After a crap night on Monday when a blank was saved by two eels, I again had session on the east arm of Brighton Marina, this time with another WSF member, Phil. I got there at about 8pm and walked out to bay 58 to find that the whole end was devoid of people apart from some lone soul at the very end bay. Weather-wise, it was sunny but with a brisk West South Westerly wind which was forecast to drop later. The sea was a bit lumpy but had cleared substantially since Monday, still with weed visible but nowhere near as bad.
The plan was to fish mackerel heads on the bottom for bass and use a second outfit for anything else around that would take a worm bait. I’d been unable to get any lugworm but had a quantity of good sized king ragworm. While waiting for Phil, I had a go for some fresh mackerel but this transpired to wasted energy as someone had forgotten to invite the mackerel. That being the case, we would have to settle for frozen.
Once Phil arrived and serious fishing got underway, I used a long link running ledger with 8′ trace ending in a 5/0 hook and mackerel head for the bass and a size 4 two hook sole rig for scratching.
As the evening wore on, the wind increased, the temperature dropped, the sea got lumpier and filled up with weed; the really ‘orrible slimy shit like weed we’ve been plagued with. By around 3am, the sea was starting to spout up the wall and the weed was getting worse – things were not looking good and it was time to call it a night. The results? Phil had the one and only fish of the night, a pretty little thornback ray (pictured right). As for me? … the first blank of the year…blox.