Early codling were the target on this exploratory session at Seaford yesterday evening, on the off-chance they were in following the recent winds. Fished just East of the Beachcomber from 8pm through until 1am. HW at 10pm.
While I waited for darkness, I feathered for some mackerel which were there in their thousands chasing fry right up onto the beach. It’s always a fantastic display when you see mackerel feeding in a frenzy like this and in a world of self preservation, it amazes me that they will risk beaching themselves. By the sound of it, the people who were swimming just along from me got a shock too when they suddenly had hoards of mackerel and whitebait swirling around their legs.
Once dusk set in, I sent out a whole squid on a running ledger close in for any bass that may be around and on the other rod an up ‘n’ over rig with lugworm on a 1/0 hook at varying distances for the codling.
I was plagued with whiting all night (some a decent size) which were taking everything I chucked in – including the whole squid. It got to the stage where it really didn’t matter how far or how close I was casting, it seemed like there was a carpet of whiting. Mind you, I prefer it like that than there being nothing there and you come away empty handed.
At about 1020pm, the rod with the lugworm had a couple of taps then pulled down hard and I lifted into fish which definitely felt bigger than the whiting and with the tell tale nodding indicative of codling. A short while later and my first codling of 2009 hit the beach. In the hope of hitting a shoal, I quickly re-baited and cast out again to roughly the same spot – about 80 yards out. Sadly though, no more codling for the rest of night. After that it was more and more whiting – which were still biting as I left.
Haven’t been out for a while, so yesterday I thought it about time to have a chuck down at Brighton Marina in the evening and have a go for some sole. I picked up some fresh lugworm and ragworm from The Tackle Box and then made my way over to the east arm. I decided on taking the hike out to the higher numbers and eventually settled myself in bay 58 at about 6pm. It was a glorious warm evening, although perhaps too calm, with no wind at all and a flat calm sea.
As it was still daylight, I started with one rod using a two hook flapper baited with luworm and lobbed it out to see what was about. I rigged up another rod and stuck on some Sabikis and tried my luck at trying for some mackerel, even though it was perhaps too bright. Even so, I managed one quite quickly and then nothing, so gave that up.
I had intended to use a close in bass rig but this plan was scuppered on two counts, firstly by the huge amounts of slimy, Spaghetti like weed that was infesting the water near to the wall and was clogging up the hook and sinker soon after casting; secondly lack of fresh mackerel which failed to show up.
As dusk came, I concentrated on sole. Two rods were set up with identical two hook sole rigs in size 4 and baited with either fresh lugworm, ragworm or stinking, evil ‘sticky’ lugworm that I had found in my fridge leftover from my last session.
Bites were quick to come but the first few fish were Pout and two ‘snotty’ eels that completely wrecked my rigs – thankfully I had made a few, so little time was wasted, re-rigging. As an aside, this is where I find the ‘Tronix’ rig winders far superior to the rig wallets I used to use; just clip on and unwind – no more hassle of tangled rigs.
The first soles to hit the deck were slips and then then a nice one of 32cm which was to become lunch. This was followed by another slip and then back to Pout. The surprise of the night was a small thornback which reached the dizzy weight of 1lb 2oz – much bigger than the usual palm sized creatures. This was the last fish of the night although I did bring in a Spider Crab that was hiding amongst a huge ball of spaghetti weed that had to be hand lined up it was so heavy.
I stuck it until about 3am before calling it a night and making the long walk back to the car and heading for home.
Bit late this one and not much to write about but here goes:
Fished the east arm at Brighton Marina on Friday evening from 8pm through until about 2am. Baits were ragworm, Peeler Crab, mackerel (heads and fillets). Although nothing spectacular landed, it was ok for for the species count. The final tally was:
6 x smooth Hound pups (biggest abt. 2lb)
3 x sole slips
2 x schoolie bass
2 x mackerel
2 x scad
1 x Smelt
Numerous Pout
It was unusual in that the mackerel were conspicuous by their absence at last light. Whereas you would normally expect to bag up on a few, I only managed the two stragglers along with the scad and a lone Smelt.
I have to say, I was expecting a run of a few larger smooth Hounds over the high tide period but they failed to materialise which was a disappointment.
So all in all, not a momentous evenings fishing but it was pleasant being out on a lovely night.
Apart from a couple of disappointing mini sessions, I haven’t been out fishing since July having being struck down by some mysterious buggy/virus thingy.
Anyway, feeling much better, I thought I’d have a dabble at Brighton Marina yesterday evening to see what was about. After grabbing some bait from the Tackle Box, I headed over to the east arm and got myself comfortable in bay 25. Things looked promising with just a waft of a breeze and a nice warm evening.
Started off with a 3 hook flapper baited with ragworm which sent out about 30-40 yards. While that was doing its stuff, I set about trying to get some fresh mackerel to boost the bait supply. Although it was about low tide, I managed one on the first cast but that was to be it for the rest of the session with no more showing.
First fish to come in was a small smooth Hound which had taken one of the worm baits. This was sent back and the rig was re-baited and cast back out. This was when I noticed more weed building up. This was confirmed when on retrieving the next few casts, the weight and hook were festooned with a mixture of what looked like overcooked spaghetti and wet cat hair balls.
As darkness fell, I tackled down the mackerel setup and re-rigged it with a running ledger, baited up with some frozen Hermit Crab and launched it out to where I hoped there would be less weed. The flapper rig was taken off and a running ledger baited with mackerel head was chucked out.
A few more small smooth Hounds were landed but nothing of any great significance. I eventually gave up when the weed close in made it a nighmare with the big bait and there seemed little point in carrying on.
Fished the ‘Paddle Round the Pier‘ competition on the 4th July. This annual charity event is held on the East arm of Brighton Marina and is in aid of the RNLI, Rocking Horse Appeal and Surfaid International. Quite a few turned up and braved the sunshie, heat and crowds to do their bit.
After the book in, draw for walk off places and raffle, we headed off towards the end of the arm where it would be less crowded and should have been cordoned off for the event. I finally settled in bay 45 and started fishing.
Now I’m not really into the match scene and am not used to targetting small fish to build up a score, so I decided to fish as nornal and hope I got enough to get a good result. I stuck to my usual tactics of one rod with a two hook flapper baited with worm and mackerel strip which I hoped would get me some bream and the second rod with a large bait of mackerel fillet or head in the hope of a bass.
To cut a long story short, I should have done what the match regulars were doing and gone for quantity as my tactics resulted in an astounding catch of zero!
Anyway, it was a decent day out – sunshine, good company and a few quid for charity.
Full report can be read here Results from bottom of page 9 onwards (Opens in new window).
Comments (2) 
I was plagued with whiting all night (some a decent size) which were taking everything I chucked in – including the whole squid. It got to the stage where it really didn’t matter how far or how close I was casting, it seemed like there was a carpet of whiting. Mind you, I prefer it like that than there being nothing there and you come away empty handed.
