It wasn’t that long ago that after being fed up with just catching pin whiting and slugs (rockling) session after session, I said I would pack up fishing proper until the start of April. Anyway, I just couldn’t resist the lure of the beach, so last night found me at Seaford with rod in hand – if you’ll pardon the expression. I got there at about 8.30pm to fish the tide up to the 12.40am high water – big tide too at 7.2m. Conditions were less than ideal, a flat, oily calm sea which was as clear as gin. No wind at all, not even the slightest breath of a breeze. To cap it all off, the sky was crystal clear with a big and very bright moon.
I had decided that to avoid whiting and slugs, I would stick with my plan of all or nothing and fish just one rod and use large launce (sandeel) for bait. So a long link running ledger with a 4/o pennel was setup. The hope was for any bass that might have been around – although deep down, I really didn’t expect to snag one.
After about 30 minutes, the rod tip pulled down slightly and then just started nodding away. I struck and retieved a small dogfish of the lesser spotted variety any potential blank was thus saved. Unhooked and retured, the stupid fish swam back to the waters edge and was promptly stranded. Why do they all do that?
Half an hour later, another one hit the shingle, was unhooked and released for it to do the same – weird. The rest of the night was spent equally between standing there doing nothing and unhooking dogfish. They weren’t there in plague numbers but just enough to keep things ticking over. It certainly beats the persistant rod tip rattling and constant reeling in of tiny whiting and slugs.
I packed up at about 2.30am with a final tally of 11 LSD’s. Considering I wasn’t expecting much, it turned out to be a pretty good session. Another joy was being able to fish without having to wear my floaty suit, just the salopettes and leaving the jacket in the car. It wasn’t by any means warm but it wasn’t too cold either.
This crap period for sea fishing continued its typical direness during a session at Seaford beach on Friday night. I got to the beach at about 8pm after finishing work and setup near West View. Two rods used – one with a two hook flapper baited with lugworm and squid strip, the other employed a long link running ledger ending with a pennel loaded with launce.
Conditions were icy cold, clear sky with no wind at all. This meant a very still and clear sea – not ideal for general fishing.
From the start, it was the usual pin whiting and slugs (rockling) on the worm baits while the launce was shredded by pin whiting looking for a change in diet. The only change was when a small, palm sized dab took one of the worms.
It was so cold that I had frost forming on my bag and floaty suit and the very slowly thawing launce sat in a bucket of fishy slush puppy. I don’t know why I stuck it out but I guess the draw of just being on the beach was too strong. I stuck it out until about 1.30 am., by which time, I was sick of seeing slug after slug and tiny whiting. I decided that saving the bait was a better idea so headed off to defrost the car before heading home.
Decided on an after work session bown at Seaford beach on Friday and had arranged to meet a bloke from South Devon Fishing who was up this neck of the woods visiting – great to meet you Nigel and look forward to a return visit and a trip down to your shores in the summer.
I got there about 8pm and headed over the shingle to our chosen spot between West View and the Beachcomber. A brisk South East breeze was putting a bit of movement in the coloured up water. Once setup, baits were cast out and the wait began. I was using a size 2 two hook flapper baited with lugworm on one rod and a whole launce close in on a running ledger and pennel setup in the hope of an early bass. Big tides of 7 meteres plus, meant that the water was pushing through at quite a rate and tackle was being dragged a fair bit at times despite using grippers.
Whiting were the first of the fish and Nigel had a tidy, table one which I reckon was close on 1½lbs. whereas I could only manage pins. The dreaded rockling put in an appearance just to spice things up a bit (not), along with a few pout.
Have to say the fishing wasn’t brilliant, with long periods of inactivity but this at least meant we could have a good old chin wag, put the world to rights and swap info on our favourite marks.
High water came and went at about 11.30 and the ebb tide was a bastard to fish with the wind coming straight along the beach, helping to push bait and tackle back Westwards. Sadly, there were no more fish forthcoming to speak of, although Nigel managed a scorpion fish in the last moments. We finished up at about 1.30 with the visitors side trouncing the local boy.
Seeing that we’d had a few days of winds from Southerly directions to stir the sea up a bit, I decided on a session at Seaford beach after work yesterday. I hit the beach at the 9pm low water and went to a spot just West of West View, mind you, I could have picked anywhere, as I was the only soul on the beach as far as I could see. It looked very promising, with a good amount of movement in the coloured up sea. Access was much easier than the last time with the recent rough seas having almost demolished the steep shingle cliff.
Within minutes, I had a size 4, two hook flapper with lugworm launched out at distance to do its work while I set up the second rod with the same end gear. Once both rods were out, I poured a coffee and waited. It wasn’t long before the first fish was out, a decent keeper of a whiting at 38cm. It was then back to normal pin size, with a sprinkling of pouting and 5 bearded rockling.
The next few hours were mainly spent fending of a solitary fox that was intent on raiding my bait bucket and fish. The damn thing always remained within a few yards and made numerous forays down the bank in my direction before the penny obviously dropped and it realised there was going to be no free meal that night until I had gone and left scraps behind.
By about 2am, the fishing had died off, with bites being very sparse and only a few extra whiting, pout and rockling hitting the beach. I gave it until 2.30 before calling it a night and not even waiting for high water. I left a few scraps of bait and the guttings for the fox, which was still hanging around in the vicinity before packing up the car and heading for home.
One good thing, it’s definitely warming up, as I spent most of the night not needing my floatie jacket and on the occasions I did put it on, I only lasted a short while before taking it off again as it getting too hot.
Having not been able to make it to the World Dab Championship at Dungeness, organised on WSF, I consoled myself with a session at Seaford beach on Sunday. I arrived there at about 4.30pm about an hour so after low water and found a spot opposite West View that was reasonably easy to access – considering all the work that shingle shifters have been up to recently. I was going to fish up to and over the 9 pm high water period and a couple of hours down. Conditions were not ideal – bright sun, no wind, calm and clear sea. I wasn’t expecting anything really until dark but it was nice to be out.
Two rods, both with size 4 two hook flappers baited with lugworm which had been left to fester a bit until it was nice and sticky with a distinct aroma. Both were cast out, one at distance and one mid-range. I then set about waiting for the first knocks. I had to wait a while, in fact they didn’t start until about an hour and a half later when it was dark.
First fish was a small dab (the only one of the night), followed by the inevitable whiting, occasionally interrupted by rockling. It got so hectic, that I brought one rod in and just fished with one as I got fed up with cast one, retrieve one and so on.
I fished over high water and finally left at about 11.30pm with a tally of very many whiting, a couple of which were keepers. Anna’s blog will detail how they were done for lunch today. A thoroughly enjoyable session; no great fish but enjoyable just the same.
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