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By Vic, 3 January, 2012 12:31

After a lay off for a couple of weeks or so, I’ve been eager to get back out on to the beach. Normally around this time of year, the fishing on open beaches can be best described as …err crap and so with little hope of anything decent, I headed off to Seaford beach yesterday evening. It was a bit of a last minute decision, so I didn’t get there until just on high water at 5.30pm or so. Bait wise, I had to rely on some ragworm that had been languishing in my bait fridge for a while, which were surprisingly still active (just) and some frozen party squid obtained from a local shop, ‘Tools & Tackle‘ in Newhaven.

I used just the one rod, set up with a simple size 2 two hook flapper and baited with ragworm. The sea was a tad rough with a brisk South Westerly blowing straight into my face but undeterred, I cast out over the breakers and waited. Due to the strong wind I kept one hand on the rod to prevent the possibility of it being toppled over in the tripod,

It wasn’t long before the first fish of the year was brought ashore and it just had to be a bloody slug (rockling) which infest the waters at this time of year, so it was no real surprise there. I re-baited, cast out and waited again.

In a brief lull in the wind, I left the rod in the tripod and grabbed myself a cup of very welcome coffee. On turning back to the rod, I was just in time to see the whole lot starting to topple over; I was in time to save it from crashing into the shingle. I initially thought it was huge breaker or maybe weed that had caused it but that thought left my mind as I felt something unknown tugging from the other end. Codling perhaps?… bass?… It was certainly pulling back, whatever it was. I brought the creature through the breakers and onto the shingle – an eel but a biggun though. Luckily it was neatly hooked through the lower jaw and so was easy to release without too much damage to the rig. On holding it, I would say that it went at least 2½, maybe even 3lbs and certainly, if the law didn’t forbid keeping of eels, it would have been going home with me. Alas though, they have to be returned, so that was what I did and watched it slither back into the waves.

Next up was a brace of whiting but unlike the good sized keepers we’ve had recently, they were just pins. It was a mixed double of whiting and another slug shortly after – again, the whiting was a pin.

The wind speed started to increase and as the tide dropped, it became more perilous to get near the waters edge for casting. Very large breakers started to sweep, making the fine shingle/sand more unstable under foot.

With the tide dropping quickly and the sea getting lumpier by the second as the wind increased, I decided it wasn’t really worth staying any longer and so packed everything up and was back on my way home by about 8 pm. It had been a very short session but I had at least kicked off my 2012 season with three species unfortunately they won’t count in the species hunt competition on a fishing site I frequent because I didn’t bother taking any pictures.

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By Vic, 18 December, 2011 15:26

Decided on a few hours at Seaford beach last night to get some decent whiting for dinner. I arrived there about an hour before the 10pm low water and walked across the shingle to find that the beach had been virtually flattened by the recent gales. The concrete ‘prom’ was covered in shingle, almost making it part of the actual beach. Instead of the usual steep ridges, the shingle descended in a shallow slope towards the sea.

There was a bit of a North Westerly blowing but it was nothing compared to recent winds. The sea had a nice bit of movement to it, stirring things up nicely and making things look promising.

Initially, I set up one rod with a size 1/0 two hook flapper baited with frozen lug and party squid tipping. This was chucked out a way past the breakers in the hope of bigger whiting. The second was set up with a long link running ledger, 4/0 pennel and whole squid, more in the hope of a late bass than specifically targeting them.

It wasn’t long before rod two with the big bait began jumping around and shortly after, a plump whiting of 37cm was on the beach, dispatched and put in the ‘dinner bucket’. By the time, I’d re-baited and cast out, rod 1 was rattling away. A double shot of smaller whiting were soon beached before unhooking and returning them.

Rod 1 was bouncing away with some quite dramatic pull downs which indicated it may be something a bit better but on bringing it in I had in fact a double shot of whiting, a smaller one on the top hook of the pennel and a dinner sized one on the lower one. The smaller one went back and the other… well into the bucket it went.

A double shot of small ones on the flapper were beached a short while later. This was followed up with a double shot of ‘dinners’ coming in at 36cm apiece. The big baits were being ravaged by whiting and frequent bait changes were needed. I was beginning to wish I’d brought more bait with me, as I had to resort to using the tattered leftovers bound up with bait elastic. One of these ‘scrap’ baits was responsible the next ‘keeper’ fish, nice really plump whiting of 36cm.

Lots of small whiting were brought in but were not sizeable enough to keep, the sea was literally alive with them. With bait being used up at a rapid pace, it wasn’t too long before I was using the last bits of bait on the flapper and rod 2 packed away. I had a final hit which brought in yet another 36cm specimen.

I packed up at about 1am and with some nice fish in the bucket, it had been a good session, with the target of dinner achieved.

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By Vic, 10 December, 2011 12:04

Due to continuing problems with my back, I haven’t been out on the beach for a long while (apart from a couple of mini sessions), so it was with great anticipation, that I headed out to Seaford beach last night.

I got to my chosen spot at around 7.45pm, and was going to fish up and over the 10.30pm high water and maybe a couple of hours down. There was a bit of a breeze coming in from the West with some nice breakers and lots of action in the water. Spurred on by recent reports of some nice bass coming up along the South coast, I went for the all or nothing approach and opted to fish one rod with big baits close in. This also meant I didn’t have to do any twist, turn and wack it casting.

I set up the one rod with a long link running ledger, 6/0 – 4/0 pennel baited with whole squid and chucked it out into the turbulent water. It wasn’t long before the first bite came, a few sharp taps and…. nothing. The bait came back shredded – ahh that’ll be whiting then surprise, surprise. Re-baited and chucked it back out, tap, rattle and shredded bait again. I resisted the temptation to scaled things down and stuck with the big bait in the hope of something decent. This theme went on for a while before the first fish was beached… and yes, it was a whiting, skinny thing that had no business taking the size of bait it had done.

Apart from that, there was no action, only the continual bait shredding which was becoming a bit tiresome. Almost two hours after high water, I had the first ‘proper’ bite, a short, sharp pull and slack line. I took in the slack and struck; there was a fish but no fight, just some weight and sharp tugging. I brought the fish out onto the shingle – whiting but a nice plump table sized one that went 35cm and a pound on the nose. Whiting are a real pain the arse when they’re just the small ‘pins’ but nice ones like this make lovely eating and I’m happy to catch them all night.

As the tide dropped away, I was getting more bites than ever – all whiting but nice decent sized ones and all caught in close, at no more than fifty yards out. By the time I packed up at around 1.30, I had half a dozen plump keepers for next days dinner. So, no big fish but an enjoyable evening with some decent table fish for my efforts

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By Vic, 28 September, 2011 13:28

After some recent appalling sessions at Seaford beach that have not been worthy of a report, I decided to give it another go on Monday night. Bait was in short supply and could get no fresh worm locally but managed to get a few ragworm from ‘Tools and tackle’ in Newhaven, along with some squid.

So after finishing work that evening, I shot home, packed the car and was down on the beach by about 8.30pm. I opted to fish by the boats, just along from the Martello and was surprised to see that it was empty down there. In fact the only other lights I saw were further down to the West.

There was a slight (very) South westerly breeze but wasn’t really enough to put a lot of movement in the water, just the odd wave but generally calm. Sky was overcast and it was quite warm out. Sea looked relatively clear and free from the dreaded ‘sea salad and noodles’. I intended to fish what was left of the flood tide, up and over the 11pm’ish high water.

I set up one rod with a simple paternoster, with a single 5/0 hook but hair rigged with a size 4 baited with worm. The intention being to hook a small pout or whiting and leave it out as a live bait. The other ‘bass’ rod was set up with a long link running ledger and 5/0 pennel baited with whole squid.

It wasn’t long before the live bait rod was rattling away, signifying that it had done its job and the bait was now sat out there at distance awaiting the interest of any passing predatory fish.

After a long wait until about two hours before high water, the fist ‘proper’ fish of the night turned up, a small school bass of about 1½lbs which took the squid at around 20 yards out. It was quickly returned and another squid sent out to approximately the same distance but I had to wait another hour and a couple of bait changes before the next one obliged and that was a similar sized bass which conveniently spat the hook just as I landed it, so it was simple process of just nudging it back into the waves.

About an hour before high water and just after the change in the current direction, big floating rafts of tangled, slimy ‘sea’ noodles’ started passing by at about the distance I wanted my big baits. The stuff must have been backed up against the wall at Splash Point and then washed back Westwards with the ebb current. I couldn’t believe it, going from completely free to almost unfishable in just a few short minutes! Anyway, I carried on but it became a real nuisance and there wasn’t much point in continuing – I could see that there was still tons of the stuff to come by, so packed up the bass rod.

None of the live baits were touched at all and never really showed any signs of being worried about being snaffled. To be honest, the thought of trying to bring any sizeable, fighting fish in through the floating masses gave me a bit of a shudder.

… and so, I packed up all my gear and thought about getting back there in a day or so, when hopefully it would have cleared.

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By Vic, 3 September, 2011 14:34

It was back to Seaford beach on the bass hunt again last night, although this time I moved a little further East and fished a spot between the Martello tower and ‘The boats’. At 7.30pm – an hour and half before low water, I met up with fishing pal, Phil – well I think it was him, I couldn’t really see much of him through the thick fog that had blanketed the area. After confirming his identity and having a quick chat, we decided that we’d stick it out until the 3.20am high water, which would maximise our time with bait in the water and to fish the spread of a whole tide.

The sea was flat calm with barely a ripple apart from the small wavelets at the waters edge, which was hardly surprising, seeing as there was bugger all breeze to ruffle it. Did I mention the fog? It was foggy. In fact it was more like a drizzle and it wasn’t too long before our clothing was getting a bit damp through. What was surprising, was how warm it was, so warm that it was down to just a ‘T’ shirt under my floatie trousers.

On to the fishing! The plan was to fish live baits throughout the tide if possible, with the backup of big squid baits if no suitable pout of whiting were forthcoming. So the first thing was to set up the scratching rod with the usual size 4, two hook flapper baited with small sections of lugworm and flung it out while I set up the bass rod – long link running ledger with a bead above the running swivel. Doing it this way meant I could either clip on a trace with the pennel for using a squid, or leave it off and then use a slider for a live bait – two rigs in one.

The first couple of pout that came in really were a little too small and although, I could have used them, I would have preferred something a bit larger, so out went the worms again and the squid stayed on the bass rod. As Darkness proper set in, the bites stepped up and soon we were getting the whiting, although not as many as we would have got further West along the beach. I could have used these as livies but I really wanted pout.

Next fish was a snotty eel which swallowed the hook, luckily though, I managed to cut it free before it caused too much damage to the rig, so I got away with only having to tie on a new hook. A few more whiting came in to me, while Phil was getting whiting and pouts.

The fog seemed to get thicker even though a very light Southerly started to come up and was enough for me to have to add another layer over the ‘T’ shirt just top try and keep the damp out.

At 11.30, Phil and I were having a chat, when I saw my rod tip rattle a few times, then fall still before a lovely little pull down a short time later. I lifted into what was obviously a fish and soon, I had a double shot on the pebbles – a whiting on the top hook and a gorgeous sole on the bottom one – so that was lunch sorted, Anna would be pleased – she do like her soles. This was actually my first sole of the year and I was beginning to wonder whether I would manage to bag one or not. I have to admit, that I really haven’t targeted them as much as I have before but you can normally bank on one turning up by ‘accident’ while fishing with worm. In the photo, it looks a bit like it’s raining or that there is crap all over the lens but that was ‘the fog’ (reminds me, damn that was a good film).

It wasn’t that long before Phil was in with a possible sole, until that it is, it turned out to be a white plastic bag – an easy mistake. Mind you, it was a particularly striking looking bag (Sorry Phil, couldn’t resist it mate).

Next up for me was a bass but alas, it were only a tiddler of a schoolie which had picked up the worm. Phil meanwhile, had brought in a small ray. He also caught a small pout that looked like it had gone through the wars, fins all ragged and deep lacerations down both flanks, so something had taken a fancy to it but I guess we’ll never know what it was.

The hours went on and nothing else of any note came to the shingle apart from more whiting (one of which was a keeper for me) and we got more and more damp from the fog. Phil called it a day shortly before 3am and as is usual, I just had to stay, even if it was just see over the high water period.

Just after Phil left, I had another double shot but this time it was a whiting and a small bream. Woohoo – I then had two double shots of suitably sized pout which were added to the bucket for use as live baits. So that I was prepared, I dismantled the scratching rod that had now done its job and packed it all away. I then put a pout on the slider rig, sent it out, sat back, poured a coffee and watched through the gloom for signs of predatory activity. After about 20 minutes, the rod tip started rattling away like crazy, so I stood by the rod, with hands resting on it gently and patiently waiting….bang! Just one hit… but no follow up, no dramatic pull down….nothing. I left the bait out there for another ten minutes before deciding to bring it in – it was dead and looking the worse for wear.

Next pout was slid out into the gloom and I sat and drank the last of my coffee. Half an hour went by and … bang!.. again one hit and nothing else. Another dead pout brought in and the substitute sent out in its place. That was to be the last bit of action as nothing else happened until I eventually admitted defeat and headed off home at about 5am.

So, no decent bass but an enjoyable session anyway, along with six species and the added bonus of a tasty lunch.