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By Vic, 23 January, 2008 12:11

Due to other commitments, weather and tide conditions, last night was my first session of 2008. I have to say, it was welcome too, I was almost having withdrawal symptoms.

I scouted the beach at Seaford beforehand during the early afternoon to check out the current ‘wood problem‘ which was affecting other parts of the coast. It didn’t seem to bad, with most of the larger pieces having been moved above the high water line and little evidence of more in the water. Reassured, I decided to return to fish the evening tide.

Arrived at Edinburgh Road at about 7pm and set up just West of the car parking area. The Southerly breeze had picked up since the afternoon pushing the cloud in. There was a reasonable swell which increased during the evening. All in all, conditions looked pretty good.

One rod was set up with 2 hook flapper using size 1’s baited with lugworm/slipper limpet cocktails. Second rod set up with 4/0 pennel baited with lovely big cuttle fillets.

Action (or lack of) was slow for the first couple of hours with the odd knock but no fish. I used this time to scout around for any timber that could prove useful for mending my garage. I couldn’t fit the bigger lengths into my car and found that the suitable stuff that was left had been broken up beyond use. As the wind and wave action increased, I did noticed more wood being washed in further West of me but funnily enough I wasn’t affected by it at all.

An hour before the 11pm high water, the whiting started to appear, hitting both the lugworm and the cuttle. Although numerous, none were of a decent pot size.

The whiting onslaught carried on until I called it a night at 12.30. Total tally was in excess of 20, so not a bad start to the year. I would of been happier with a codling or two or even a few pot size whiting but at least I didn’t blank and didn’t lose any gear to the wood.

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By Vic, 31 December, 2007 11:35

Well, that was it, the last session of 2007.

Fished Opposite West View at Seaford Beach from 8.30pm through til 4am. Not a breath of wind, overcast with clear patches. A small swell put a bit of movement in the sea but not much.

I fished one rod with a 2 hook clip down at varying ranges using squid strips /slipper limpet mixes. Second rod set up with 3/0 pennel baited with squid – either whole small or fillets of large.

As usual, the whiting were first on the scene, attacking anything in front of ’em. Then I hit a small persistent bite and lifted into what felt like a good fish. I had thoughts of a decent codling the way it was ‘nodding’ and the reasonable weight it felt. Alas it was not to be – as I beached the creature and the water receded, I was left with an eel of around 1lb or so but it was foul hooked half way along it’s length and had come in sideways.

That was pretty much it until about an hour before high, I had a decent bite on the pennel rig which turned out to be a little codling of around 1½ lbs. This was followed a short while later by another of the same size. Both were taken at about 50 yards range. Things then returned to normal with a few more whiting coming in with no signs of any additional codling. It wasn’t long after this that I decided to call it a night.

A decent end to 2007 with hope of a better 2008 and the resolution to make more effort to try new venues and tactics.

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By Vic, 26 November, 2007 18:37

Haven’t been able to get out for quite some time now and have missed out on quite a bit of fishing. The only thing I’ve caught is a case of ‘cabin fever’ and fishing withdrawal. So once I decided I could go, I settled on Seaford for Sunday night.

Got to Edinburgh Road at about 6.30pm during first hour of the flood tide. No wind to speak of and not much in the way of movement in the water. There seemed to be a few people fishing further East and some to the West. Just one other guy fishing near me. Had a chat and he said he normally fished Shoreham way but had come to this way for a change. So far he hadn’t had much luck. This didn’t look too promising.

Used frozen black luworm on single 1/0 clip down on one rod and whole squid on 4/0 pennel on t’other.
It was very quiet with no bites or fish to disturb my relaxation and star gazing. It wasn’t until about 2 hours before high water when I had a reasonable whiting of around 12oz.

I missed a couple of stonking takes on the squid at about an hour before high water and then nothing until an hour after, when I had a few more whiting and some small Pout.

There was no further action and at 2am, decided to call it a night. Although it wasn’t the best session I’ve had, it was great to be back out after my spell of involuntary incarceration.

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By Vic, 30 October, 2007 14:06

Yup – by now, you should know the formula. Went to Seaford last night and fished opposite Edinburgh Road (well just slightly West of). Got there at around 8pm, not long after low water. Clear, bright sky, very slight NW breeze and a reasonable surf running. Apart from the brightness, it seemed like it could be decent evening with the possibility of codling.

Apart from a few groups to the East of me, the beach was empty. This was surprising, as I thought there would have been more people out taking advantage of the conditions, considering the period of calm weather we’ve had recently.

I set up one rod with a wishbone rig, baited with lug/squid strips and sent out approx 80 yards or so. Second rod as usual – 4/0 pennel rig with whole squid and put out just beyond the surf line.

First fish of the night was a whiting (what a shock). That was it. Hours went by and no matter what I did to tempt, threaten or otherwise cajole the fish, the rods stubbornly refused to indicate any sort of fish activity. I used the normal tactics – pouring coffee, turning my back, preparing bait and generally tinkering about but nothing provoke a bite.

Still it was a nice night to be out, plenty of stars, a few meteorites, the cross channel ferry and other distractions that you normally don’t take any notice of.

High water came and went with no chance of my hands getting dirty with fish or my fish bag being used. I had varied the methods of the ‘general’ rod. I’d used the wishbone to start, then moved to a two hook flapper before settling on a single 1/0 clip down to try and further distance. By about 1.30, I’d had enough and thought ‘one last chuck’ before home. I loaded the hook with two lugworm before launching it out as far as I could. I then set about tidying up my rubbish (and some that had been left by previous visitor) and clearing my gear away. The close range set was dismantled and put away. Once everything was ship-shape, I sat and had the last of my coffee.

I noticed a twitching on the rod tip and then one nod – and then nothing. I left it a while longer and then having had enough, I started the final retrieve of the night. There was some resistance and a bit of a shake but it wasn’t until I was coming throughthe surf that things got heavier. Thinking it was probably a clump of weed and a small ‘something or other’ I brought it straight out and let the waves do there thing. To my surprise, there it was lying in the shingle, my first sole from Seaford this year. It wasn’t huge, at around 30cm. but I’d broken my duck.

So, a really slow and uneventful night was saved from being a disaster by two fish, one of which I was pleased as punch with.

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By Vic, 26 October, 2007 09:50

Fished Edinburgh Road at Seaford last night from 6.30pm, just after low water through until about 2am.

Flat calm sea, no wind, overcast sky (sounds familiar) wasn’t ideal but you gotta try haven’t you.

One rod set up with one hook ledger baited with lug/squid strips, the other my habitual whole squid, alternated with mackerel on a 4/0 pennel cast out around the 15-20 yard mark.

Samfish – one of the lads from World Sea Fishing Forums wandered over and we had a chat before he disappeared over to his preferred spot for the evening.

It was a quiet start with a few knocks here and there but no real action. As the water rose, so did the activity but it was whiting all the way, some not an un-reasonable size.

Over the high water period, I had some real hard takes on half mackerel fillets which had the rod being slammed down hard in a bass-like manner. These turned out to be whiting too. To be honest, it got bloody irritating, cast out, settle the rod, pour a coffee and bang, over the rod goes, drop the coffee, optimistically scuttle over to the rod in the hope it’s a bass and all for a bloody whiting!!!

Can’t complain too much though, it was a lovely peaceful night to be out in the fresh air and it wasn’t a blank.

While packing the gear into the car, Samfish returned from his session, so we had a quick exchange of notes in which I learned that his evening had been pretty much the same as mine.

It looks promising for early next week with a brief change in the weather, so I guess I’ll be there again, maybe try and get the council to donate a bench for me to sleep on.