For his birthday, our son Alex, was given a new rod and reel, paid for by my mother and obtained by me from The Tackle Box at Brighton Marina. As his birthday was in February, when fishing is generally pants, we waited until now to give to him so that there was a fair chance he would catch something on his first outing with it. So yesterday was the day, we thought that mackerel would be the obvious species to target and Seaford beach is a safe and accessible venue and there have been reports of mackerel there.

After parking near Claremont Road, we eventually found some beach space down towards the Buckle and settled ourselves there. We hit our first snag, he was torn between learning how to set up and pebble shifting and conquering the steep shingle bank. We managed it without any mishaps and after setting up the kit and attaching a small Dexter, we set about the dark art of casting. Now my style of casting resembles a cross between a Morris dancer and a drunk hammer thrower, so perhaps I am not the best one to try and teach him. Anyway, he soon got to grips with the priciple of it and before long he was managing to get it in the water (as well as his feet) and retrieving. Pity the water quality was crap, with it being brown stained (snort) with May rot (an algae bloom present at this time of year). Unless the water cleared or the fish had x-ray specs, it was going to be hard going.

As predicted, we left with nothing but a great afternoon out. Alex is quite philosophical about it and it doesn’t seem to have dampened his enthusiasm and is now asking when the next fishing day is.