After a bit of a break over the Christmas and new year period, it was good to get out again, even if it wasn’t the best session ever. I’d decided on Seaford beach as the first venue of the year, so headed off and arrived at a spot near the Beachcomber at about half and hour after low water. There was no wind and the sea was mill pond calm with a bit of colour and quite a bit of foamy scum stuff on the surface. The plan was to fish the tide up to the 10pm high water to see what was about and get the first fish of the year.
I set up two rods, both with size 2 two hook flappers baited with lugworm tipped with squid. One was cast out at distance and the other mid-range. It wasn’t until 6pm that I had the first knock on the mid-range rod and on retrieval, it turned out to be a double shot of dab and whiting – they weren’t the biggest fish but they were the first of 2011, so was glad to start off the year by not blanking.
This year, I’ve joined in on a species hunt competition being run on one of the fishing forums that I haunt, so was happy to get a kick start on that one. It’s not a serious competition but does give an idea of what is caught in the various parts of the region and is a light hearted bit of rivalry between members, although there is a prize at the end of the year.
At about 6.30pm the mid-range rod trembled and quivered giving an indication of a bite that couldn’t be anything else other than ‘the fish whose name shall not be mentioned’ aka the rockling or ‘slug’. On retrieval, sure enough it was. Now I had to go through the embarrassing procedure of getting a picture for the species hunt. A quick check to make sure nobody was watching, then flash – picture done and fish returned and hopefully before being seen.
After that, it was a few more slugs, another dab and a couple of whiting. It really was quiet and without the frenetic whiting fests that were happening before the break. I think my next trips will probably be during daylight into early evening to target flatties further West along the beach. I might even have a crack down at the marina, as I hear that some herring are still about. This time of year is never really up to much, so it is a matter of scratching around for what you can get.