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By Vic, 12 July, 2011 16:16

After the drenching I got the other night, last night was a complete contrast – in weather and in results. With the calm conditions looking promising, I felt like having a go for a bass down on the East arm of Brighton Marina, so got down there about 8pm with the intention of bagging some mackerel for bait over high water and then to do some scratching until the early hours and fish mackerel head and guts over the 3am low water period.

It was a warm, clear evening with no wind and a flat calm, clear sea; as said completely different to the other night. It was nice just wearing a t shirt and jeans instead of the clobber I had previously worn and positively thrilling to have dry hands.

Unlike last time I fished the marina, I had made provision this time and had taken some frozen joeys with me, in case the mackerel didn’t show. Just as well really, as the buggers were conspicuous by their absence and the only fish activity I could see on the surface were probably scad.

Anyway, I set up the scratching rod with a size 4 two hook flapper baited with lugworm and chucked it out and almost immediately had a knock which resulted in a small dab – blank saved. Re-baited and then set up the bass rod with the usual long link running ledger, size 5/0 hooked through the snout of a mackerel head and guts which I lobbed out and sat back.

By about midnight, a brisk easterly picked up and made it feel a bit chilly in comparison to earlier – certainly enough to put an extra top on. The good thing that came with it was a bit more in the way of cloud cover.

The only action coming my way was on the scratching rod, with a few small bream and then on low water, lots of school bass taking a shine to the worm. There was one half hearted attempt at a run on the bass rod about half an hour before low which had the tip buried down for a brief few seconds and then nothing.

I gave it until about an hour after low before tiredness set in and I had an overwhelming desire to have a good kip. Looks like Thursday and/or Saturday will be my next outing when I’m hoping for more promising results.

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By Vic, 5 July, 2011 12:34

I haven’t had a session down at Brighton Marina for a while, so I thought I’d take advantage of the fine weather and calm seas yesterday evening to have a crack at some bassing with in-close big mackerel baits, plus a bit of general scratching with worm baits.

I arrived on the East arm at around 7pm and walked out to a free space at bay 36. Conditions were no wind, a flat calm sea and a bright sun. The plan was to snag out a few mackerel on feathers for bait, before fishing in earnest – only one problem – the mackerel decided they weren’t going to play and despite my best efforts, there were to be none. On to plan B then – use the worm to get a few pout for bait (more on that later).

A couple of fishing pals, Jonah Danny and Mike joined me not long afterwards, which I should have known would be the kiss of death. They had planned ahead though and brought some ‘bait’ with them in the form of ‘orrible, minging, poisonous mush; otherwise known as supermarket ‘fresh’ mackerel. Honestly, I’ve seen better conditioned fish in the bottom of a bin that’s been run over and set alight.

Not being able to get any proper fresh mackerel and with no signs of them even being in the same sea as us, I baited my feathers with small sections of worm and dropped it over the side to temp some small pout. In this exercise, I only managed to catch small bream (Pictured) and for the life of me, I could not get a pout – silly really as normally they are a bloody bait robbing nuisance. Anyway, at least the bream was another one on my species list for the year.

In the meantime, my other rod had been setup with a size 4 two hook sole rig (hoping for a sole once darkness fell) baited with worm and lobbed out – maybe I could get a pout on that. Even that didn’t work, as the first fish on that rig was a small thornback ray, followed by another small bream – it wasn’t looking good on the bass bait front. The second picture isn’t another bream – it’s the same as the first but artistically photographed by Danny to make it look bigger (I don’t think it worked).

I later managed more bream, another small ray and a small flounder but I reckon the pout had hitched a lift with the mackerel and gone to wherever they went. So then, while I was busy breaming, the boys were busy blanking with their poisonous offerings.

They packed up around midnight (lightweights) to head off home. Kindly (I think), they left me with a bag containing the remains of their toxic and by now dried out yet still slimy fish offal. Having examined it in the style of CSI Grissom and deciding not to bait up with it, I put paid to my chances of catching anything decent by lobbing the bag of offending shite over the side (not the bag though, obviously).

I stuck it until just after the 2.30am high water but only managed another couple of bream in that time. Although the target species (all three) weren’t forthcoming, it was a lovely evening to be out and with some good company, a great time was had.

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By Vic, 2 June, 2011 15:19

I took the opportunity last night to fish down at Brighton Marina with the hope of bass and sole on the East arm. Armed with some lugworm and a box of squid, I walked out onto the arm and headed out and found a quiet spot at bay 40. There was a light South Westerly breeze which was enough to chop up the surface of the somewhat coloured water. It was a bright evening with virtually no cloud cover.

The intention was to try for some mackerel at towards last light and use heads and chunks for bait. I started off with some feathering and immediately hit a problem with weed, which although not visible, was obviously lying on the sea bed. Each retrieve brought the feathers back with clumps of what looked like fibrous and slimy cotton wool. Even keeping the hooks and lead away from the bottom, still brought the damn stuff back.

As light faded I rigged up a rod with a size 4 two hook flapper, baited it with the worm and cast it out. While I had a coffee, I saw the rod tip twitch a little, followed by slight tugging. I left it while I finished my drink and then retrieved a heavy weight, which turned out to be balls of the aforementioned crappy weed with a small eel amongst it. My rig was completely trashed by the critter and by the time I sorted it, I was left with one released eel and a ball of weed and snotty eel slime, the only thing I could do with it was to salvage the bits and cut the rest up for the bin. I attached a new baited rig and cast it back out in the hope that I had seen my last eel of the night – a hope that was dashed when, within minutes of the rig being out, it started to twitch and shortly after, another mass of slimy weed and even slimier eel hit the deck.

I didn’t bother trying again but carried on my quest for mackerel instead. Unfortunately, by the time darkness hit, I had cleared what seemed like the entire sea bed of weed and crap and landed precisely zero mackerel – good job I’d brought some squid along as a standby. The feathers were taken off and a rod was setup with a long link running ledger, 4/0 pennel and whole squid.

I lobbed it out about ten yards and sat back for another coffee. Within seconds, the rod tip was bouncing around to the rhythm of wave and weed. I hauled up pounds of the stuff which clung to the tackle like crap to a blanket – this was turning into the session from hell. I only hoped that the weed subsided with the rising tide.

In the meantime, the again re-deployed worm rod cunningly captured another eel which resulted in another trashed rig. For the next few hours, I alternated between clearing crap from the bass rig and the eel catching device. I must admit to feeling very disheartened, especially when Ryan and Pieman informed that it was pretty weed free up where they were in the 50’s. I toyed with the idea of moving along there but I really couldn’t be arsed and decided to stick it out. In the end, I wish I had moved.

By about 1am, I’d had enough and decided to sod off rather than waste my time anymore. So the the tally for the night was about a dozen eels, a shed load (literally) of weed and a very grumpy Vic.

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By Vic, 12 May, 2011 11:43

Having had a disastrous squid championship result, I thought I’d have a go on Tuesday morning to see if I could get my squid mojo back. I arrived on the West arm at about 5am just after high water to find that the dreaded May rot was as bad as ever. With a flat calm sea, the water should normally have been crystal clear – what I had in front of me resembled pea soup, a horrible murky green with clouds of particles swirling around. It was nicely topped off with a generous helping of foaming patches….mmmmm, what a delightful recipe.

I setup two rods – one with standard float gear and squid jig, while the other was rigged with some feathers in the hope that maybe some not so bright mackerel put in an appearance. I have to say though, that with the conditions, I wasn’t really hopeful of a result on either front. However, not to be defeated at the first gate, I decided to selflessly carry on in hope. I do feel that fishing and blanking is better than not fishing at all – and as they say, “you have to be in it to win it”.

As the morning wore on, I hoped that maybe the sea would clear out at least a bit. It soon became apparent that the sea was going to remain nasty, cloudy and full of crap, although there were some clear patches at adistance away from the wall. I did sling some feathers out into the patches searching for any mackerel that may have been hunting in the clear. This exercise only resulted in an aching arm and a sense of ‘Why?’ The water got cloudier and the foam hung about and gave no impression of moving on.

A breakthrouogh came at 10.30, when a solitary, terminally stupid mackerel wandered through the murk and found my feathers – the blank was saved! I carried on for what seemed like a lifetime, alternating between feathers and float with no reward. I eventually gave in and had my last cast before calling it a day and trudging off.

Hope to hell, that this bloody rot disappears soon, so that normal fishing can resume.

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By Vic,

After several recent trips in search of squid, I have to report that the closest I’ve had to success has been three dropped at, or just before the net – so things not looking too good. Undeterred though, I headed off to the East arm of Brighton Marina last Sunday for the ‘4th International Squid Championship‘, organised by George Cunningham, CEO of TronixPro, along with Robin ‘Fishyrob‘ Howard.

This annual event, in aid of the RNLI was attended by even more than last year and I believe it was in the region of 78 anglers participating. We all met up at the cafe on the end of the arm, where after a chin wag, we booked in. I queued and collected a free squid jig (courtesy of TronixPro) and score card, which had written on which peg number I was to fish…. arse!!! I had drawn 68, right out at the far end – best start walking then!

After doing a stunning impression of a cart donkey, I eventually got to my peg. There had been some confusion over peg numbers reserved for the event but quite frankly, I’m losing the will to live just thinking about it, so I’ll go no further.

Fishing (or squidding if you prefer) started at 1pm on the dot and for me, what followed felt like a lifetime of staring at the orange blob that was my float as it did just that – float. No sliding under the surface as a squid made off with my jig. As hard as I tried, I just could not get a take. The only excitement was when the jig drifted into a bit of weed and was pulled under – at least I knew what it would look like if any creature felt like trying its luck.

Even an afternoons visit from FPO, Anna along with her Mum and our son Alex didn’t induce the critters into action.

I stuck it out and tried as hard as I could and was spurred on by one caught and lost and one landed by the guys to my left. With half an hour to go, I studied my float and watched it slide under – weed again I thought – but no, it was a real, live squid, a good ‘un too. I brought it in closer and was about to ask the guy to right for a hand with the net when the damn thing let go and was away. I quickly let the jig back down in the hope that it might be taken again but was disappointed when the float remained as it had for most of the day – floating.

6pm and the competition was over. I packed up my gear and made the long walk back to the car and loaded up. It was then over to the pub and a welcome pint while the trophies and prizes were dished out to the winners. The day wasn’t a complete ball breaker for me, as I managed to snag a bait pump in the raffle