Well, in a bid to try and find some species other than rockling, I felt a session at somewhere other than Seaford or Brighton was in order for last night. I knew some other members of WSF were going to fish at Widewater beach near Shoreham, so decided I’d join in.
I arrived at the mark just before 8pm – just about on high water which meant having to fish the tide down. I spoke to the other guys only to learn that it was only the dreaded 5 Bearded rockling being caught. The weather was fine but there were ominous dark clouds approaching from the North and appeared to be showering as they made their way towards us.
Undeterred, I set up one rod and fished a running ledger with size 1 hook alternating between lugworm, ragworm or cocktail of the two as bait. First couple of taps on the rod tip resulted in rockling. This was followed up by more rockling and then more. This continued for a while before stopping altogether.
With the tide dropping ever further and there being no more bites, I packed up at around 11pm and made the journey home.
I’m fairly confident that within the next couple of weeks, the pesky rockling will bugger off and leave the areas open for something with a bit more oomph.
Well that was a disappointing evening. Being restricted to a late evening session and not wishing to travel far so as to maximise fishing time, I got to my chosen mark at Seaford beach at about 7pm and fished opposite West View flats.
lug on a 1 hook long and low fished at varying distances only resulted in Pout and the odd whiting. Whole calamari on a pennel fished in close resulted in 1 Pout on the top hook and that was it.
Quite a nice clear night with no wind to start with with. Breeze picked up later and it just started to rain when I left at about 2.30am.
Think I’ll leave the beach for a while and try some new venues.
Spent a few hours yesterday at Brighton Marina East arm yesterday evening/night to catch the 2am(ish) high water. Arriving on the arm, I decided, as it was light, I would trot a jig on a float over the reefier inshore parts to see if any squid had turned up. Despite my efforts, none of the creatures showed up. Water was clearing nicely though, so they should be here soon.
After jigging, I started the ground fishing in bay 10. Baits for the evening were lugworm, ragworm and some peeler crab. Everything I tried resulted in Pout of one size or another. Cast after cast resulted in the blighters taking the baits. There was the odd whiting thrown into the mix. One good thing though, there were no rockling, so maybe they have moved off now for the year.
Although not brilliant in catch terms, it was a nice night to be out – clear sky, minimal wind and not as cold as it has been of late.
Last nightg was my first session at Brighton Marina for 2008. Although not really the time of year to fish there, I wanted a change of scenery and it’s pretty local and an easy mark. Not the best of sea conditions either with it being neap tides and high water predicted for 9.30pm. Arriving at about 6pm, the sky was overcast but no wind to speak of. Water was still and very coloured like weak coffee.
Chose the East arm and opted for bay 16 where I set up. One rod was tackled with DVice on running ledger with size 1 hook baited with lugworm alternating with ragworm. Second rod tackled with running ledger size 3/0 baited with half mackerel fillets.
Only fish of the night were 5 Bearded rockling and Pout which all took the worm baits. No touches on the larger bait.
Disappointing results but at least I was somewhere else and it made a change. Roll on the end of the month…….
I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of Spring and a change in the species lining up to be caught.
Wanting to get out for a few hours to take advantage of reasonable tides, I opted to have a session at Edinburgh Road at Seaford on Monday night. It was a lovely evening, a slight North West breeze with overcast sky which later cleared. I planned to fish from low tide up and over high tide at around 1am.
Armed with lugworm, ragworm and calamari, I fished two rods; one at range on a single hook ledger and one close in with a 3/0 pennel and whole calamari.
The only things that appeared to feeding were 5 Bearded rockling and Pout. Now this at least saved me from blanking but I am getting a bit fed up with only catching these critters. The whiting and codling seem to have now eventually disappeared but the Spring/Summer species haven’t yet arrived. Not long now though.
With no hint of catching anything decent, I gave up at 1am and saved my remaining bait for a later trip.
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Fishing
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brighton marina, seaford, sussex, WSF | 
