Turdsday, why Turdsday ? well tbh that is what the fishing was yesterday up until close of play. On arrival I was told the shop was shut, but then things on the wall and locally have been a bit pants lately and dispite the overall reduction in weed issues on the east wall a fair amount of beaches locally are still dealing with weed issues so that may be a factor in the shop being quiet… either that or anglers are simply going to other shops.

Added to the shop issue the fishing quite simply was crap hence the report is all about Turds-day !. On arrival there was one person on the lower level and most there were simply tucked a little out of sight beyond bay 12.
Me: any fish ?
them ? that sort of glassy stare of boredom in return and a shake of the head and so I rolled the quad upto and beyond bay 12 without the wheels thumping at least one red post as I lined them up to the gap, quite an achievement and saves inflicting shit on my fragile spine. As it turned out I managed the full up and down again this time without hitting anything so at least my spine was happy 🙂 there were one or two regulars who seemed happy too see me often with a grin on their faces (where else would a grin be but on a face ! eh) Should also have said yesterday It was nice to catch up with Miraj who was fishing with family members I think he said over from Canada , boy is that a damned long way too go fishing in Brighton! at least they have decent weather for the week here.
Familiar faces by the half way up point, 5 fishes 0 ! as I continued up the story was the same familiar faces, 5, 6, 7, 8, catches ? yup zero . Now while this sounds crap, many were feathering and not so many had bait in the water so bait rods in were not many although as I trundled along more were arriving for the early evening session to, erm , have a go. Ive no idea how many fished the morning’s high tide and am not sure who was on duty from opening until Ali arrived so all I had was a few shaking heads on what was a dropping quite small tide.
On reaching 55- to 60 the days fun began with a resident collaring me with concerns for a Gull that had some netting wrapped around a leg and what also appeared to be some fishing line protruding a couple of inches behind its tail feathers so I suspect it may also have the ends of a fishing trace also stuck in its body.
All attempts to chatch/resue it were in vain, is could fly with little to no issues and tbh didnt look that hungry so wasn’t having any attempt to capture it despite quite an assortment of food including small sprats. I did learn after a while (from bird rescue people) that the bird had been seen on the black rock site the day before and may have been tangled for a few days so eventually all attempts to catch it were stopped.

And so the wheels were pointed back down the wall and after a fair bit of gossiping I wound up on bay 7 for a dabble with a light rod & a 2 hook flapper flicked out with black & tips of squid not expecting much tbh.
By this time a few more bods had arrived and the lower bays did have quite a few people on them as well as the standard arrival of those seeking the “M” word. And so the day wound down towards 8.15 when I put the rod away and headed up the wall reminding peeps of the time and when we close the wall. Scores on the doors were, a shad caught on the bend of which a quick explain that the fish was a protected species thus should be retuned and the dude got a quick piccy and I returned the fish as carefully as I could. There were 2 decent conger got to a net on bay 47, witnessed and lost of which one they estimated of about 20lb. The guy was gutted as he had been using fairly light line and lost both due to line breaks under pressure and was still muttering about using heavier gear so next time ……. 🙂
I suspect the 2 congers were the days highlights for those that saw them as there was little joy on the rest of the wall along the straight section clocking up a mere couple of pout . Lower bays basically produced pout and micro’s such as blennys and a crab or two. For myself I racked up a huge hall of 2 blenny’s and 4 pout of which one was a double shot which at least made it partially interesting.

Im happy too say that the wall cleared quickly although one family had thought we had a 9.30 close. Its not the first time some have thought this and im not too sur why some are arriving and thinking 9.30 is the close time so Im guessing that there is a notice on a website somewhere with the wrong info as this year shut is defo 9pm until make changes it to probably 8.30pm.
And with that my final words are (if you are on the wall) that I will see you later on the wall today and for now I will bid you all ADIEU
F