Anna called for an ambulance and whilst waiting for it to arrive, the operator stayed on the line in support mode, which was very reassuring. Before the ambulance arrived, a lone paramedic turned up by car and it transpired that we knew each other from when I worked in Brighton and he had in fact been one of the paramedics that had turned up to a bike crash I had a few years ago! Must admit, it was good to see a familiar face and it helped to put me at ease during this stressful time. Once the ambulance arrived, I was loaded on board, given a load of Morphine (nice) and taken to the RSCH A&E and then up to the cath lab, where instead of administering clot busting drugs, they did an angiogram followed by angioplasty, where a stent was placed to open up the blocked artery.

After a few days care in the hands of the coronary care unit, I was released to go home and recuperate. I have to say that the care I received was first rate and showed the NHS at it’s very best. The staff were incredible and a credit to the profession.

I’m now well on the way to a full recovery, although not allowed to drive for another few weeks which is a bit of a bummer. I still have to go back in a few weeks time as there is another artery that is causing some concern and may have to have another stent fitted. Once all that is sorted, I’ll be on my way to full fitness again, although I’ll be monitored by the cardiac rehab nurses and have to get used to the new drugs I have to take now. Hopefully, I’ll be up and running again in time for the spring Squid hunting down at the marina.

Now, apart from the obvious bad points, having a heart attack is no fun. Being a bit of a hirsute person, it was bloody painful when they later peeled off the adhesive heart monitor lead connector patches stuck all over my upper body – cheaper than a body wax but not my idea of fun. My chest now resembles the coat of a mangey old hound with bare patches everywhere. My bruised groin, although a fetching purple and green colour is no good when the other side doesn’t match!

The good points to come out of this; I got to see my eldest daughter for a few days after she travelled down from Sunderland to check and confirm that I was still alive. My Mother came up to visit and made her first coach trip from Southampton to Brighton. My wife Anna – unruffled, calm and bloody fantastic. She’s had to put up with a lot, what with keeping everyone informed and being on the phone for hours, looking after Alex, acting as a hotelier for my daughter, visiting me in hospital and generally keeping everything running. You are one in a million my love – thank you

Once there, I settled in at bay 30 and setup one rod with some micro sized Sabiki lures and another rod with a 2 hook flapper baited with the worms. The bait rod was cast out and I then set about the business of cast and retrieve with the lures.

For the period I was there, the bait rod remained static, with no indications of interest apart from the one knock which resulted in an 8″ Flounder, which had taken the bait after I changed over from a flapper to a running leger with a beaded up trace. There was no interest whatsoever on the Sabikis.

With nothing showing and the tide dropping away, I gave up at about 6pm. The only upside is that no Rockling showed up, which can only be a good thing!

Undeterred, I trudged across the shingle and started to set up the rods. After the first was done, I had to have a short break to warm the hands and fingers up before doing the next one. Big baits were the order of the day to try and avoid any small Whiting and Rockling, so one rod sent out with legered DVice 3/0 hook crammed with lug and squid, second rod out with whole squid on 4/0 pennel rig. It was then a matter of keeping warm and waiting!

Although freezing to start with, later on, as cloud covercame over, it actually felt like it was warming a bit – so much so that I had to open the main zip on my ABU floaty suit as I was getting a bit too warm.

Fish wise, I ended up with a few Whiting and the dreaded Rockling ’slugs’ which still manaed to get themselves hooked on the worm baited 3/0’s. Not a great start to 2010 but at least it wasn’t a blank. May leave the beach for a while now as the Rockling seem to be in abundance and the cod having moved off before I could target them in earnest. Will now concentrate on the Herring at Brighton Marina if the seas clear out.

I’d just like to take the opportunity to say thanks to all who have read my witterings over the last year and hope you have a great Christmas and a productive and happy 2010.

We took delivery of our new car last week as it had been time to get rid of the old wagon, a 2001 Renault Laguna Sport Tourer. It was a toss up on the new one, between a Renault Scenic or a Citroen C4 Picasso. In the end, the Citroen won as it was the only one that was both diesel and automatic; not really strictly an auto but EGS which basically is like a sequential manual box but can be used in either auto mode or manual shift via ‘Flippy flappy’ paddles. Engine wise, I opted for the 1.6 litre HDi turbo diesel which combines reasonably good performance with good economy. I’ll miss the performance of the 3.0 litre V6 I had but 50+mpg is a damn site more attractive than the 20 I was getting before.

We haven’t done a long distance trip yet but so far, it has proved to be an absolute joy to drive – comfy, roomy and with plenty of ‘toys’ to fiddle with. The seats are a bit on the firm side firm but are supportive with plenty of adjustment to get the driving postion just perfect. All the controls are well laid out, with the vast majority being controlled from the multi function steering wheel central hub which remains static and independant of the steering wheel itself. It’s a bit weird at first but is a fantastic idea and something I think other manufacturers should think about.

As for fishing – well there’s plenty of space for all the stuff I usually lumber myslef with, so there’s no problem there. I just must be careful and remember not leave items such as buckets with bait remnants and other stuff lying around in the boot to fester and ruin that lovely ‘new car’ smell.

There were loads of Whiting from the off, with many double shots of small to medium fish on the lugworm/squid combo but some really decent sized ones of around the pound mark (with one in particular at 1lb 10oz) on the bigger baits. It was pretty frantic at times with both rods rattling and bouncing away with bites at the same time. I swear there must have been a carpet of the things as the rods were going virtually as soon as the lead hit the bottom. As the tide rose and approached peak, the bites dropped off until there was nothing happening at all. Having been reduced to just scraps of bait, I decided to call it a night and head for home safe in the knowledge that I had enough Whiting to keep Anna happy in the kitchen.

Ended the night with a dozen keepers which are now all cleaned, filleted and skinned and ready for Thai fish cakes and fish balls.

All in all, a cold but busy and enjoyable night.

On arrival, I saw a very lumpy sea with some large rollers and big wave dumps up onto the shingle. A Strong Westerly breeze was coming straight along the beach. The sky was overcast but with clear patches. Wind did die down later – as did the fishing.

Fished just one rod with legered DVice and alternating between big lug and squid baits. First couple of casts saw the wind hold the DVice in the air and push it back which meant it was landing down-tide, where it had difficulty gripping the seabed properly. To ensure proper gripping and bait placement, I walked up-tide, cast out, let bait settle and then walk back to the rest.

It was hard fishing and only had three Whiting before 10.30 and nothing until around high water when I missed the mother of all pull downs. How I missed it I don’t know because the rod was still bending while I picked it up and briefly felt a dull thudding at the other end before the dreaded slack line and no resistance – indicating fish off!

It was all dead then until just before I left when I retrieved my last cast and found one small unfortunate Whiting had been unlucky to hit my bait.

Anyway, that was it for the session. Crap fishing but I nice bracing night out.

To cut a long story short, I fished until about 1am when I had to pack up due to running out of bait. The conditions had been ok, even if it was a bit a bit wet and windy. Although no Codling showed, there were enough Whiting to keep things busy; most being reasonable size, with two being good table size. The great majority of fish fell to the lugworm and squid cocktail at about 50-60 yards out but a few did take the whole squid in the surf.

The water was gin clear and with virtually no movement, so I wasn’t expecting much at all, it was just great to be out on the beach. Worm rod was sent out at distance, while the whole squid was lobbed out a few yards in the hope of a lurking Bass.

Not much to write about really, so I’ll just give a brief total for the night. Finished at about 2am, so worked out at about 8 hours fishing. Loads of Whiting but none in the decent keeper bracket, three small rays and some Pout. The Pout went out as bait in the hope of a decent Bass being tempted but by the way they were coming back with the tell-tale ‘V’ notch taken out of the neck area, they had obviously been attacked by squid. That being the case and me not having any jigs with me, I gave that up.

Anyway, it was a decent night to be out and did get some fish, so not all a loss. This coming week should give some better results with a shift in the wind and hopefully some movement and colour to the water.

I set up the ‘experiment’ rod with a long lead link, running leger with a 6′ trace terminating in a 4/0 pennel. I mounted the Launce on the hooks and lobbed it out into the waves. I had brought another rod to see if there was a Codling about, so set this up with a DVice on a running leger baited with lugworm and squid. I cast this out before returning to hold on to the Bass rod.

First fish of the night came about two hours before low water and was a nice fat Whiting of about a pound. This was soon followed by another of identical size. While dealing with this second fish, I heard the other reel give two sharp tugging runs but by the time I got to it, there was nothing there. On retrieval, the Sandeel had been absolutely smashed and was in tatters. Both rods were rebaited and cast out again.

At low water, I felt a huge take on the Bass rod and lifted into a fish. as it it slid through the waves, I could see that it wasn’t the expected Bass but a decent sized Whiting. From then on, it was a long succession of Whiting, some were good table size.

It wasn’t until about 3 hours before high water that the Bass seemed more confident and were hitting the Launce hard with long, ragged runs. None were huge, all being in the 2-2½lbs range but good fun all the same. all were taken just behind the first breaker in the turbulent water, no more than 10 yards out. I missed several runs through not being attentive or when I left the rod in the rest while dealing with the other road. Now I know that when Bassing, you should only use one rod and that it should be held at all times but I can never resist the temptation to have another rod out for anything else that may be around. If you play it this way, you will pay the price and may miss THAT fish.

By 2.30am, I had run out of bait and so with a couple of hours of the flood and hour of the ebb tide left, I had to call it a night. It was not an amazing night but it was enjoyable one with a total tally of five Bass and many Whiting. Next time, I’ll make sure I have enough bait to see me through.