I set up one rod with a size 4 two hook sole rig baited with lugworm and chucked that out about 50 yards or so. I tried for some fresh mackerel using small sabiki feathers but only succeeded in hitting three scad and a few small pollack and pout that went into the live-bait bucket.

Once darkness fell, I set up the bass rod with a live-bait slider rig and sat back and waited… and waited…

In the meantime, I had some limited action on the sole rig, landing an under-sized sole, more pout and a ‘snotty’ eel. Once the live bait had expired, I switched to ‘joey’ mackerel heads on a long link running ledger and once those had gone, went on to use small calamari sized squid. This all proved to be a fruitless exercise, with nothing showing any interest in my offerings.

By about midnight, the other guys decided to pack in and head for home, while I, in my ever growing optimism, opted to stick it out for a couple more hours. This turned into a session of drowning worms and star gazing as nothing happened apart from some more pout and another slip sole. Feeling a bit deflated, I left at about 2am.

I was originally going to hit Seaford beach but had changed my mind in favour of the marina. I wish I’d stuck with the first option because at least there, I’ve had some success on the bass front and there’s always the chance of some decent whiting amongst all the bait robbing ‘pins’.

Ah well… Seaford will be the next session later in the week.

Before going to the appointed meeting place, I popped into ‘The Tackle Box for a few bits ‘n’ pieces. Being someone with a limited memory, I had written ‘Bait Elastic’ on the back of my hand, it was unfortunate that I had omitted to write or add ‘Bait’ to the list, as that vital item was sitting forgotten at home in the fridge!

Everyone met up at the café on the East arm at 4pm where entrance money (towards RNLI charity) was handed over and in return, entrants were given a Tronix squid jig in the colour of their choice, I opted for a very fetching green. We drew numbered score cards that denoted the order in which contestants walked off for the start – I drew no.10 which wasn’t too bad. Soon we were off and walking to wherever we could get a space. Another WSF member, ‘mr codling’ and his cousin ‘Ant ‘ were just before me but we decided on fishing together so that witnessing and card signing would be easier. We eventually found some vacant space at bays 41-43 and started to set up. We were also joined by Mr and Mrs Wee Haggis and their usual large amount of kit.

Official kick off  was 5pm and at that time, many jigs were cast out in expectancy and 48 pairs of eyes stared at floats, waiting for them to slide under the surface. In our little merry band, Mrs Haggis was the first to strike within the first 10 minutes and after I wielded the net, her first ever squid was safely on the deck. It was quickly dispatched, measured at 37cm and put in the cool bag. Things were looking good and it promised to be fruitful session.

After this first bit of activity, I’m afraid I got  lost  in it all and couldn’t tell at what happened at what time but my turn was next when I had a reasonable sized Cuttlefish on the line which escaped during the attempts to net the thing – my first chance blown! It wasn’t until quite a way into the session that my next chance came when I hook a squid, which got to the surface and then let go. I immediately let the jig back down and luckily, the squid grabbed it again and this time was safely netted by wee haggis. After measuring the critter (37cm) and getting my card signed, it was back for attempts at more; in my case no more, as that was it for me – not even a sniff at another squid or cuttlefish.

For the rest of the time, we saw no more action apart from wee haggis getting a mackerel on his jig and Ant managing to bring in a black bream on his…. weird! I did get to enjoy some very nice coffee from Mrs Haggis’ ‘kitchen’ which was certainly better than what I had in my flask. Before long, it was 10pm – the finish of the competition and the walk back to the meeting point, totting up of points and the giving out of the awards and prizes. Sadly, I got nowt for my efforts apart from a tasty squid for dinner and a great time in good company – just hope next year is a bit warmer and drier.

Many thanks to Fishyrob and George ‘Tronix‘ for organising the event, the sponsors and dealers who donated kit for prizes along with the Brighton restaurant FishyFishy

Competition results can be viewed here. Hopefully, I’ll have some photos to add soon.

I guess it must have been around 9am when I had my first take which saw the float slide under the surface. As the creature got to the surface, it gave an almighty spurt, slipped the jig and disappeared. Buoyed up by the take, I was confident that others would follow and at about 10.30am, I had another take which saw another squid on the surface. I could see that it was comparatively small and so had no problem swinging it up without using the net. First one done, I worked the float  through the swim in the hope of a quick follow up but it all went a bit slow with only a couple of missed takes.

Danny, one of the guys from the WSF internet forums turned up about 11am for a bit of a chin wag and fishy talk of plans for the summer. My wife Anna joined us half and hour later, wanting to see how her delicious squid dishes start out and how they’re caught; it also gave us the chance to blow the cobwebs away over losing one of cats on Tuesday when he had to be put down.

Just before mid-day and the top of the tide saw the action quicken when I had a take and a squid on, it looked pretty small and I thought I’d have no problem in swinging it when, despite the kind offer from a nearby angler to net it for me. The result? bloody thing dropped just as I was beginning to lift it. The next two successive takes resulted in the squid letting go as they were about to surface. Another take and some good netting by Danny saw a lovely Cuttlefish safely on the deck. It wasn’t until 1pm, after Anna and Danny had gone and two dropped takes later that I had another squid on; this one stayed on and was kindly netted for me by the guy in the next bay. His services were required shortly after when yet another squid was on. This one made it all the way to the net before slipping off at the last second.

There was no more action for me after this but at around 3pm, a local angler of many years, ‘Farmer George’ landed a good sized squid after he had settled in my bay. By 4pm I had had enough for the day, and as I was working that evening, I had to leave – pleased with the result but annoyed at the missed opportunities. With inclement weather forecast for the next few days, here’s hoping that by the time the squid competition comes around next week, the conditions calm and clear out, otherwise it means postponement.

I was on location in bay 48 on the arm by 6.45 am on a lovely bright morning with just a slight Southerly breeze ruffling the surprisingly cloudy water; I was hopeful that the sea would clear later as the tide rose. I set up my gear and used the usual terminal tackle of a float fished Tronix jig – pink to start and green later and then back to pink.  As high water wasn’t due until around 2pm (depending on which tide table you read), I wasn’t expecting too much in the way of action, so I just enjoyed the peacefulness of it all, having not been out too much this year. As the hours wore on, the breeze dropped and it got quite warm but the on the business side of things, I was still squidless.

After a few hours, Richard, one of the guys from WSF turned up with his mate Nick and started fishing a couple of bays along from me. Lucky for me that they’d brought a drop net along (left mine at home again) because at about 1pm, I had a slow take and a squid was on. A minute or so later, after Richard guided the net-handling Nick, my first landed squid of 2010 was on the deck and what a relief it was too.

The rest of the day was dead, no further takes at all, not so much as a sniff. The only highlight was reuniting Fishyrob with his leather hat he’d lost the previous night and found by me while walking out on  the arm today. I left the marina by about 4pm and once home, the days catch was cleaned sliced and fried for tea, there’s nothing quite like straight from the sea onto the plate freshness. Anna was going to do her squid casserole but we decided that today was going to be “Calamari” as Alex has been pestering me about squid since last year. The next one will definitely be going casseroled though. Here’s a few pictures of before during and after. Click on images for larger versions.

Result? One squid which dropped just before being netted by the bloke just along from me about 2 hours into the flood. Apart from that, I was squidless and although disappointed, I didn’t kick myself too hard when I found that the squid were not present in large numbers and apparently only two were landed for the day.

I’ll be doing a visit again on Saturday but trying the East arm instead and see if I can’t lose my 2010 squid virginity!

Got to the West arm at about 10am to find some of the guys from WSF forums in the first bays and having had a few squid out already. I set up in the next vacant bay and started fishing in earnest – a float fished pink Tronix jig cast out and left out to drag through in the current. Despite my best efforts and using identical jigs, floats etc., I could not get a take at all. The squid seemed to be concentrated in one particular area, which sadly was not the one I was fishing in!

I stuck it out until around 3pm with a quickly dropping tide before calling it a day. Disappointed to blank but it was great to be out again, no problems encountered, no pains -  I feel like I’m almost back to normal.

The water was gin clear and with virtually no movement, so I wasn’t expecting much at all, it was just great to be out on the beach. Worm rod was sent out at distance, while the whole squid was lobbed out a few yards in the hope of a lurking bass.

Not much to write about really, so I’ll just give a brief total for the night. Finished at about 2am, so worked out at about 8 hours fishing. Loads of whiting but none in the decent keeper bracket, three small rays and some Pout. The Pout went out as bait in the hope of a decent bass being tempted but by the way they were coming back with the tell-tale ‘V’ notch taken out of the neck area, they had obviously been attacked by squid. That being the case and me not having any jigs with me, I gave that up.

Anyway, it was a decent night to be out and did get some fish, so not all a loss. This coming week should give some better results with a shift in the wind and hopefully some movement and colour to the water.

Ingredients:
4 tblsp sunflower oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary, leaves removed and finely chopped
1 kg (2.25 lb) squid, cleaned and sliced into rings, tentacles split into pairs
500ml fish stock (or cold water)
200g canned tomatoes, chopped
3 tblsp tomato puree
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
pinch ground ginger
plenty of sea salt and black pepper
Thai fish sauce (optional)

Method:
Heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic until softened and golden.
Add the rosemary, then the squid and mix together, then cover with the water or stock.
Bring to the boil, then simmer for 45 mins.

Add the tomato puree, tomatoes, spices and salt and pepper.
Cover and simmer gently for a further 30 minutes, then remove lid and simmer faster for another 15 mins until the squid is very tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly.
Check for seasoning, adding 2 or 3 drops of thai fish sauce if it needs the boost.

Serve in a bowl, either with plain risotto (made with fish stock), garlicky mash, fried new potatoes or a hunk of good crusty bread.

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Recipe taken from
creamuntilfluffy.co.uk