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At some stage last Sunday 23.5, I stupidly left my old and trusted green ABU 6500 mag elite on the wall at Brighton Marina, East arm around bay 28. In a vain hope of recovery, I’m asking if anyone saw it or knows of anyone who has found it to let me know please.
I’ve tried the Tackle box and marina security with no luck.
Many thanks
Wanted to have another crack at the sole down at Brighton Marina, so yesterday I shot off to there from work and arrived at the East arm about 8.30pm. Met up with Mike (mr codling), another member of the WSF forums and another site, the Sporting Fish Community, who was already unpacking his car. Once all the gear was sorted, we walked out onto the arm and headed for the far end where I thought it might be a bit more sheltered and also offered the best chance of a sole. Conditions were a bit uncomfortable, with a brisk North East wind which was gusting quite hard along the arm but at least it was dry with just a threat of rain from the cloudy sky.
We set up in bays 55 and 56 respectively and started tackling up. I opted to start with one rod rigged with a size 4 two hook sole rig baited with lugworm and ragworm and chucked about 50 yards out. I set up the other rod with a string of 4 feathers, hoping for a few mackerel or two with dusk approaching. As it happens, the mackerel were either pre-occupied or didn’t care for my offerings, as I had no interest shown in them at all. The feathers came of and another sole rig put on, baited and cast out.
As darkness came, Mike was first in with a Pout. I was next in with a Co-Op carrier bag which appeared under-conditioned, scrawny and tattered although it did put up quite a fight in the tidal current and then in the air with that bloody wind. My next retrieve was a double shot of Pout which is how the rest of the evening went with more Pout for us both and only broken by a ‘snotty’ eel for Mike which wrecked his rig and a small schoolie bass for me. The only highlight being the non-appearance of any rockling. Mike also had ‘half’ a Pout which had been attacked and partly scoffed by a squid whilst on the hook (Pictured right. Click for a larger image).
In between fish, tangles and carrier bags, Mike made regular updates of our ‘Live fish’ event on DannyC’s blog just to keep them amused while sat at home in the warm.
By 1am, the best of the tide had passed and the fishing had ground to a halt with no more fish coming to either of us. We packed up the gear and took the long walk back which was made worse by that bloody wind straight in our faces. I still had plenty of worm left, so will try and get out in the next few days and not put it to waste.
I had an early session down at Brighton Marina this morning, arriving on the east arm at about 4.30am in order to catch first light and with the intention of getting a few mackerel on feathers and then float fishing fish strip for garfish and anything else that happened to be around.
Two things struck me arrival, the first was the amount of noise coming from what appeared to a rave over on the beach at Ovingdean Gap. I may be getting on a bit and my hearing isn’t what it used to be but bloody hell, I’m surprised my ears didn’t bleed from the ‘musical’ onslaught that was drifting in my direction. Don’t get me wrong, I love loud music but this was, well, to put it bluntly – crap, truly crap.
The second thing that got me was still the amount of May rot in the water, it was as thick as soup close in to the wall and still cloudy at about fifty yards out. with only small patches of clear water. It didn’t look good for anything to be honest and I was quite prepared for a fishless session.
Anyway, not to be beaten, I set up a float outfit and had that ready and waiting should I get anything on the feathers that could be used for bait (I hadn’t brought any with me). After a number of casts, I was feeling more and more like packing in and saving my energy but things perked up a bit when a guy further along brought in a solitary mackerel. It wasn’t until about 6am that I had my first hit and one mackerel in the bucket and then a short while later hit another two and then a single. Mission accomplished – bait and lunch.
Swapping over to float gear, I baited the hook with a piece of belly strip and cast out into some relatively clear patches and then again and again. This went on for several hours with not a single hint of anything remotely fishy taking the bait. As high tide came and went, the ebb dropping away, it became apparent that there was going to be no action in these conditions. I eventually packed up content to take three fish home for lunch but a tad disappointed that nothing showed up. As I left, the ‘rave’ was still in full swing; I expect there will be an upsurge in alcohol/drug related injuries and deafness at A&E today – best of luck.
Once I got home, the mackerel were prepared and bunged in the fish smoker and not long later – voilà – lovely smoked mackerel with Bill’s wonderful ‘chewy’ bread. This time we added some Bay leaves and dried Taragon to the wood dust and the result was marvellous, a really rich smokey and arromatic taste to the fish.
After managing some sole the other night, I thought I’d have another go last night, so with bait in a bucket, I headed off to Brighton Marina after work, arriving on the East arm at around 8.30pm. From the off, I wasn’t expecting much, seeing how the Mayrot (an algae bloom) had discoloured the water turning it cloudy and just plain nasty. Anyway, as I was there, I thought might as well carry on and see what was about, if anything, so I tackled up one rod with a two hook size 4 sole rig baited with lugworm and ragworm and sent that out. At one point, I did consider using the second rod for bass but as I only had a few manky sandeels, I thought I’d have a thrash with some feathers on the off-chance of mackerel but after a few casts, it became obvious that nothing was going to see the damn things through the murk in order to be tempted, so took them off and replaced them with another sole rig, similarly baited and sent that out too.
Weather-wise, it was warm, absolutely zero wind with a flat calm sea, a beautiful night to be out and found it odd that I was the only one out there, with no one else within sight.
Fishing itself was a bit sporadic with busy moments interspersed with no action at all, nothing of any size was landed but there was a bit of variety in species caught and landed my first bream of the year which was surprising considering the state of the water. I packed in at about 3.30am with the final tally being: one bream, two schoolie bass, two slip soles, one small thornback, countless, rockling and Pout.
One of my target species for 2010 is sole, a particular favourite of mine as they always provide a tasty meal for the following day. It is also the subject of humour in our household, as whenever I mention the fish, my FPO always retorts with “sole?… Ah, sole”. We find it amusing but then we always find childish toilet type humour funny.
High water was predicted for 3.30am today, so yesterday afternoon, I packed all my gear into the car and went off to work with the intention of going straight to Brighton Marina after I finished. I stopped off at The Tackle Box before work to pick up some bait and got some of the best wrapped lugworm I’ve seen for a while – all decent sized worms which would give at least two baits per worm.
With everything sorted, I went in to work, hoping for an easy ride and an early get away. Why is it always the case that when you have plans, things attempt to sabotage them, whether it be work, heavy traffic or some other inconvenience. Anyway, I eventually managed to get away and headed off for my session.
It was about 8.45pm by the time I got to my spot on a deserted east arm of the marina and 9pm baits were in the water. It was a very still and quite warmish evening with no wind, an oily flat sea and overcast sky, so signs were pretty good for what I wanted. To start with, one rod was set up with a sole rig using two size 4 fine wire hooks baited with the lugworm; I wasn’t really expecting any action until it got dark but you never know. While it was still light, I set up another rod with a string of ‘feathers’ and set about seeing if any mackerel were about that I could use as a bass bait or take home for lunch. I tried until after dark but there was nothing, zilch, zero, bugger all, so I packed that in and set up the rod with the same sole rig and sent that out.
First two fish were schoolie bass of around 35cm that came at about 10pm after a series of rattly twitches on the rod tip. These were followed by a string of rockling and Pout interspersed with a palm sized thornback ray. It wasn’t until just before midnight and mid flood tide that the first sole was hooked and landed, it may only have been a slip of about 25cm but it was a sole at least; the first of 2010 and target achieved. A second one followed about 20 minutes later which was identical in size and could have been the first one’s twin. I was feeling optimistic about landing a table fish but after an hour or so passed, this feeling ebbed away and was gone after yet another hour passed.
I fished through the high water period with only one bite which turned out to be everyone’s favourite (not) rockling. It was at this point that the bait ran out as well as my optimism, so packed up, cleared my area of any crap and walked back to the car, happy that I’d got my target species but downhearted that they weren’t table size.
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