Oh goody , Its a Sunday morning (just)round up 🙂
Took the quad for a wander yesterday onto the EAST about 4ish for a gossip and catch up. Quiet a few more people (makes a change as for June things have been fairly quiet in numbers and considering only one wall open there was plenty of space for all. Alex was on bay one and mentioned that he had a cuttle fish on a lure, pic was on Facebook so already new but its always good to hear the details behind a piccy.
While chatting he said where he was things seemed quiet but there had he was told been a few mackies in the morning further along the wall.
A couple of bays from Alex was another “older” familiar face and I’m sure if he was reading this he would chuckle so please excuse the language( I will show him if I see him) but bugger me, the old bastard was proudly showing off a legit Euro Citizen card that the local constabulary had provided him with. I shan’t name the bugger but I recon he will chuckle at this turn of phrase for him being as he was such a sodding pain on his summer visits to the west a few years ago. Rumour of his passing it seems was not the case and in a way was pleasantly surprised to see him still with us and still kicking.

I sold some squid to regulars on the next bay and continued up the wall chatting to most and by bay 12 it seems things had improved over Alex’s view of what was going on with a few bream having been caught and one fairly newish regular stopping to chat on his way off the wall..

I know he usually reads the blog so should easily Identify himself from our convo about catching 2 bream for a change after I suggested a couple of changes to how he targets them. Where he was fishing there was loads of blennie takes while he tried for bream, ( suggested another slight change to his rig next time) and he saw quite a few fish caught around him further up. And with that and a quick pull down of his floppy sun hat against the breeze on the upper level he was off home . By now you should all realise that….. yup I cant remember his flipping name… as usual.

Anyhoo bay 12, they had seen some bream, a mullet & and mackerel earlier in the morning but things had slackened on the low so a sluggish slog was there as most waited for the tide to rise. Come the High at 2pm(ish) there were sporadic mackerel and one gent on @14 had a small mutt. As I followed the bend there were a few Joey mackerel being caught so asking some people how they were getting on was less easy as they like many suddenly switched attention to the water as that very particular “mackerel fever” kicked into peoples heads.

The time was about 4.45pm and sort of every 4th bay along the straight section(some call it the front section) one or two mackies were coming out so an accurate catch fix was not forthcoming. Thus I trundled the wheels along past 29 to @35 where a couple of dudes were looking glum as they could see fish coming out and much to their dismay and not for want of trying hadn’t caught a thing.

I stopped for a quick chat and suggested to take the multiple lures of the rod set up and go with a set of feathers, they were sceptical (not too sure why) possibly due to their lack so far of fish so I pointed out that most around them were catching at a steady tick over to be met with the usual comment
“yea boss but no fish here”
So using one of Dave Grinham’s old puns said to them… tell ya what I will open the fish gate..

Well sod me, ya could have knocked me down with a feather as a small shoal sort of exploded the water straight in front of me ! I trundled off with a parting comment of
“see, bet you wished you had put the feathers on sooner” while they had a mad scramble finding and trying to untangle a new set they ripped out of the packet too quickly thus making it all the harder to rig up.

by this time there was a couple of “mini” shoals ranging up and down the straight section from 22 right up to about bay 45 so again catch reports were vague, from one pair all I got was yea not bad, had a few different things and I could tell they were reluctant to expand soooooo I will spill their secret, they were on bay 43 🙂

strangely for a fairly busy Saturday there were very few above 45 until I reached 58 where there was a small group who were having I guess what can be best described as a mixed ok but not great day who when asked said the mackie burst hadn’t reached them but tbh were not that fussed as it was nice & quiet people wise where they were.

Final trundle of the day westwards hoooooooo.. was up to the lads fishing 74 who were quite happy watching the world tick by away from the loons that can constitute fishing the walls sometimes at the weekend. A quick chat indicated they had no desire to be amongst the mackerel thanks v much like and I turned around and headed back down the wall.

then I could see that most were filling their cool boxes, yes there were plenty that had come prepared, so for some a quick word about dispatching fish rather than having them suffocate here & there I trundled along the wall. All in all I was pleased to see that most were sorting their fish as they came off the line into mostly cool boxes, a few fishing bags and some carriers. The bulk of the anglers were also keeping their bays sensibly tidy although I did have a chat with some 1st time visitors regarding glass and that their next visit could they bring cans for the bottle beer and one group who preferred “summat stronger” to swap the bottles for plastics of some form.
Now I do respect that most will clean up everything when they leave, but, I will always remind people that we have a no glass policy & I do Understand they clean up behind them but there is always the chance of an accident or that one gush of wind that will knock a bottle over.
NOW, you would think that picking all the glass up is easily done but there is always that one… or 2 bits of glass slivers that hide themselves in some crack or crevasse on the wall & it then sits there awaiting the one victim who has kicked their shoes off to cool their feet… I don’t need to explain the rest.
so please folks , help us & please dont pack glass, TY.

Finally a quick round up from facebook reports for those that dont use or look there & thanks to NEIL a wall regular for posting his report that I can use as part of the also caught yesterday Items of, Bass, Plaice, Smooth hound pups, Blennies, Pout, Scorpion fish, mullet, silver & conger eels. Locally last night Dev had a decent sized Undulate of the beach of which it seems there are much fewer about this year.

I left the wall I guess about 6ish and I believe there were still a few mackies being caught, the bulk of them were joeys and those I saw, just incase pics show on the fb groups & “experts” say they are too small… all i saw yesterday were in size !
Well thats it for today, I will again be on the wall around 4-5pm with bait & tacklebits so if you are reading this , say hi, I may not remember your name but I will stop and chew the fat with you for a few minutes 🙂
And so, we come to the end of todays ramble and until next time(tomorrows will be delayed as a hosp app in Brighton Yaaay no dumb traveling) I will bid you all ADIEU
F