Morning all, not Rawhide as the title suggests just a rare moment of updating the blog. So, whats going on out there.
Dave G with Ashley T got busy during th week with deck scrubbers and buckets of sea water as mentioned in an other post. Its back busting to do and I cant say I was over shocked when they weren’t back the following day to smash the rest of the wall but, they did a great job and the wall barrier fence has now been moved up to bay 42 and no doubt like yesterday people were allowed beyond to fish the higher bays, yes all of the wall can be opened if dry enough beyond 43.

Fish wise I guess things could be better but all this sudden good weather can be deceptive. We are still only in April and looking at my older records as my memory now somewhat fuddled with age I can see that April/May can be fickle months with some of the years being quite poor when things like weather blows, storms etc, and even good weather dragging “May rot” out to play early causing very varied conditions and mixed fishing.
Yes there have been up until the last 2 years or now 3 spring seasons we have had a decent squid run & a mackerel run often of larger “harvester” mackerel that could last 10 days to two weeks in April.
No doubt ive said this a few times to people but I’m convinced (particularly in spring) the squid & mackerel run are linked or even symbiotic. Without one the other seems lacking. As to if its squid that is the lead or the mackerel they sure do look like being tied together.
“May Rot” also can be a big factor this time of year (various boats already remarking on the rot being out there) If we get the early spring sunshine in March the water temps can raise enough to trigger the bloom activity early so that we end up with “May Rot” starting early April and being as the rot survives at specific temperatures if the water conditions remain calm without huge amounts of sunshine in April/May that algae bloom can last quite easily thorough both months & has been known to be still stubbornly clinging on well into June. The firs signs of it do seem a little late this year and now that we are being told that there will be a mini heat wave ( how long ? no idea) I can see conditions perfect for the bloom to rapidly multiply.

This year for me has already seemingly started quite slow on the fish front. Fek I thought last year was slow but this one seems worse. Yes we could all speculate as to why & most will at some time suggest over fishing or them monster trawlers ( I cant see any good about them regarding maintaining fish stock levels) but at the end of the day either the fish are moving into deeper waters or they are simply put in decline. The last 3 years have been the worst I can recal, I guess these things may go in cycles longer than I know or realise but at end of day , catches are down , not just on the marina but I suspect the whole of the south coast shorelines. On this Ive no answers and probably could go on for ever about over fishing but, if it is the case us rec anglers while on a lesser level than commercial are also adding to the problems of declining stocks …. a tough one to face.

Ok , sermon over, what’s happening on the marina ?
As said anglers have access to bay 43 now and if conditions allow we can open the whole wall. Thee west remains closed. thus no night fishing the marina.
Catch wise things remain sluggish and catches come in bursts. Of the weekend there have been a variety of catches but the numbers are tough going for many.
Bream, strap conger, dogfish, pout, plaice, Flounder (possibly dab, cant recal if this or last week they were mentioned) dogfish, Herring seem to have fizzled out as the water temps raise, rumour of a mackerel or 2 but they near non existent. Smooth hound pups, more dogfish,, gurnard (prob 1st reported this yr) bass and some very small schoolie’s (returned) not sure if any wrasse have been had yet but they should also be making a showing & bye this point you may also realise that the most plentiful of catches do seem to be dogfish & this seems a similar story for most of the Sussex coast line.
Now, while the species list gets longer as we get deeper into the year, the catch rate does seem to be low. Some of this may be the lack of numbers o the wall but for many fishing its not for lack of trying.
I fished high on the east yesterday. I got there quite late in the day with my youngest son, prob just b4 2 pm so was well into the dropping tide of which little seems to be happening (atm). we fished until about 6.30 pm and had 2 small plaice, yes I blanked but it was more about getting out and wetting some worm in the good weather. More about the chill out than an expectation of actually fishing or catching something.
The bones are sore today but then these days thats the down side of getting out fishing…. or just getting out sometimes.
The weather bar prob Sunday looks decent & weatherman say, get the wellies & rain coats out ready for the weekend or at least Sunday as things stand.
No planned closes on the east for the next 7+ days or so, WEST as said remains closed as work is on going on that side, tus , no night fishing until the west re opens later in the year.

ATM close time on the east is
weekdays 6.30am until 6.30pm
Sat/Sun 7.30pm close
Finally a reminder to all using the east late afternoon/early evening The times shown are when the wardens are expected to be locking the gates, so please as things get to 7pm, start to pack down so you are all off the wall by close time. Hanging back and being the last off the wall at 7.45 pm does no one any favours and closing the wall later than agreed with the marina will only cause issues if we request special close times for any events or even specific tides,
Help the wardens please and ensure you are off the wall by close times , ty
And, with that reminder I will say, tight lines folks and until next time, I bid you all ADIEU
F