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By Vic, 17 September, 2010 15:25

I had a session planned for Seaford beach last night after work, fishing down to the 1am low water and a few hours up. I popped into the Tackle Box before work to collect some lugworm and squid and listen to the ‘Tales from Eddy’. While I was there, Fishyrob turned up to collect bait and asked if I wanted to join him for a sole bash on Brighton  beach. I was sorely tempted but as my plan was to fish Seaford, all my kit was at sitting at home in the garage waiting to be loaded into the car when I got home. I didn’t really want to drive home and then turn around and go back into Brighton again. I apologetically declined Rob’s kind offer but said I might pop down there if the conditions weren’t right at Seaford. Now having read some of his recent reports, it could have been an interesting evening. Rob also managed to locate a secret stash of large launce which was buried beneath an avalanche of frozen cuttle.

Anyway, after work, I shot home and loaded my gear into the car and set off. I’d originally planned top fish the Martello but at the last minute, changed my mind and went to a spot I haven’t fished for a while – a little patch opposite West View. I was toying with the idea of live-baiting, so set up one rod with a simple size 4 two hook flapper baited with the lugworm and cast it out while I set up the bass rod. On this, I rigged a long link running ledger which would have a 5/0 pennel rig baited with squid or launce. On standby, I had a made up live baiting trace with a single 5/0 on one end and a snap swivel on the other. The idea being that when wanted to live-bait, I could retrieve, unclip the pennel and cast out the weight only, before clipping the trace and bait onto the main line and letting it slide out into the water.

It wasn’t long before I had enough small whiting and pout in the bucket to last the time I would be there. I swapped the flapper for a sliding live-bait rig as above and sent the first of the pout out into the oggin to do its work. I continued to use the squid and launce on the bass rod.

It wasn’t until about half an hour after the 1am low water that I had the one and only take of the night and that was on the bass rod, falling to whole squid. I started as a whiting-like rattle and then a dramatic pull down and line peeling off the reel. I lifted into the fish which then came inshore before hanging in the breakers. A short while later, a nice bass was on the beach. It had taken the bottom hook right down and the top hook was caught up in the gills causing massive bleeding. There was no way of removing both hooks without causing untold damage, so it was quickly dispatched and put to one side while I clipped on a new trace, baited it up with a new squid and sent it out.

The fish measured in at 62cm and just under the 6lbs mark. I would normally take a picture on the beach but the camera refused to co-operate (turns out the card wasn’t seated correctly) so the kitchen picture is the only one I have of it.

The rest of the session was dead, no interest at all on the live-baits and none on the remainder of the squid and launce. Packed up at about 3.30 after cleaning and scaling the fish – the gut was absolutely empty, not even the usual small crabs etc.

Part of it was eaten at lunch time today, gently fried off with ginger, soy and spring onions…… drool. I’m sure Anna will be updating her recipes pretty soon.

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By Vic, 16 August, 2010 15:19

Had a session at Brighton Marina last night, on the East arm along with some fishing pals, dannyc, Mr codling and antonfish.  We set up in the high 50′s on a still evening with the tide dropping to a 10pm low water. The idea was to fish low water up in the hope of some bass action.

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.

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By Vic, 10 May, 2010 12:33

The third ‘All England squid Fishing Championship‘  was held yesterday on the East arm of Brighton Marina with a good turnout of 48 competitors who raised £240 for the RNLI. In comparison with last year, when the competition was held in warm sunshine and I got sunburn, the start for this year was somewhat different – cold NNE breeze (very light) and light rain. Last year was ‘T’ shirts, this year was waterproofs and thermal wear. It has to be said though, that later on, the breeze was virtually zero and the slight  rain was patchy to zero, so not that horrendous.

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.

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By Vic, 29 April, 2010 10:12

I had another early start at Brighton Marina yesterday morning in the quest for tasty Cephalopods and some practice for the upcoming 3rd All England squid Championship on the 8th of May. After a quick visit to the Tackle Box for some more leads (Cheers Eddy for opening up early), I headed over to the West arm and grabbed a spot at the ‘Float Only’ bays at the end about an hour after low water. The weather looked promising with an overcast sky, very light Southerly breeze and a flat calm and clear sea, so I was optimistic as I set up the now standard rig of float fished jigs. I bucked the trend of using pink jigs and within minutes had cast out a green Tronix jig to do it’s work in the current which was running quickly as the tide rose.

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.

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By Vic, 17 April, 2010 22:03

My last couple of attempts at snagging squid at Brighton Marina have been dismal failures, with the last one being particularly annoying as I had one but lost it at the net. In an attempt to break my squid Duck for 2010, I was back at the marina early this morning, making sure I got a decent spot before the weekend hoards filled the spaces – although this time, the East rather than the West arm was the venue.

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. Handily 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.