Well its been a while since I used that sort of heading but its been a few days since my last post so I thought I’d get my @rse in gear especially as I posted on the book of face that I had gone fishing…although there was little to no catching involved of which I will expand in a catch report further down this post.
So, Waaasuupp, well in spite of my 3rd blank in a row there are signs that the water is pulling itsself out of the doldrums … a bit. Yes, yes ,yes I said a few weeks ago almost the same but in my defence since then (the may rot ending) the weather has been up n down like some call girls knickers. Unusual wind patterns (my wife says im describing myself here!) forcing shut downs and very coloured water, seasonally low temps of air and water (global warming my arse!) and I guess shallower water than some venues such as Dover have all taken a toll on the inshore fishing patterns.
Yes the boats are doing very well but the fish seemingly have been reluctant to make the jump inshore which is what we all want. The lack of SQUID this and last spring also had a lack of the early spring run of mackerel that often hits the 1st two weeks of April failed to happen this year and likely as not is a combined event. Logic says the squid follow the mackerel shoals in and simply put, that didnt happen this year and may be something to the weather patterns, some Aprils in the past when walking the walls I have been getting some serious sun tan going on with hot Easters and very busy walls! now this year we have so many indicators of cooler conditions in the air and sea.
So is summer feked this year ? I doubt it, Im guessing Sept Oct will be milder and warmer than the usual average temps. So where does that leave us with the fishing ?, Id say not too bad if Sept/Oct is mild as the standard summer season will roll on for a few weeks keeping the traditional Autumn winds away for a while longer so I will keep my fingers crossed on that as the intent to hold the squid competition is still there for late October.
While on the topic of comps on the wall it is hoped to run some providing the fishing pics up and have in mind as well as the squid to likely run a bream comp on the west and a plaice comp on the East with perhaps a bass one also on the West one evening.
Righty ho, a catch report & round up starting with yesterday of which started with mackerel posts on the book of face from the morning high tide. There were also reports of bass on the low east bays of which chatter continued throughout the day and stayed while I fished on the east bay 9. No luck there for me even though my lad(forever known as JNR) managed a small bream at distance, little to no action for either of us until about 30 mins b4 the high when bites and bait robbing increased but try as I might it all proved fruitless and I swear the spidercrabs were down there waving their knives and forks screaming for more! I had 2 trace hooks cut clean off without a twitch from the rod.
Elsewhere on the wall that chatter of a bass turned into “some bloke has a small bass in his bucket” prompting me to go have a looksee under the guise of a cafe visit & general chat (yes I spent too much time yapping again!). One dude had 3 nice sized wrasse in his box and I advised him to change the water as it was warming up and also to gut the fish, the benefits ? fresh sea water an obvious one of preserving the fish better and gutting prevents the fish souring.
That bass that everyone could see with its tail up in the bucket ? well that one turned out to be a decent bream plonked on top of some large spider crabs being used as bait. As a result I suspect the low bays were as much a struggle yesterday as was the rest of the wall when I took the mobility scooter up the wall for a chin wag.
Please to say there were a fair few regulars out fishing in the late afternoon who ignored all the yapping from those that moan about how they wont fish the marina because its overcrowded. I arrived on the wall mid afternoon on a sunny Saturday 3pm ish and there were plenty of bays to chose from especially as we had planned on fishing somewhere between 8 & 14. As it turned out from my yapping(I claim I do it to find out whats being caught) there wasnt a massive amount of fish caught during the day.
So, what else was had other than the morning few mackerel and the bream & wrasse already mentioned. Well, a bream or two on the bend, likewise wrasse, I saw a gurnard further up and a couple more wrasse(please to see their numbers climb) mid wall produced wrasse, bream a smooth hound of about 75cm (RSL is 51cm) gurnard also scattered along the wall over the 2nd high of the day again there were mackerel on both walls but not in any numbers , those that caught were mostly single fish and it took serious work to get more.
The higher bays produced a mullet for Roy a couple of schoolies and wrasse again caught. Obviously they were not the only fish through the day but on my chats some had been on the wall since opening and the general story was “I saw a fish or two come up near me”.
Now, while the above sounds a bit grim the long range forcasts are looking better, The bump of wind Im watching on Tues has lessened and may end up nothing giving us a week of staying open and generally calmer waters. From mid week the temps creep from a lowly 18/19c up to 21/22s so the signs are there.
Through the week similar patterns to yesterday were repeated and the bass fishing in and off shore is good. Mackerel numbers have increased but no bursting shoals as yet. We also saw last night the return of horse mackerel and this mornings reports indicate some mackies again being caught.
What is really needed now is a decent spell of calm and sunshine to bring that water temp up & maybe next time I fish the east wall I will have a go around 30 ish & see whats going on…
It was nice to see plenty of familiar faces on the wall and I do my best to stop and chat but in doing so I tend to focus more on chatting and less than what I am trying to catch. Maybe that is more due to being on the EAST with more ppl wandering past and stopping for a chat or maybe the fish are not really there yet. Undecided now on weather to fish the East or West next time but the likely influence will be indicators that the bream are picking up properly on the west or not!.
Anyhooo, I think thats it from me today, so, until the next one I will bid you all ADIEU
F