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By Vic, 27 July, 2010 12:45

It was back to Seaford beach again last night for more bass hunting. I arrived at Edinburgh Road at about 8pm to fish the flood tide up to high water at 1am. The weather was low heavy cloud with a light Westerly breeze. Not long after arrival, a heavy drizzle/light rain came in, which managed to get all my gear nicely soaked but only lasted an hour or so before clearing out top leave a very pleasant evening. The sea was flat with very little in the way of wave movement – but the good thing was there were very few signs of the weed which would make things easier.

I hadn’t been able to get any lugworm, so had to rely on some peeler crab I’d obtained and launce strips for the scratching rod, which I set up with a DVice on a running ledger. I cast this out with the launce and set about getting the bass rod all ready for when the sun had gone down. The rig was, as usual, a long link running ledger ending with a 4/0 pennel setup baited with the lovely large launce, I had managed to get from The Peacehaven Angler.

When I returned to the scratching rod, I saw that there was loads of slack line, so retrieved it only to find a mackerel had taken the bait on the bottom – more bait! Apart from that, there was no other interest shown in the offerings I was chucking out.

As darkness fell, I swapped the launce for crab on the scratching rod but this only resulted in more whiting in the same bracket as the previous night – all pins. Once the crab had been used, I went back to some mackerel strip instead but again this only produced whiting.

The slight breeze that there had been earlier, died totally leaving it very still, warm and humid – enough to get away with wearing just a tee shirt, although I did put my jeans back on after protests from a passing dog walker 😉

The first proper action didn’t happen until about 11.15 when I saw a small pull down on the bass rod which resulted in a schoolie bass of about a pound. This was just after I’d spent a good while talking to another guy who had been fishing further along.

The next fish was at 1135 and was a better fish at 2½lbs which had really punched above its weight, giving a really good run and dogged fight which had me believing it was something a bit bigger. It was a nicely conditioned fish, lean and fit.

It wasn’t until an hour later that I had the next and last fish of the night, another schoolie of around 1½lbs. After this, it went completely dead with no further indications of any sort. I had anticipated at least one take during the hour period after high water but there was no interest shown at all. I gave it until 2.30 before calling it a day and heading for home. All three bass were taken at a range of no more than ten yards out. I think this is something people should bear in mind when targeting bass and should give confidence to those who are not great casters (myself included) and who perhaps try too hard to get those ‘extra’ yards. It’s not always about distance.

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By Vic, 26 July, 2010 16:45

I’ve been eager to carry on with my launce trials for bass at Seaford beach but was dealt a blow yesterday when I could only get smaller sandeels. Not to be put off, I decided to go in the evening anyway, so armed with a couple of packs of frozen sandeels and some lugworm, I headed off for Seaford.

I arrived at the Edinburgh Road parking area at about 7pm and walked over onto the beach to be greeted by a fresh Westerly wind, whipping up quite a lumpy sea with large breaking waves on the beach. I could already see rafts of weed in the nicely coloured water but it didn’t look too bad provided there wasn’t more of the damn stuff unseen lurking under the surface.

Fished two rods, one with size 4 two hook sole rig baited with lugworm, the other a long link running ledger with a 4/0 pennel rig with the sandeel. The worms were sent out about 40 yards and although I didn’t expect much on the other rod during daylight, I cast it out anyway to see if anything was around.

Before it got dark, I had a small gurnard and two schoolie bass on the worm and nothing on the sandeel. Once darkness fell, it was a whiting fest on the worm – virtually a double shot of the bloody things every cast; all of them pins and nothing of any decent size.

It wasn’t until about two hours before high water that I had the first hit on the bass rod – a huge pull down and screaming reel but I missed it whilst doing an impression of Billy Elliot as I tripped over the tripod. 10/10 for artistic impression but ‘nil point’ for results.

Had another take on the bass rod about 20 minutes later and this time I connected and landed a plump bass of about 2½lbs. Missed another take about 10 minutes later through inattentiveness and  that was it for the rest of the night.

By 11pm the wind had died, the sea calmed right down to a swell and it remained fishless until I packed up an hour after high water.

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By Vic, 12 July, 2010 10:58

I was thinking the other day that I haven’t fished Seaford Beach since January, so decided to have a go there last night to see what’s about. Not being able to rely on catching mackerel there, I decided to continue my launce (sandeel) for bass experiment. I had some left over lugworm as well and thought I’d use that up on a scratching rig.

When I got to the beach, it was about two hours into the flood tide and I saw that there was some weed present but didn’t look too bad and was certainly fishable. The sea was pretty calm with just a small swell and a bit of movement surf-wise. There was no wind to speak of and the sky was cloudy with sun breaking through at times.

I set up the scratching rig first, a size 4, two hook flapper baited with the lugworm which I cast out about fifty yards. I then set about the bass rod which I would use later on and used a long link running ledger combined with an eight foot trace and a 4/0 pennel to be baited with the launce. These were frozen ‘Ammo’ and were a pretty good size, being about six inches in length and thick bodied. Since I started using these, I have found that the larger sized launce seem to work better than the smaller ones which have caught significantly less fish.

First fish to be landed came in about three hours after low water and it was a double shot of a school bass and a small weever. Next in was a small thornback ray, shortly followed by a small Tub gurnard – all these came in before full darkness and fell to the lugworm. Once dark, I had another hit which turned out to be another school bass.

By about 10pm and four hours into the tide, the weed started to become a problem – long strands of the ‘Spaghetti’ weed got caught up on the hook, sinker and leader knot. The best way to deal with this was to abandon the scratching rod and concentrate on the bass gear which I had by now deployed. While packing the other rod up, I heard the ratchet on the bass reel scream off as a fish took line. I picked up the rod and felt the fish pulling strongly and struck into it. A short while later, a bass of around 2½lbs was on the beach but before I could reach it, the hook fell free and the next wave took the fish back. Ah well, at least I knew there were fish  there.

I re-baited with a fresh launce and cast out again just beyond the breaking waves. Almost immediately I saw the rod lurch over and the reel sing again, I lifted into the fish which was on for a brief moment before going free – arse! Another fresh launce was cast out but nothing touched it – or so I thought. The rod was moving in a wave-weed like manner but when I retrieved it, I found a spider crab firmly attached. Unfortunately it wasn’t peeling, so went back.

By now, it was about an hour before high water and the weed was getting to be a real problem; at least on this rig, there was no leader knot to worry about as it was a straight through line. I saw the rod moving and was about to bring it in, when it dramatically arched over and the reel screamed’ I picked it up and felt a reasonable fish on the other end. As it got nearer the beach, I let the waves carry the fish closer to land and soon a nice fish was on the beach – success! It measured 52cm  and weighed in at a shade over 3lbs – not huge but very satisfying for my first session there in six months.

The weed become intolerable around high water and the place was just unfishable – huge rafts of it could be seen in the waves and after a minute in the water, line and terminal tackle were smothered and being dragged along by the weight of weed in the current. I was down to my last launce anyway, so chucked it to give the fish a free meal on me before packing up for the night.

Given that there was a nice variety of fish (although on the small side), I may give the marina a rest for a while and concentrate on Seaford a bit more along with Newhaven for the sole.

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By Vic, 6 January, 2010 13:27

Had the first session for a couple of months and the first of 2010 on sunday out at Seaford beach. Loaded with some nice black lugworm and two boxes of squid, I arrived at around 6pm and started to unload the car. By the time I’d got all sorted and walked onto the beach, I couldn’t feel my fingers it was so bloody cold!

Undeterred, I trudged across the shingle and started to set up the rods. After the first was done, I had to have a short break to warm the hands and fingers up before doing the next one. Big baits were the order of the day to try and avoid any small whiting and rockling, so one rod sent out with ledgered DVice 3/0 hook crammed with lug and squid, second rod out with whole squid on 4/0 pennel rig. It was then a matter of keeping warm and waiting!

Although freezing to start with, later on, as cloud covercame over, it actually felt like it was warming a bit – so much so that I had to open the main zip on my ABU floaty suit as I was getting a bit too warm.

Fish wise, I ended up with a few whiting and the dreaded rockling ‘slugs’ which still manaed to get themselves hooked on the worm baited 3/0’s. Not a great start to 2010 but at least it wasn’t a blank. May leave the beach for a while now as the rockling seem to be in abundance and the cod having moved off before I could target them in earnest. Will now concentrate on the herring at Brighton Marina if the seas clear out.

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By Vic, 10 November, 2009 14:03

I Fished Seaford beach last night after work, from 9pm through until 4am. It was a brilliantly clear night which became cloudier later on, not a breath of wind but still quite chilly. There was very little movement in the water which had just a tinge of colour. I used a familiar setup, two rods – one with size 2, two hook paternoster baited with black lug and squid strip. The other rod, used a 3/0 pennel with whole squid relatively close in.

There were loads of whiting from the off, with many double shots of small to medium fish on the lugworm/squid combo but some really decent sized ones of around the pound mark (with one in particular at 1lb 10oz) on the bigger baits. It was pretty frantic at times with both rods rattling and bouncing away with bites at the same time. I swear there must have been a carpet of the things as the rods were going virtually as soon as the lead hit the bottom. As the tide rose and approached peak, the bites dropped off until there was nothing happening at all. Having been reduced to just scraps of bait, I decided to call it a night and head for home safe in the knowledge that I had enough whiting to keep Anna happy in the kitchen.

Ended the night with a dozen keepers which are now all cleaned, filleted and skinned and ready for Thai fish cakes and fish balls.

All in all, a cold but busy and enjoyable night.