Posts tagged: bream

Marina spectacle

By , 13 September, 2007 16:00

Fished the East arm, Brighton marina on Tuesday evening in bay 17 from 7pm through until around 3am.

Loaded the bait armoury with some mackerel, freshly caught on small Hokkai feathers soon after arrival. There were a large number present and were feeding heavily on a huge shoal of small fry of some description.

I Fished one rod with lugworm on a running ledger set up, varying the distance in the search for fish. For the rest of the session, this bait was fiddled with, buggered about with and generally molested by small bream and Pout.

The second rod was baited with fresh mackerel – fillets and heads and lobbed just out from the base of the wall. Small Pout live baits were used on the third rod and were dropped down the wall.

The wind rose and was causing a bit of movement in the water before dropping completely in the early hours.

I had one take on the live bait which was dropped and then nothing for the rest of the night.

While fiddling with a newly acquired rod rest, there was a huge take on the mackerel head. On lifting the rod, I could feel huge resistance and a quivering sensation followed by much tugging.

Bringing the line in towards the drop net, I looked over the edge with my headlight and thought I’d stumbled into the set of ‘20,000 leagues under the sea‘, as below me there was a huge Cuttlefish hanging onto the mackerel head. Seconds later, with a sound like a huge watery fart, it released its prize and shot off towards who knows where.

No more heads available, I carried on and baited up with half fillets. I had just cast out, set the rod down, and turned around, when the rod lurched over. I lifted into a fish which shot off along the wall. I brought the fish back and was trying to get the net when I looked over and saw – mackerel, a big bugger too. Managed to swing it up without the net. Although I had no scales, this sod was around the two pound mark, much bigger than those we normally get.

It was around this time that while looking over the wall to investigated repeated and frantic thrashing noises, I saw fantastic sight. In the dark water, I could see mackerel, herding small bait fish into the corner of the caissons. They were leaving a sort of phosphorescent trail behind them as they hunted. As the large shoal of bait fish were split, they left the same trail but as there was a huge number of them, it was more like phosphorescent waves fanning out. It was a truly amazing thing to watch.

After watching the spectacle for a while, I returned to concentrate on fishing only to find I had a fish on again. It turned out to be yet another big mackerel. This carried on for a little while before stopping as quickly as it had started.

My next ‘catch’ was an old, minging drop net which was covered on foul smelling crap and weed and stuff. Sorry to any staff reading this but I couldn’t carry it when I left so I left it propped up against the railings.

By now, it was well into the ebb and the bites stopped completely. As I packed up, I was already thing of a return at the earliest opportunity.

Seaford….again

By , 9 September, 2007 21:00

After the last session at Seaford , I decided to have another there to see if I could get better results. High water was due to be at around 10 pm so I got there at 7pm while it was still light, so I could get some fresh mackerel to add more bait. I set up near the Beachcomber pub and although there were still loads of people enjoying the beach, I managed a half dozen mackerel on feathers.

There was a faint breeze blowing in from the North but the sea was flat calm with hardly any movement.

I set up the main gear and started to fish at about 7.30. One rod had a two hook Paternoster with size 1 hooks baited. The upper hook was baited with King ragworm and the lower hook with lugworm. The second rig consisted of a Pennel with size 3/0 hooks baited with mackerel fillet and lobbed out a few yards.

Palm size thornbacks were the first fish to come in and fell to the ragworm. I did hope that there were going to be some larger fish during the evening once it got quieter and settled back and enjoyed the last of the sunshine.

My optimism about a quiet evening were quelled when large numbers of youngsters turned up further down for a beach party. As time passed, the party got louder with much squealing and loud music. I had to smile to myself as I remembered my youth and the beach parties I went to as a teenager. Not wanting to drag all my stuff further away, I opted to stay where I was and hope that the party ended early.

Next fish were small bream and numerous tiny Pout which savaged the worm baits as soon as the landed. I alternated between mackerel and calamari on the other rod but apart from them being destroyed by small fish, there were no takes of any consequence.

As high water came and went, the action stopped and there no further fish. I stuck it out until 2.30am before calling it a night and packing up.

Marina

By , 14 June, 2007 23:52

bass pictureFished Brighton Marina East arm on Wednesday evening to get the 10.30pm high water. Arrived at about 6.30pm and settled myself in bay 20. Spent a little while enjoying some sport catching mackerel on light spinning gear to be used as bait for the serious stuff.

I used to rods, both with running ledger terminal tackle, one with lugworm on size 1 hook. The other had mackerel mounted on 2/0 Pennel rig.

Had a number of small black bream on the lugworm and a few runs on the mackerel, which I believe were Cuttlefish, as the bait was stripped from the hook on retrieve.

A couple of small bass followed before a small pouting was landed. This was immediately used as live bait and was quickly scoffed by a spirited bass of around 18 inches which on landing was seen to be in beautiful condition and as plump as a plump thing, so had obviously been feeding well.

At about 1 am, the fishing went dead and it was time to call it a night and head off home. I might just have to have a bash at landing the Cuttlefish on a future visit.

Why oh why….

By , 12 September, 2006 10:36

…is that when you least expect it, something dramatic happens?

I returned to Seaford Beach on Sunday night for a late session, hoping for a decent bass. Fished the tide up from 8.30pm opposite West View using lugworm and squid strips.

Small bream were in abundance and started to becoming annoying, rattling away at the baits as soon as they hit the water, leaving little chance for Billy bass to have his fill.

Anyway, onto the reason for the title. Over the years that I’ve been fishing, I’ve pondered on a phenomenon that has me puzzled. Why is that you can spend many seconds, minutes or even hours watching the rod tip for that sign that something is going to take the bait and nothing happens but as soon as you turn your back or are distracted in some way – Bang! You get a huge take, but you’ve missed it just because you had the sheer gall to have pour a coffee, have a pee, have a ciggy or perform some other badly needed function.

I have come to the conclusion that it’s probably nothing more than “Sod’s law” . Of course, the other theory is that fish have an acute sense of humour and like nothing more than taking the piss out of the humble angler.

Ah well – C’est la vie!

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