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By Vic, On 6 May, 2013 08:49

Well, eventually it happened, after previous postponement due to weather, the 6th. All England Squid Championship, a charity and fun day, raising funds for the R.N.L.I. got under way at Brighton Marina on Saturday 27th April. As usual, the event was organised by ‘Fishyrob’ and sponsored by George Cunningham of TronixPro. Thanks also to Dave at The Tackle Box for allowing the use of the arm for the event. I believe, in total, some sixty eight fools gathered at the East arm cafe, ready to hand over the entrance cash and draw lots as to who fished where.

In contrast to previous draws at this event, and against all the odds, I managed a low number and drew to fish at bay 4, so only a short walk away. I normally draw numbers so high, even Carol Vorderman would struggle to count that far.

And so it was I made the short distance to my slot and started tackling up – my usual set up, a 12′ 2½lbs carp rod, 5000 size bait runner reel and a simple sliding float rig with the TronixPro jig at the end of the hook length.

I was full of optimism, watching the float in anticipation just, waiting for it to gently slide under as a tentacled creature took the jig. Hmmm… the anticipation continued but not quite at the levels of earlier. The hours ticked by and it wasn’t until we were nearing the end of the competition when the first squid started coming aboard.

My high hopes and optimism were fading quicker quickly and I was staring at the prospect of a blank session. It was good to hear the shouts going up and seeing the squid coming in – at least it showed they were there – but not near my jig it would seem!

I was into the last hour when I saw the float dip slightly before disappearing – first thoughts were that I was stuck in the weed but… there were signs of life on the other end. Rob kindly began netting the beast for me. I have to say, his attempt at humour almost had me taken in with his cry of “Sorry Vic, it’s gone, dropped off”. I very nearly let out a string of obscenities but in time, I saw my catch safely in the net.

It wasn’t huge and it certainly wasn’t in with a chance of the trophy but it had saved the blanked and would be extremely tasty for lunch the following day.

It wasn’t long before the shout went up that the competition was over and we all began the packing up, clearing up and trudging off the arm. I didn’t stay for the after comp knees up but opted to get home, shower and take a rest. The standing up for that length of time certainly do my back any favours.

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By Vic, On 10 March, 2013 12:23

In a quest to up my species targets, I decided on a trip to Brighton Marina on Friday just gone to have a crack at crossing plaice and herring off the list.

I arrived on the east arm at about 8am to filthy weather, chucking it down with rain and just the slightest north easterly breeze. The arm was empty of people so I had the choice of where to pitch up, so I settled for bay 25 – one of my favourites.

I got setup, one rod with simple running ledger with blingy hook length to target plaice, the other rod with a small Sabiki string to get the herring.

Plaice rod was baited up with lug plus squid tipping and chucked out at distance. I then started working the sabikis but could only manage a few chucks at a time before having rest due to my back giving real grief.

I had the first herring at just after 9am which sadly, turned out to be the only one of the day.

The first plaice came just after the herring, so that was both targets achieved in reasonably quick time.

The rain was relentless and a real pain in the arse, it wasn’t heavy, just that horrible persistent stuff. The breeze had started to drop had even stopped ruffling the surface of the flat calm sea.

Another two plaice were landed about an hour after the first one. It was turning into a tidy session considering i was now well into the ebbing tide and the sea was dropping quite quickly.

With no herring showing, I took the sabikis off and replaced them with a two hook flapper, baited with lug and squid. I stuck on a 2oz plain lead and chucked it as far as the floppy rod would allow.

Another plaice landed which turned out to be the largest of the day at 34cm and a whisker under 1lb (13oz). It had hit both baits on the flapper and taken them well down (all had apart from one) and so was swiftly dispatched.

I was considering packing up as everything was getting soaked through and I had already accomplished what I had set out to do. I decided to stick it out anyway see how far I could go into the ebb and still nail a plaice.

At just on midday, I was slowly retrieving the flapper, hoping that the movement might trigger a response from a plaice as the static bait had long since stopped tempting them. Just few yards from the wall, the bait was nailed and soon, another plaice was landed.

It was around this time that I was joined by local guide and all round good bloke, Fishyrob. He was targetting the same as me but was going down using the artificial route to try and tempt the flatties out. By this time, we reckon they had all moved on with the dropping tide, as neither of us could manage any more.

Time was pushing on and I needed to be away sharpish – and so it was an extremely wet and happy Vic headeing off home to clean up and get ready for work. Now looking forward to the next session.

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By Vic, On

To pop my 2013 cherry, I hit the shingle at Seaford last week for a rare (for me) daytime session. Was on the beach and setup by about 9.30am on a rising tide. Water was dead calm with a hint of colour. Breeze was from behind the beach and the sky overcast. High water was going to be around 1pm.

Decided to use just the one rod, wishbone rig with blinged hook lengths and baited with lug and squid tipping.

The only thing that was going to ruin the day were the shingle shifters re doing the beach profile as part of the sea defences annual maintenance. Big trucks up and down the beach delivering the shingle and the bulldozers doing the profiling. Got a bit too close at one point and almost engulfed the guy fishing to my left!

First rod tip nodding of the day resulted in a double shot of fakking rockling and the smallest bass I have ever seen on the beach.

Next up was a single dab about quarter of an hour later. From then on, it was small dabs with a handful of rockling. I was hoping for plaice and maybe a flounder for the species hunt but it wasn’t to be.

By about 12, I was done in, my back was screaming and I had to pack it in. Shame really ‘cos it was not long before high water and I’m sure, I’d have had better results then. Anyhoo, it was great to be back out again, even for a short while and started off this years species hunt with three in the bag.

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By Vic, On 9 July, 2012 00:13

Due to crap weather mixed with work, my crap back and other commitments, it’s been ages since I’ve been out on the beaches, so on Friday night, I went out to Seaford beach to fish the tide up from the 8pm low water.

Once on the beach, I checked out the conditions which didn’t look too favourable. The sea was flat apart from small wavelets on the shore line, wind wasn’t doing much either. Water was clear with some colour in it.

Two rods deployed, one with a size 4 sole rig baited with black lugworm and the other with long link running ledger, terminating in a 6/0 baited with squid (I did want fresh mackerel but was busy yesterday and couldn’t get any).

Two cups of muddy coffee and two hours passed by before I got my first bite of the night – a couple of sharp taps followed by slight trembling on the rod tip. On retrieval, the culprit was identified as a small (and I mean small) thornback ray (pictured). Not exactly what I was looking for but at least it saved a potential blank and it’s another one crossed off the species list.

Next up was a small bootlace/snotty eel which luckily was only lip hooked, so I could shake the bloody thing off and release it before too much damage was done to the rig.

A short time later, I had a terrific pull down on the worm rod and once hooked, it seemed like a bit of weight on the end. As it reached the waters edge, any hopes I had of a decent flattie were completely shattered when it turned out to be a whiting – a decent sized whiting I’ll grant you but still a bloody whiting, in July? At this rate, it would seem we are going to be plagued by a resident, all year round whiting fest – oh deep joy!!

Anyway, I gave it another hour so before calling it a night with nowt else showing up, not even the slightest of twitches on the bass rod. My mojo is currently spiraling downwards but to be fair, I haven’t put in as many hours as I normally would due to other things needing my attention. Hopefully once all is settled, I’ll be back out with mucho gusto!

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By Vic, On 14 June, 2012 17:03

Having been given an order for some mackerel by the guys at work, I took the opportunity of a break in the weather to head off to Brighton Marina nice and early on Wednesday morning to bag a few. I arrived on the east arm at about 6.30 am just before high water, to find it nice and calm and the sun shining and as I walked along the top deck, I could hear the promising sound of mackerel boiling on the surface somewhere below.

I plonked down in about bay 18, I think it was, set up the feathering rod and began working the lures close in. Now the water was murky but mackerel were feeding – just not in the bit I was in! In fact it wasn’t until gone 7am and the top of the tide before they came in strong and then it was non-stop, they were everywhere, patches appearing all along the wall and further out too. Bloody gulls didn’t know which way to turn, flitting between the different shoals.

I took a bit of a break to try and get some photos but as is always – turn the camera one way and they show in the opposite direction. Anyway, I managed a few shots and a bit of video (Excuse the quality – haven’t done this for a while). If you enlarge the first picture (click on it), you can clearly see individual fish withing the shoal.

Back to the rod but this time the light one and float gear; had some great fun hoiking them out one at a time instead of strings. Wasn’t long before I had a bucket full and plenty for the guys, the in-laws, friends and ourselves. If I was of a mind, I could easily have stayed and filled more buckets but just can’t see the point – having said that, I need to get down again soon and get some for the bait freezer which is empty!

Even as I left at about 10am, they were still shoaling in patches all along the wall, a great site to see. The thing that did surprise me was that apart from a couple of blokes fishing further round the bend, I was the only one there enjoying the sun and fish.

Looks like weather is breaking soon, so hopefully back to the beach during the evenings for some action.