As a change from Seaford, I decided to have a stint down at Brighton Marina yesterday. Couldn’t get any lugworm, so instead, I got some decent king ragworm and some squid from the Tackle Box. I arrived on the East arm at about 7pm and was greeted by a light North Easterly breeze which was putting a little chop on the surface of the ebbing tide. It was a decent evening, quite sunny and warmish.
The idea was to fish the tide down and target bass over the low water period. After getting a space in bay 22, I set one rod up with a size 4 two hook sole rig baited with worm for scratching. Once this had been cast out, I set about getting some fresh mackerel for bait. It wasn’t long before I had a couple in the bucket and later on, just as the sun began to set, the mackerel went mad and were shoaling along the wall. I added a few more to the bucket before stopping. Once the bait collecting session was done, the rod was re-rigged with a long link running ledger, a long hook length ending in a single 5/0. I also had a similar long hook length but ending in a 5/0 pennel all ready made up. This gives the option of fishing a mackerel head on a single hook or a fillet or squid on the two hooker.
Nothing much happened during the time it was light, apart from the hooks coming back clean on the scratching rig but this all changed once it got dark. The whiting came on in a absolute frenzy, every cast brought in a double shot of the buggers, nothing of any size though. It didn’t matter where or how far I cast, it was whiting every time. To be fair, they were interspersed with the odd pout and even one small suicidal smooth hound pup of at least six inches.
It was during the retrieval of another double shot that I missed the one and only bass take of the night – a real screamer as the mackerel head was taken for a ride, only to be dropped within seconds. I never learn; I know I should always be near or holding the rod but I can never resist scratching to while away the hours of bass waiting.
Back to the whiting that failed to show any signs of stopping their gluttony. By now, they were also hitting the big bass baits, either ripping the guts from the head or shredding the fillet or squid. By 3am I came to the conclusion that there wasn’t going to be anything other than whiting (I’m a bit slow see), so decided to jack it in. I only had a couple of worms and squids left anyway and gave those back to the fish as a give away.
On Monday, I had a get together with Stax, an old friend I hadn’t seen since we finished school in Plymouth way back in 1976. I had headed off to live in Hong Kong and he had moved to New Zealand shortly after I left. Now a resident of Perth in Western Australia, he was over here on a six week touring holiday with his Wife, Christine but they could only manage a short stop over before having to leave for London on Tuesday morning.
We met up at their hotel and had a good chin wag, reminiscing about the old days and the fishing we did in and around the Plymouth area back in the 70’s. We couldn’t believe how back then, we would cycle and walk miles to venues all over the area in search of fish. Talk turned to old friends and what they were up to now and as you do at this age, who has since departed this mortal coil. We later went out to grab a bite to eat at the marina and then venture out to the east arm, so he could have a look at one of the venues I fish. The arm was closed due to the weather but he got an idea of what it’s like there. I have to say though, it pales into insignificance compared to where he fishes at a place called Steep Point (he manages the site) and what is caught. Jealous? I am a bit but how can that compare to pout, whiting and rockling?
The next morning, Anna, Alex and I met up with them for a coffee and more tales from the past before, sadly, they had to depart to get up to London for a couple of days before returning to Oz.
It really was fantastic to meet up again after all these years, so cheers mate for making the effort to get down here and hope to meet up again at some point.
I swear I should take up gardening, the amount of weed(s) I pulled up from Seaford beach tonight. Thought I’d have a session there to use up some launce I had left over from Friday night, plus some lugworm kindly donated by DannyC. He’s still so excited by his bass, that he had to take the night off and calm his nerves by tidying his tackle box.
Anyway, I got to Edinburgh Road at about 7.30pm, walked onto the beach and saw a lovely lumpy sea with plenty of breakers but it was choked with that bloody weed again, right in close where I wanted to fish. Not only could you see big dark rafts of it on the surface, you could see the ‘spaghetti’ stuff in the breakers. Not to be put off, I tackled up – one scratching rod with size 4 two hook flapper baited with lugworm and the bass rod with a running ledger, 4/0 pennel baited with the launce.
There was nothing happening until dark, apart from some marine gardening, during which, I did my best to single handedly clear the English Channel of it’s undergrowth. First fish was a whiting that that took the bass bait when it had no business doing so, it was about the same size as the launce and should have known better. Next it was a repeat of Friday night – whiting double shots until the worm ran out.
The first and only bass of the night didn’t arrive until just before high water and weighed in at an incredible (estimated) one pound! There was another suicidal whiting that tried to swallow a bait bigger than itself and got nabbed on the top hook of the pennel.
I stuck it out until about two hours after high water and then gave up as a lost cause. I hope this damn stuff goes soon, otherwise it’ll be another weeding post next time.
Went to Seaford beach yesterday evening for a bass hunting session. Got the the Edinburgh Road area at about 7pm for a 9.30pm high water. I was met with a brisk SW breeze and lumpy water and to my dismay, rafts of floating weed close in.
I joined up with a few other guys – Dannyc and Ant and after having a chat, I picked a spot just East of them. One rod was set up with a size 4, two hook sole rig baited with lugworm and the bass rod rigged with a running ledger ending with a 4/0 pennel pointy bit baited with launce.
It wasn’t too long before I had a hit on the bass rod, it was a bass but not a large one, just a schoolie of about a pound. Sadly that was the one and only hit for the rest of the session for me on the bass rod, even after a change over to a squid bait. The other rod however was constantly being hit by whiting with numerous double shots.
Danny had a good result with a bass of 3lbs that took a whole squid; at last he had broken his Seaford jinx after many fishless sessions there on the past.
The weed on the night proved to be a real bloody pain in the ‘arris clogging up end rigs which were being fished close in. It was the horrible stringy ‘spaghetti’ weed which takes ages to remove from rigs. Further out, it wasn’t too bad and was more easily tackled.
The lads left at about midnight and I wasn’t far behind, packing up at about 12.45. I’m out there again tonight and hope that the weed has moved on a bit, although I reckon the SW winds will keep it pinned inshore for a while.
Had a session at Brighton Marina last night, on the East arm along with some fishing pals, dannyc, Mr codling and antonfish. We set up in the high 50’s on a still evening with the tide dropping to a 10pm low water. The idea was to fish low water up in the hope of some bass action.
I set up one rod with a size 4 two hook sole rig baited with lugworm and chucked that out about 50 yards or so. I tried for some fresh mackerel using small sabiki feathers but only succeeded in hitting three scad and a few small pollack and pout that went into the live-bait bucket.
Once darkness fell, I set up the bass rod with a live-bait slider rig and sat back and waited… and waited…
In the meantime, I had some limited action on the sole rig, landing an under-sized sole, more pout and a ‘snotty’ eel. Once the live bait had expired, I switched to ‘joey’ mackerel heads on a long link running ledger and once those had gone, went on to use small calamari sized squid. This all proved to be a fruitless exercise, with nothing showing any interest in my offerings.
By about midnight, the other guys decided to pack in and head for home, while I, in my ever growing optimism, opted to stick it out for a couple more hours. This turned into a session of drowning worms and star gazing as nothing happened apart from some more pout and another slip sole. Feeling a bit deflated, I left at about 2am.
I was originally going to hit Seaford beach but had changed my mind in favour of the marina. I wish I’d stuck with the first option because at least there, I’ve had some success on the bass front and there’s always the chance of some decent whiting amongst all the bait robbing ‘pins’.
Ah well… Seaford will be the next session later in the week.
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