reads this,(not sure he does) one regular will be thinking , ahem, you saw me! and yes I did meet one but he wasnt fishing he was unloading his car to head onto the wall. Now, you may wonder why I have singled out this moment, well it is simple and comes with a warning/heads up to all anglers using the east wall and the car parks that end.

Officially there is NO PARKING (without permits) in any of the east car park areas for anglers.
you may get a green ticket at the road barriers to drive down and unload/load up, you have an hour on getting said green ticket BUT
IF YOU PARK down there you are highly likely to get a parking ticket in the post 2 weeks later.
The marina is patrolled by a separate company, marina security will walk past you & not say a word, BUT, please take notice, don’t risk a ticket, the dudes that patrol are over keen to give out tickets.
Parking can be done down there but, do it the wrong way and they will chase you for fines! Any blue badge holders that find distances an issue , please message me in some way as I can often find a workable solution for you.

Right, back to my visit on the new quad :), as I posted to the FB group yesterday I got down on the west about 3.30pm and the wind was 5 building slowly to 10mph or so over the expected forecasts and almost as I arrived so did a small shoal of mackies being worked furiously by gulls tantalisingly close for all to see but then were just out of casting range and for a moment was tempted to drop down to the lower level & see if I could borrow a rod for a fling or two at them 🙂 Anyhoo as the wind rose the mackies did oblige and came a little closer allowing most there (maybe 20 ppl) to get some casting practice and claim a few each for a while. The down side was that the wind had crept off the SSE and started to veer to the westerly causing some cracking water spouts as the tide dropped.
Sensibly those that didn’t pack up & run for the hills moved lower on the wall below the bend to reduce the chances of a good soaking and maybe a few more mackies but they were proving as challenging as the conditions. They did eventually settle early evening & I lack any night report for Sunday.
Over on the east things were half n half, the lower 15-20 calm as you like but the front end started to get a thumping pushing anglers onto the lower bays. Thing over there were slow that day but there were bass & crabs on the low bays and a few bream were had as were on the west but overal slow.

Tellingly some people reported “odd pulling bites” that produced nothing. After a quick check ppl confirmed the “bites” were more a pull back, down and away & then ping , it was gone which to me strongly hinted squid, I knew of 3 confirmed catches on the WEST (1 at night) & 2 of them were unintended hook ups. Now at least 5 people on the lower east were telling a similar story so, if the weather allows I’d be looking at breaking out a squid jig or two !

And so I come back to the title of todays loooonnnngggg sermon:) It seems were are about to be visited by the tail end of some hurricane meaning that today (mon) the walls are open and the west will be open tonight, beyound the morning the WEST will then be closed (see home page) and is expected (all being well) to re open SAT morning after an inspection some time about 6am.

Likewise over on the EAST WALL it is open today and closed TUES, beyond that I will post info as I get it. WED is too early to call right now (mid day mon) and a decision will be posted re will the east open WED. likewise Thurs & Fri look like a full close with SAT being the morning of check for damage and hopefully opened up.

SO, the WEST WALL will shut 1/Tues, 2/WED, 3/Thurs,4/Fri and open sat, hence the 4 winds 🙂
I hope you all have a great week and until the next yarn I spin I will bid you all ADIEU and shout out BHAFC are TOP OF THE LEAGUE 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
TTFN
F