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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

One scratching rod rigged with a size 4 two hook sole rig baited with black lugworm. The bass rod was rigged with a long link running ledger and using a long 8′ fluorocarbon hook length ending in a 4/0 pennel baited with large launce. The scratcher was cast out about 50 yards or so, while I kept the bass rod back until the light faded.

The first bites didn’t come until after sunset, at which point, someone flipped the whiting switch – the bloody things virtually hitting the bait as soon as it settled on the bottom. I wouldn’t mind so much if they were a decent table size but they weren’t, just little pins of about 15cm. There was one small schoolie bass of about 20cm in amongst the pins but it was the only one.

I think it was at about 9pm or so when I was joined by Graham (good to meet you by the way) – another guy who uses a couple of forums I’m a member of – WSF and Fishing Forum. We had a good old chin wag over various topics while I hauled in a few more whiting and then miss a lovely take on the bass rod which resulted in the fish dropping the bait after its initial run. Shortly after this, I had another run, shorter this time and less frantic but at least I got a fish onto the beach this time – a lovely conditioned 2½ pounder (pictured) of 46cm. If I remember correctly, this was at about 10.15pm about 3½ hours before high water. As for the whiting? I abandoned the scratching rod as it would just have been whiting all night and just concentrated on the bass rod.

I had another bass at about an hour before high water which was a small one at about a pound or so. Missed another take about half an hour later and then that was it for the rest of the night – distinctly quiet and fishless.

While I was standing there, frantically not catching fish, at least there was Perseid meteor shower to watch and keep me occupied. There were some real stunners, leaving trails that were visible for a few seconds afterwards. I was lucky really, as the day had been quite cloudy at times but this was a fantastically clear night, so had good views as they streaked across the sky.

Just before I left, I cleaned the bass and found a whole small squid in the gut along with two very small hard back crab, this got me wondering – is now the time to switch from launce to squid? I don’t know but the next trip will be a comparison, squid on one rod, launce on the other.

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Fished mackerel head on a long link running ledger for bass and used lugworm on a size 4 two hook flapper as a scratching rig. Could only get one wrap of lug so used very small pieces to make it last longer. As it happened, it ran out very quickly and resorted to small pieces of mackerel instead.

Final result was: Two small schoolie bass, one small bream, loads of Pout and one small Red Mullet falling to lugworm and a small thornback ray and a scad on the mackerel. I did feather for some fresh mackerel at dusk but only managed one. Nothing at all on the bass rod, even live baited with the Pout but nothing interested in it.

Disappointed at not getting anything decent – especially on the bass front but it was a decent evening out.

I hadn’t been able to get any lugworm, so had to rely on some peeler crab I’d obtained and launce strips for the scratching rod, which I set up with a DVice on a running ledger. I cast this out with the launce and set about getting the bass rod all ready for when the sun had gone down. The rig was, as usual, a long link running ledger ending with a 4/0 pennel setup baited with the lovely large launce, I had managed to get from The Peacehaven Angler.

When I returned to the scratching rod, I saw that there was loads of slack line, so retrieved it only to find a mackerel had taken the bait on the bottom – more bait! Apart from that, there was no other interest shown in the offerings I was chucking out.

As darkness fell, I swapped the launce for crab on the scratching rod but this only resulted in more whiting in the same bracket as the previous night – all pins. Once the crab had been used, I went back to some mackerel strip instead but again this only produced whiting.

The slight breeze that there had been earlier, died totally leaving it very still, warm and humid – enough to get away with wearing just a tee shirt, although I did put my jeans back on after protests from a passing dog walker

The first proper action didn’t happen until about 11.15 when I saw a small pull down on the bass rod which resulted in a schoolie bass of about a pound. This was just after I’d spent a good while talking to another guy who had been fishing further along.

The next fish was at 1135 and was a better fish at 2½lbs which had really punched above its weight, giving a really good run and dogged fight which had me believing it was something a bit bigger. It was a nicely conditioned fish, lean and fit.

It wasn’t until an hour later that I had the next and last fish of the night, another schoolie of around 1½lbs. After this, it went completely dead with no further indications of any sort. I had anticipated at least one take during the hour period after high water but there was no interest shown at all. I gave it until 2.30 before calling it a day and heading for home. All three bass were taken at a range of no more than ten yards out. I think this is something people should bear in mind when targeting bass and should give confidence to those who are not great casters (myself included) and who perhaps try too hard to get those ‘extra’ yards. It’s not always about distance.