As a change from Seaford, I decided to have a stint down at Brighton Marina yesterday. Couldn’t get any lugworm, so instead, I got some decent king ragworm and some squid from the Tackle Box. I arrived on the East arm at about 7pm and was greeted by a light North Easterly breeze which was putting a little chop on the surface of the ebbing tide. It was a decent evening, quite sunny and warmish.
The idea was to fish the tide down and target bass over the low water period. After getting a space in bay 22, I set one rod up with a size 4 two hook sole rig baited with worm for scratching. Once this had been cast out, I set about getting some fresh mackerel for bait. It wasn’t long before I had a couple in the bucket and later on, just as the sun began to set, the mackerel went mad and were shoaling along the wall. I added a few more to the bucket before stopping. Once the bait collecting session was done, the rod was re-rigged with a long link running ledger, a long hook length ending in a single 5/0. I also had a similar long hook length but ending in a 5/0 pennel all ready made up. This gives the option of fishing a mackerel head on a single hook or a fillet or squid on the two hooker.
Nothing much happened during the time it was light, apart from the hooks coming back clean on the scratching rig but this all changed once it got dark. The whiting came on in a absolute frenzy, every cast brought in a double shot of the buggers, nothing of any size though. It didn’t matter where or how far I cast, it was whiting every time. To be fair, they were interspersed with the odd pout and even one small suicidal smooth hound pup of at least six inches.
It was during the retrieval of another double shot that I missed the one and only bass take of the night – a real screamer as the mackerel head was taken for a ride, only to be dropped within seconds. I never learn; I know I should always be near or holding the rod but I can never resist scratching to while away the hours of bass waiting.
Back to the whiting that failed to show any signs of stopping their gluttony. By now, they were also hitting the big bass baits, either ripping the guts from the head or shredding the fillet or squid. By 3am I came to the conclusion that there wasn’t going to be anything other than whiting (I’m a bit slow see), so decided to jack it in. I only had a couple of worms and squids left anyway and gave those back to the fish as a give away.
I swear I should take up gardening, the amount of weed(s) I pulled up from Seaford beach tonight. Thought I’d have a session there to use up some launce I had left over from Friday night, plus some lugworm kindly donated by DannyC. He’s still so excited by his bass, that he had to take the night off and calm his nerves by tidying his tackle box.
Anyway, I got to Edinburgh Road at about 7.30pm, walked onto the beach and saw a lovely lumpy sea with plenty of breakers but it was choked with that bloody weed again, right in close where I wanted to fish. Not only could you see big dark rafts of it on the surface, you could see the ‘spaghetti’ stuff in the breakers. Not to be put off, I tackled up – one scratching rod with size 4 two hook flapper baited with lugworm and the bass rod with a running ledger, 4/0 pennel baited with the launce.
There was nothing happening until dark, apart from some marine gardening, during which, I did my best to single handedly clear the English Channel of it’s undergrowth. First fish was a whiting that that took the bass bait when it had no business doing so, it was about the same size as the launce and should have known better. Next it was a repeat of Friday night – whiting double shots until the worm ran out.
The first and only bass of the night didn’t arrive until just before high water and weighed in at an incredible (estimated) one pound! There was another suicidal whiting that tried to swallow a bait bigger than itself and got nabbed on the top hook of the pennel.
I stuck it out until about two hours after high water and then gave up as a lost cause. I hope this damn stuff goes soon, otherwise it’ll be another weeding post next time.
Went to Seaford beach yesterday evening for a bass hunting session. Got the the Edinburgh Road area at about 7pm for a 9.30pm high water. I was met with a brisk SW breeze and lumpy water and to my dismay, rafts of floating weed close in.
I joined up with a few other guys – Dannyc and Ant and after having a chat, I picked a spot just East of them. One rod was set up with a size 4, two hook sole rig baited with lugworm and the bass rod rigged with a running ledger ending with a 4/0 pennel pointy bit baited with launce.
It wasn’t too long before I had a hit on the bass rod, it was a bass but not a large one, just a schoolie of about a pound. Sadly that was the one and only hit for the rest of the session for me on the bass rod, even after a change over to a squid bait. The other rod however was constantly being hit by whiting with numerous double shots.
Danny had a good result with a bass of 3lbs that took a whole squid; at last he had broken his Seaford jinx after many fishless sessions there on the past.
The weed on the night proved to be a real bloody pain in the ‘arris clogging up end rigs which were being fished close in. It was the horrible stringy ‘spaghetti’ weed which takes ages to remove from rigs. Further out, it wasn’t too bad and was more easily tackled.
The lads left at about midnight and I wasn’t far behind, packing up at about 12.45. I’m out there again tonight and hope that the weed has moved on a bit, although I reckon the SW winds will keep it pinned inshore for a while.
I haven’t managed to get out for a while, so took when the opportunity came up to go out for a session last night, I took it and decided to fish a regular spot at Seaford beach. I got there at about 8pm and set up just West of Edinburgh Road. The weather was calm with very little breeze and what there was came from NW. The sky was clear but cloudy over to the West and could have been heading my way (but didn’t). The water was clear and calm with just a bit of wave action as the tide started to flood. High water was predicted to be a biggie at over 7 metres and due at around 2am.
One scratching rod rigged with a size 4 two hook sole rig baited with black lugworm. The bass rod was rigged with a long link running ledger and using a long 8′ fluorocarbon hook length ending in a 4/0 pennel baited with large launce. The scratcher was cast out about 50 yards or so, while I kept the bass rod back until the light faded.
The first bites didn’t come until after sunset, at which point, someone flipped the whiting switch – the bloody things virtually hitting the bait as soon as it settled on the bottom. I wouldn’t mind so much if they were a decent table size but they weren’t, just little pins of about 15cm. There was one small schoolie bass of about 20cm in amongst the pins but it was the only one.
I think it was at about 9pm or so when I was joined by Graham (good to meet you by the way) – another guy who uses a couple of forums I’m a member of – WSF and Fishing Forum. We had a good old chin wag over various topics while I hauled in a few more whiting and then miss a lovely take on the bass rod which resulted in the fish dropping the bait after its initial run. Shortly after this, I had another run, shorter this time and less frantic but at least I got a fish onto the beach this time – a lovely conditioned 2½ pounder (pictured) of 46cm. If I remember correctly, this was at about 10.15pm about 3½ hours before high water. As for the whiting? I abandoned the scratching rod as it would just have been whiting all night and just concentrated on the bass rod.
I had another bass at about an hour before high water which was a small one at about a pound or so. Missed another take about half an hour later and then that was it for the rest of the night – distinctly quiet and fishless.
While I was standing there, frantically not catching fish, at least there was Perseid meteor shower to watch and keep me occupied. There were some real stunners, leaving trails that were visible for a few seconds afterwards. I was lucky really, as the day had been quite cloudy at times but this was a fantastically clear night, so had good views as they streaked across the sky.
Just before I left, I cleaned the bass and found a whole small squid in the gut along with two very small hard back crab, this got me wondering – is now the time to switch from launce to squid? I don’t know but the next trip will be a comparison, squid on one rod, launce on the other.
Just a quick report: Fished the East arm of Brighton Marina yesterday from 6pm through until about 2.30am. Bay 32 to start with then a short move to 36 a bit later. No wind. Flat calm, clear sea. No weed to speak of. Was especially interested in fishing the low water (10.30 approx) period for bass.
Fished mackerel head on a long link running ledger for bass and used lugworm on a size 4 two hook flapper as a scratching rig. Could only get one wrap of lug so used very small pieces to make it last longer. As it happened, it ran out very quickly and resorted to small pieces of mackerel instead.
Final result was: Two small schoolie bass, one small bream, loads of Pout and one small Red Mullet falling to lugworm and a small thornback ray and a scad on the mackerel. I did feather for some fresh mackerel at dusk but only managed one. Nothing at all on the bass rod, even live baited with the Pout but nothing interested in it.
Disappointed at not getting anything decent – especially on the bass front but it was a decent evening out.
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