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By Vic, 14 August, 2011 19:44

Yet again I was at Seaford beach last night, a place that seems to be in danger of becoming my main home from the amount of time I’m spending there. Anyway, I arranged to meet Nigel, a fishing fanatic and member of another web forum I belong to, South Devon Fishing, who was up on a visit from sunny Devon. We planned to the flood tide up to and over high water in an attempt to hit some decent bass.

Things looked very promising, a South Westerly breeze still blowing but nowhere near as strong as the last few days. There was still some swell being stirred up by the wind and at least there were waves breaking on to the beach, although these were weak compared to the crashing dumps of a couple of days ago. The weed seemed to have dispersed a bit and although still there, it certainly wasn’t as bad as previous nights and was certainly more fishable. The sky was cloudy with the sun shining through and giving a lovely display in the sunset.

I set up the bass rod – you know the rig by now – long link running ledger and 6/0 – 4/0 pennel baited with whole squid. All baits were soon in the water and we waited for the tell-tale signs of bassy activity; unfortunately, this turned out to be a long wait, as the fish seemed unaware that they were allowed to feed. To be honest, I really wasn’t expecting much until at least it was dark and probably not until nearer high water. My low tide success has come when it coincides with darkness and has never produced during daylight.

As I wasn’t being hampered with the filthy business of dealing with fish, I took the opportunity to get a few shots of the sun setting over Newhaven. I’ve put two here above but the rest (all three of them) are in my Flickr collection, viewable through the ‘Photos’ section of the site.

We were later joined by fellow fishy person, Clive, who had his bait in the water pretty rapidly and soon, it could almost have been a scene from ‘Last of the summer wine‘ with the three of us firmly ensconced in our seats, waiting and watching.

It took up until around an hour after high water before the first fish of the night hit the beach and that was a school bass that fell to Nigel’s squid bait. I had to wait for another half an hour before it was my turn for the action, when I managed a bass in the 2lb region; not a big fish but it was the target for the evening and it saved me from the dreaded blank – a result which sadly fell to Clive. He tells me he’s never done well at Seaford, so at least his consistency is good, although he is a demon when it comes to fishing Brighton beach

Nigel packed up at around 2am as he had to be in London this morning, while a disappointed and disgruntled Clive and I stuck it out until about 2.30 before calling it a night. With a rapidly dropping tide and a flat calm sea in a flat calm, windless night., it became obvious that there was going to be no further fishy action in this session.

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By Vic, 13 August, 2011 15:01

To use up the bait I had left over from the previous day, I headed off to Seaford beach again last night, hoping that the weed had subsided just enough to fish. I got there at about 7pm and could immediately see that there was still a lot of weed but nowhere near the amount of the day before. The sea was again rough but had calmed quite a bit in comparison. The plan was to fish the flood tide up and over high water which was predicted for about 11.30pm.

I set up the bass rid with the now usual long link running ledger and 6/0 pennel. I should point out here that I’ve been experimenting and modifying this rig over recent months having found that all the fish I’ve had have come to the top hook and in an attempt to reduce the amount of dropped fish, I now use a 4/0 circle as the top hook. So far this has proved to very effective and all fish have been securely hooked in the corner of the mouth with a firm hold.

The first few casts ended up in the familiar leave for ten minutes then have to bring it in to clear the weed which was hanging just about where I wanted to put the bait – just behind the breaking waves.

I was soon joined by another fishing fanatic, Clive, who set up just along from me and soon had his bait in the water. We spent the time in between retrieving balls of weed, having a chat and mulling over the usual things that you do on the beach.

Things were very quiet and there was no indication of any fish interest until about half an hour after high water when I saw the rod tip pull down and bounce back, which I initially thought was weed again but while holding the rod, I felt a couple of tugs and then the rod tip pulled down again and I was soon into the first fish of the night. A short while later, after negotiating the incoming waves, I beached a nice plump bass that measured 48cm and weighed in at 2lbs 12oz.

Half an hour later, the rod tip twitched a few times, pulled down and I was into my second of the night. This was a lot smaller and I reckon was around the pound mark, maybe a bit bigger. That was it then, as the tide dropped, the wind kept the weed firmly inshore and again it was difficult to get a bait in the right place for any length of time.

We gave it a while longer on the ebb before both deciding that it was unlikely we’d have any more luck and opted to call it a night.

I’ll be out again tonight in the hunt for that elusive ‘double’. Just hope that the weed may have subsided to make the fishing a bit easier.

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By Vic,

Thursday evening was going to be another serious attempt at getting a double figure bass from the beach, so it was off to Seaford beach again armed with a couple of boxes of squid. First stop was West view but that was way too weedy and rough, so went back further West and stopped at an area between Edinburgh road and the Buckle – didn’t look too bad and decided to give it a shot.

Setup one rod, long link running ledger, 6/0 pennel – the usual thing. Baited up, chucked out into the waves and stood holding the rod; within seconds, the lot was being dragged left by weed. With considerable effort, I dragged the lot in and spent the next minute or so clearing all the crap off the gear, tons of horrible, snotty and stringy weed…. yuk.

The next two attempts resulted in the same mess, so it was up sticks and move elsewhere. From the top of the prom, I scanned along the beach and looked like it was everywhere and moving Eastwards at a rate of knots. With that in mind and knowing deep down that it would make no difference where I fished, I decided to go back up past the beachcomber and stick it out there.

I took a couple of pictures but they don’t really convey just how rough it was and you can’t see the amount of weed that there was in the water, in hindsight I should have shot some video – just a thought for next time.

Within a few casts it became obvious that there was going to be no fishing that day. So to save wasting any more bait, I opted for the ‘cut and run’ and headed off home.

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By Vic, 10 August, 2011 18:25

Yet again, I hit Seaford beach yesterday, more out of a need to get on the beach than out of any great expectation, owing to the tides at the moment. Arrived during daylight to catch the 8.30pm high water, with the intention of fishing the ebb and over low water.

First snag I saw when I went over the beach, was the amount of weed in the water – tons of the stuff being held against the shoreline by the brisk South Westerly blowing but at least there was a half decent surf up. Not to be defeated, I set up a scratching rod with a size 4, two hook flapper, baited with some over-ripe lugworm and ragworm and chucked it out over the weed. Within what seemed like seconds, the weed collected on the line, dragging down into the breakers, where it collected even more. On bringing it in, I had to clear the leader knot before I could get the gear back in, where I saw there was masses of the horrible, slimy ‘spaghetti’ type weed clogging everything up. Another two casts and I admitted defeat and didn’t bother again.

Instead, I set up the bass rod with a long link running ledger, 6/0 pennel and whole squid and cast that out and tried  to get it into an area that wasn’t overly clogged up. I still had to retrieve and re-cast every few minutes and hope a fish found it before there was an excessive build up on the line and I had to drag it back in to clear it – but at least I had a bait in the water.

While participating in this fruitless exercise,  I got chatting to a guy visiting from Tonbridge, who was checking the beach out as a prelude to him returning to sea fishing after many years trouting (is that a real term)?  Turns out he is also a member of WSF and one of his associates, ‘Geordie Si’ is also known to me. It was good to meet you Keith and hope to see you down here at some time with your ugly side-kick, Si.

There was no activity what so ever and I was becoming even more disheartened (how can you become disheartened when you weren’t expecting much anyway)? Not wishing to be beaten, I continued to fish into darkness and thankfully, as the tide receded, the weed became more manageable, even though it was still a right royal pain in the ‘arris. The other fly in my rather depressed ointment was that the wind was also decreasing as the tide ebbed, which squashed the surf that had been there to start with, leaving a flat sea, with just the most feeble of wavelets at the waters edge. Now I know this is beginning to sound like a catalogue of fisherman’s excuses but there was also a very bright moon out was well – I think you can see where this is all heading, result-wise.

I stuck it out until just on low water, had packed up most of my stuff, getting ready to leave, when I went over to bring the bass rod in and saw a quick pull down – I lifted into… yeah, you guessed it, a fish.. and some weed. It didn’t feel big but at least it was a fish. I brought it out to find it was a bloody whiting that had managed to scoff a whole smallish squid. SO..blanked saved but in the manner I was hoping for.

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By Vic, 8 August, 2011 12:04

After the success at Seaford beach a few nights ago, I thought it rude not to try again, especially as seeing the sea was nice and lumpy with a brisk South Westerly wind. So armed with some squid, I trotted over there last night to fish the last half of the ebb tide, over low water and a few hours up.

I was surprised when I got to the mark, to see that the sea had flattened out and the wind was near non-existent – bloody typical! There was still a bit of movement but it was more of a residual swell than anything else, ah well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. It was forecast to rain and I could see some ominous dark clouds not too far off and heading my way. I noticed one good thing – that there appeared to be a distinct lack of weed visible, now that was a bonus.

I quickly set up the one bass rod with the standard long link running ledger and 6/0 pennel and it wasn’t long before the squid bait was out in what little waves there were. It was about now that the first drops of rain appeared and was my cue to get the waterproofs on. Within seconds, the drops became torrents as it literally chucked it down and nicely accompanied with some striking lightning and thunder – looked like it was going to be a moist evening!

The lightening and thunder stopped but the rain continued to cascade down. I endured the next couple of hours with nothing to show for it until during a brief respite about half an hour before low water, I had a cracking take and then loads of slack. I wound like crazy until I re-connected with the fish, which was beached shortly after – a nice little 48cm 2lbs 12oz bass. Right, that was number one, now to get the others. Sadly, that was the one and only bite all night.

Whilst standing out (looked like I was the only one out there) on the sodden beach, the rain continued, the only differences were when it changed from light to heavy. Did have a another brief rain free spell from about 2am until 2.30 and then again from about 3am but by then, I had lost interest, was somewhat damp and a tad disappointed that there had not been more fish, so packed up and set off home for the task of hanging everything up to drip dry in the garage.