I had another early start at Brighton Marina yesterday morning in the quest for tasty Cephalopods and some practice for the upcoming 3rd All England squid Championship on the 8th of May. After a quick visit to the Tackle Box for some more leads (Cheers Eddy for opening up early), I headed over to the West arm and grabbed a spot at the ‘Float Only’ bays at the end about an hour after low water. The weather looked promising with an overcast sky, very light Southerly breeze and a flat calm and clear sea, so I was optimistic as I set up the now standard rig of float fished jigs. I bucked the trend of using pink jigs and within minutes had cast out a green Tronix jig to do it’s work in the current which was running quickly as the tide rose.
I guess it must have been around 9am when I had my first take which saw the float slide under the surface. As the creature got to the surface, it gave an almighty spurt, slipped the jig and disappeared. Buoyed up by the take, I was confident that others would follow and at about 10.30am, I had another take which saw another squid on the surface. I could see that it was comparatively small and so had no problem swinging it up without using the net. First one done, I worked the float through the swim in the hope of a quick follow up but it all went a bit slow with only a couple of missed takes.
Danny, one of the guys from the WSF internet forums turned up about 11am for a bit of a chin wag and fishy talk of plans for the summer. My wife Anna joined us half and hour later, wanting to see how her delicious squid dishes start out and how they’re caught; it also gave us the chance to blow the cobwebs away over losing one of cats on Tuesday when he had to be put down.
Just before mid-day and the top of the tide saw the action quicken when I had a take and a squid on, it looked pretty small and I thought I’d have no problem in swinging it when, despite the kind offer from a nearby angler to net it for me. The result? bloody thing dropped just as I was beginning to lift it. The next two successive takes resulted in the squid letting go as they were about to surface. Another take and some good netting by Danny saw a lovely Cuttlefish safely on the deck. It wasn’t until 1pm, after Anna and Danny had gone and two dropped takes later that I had another squid on; this one stayed on and was kindly netted for me by the guy in the next bay. His services were required shortly after when yet another squid was on. This one made it all the way to the net before slipping off at the last second.
There was no more action for me after this but at around 3pm, a local angler of many years, ‘Farmer George’ landed a good sized squid after he had settled in my bay. By 4pm I had had enough for the day, and as I was working that evening, I had to leave – pleased with the result but annoyed at the missed opportunities. With inclement weather forecast for the next few days, here’s hoping that by the time the squid competition comes around next week, the conditions calm and clear out, otherwise it means postponement.
My last couple of attempts at snagging squid at Brighton Marina have been dismal failures, with the last one being particularly annoying as I had one but lost it at the net. In an attempt to break my squid Duck for 2010, I was back at the marina early this morning, making sure I got a decent spot before the weekend hoards filled the spaces – although this time, the East rather than the West arm was the venue.
I was on location in bay 48 on the arm by 6.45 am on a lovely bright morning with just a slight Southerly breeze ruffling the surprisingly cloudy water; I was hopeful that the sea would clear later as the tide rose. I set up my gear and used the usual terminal tackle of a float fished Tronix jig – pink to start and green later and then back to pink. As high water wasn’t due until around 2pm (depending on which tide table you read), I wasn’t expecting too much in the way of action, so I just enjoyed the peacefulness of it all, having not been out too much this year. As the hours wore on, the breeze dropped and it got quite warm but the on the business side of things, I was still squidless.
After a few hours, Richard, one of the guys from WSF turned up with his mate Nick and started fishing a couple of bays along from me. Handily for me that they’d brought a drop net along (left mine at home again) because at about 1pm, I had a slow take and a squid was on. A minute or so later, after Richard guided the net-handling Nick, my first landed squid of 2010 was on the deck and what a relief it was too.
The rest of the day was dead, no further takes at all, not so much as a sniff. The only highlight was reuniting Fishyrob with his leather hat he’d lost the previous night and found by me while walking out on the arm today. I left the marina by about 4pm and once home, the days catch was cleaned sliced and fried for tea, there’s nothing quite like straight from the sea onto the plate freshness. Anna was going to do her squid casserole but we decided that today was going to be “Calamari” as Alex has been pestering me about squid since last year. The next one will definitely be going casseroled though. Here’s a few pictures of before during and after. Click on images for larger versions.
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Prepared
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Dusted
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Doing
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Done
Very brief report from another days fishing down at Brighton Marina yesterday, trying to catch my first squid of 2010. Having failed miserably on Wednesday, I started early, at about 6.30am and fished through until around 4pm. Fished the float bays at the far end of the West arm. End tackle was a 1½ oz rated float, suspending a pink Tronix jig.
Result? One squid which dropped just before being netted by the bloke just along from me about 2 hours into the flood. Apart from that, I was squidless and although disappointed, I didn’t kick myself too hard when I found that the squid were not present in large numbers and apparently only two were landed for the day.
I’ll be doing a visit again on Saturday but trying the East arm instead and see if I can’t lose my 2010 squid virginity!
Had my first outing today since the ticker problems. Decided to go light and target the squid at Brighton Marina, having heard that the critters are around.
Got to the West arm at about 10am to find some of the guys from WSF forums in the first bays and having had a few squid out already. I set up in the next vacant bay and started fishing in earnest – a float fished pink Tronix jig cast out and left out to drag through in the current. Despite my best efforts and using identical jigs, floats etc., I could not get a take at all. The squid seemed to be concentrated in one particular area, which sadly was not the one I was fishing in!
I stuck it out until around 3pm with a quickly dropping tide before calling it a day. Disappointed to blank but it was great to be out again, no problems encountered, no pains – I feel like I’m almost back to normal.
After Monday’s fantastic birthday, it was back to reality yesterday when I had to attend the RSCH for my 7.30am follow-up appointment in the Cardiac centre. I was there for a wire pressure test / angioplasty on another artery which had been a cause for concern.
After the initial book in, I went to the theatre at about 9.30 where the procedure was carried out. Suffice to say, the experience is not one that I would like to go through again thank you very much. The final result was that I needed a further two stents to open up the affected arteries. It was then back to the ward for the rest of the day to be spent lying on my back until the Heparin level in my blood had dropped sufficiently to enable the removal of the sheath (a tube inserted into the artery at the top of the leg through which the test wire and stents are inserted). Once this was removed, constant pressure had to be exerted on the site to stop bleeding and allow the natural clotting to close the hole. After this had been completed, I was allowed to sit up and after a further wait, I was allowed to get up and move around prior to being discharged.
Now that is all done, I can get back to full fitness, more family time, work and fishing!
Big thanks to all the staff of the cardiology centre at the RSCH. In the nicest way possible, I hope I don’t have to see them again.
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I had another early start at Brighton Marina yesterday morning in the quest for tasty Cephalopods and some practice for the upcoming 3rd All England squid Championship on the 8th of May. After a quick visit to the Tackle Box for some more leads (Cheers Eddy for opening up early), I headed over to the West arm and grabbed a spot at the ‘Float Only’ bays at the end about an hour after low water. The weather looked promising with an overcast sky, very light Southerly breeze and a flat calm and clear sea, so I was optimistic as I set up the now standard rig of float fished jigs. I bucked the trend of using pink jigs and within minutes had cast out a green Tronix jig to do it’s work in the current which was running quickly as the tide rose.
Just before mid-day and the top of the tide saw the action quicken when I had a take and a squid on, it looked pretty small and I thought I’d have no problem in swinging it when, despite the kind offer from a nearby angler to net it for me. The result? bloody thing dropped just as I was beginning to lift it. The next two successive takes resulted in the squid letting go as they were about to surface. Another take and some good netting by Danny saw a lovely Cuttlefish safely on the deck. It wasn’t until 1pm, after Anna and Danny had gone and two dropped takes later that I had another squid on; this one stayed on and was kindly netted for me by the guy in the next bay. His services were required shortly after when yet another squid was on. This one made it all the way to the net before slipping off at the last second.
