Well as the title says I wont start with any fibs and big the fishing up by saying how wonderful it all is at the moment. To be brutally honest it a bit tough going! While saying that all the signs offshore are right for a fantastic summer , yea I know how the fek does that help right now coz you lot want some fish to catch.

So whats wrong ? IMO the MAY rot has got a good grip, water temps have not risen that much and we are still getting lots of northerly breezes (usually helpful) that are keeping the night air temps chilly , and with the northerlies not very strong the algae is not being blown out to sea to disperse. The result is the water has stayed a cloudy green that does the fishing no favours for species that like to rise through the water depths.

We have a dredger working inside the marina, mixed good and bad, the dredger and the ship that carries the crud away often disturb the fish but there is a bonus when the dredger works the entrance. The entrance is often crammed with sand eels and other burrowing grubs and sea species that the bass enjoy. Catch the dredger working the entrance with a favourable tide and the result is that the bass run the east wall on the feed ! Trust me, Ive seen it happen a few times and there is a sudden surge of bass caught as it happens.

So there we have it, 2 paragraphs on why ppl are struggling to catch and nothing much about what’s being caught other than a hint or two about Bass ?
Plaice are still in general barely legal sizes and most should really be returned, As I often say , If it wont make a decent meal, put it back to grow some more, take a pic & return it please.
Flounder & dab all but vanished although occasional flounder do get caught after a heavy rainfall.
Bass , ticking over quite well, averages that people are keeping fall into the 3-5lb sort of group, Lures and live prawn working well.
Gurnard, not had any reports directly but they should be out there on the sands.
Spider crabs are starting to build in numbers and its a good time to remind people that there is a minimum size of 12cm from nose to butt on the shell and a max of 20 crabs p.p. per day.
Wrasse, numbers of catches now slowly increasing day by day and are doing better than Bream atm
Bream, numbers still down most likely due to the may rot and more on the east wall than west at the moment but that should change soon.
Congers, seem to have made a showing this week just to tick me off as I said last week they seem to have tailed off in catches, perhaps they dont mind the rod as they have been caught on both walls this weekend.
Mullet , all I can say here is , where are they or .. where are the catch reports for mullet this year , noticeable by absence as yet.
Sole, there seem to be some good catches along the beaches this week but not yet reported on the wall, mainly as shut at night.
topknot, not a frequent visitor but one or two reported on the East this week.
Mackerel, a few being caught each day, usually close to high tide but they are not shoaling yet inshore.
Rays are showing up in a fair few beach reports now so should likewise start
As you can see from the above there are fish being caught but picking the right time and spot is not easy and there are too few clues to figure out what time would be best or where on the wall would be ideal for a decent session as yet.
TBH its somewhat frustrating as like last week the signs offshore are very good, the boats are coming back with plenty of fish for everyone be it wrecking for cod, pollack & bass or the inshore marks which are producing some very good bream, better conditioned plaice and a good number of rays. Add to that turbot trips all add up to it being worth booking one of the trips out of the Marina.
Dont want a full day ? well look to the lure boats for a 2-4 hour trip, they very definitely can put you over some nice fish.
So the future looks bright while the catch reports are light (see what I did there 🙂 ) Anyhoo for me with the gorgeous weather going on id say just do it, get out on the walls in the sun and simply chill with a rod or two in the water because you wont catch if you dont get them line out.

Enjoy the weather folks, until next time, over n out
F