Very brief report from another days fishing down at Brighton Marina yesterday, trying to catch my first squid of 2010. Having failed miserably on Wednesday, I started early, at about 6.30am and fished through until around 4pm. Fished the float bays at the far end of the West arm. End tackle was a 1½ oz rated float, suspending a pink Tronix jig.
Result? One squid which dropped just before being netted by the bloke just along from me about 2 hours into the flood. Apart from that, I was squidless and although disappointed, I didn’t kick myself too hard when I found that the squid were not present in large numbers and apparently only two were landed for the day.
I’ll be doing a visit again on Saturday but trying the East arm instead and see if I can’t lose my 2010 squid virginity!
Had my first outing today since the ticker problems. Decided to go light and target the squid at Brighton Marina, having heard that the critters are around.
Got to the West arm at about 10am to find some of the guys from WSF forums in the first bays and having had a few squid out already. I set up in the next vacant bay and started fishing in earnest – a float fished pink Tronix jig cast out and left out to drag through in the current. Despite my best efforts and using identical jigs, floats etc., I could not get a take at all. The squid seemed to be concentrated in one particular area, which sadly was not the one I was fishing in!
I stuck it out until around 3pm with a quickly dropping tide before calling it a day. Disappointed to blank but it was great to be out again, no problems encountered, no pains – I feel like I’m almost back to normal.
Just to catch up on recent trips out.
Thursday 23rd April: An evening session on the East arm at Brighton Marina. Nothing inspiring happened on the squid front with none being caught. I did get a few mackerel, so I could at least go home with something for the table.
Sunday 26th April: Decided to have the whole day after squid down at the marina. The forecasts showed that it should have been a good day for it but unfortunately this proved not to be the case. The sea was patchily and coloured – almost like heavy clouds of silt going through with small areas of clear water. It proved enough to put the squid off and despite my best attempts, I couldn’t coax anything out. I tried with some Sabiki lures for some mackerel but only managed to hook a small but still dangerous Lesser weever which took the lower of the hooks.
While thrashing around alternating between the Jigs and Sabikis, I also had a setup baited with worm ( lugworm and ragworm ) which was out there hoping for something to come along. I did have one almighty take which dragged the rod along the wall but I was too late to connect with whatever it was. I did manage two small thornback rays but these were the usual palm sized juveniles which were released.
Although it was a glorious day to be out, it was decidedly disappointing on the fish front.
Tuesday 28th April: An evening session at Edingburgh Road in Seaford. Armed with a selection of worm baits, Peeler crab and squid, I fished through until high water at around 2.30am. Had been hoping for a bass on the squid but I reckon the sea was too calm with no real wave action to entice them in. Total tally for the night was loads of small whiting, Pout and one small thornback ray.
Nice night but in reality, a waste of time and good bait. When will I learn?
As the weather had been settled for a while and the Easter Sunday looking like a reasonable day weather wise, another squid hunting session on Brighton Marina was called for. Not only did I want more of the creatures for culinary purposes but I wanted plenty of practice before the upcoming ‘All England Cephalopod Championship‘ organised by Fishyrob one of the members on WSF, for later in April. I know it’s only a friendly competition but I would dearly love to improve on my position from last year!
The alarm went off at 6am, I was out of the door by 6.30am and on my way on a very misty and windless morning. Got to the marina at about 7am and walked out onto the East arm and was disappointed to see that the area I was going to go for in the bays from about 30 or so were already taken by people who had obviously camped there overnight. Anyway, I settled for bay 25, sat down, and had a coffee before setting up my stuff. Tackle for the day was float fished jigs for the squid and a ground set up using a DVice ledgered with worm baits for any flatfish about.
It was after about 5 hours of fishing and various thought going through my head such as:Â would I have been better off going my in-laws for lunch, shouldn’t I be doing something more constructive, why the hell am I here – when suddenly the orange top of the float slid slowly under the surface. I wound down and felt the tugging and pulling familiar with a squid. Sure enough, it came to the top and was swiftly swung onto the deck, dispatched and put in the bag. It wasn’t long before the float was going again and another squid was safely in the bag. All the earlier thoughts of having wasted time evaporated and I didn’t care if nothing else was caught, I had landed some lovely meals.
The next capture was a surprise, as I reeled in a worm bait that had been out too long, a flounder followed and took the bait well off the bottom where it normally resides. This is not uncommon as they are a predatory fish but it always amuses me when it happens. It was just under size so went back.
Following this, there was precisely no action at all, almost like someone flipping a switch and turning the fish off. It was a welcome break when my wife Anna, along with son Alex and Mother-in-Law Pat turned up for a visit. Alex insisted on having his photo taken with the days captures and couldn’t resist poking the unfortunate (but dead) animals.
I perservered for as long as I could before having to call it a day. All in all, good day – not brilliant but good.
Well, I bagged my first squid of 2009 on the East arm at Brighton Marina on Friday afternoon; not a big one at around a pound and a bit in weight but a squid nonetheless. It was caught on a float fished, baited jig in bay somewhere in the 40’s (couldn’t be more precise as there were no painted numbers on the deck). The bait consisted of a small piece of mackerel tail fillet, lashed to the jig with bait elastic. I dropped another two trying to swing them in and lost another that let go of the jig at the surface.
All the action came after the first two hours of the flood on a neap tide. Not a lot else to say, except that it was supposed to warm and sunny down there for the afternoon whereas it was in fact cloudy, mist and bloody cold. Must remember not to trust the weather forecasts and pack appropriate clothing ‘Just in case’.
Hope to get down there again later in the week if conditions allow, so I can get in some practice before the 2nd ‘All England squid Championship‘, a friendly and unoffical bit of banter and competition between the guys on the WSF Forums.
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