SO ! what a funny old week this one has been in RL (real life) 15 month kidney C all clear plus another all clear for a growth in my intestine (long story dont ask) while sort of waiting to post up daves news (see home page) and retirement. Knew the announcement was coming for some time but to actually see it posted live and know things are all changing on the marina has a strange feel too it and feels like a huge hole in normality, or at least mine.

As far as the website and facebook group are concerned there may be a minor change here & there over time but as such that will be no change and a straight carry on.
Yesterday took a pootle down onto the west wall part to socialise, part to catch up with the wardens working and part I guess to see what’s going on. As a result of that visit a bit of a long post (yup you have been warned) a catch round up and a little bit of musing over the last months fishing on the walls that IMO has been somewhat stand out in that it hasnt had the usual or expected patters for this time of year that most including myself have come to know.

Right then , a brief round up of the cathes and sea states etc and then onto one of my old bloke ramblings!….
:-Bass, yes , thank you very much, while the tides have got smaller this week and the catch rates seemed to have declined a little the bass catching has remained very consistent. Ask the likes of Lee “the plumber” or Robin & Phil the warden and they will tell you no doubt that the bass fishing is doing well, I suspect the sizes are down for this time of year normally but that does seem consistent with the rest of the last few weeks out there.
:-Bream, yep, as some would say I used the “B” word, well for the boats the bream fishing im told is superb yet on the wall this year (yea its still early) Bream catches seem quite a bit down, likewise so has the wrasse catches. yes we are still clogged with may rot but the proximity that the local boats are catching bream should indicate better than is on the wall… still the weather has been somewhat variable and IMO defo a cooler April on average than many recently.
:- Plaice, catches have ticked over at a good rate but again for me the sizes on average are quite a bit smaller this year, it may be in my head but again another common species on the walls that is off to a slower start than normal.
:- Squid, where are they ? I saw a couple of reports early April and then almost nothing over the last 3 weeks. Yes we are now on small tides and not expecting much but that “usual” squid run has not happened yet or its occurred further along the South coast… Ive not seen the usual pics asking about the egg clusters yet so have they or have they not come in to get Jiggy and spawn ?
:- Mackerel, intermittent and am told there are a few caught on the walls each day yet a mile out to see there are loads swimming about, many of the normal may species seem to be off to a slow start and we seem under a plague of hound pups and dogfish.!

As above the water is seemingly thick at the moment with dogfish and hound pups very much on the feed. Other activity on the walls and locally are the rays, mostly Undulates but also thornback there amongst the ray takes that seem quite common or dare I say normal for this time of year. Conger takes seem to have tailed off for now but no doubt will still tick off as the months pass on the walls. Gurnards are occasionally being caught out on the sand on the East but over all things have been quite sluggish this week.

Time of year ? probable (may rot very evident) Small tides ? probable, late start to season ? possible. What I can say though is that with social media more and more people seem to wait for catch reports and then go to the places that have had decent sized fish..IE report chasing. perhaps also a sign of the times that there is a lot less money about at the moment and finances mean that more are staying local to themselves until the summer reports start coming in with the warmer conditions.

Conclusions :- May can traditionally be a dull month, I suspect we all sort of look back and see last years fishing as better than this one so far but I also recall months on the wall in the past where the weather had been superb, sparking water and zilch being caught on the wall other than tiddlers down the V’s. To me MAY ROT or algae bloom is very evident in the water, just watch a boat pass and the water is churned into a pale milky green still. Some think its breaking but I saw very little sign of the algae fading or dying off. When it does many think its some level of pollution with its eggy sort of smell and brown foam like appearance and on small tides if it was fading there would have been much more froth or foam on the surface. Thus I guess the water is now warm enough to maintain the growth rate faster than the rate it dies off. May rot in May ! fancy that.

Temps in the air and water for April were low and we are still getting chilly nights, add that to poor catch reports along the coast all seem to add to a malaise and feeling of torpor or sluggishness of little happening so cant be bothered type of feel to everything !
I dunno, it may just be me but so far I’m sorta not feeling the get up and go that fishing can bring to everyone. Hopefully now that we are mid May the weather will finally improve and the fish numbers as well as the general quality quickly improves.

April I expected the squid run followed by a 10 day 2 week burst of mackerel, somewhat strangely it hasn’t happened and that also I think has added to the feeling that April was a very strange month and not the normal on the walls. May is looking a bit like very normal and sluggish until that algae bloom clears off. Best look, I guess to June and some nicer weather and much better fishing on the walls eh
until then.. adieu
F