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By Vic, 6 September, 2009 09:57

Fished Seaford last night from about 8pm through until 2am. I was originally going to fish at the Beachcomber but the amount of weed put me off and so tried Edinburgh Road section where it didn’t look too bad. I set up shop about 50 yards East of the car parking area and cast out nice juicy lugworm and squid cocktail on a ledgered DVice into the a decidedly lumpy sea.

Within minutes, the rod was keeling over under the weight of weed that had attached itself to the line. Retrieved as far as I could until the leader knot jammed in the tip ring due to weed build up. Having cleared it, retrieved, de-weeded and re-baited, I cast out again trying avoid the rafts of floating weediness. Few minutes later, the same routine. This was repeated several times until I got thoroughly pissed off with it. Even if by some chance, a fish could chew its way through the crap to get at the bait, I’d be lucky to land it with the tip ring jamming up, so I thought a change of tactic needed.

Opted to go short and lob a whole squid on a long link ledger (running paternoster) 4/0 pennel about 20 yards out into the crashing waves where the weed didn’t seem to have invaded. As I stood there holding the rod, I wondered if I’d be better off sitting at home in front of the telly, when I had a lovely take, pulling the rod over in my hands. I struck, felt a brief weight, then nothing apart from the tug of the waves. I brought in half of my squid which looked a bit sorry for itself, removed it and lobbed it back in as a freebie.

Stuck on another squid and sent that out. The next bite, I hit well and soon, a nice little 2lbbass was on the beach. All thoughts of the telly disappeared as I let the critter back to sea.

It was now about 11pm and the wind was beginning to ease a bit and the sea flattening out as the tide rose. Undeterred, I chucked another small squid out and before long, another take, another bass; this one though managed to throw the hook as it lay on the beach and the next wave took it back out – ah well, at least I had technically landed it!

My last smaller squid (the rest were somewhat bigger than I prefer) was mounted onto the hooks and sent out only about 10 yards or so and then I put the rod in the rest while I had a coffee. Just as I picked the rod up, it bounced and then pulled down hard and line began to pull off the reel in ragged lunges. I struck and the fish began to swim parallel with the beach. Moments later, my prize was on the beach – a nicely conditioned bass of around 4lbs. which I could see, to my consternation, had thrown the hook and was flapping seawards. Not wanting to drop my rod, I dashed over and tried to stand behind the fish but the next wave swirled around my legs up to my knees and when it had receeded, so had the fish….. arse, damn and Scheisse!!!

That was to be the last glimpse of a fish for the rest of the night and so after the ‘Golden hour’, it was with thoughts of what if and if only, I packed up and trudged back over the beach to the car. Bollox!

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By Vic, 4 September, 2009 17:55

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Directions from the west (Red line on map): On entering Newhaven from the direction of Brighton and Peacehaven, follow the A259 round the one way system, past Denton Island, and over the swing bridge. Take the next left prior to the flyover, bear right and follow the road under the flyover then turn left at the end. Driver across the level crossing and take the immediate right into Railway Road.

Stay on this road – it goes from Railway Road and becomes Clifton Road before becoming Beach Road. Park in the small layby on the right hand side of the road just before the water treatment works.

Directions from the East (Purple line on map): On entering Newhaven from direction of Seaford, take the first exit off the large roundabout by Sainsbury’s and stay in the left hand lane. Take the second exit off the next roundabout by McDonald’s. Straight on at the mini roundabout and then left into Railway road.

Once parked as above, on your right will see a break in the hedge, follow the path through and across the foot bridge over the rail tracks. Follow the path and over a small footbridge over the creek.

This path will carry on for quite a distance around the industrial estate and will come out onto the beach area. You will see the arm to your right, follow the path to access.

Total walk distance = approx 0.6 mile from car park to start of arm. (Orange line on map).

Although it can be a bit of a slog (especially if you insist on carrying too much gear), Newhaven East arm is a fantastic venue, offering easy fishing and a good variety of species. It’s also a reasonably sheltered spot in the prevailing South Westerly winds on account of the larger Western breakwater acting like a wind break, this makes it ideal when other venues are out due to wind.

Being at the mouth of the river Ouse, it gives the option of fishing the inside into the river itself or the outside onto the sandy bottom of the Tidemills area of Seaford Bay.
The inside during the Summer will see you catching eels, Pout, flounders, bass and Mullet while the winter will produce mainly whiting and flounders. Recommended methods here include 2/3 hook flapper or running ledger baited with the the usual bottom baits of ragworm, lugworm and Crab. The tidal flow can be strong here, so be prepared to up the amount of lead used. Crabs will also be a problem, so expect to do frequent bait changes. Please be aware of craft using the river especially the bigger ferries!

The better option at this venue is to fish into the bay either from the outside or off the end. A word of warning here – the outside of the arm is ‘hollow’ with only the concrete framework protruding out with no decking to speak of. This is separated from the main walkway by a metal railing. I would not advise climbing over and fishing the outside in wet weather as the possibility of slipping off and dropping into the oggin is quite high.

In the Summer, the species here include: bass, flounder, plaice, sole, pollack, Pout, mackerel, garfish, scad, Shad, Mullet (Greys and Golden Greys) and if you’re unlucky, the Weaver.

Float fished mackerel strip will take most of the free swimming species, while bottom fished worm will take the flatfish as well as bass and Mullet. Bottom fishing methods include, flappers and ledgers either in single hook mode or multi, baited with lugworm or ragworm. While these methods will catch you the round fish and the more predatory flatfish such as the plaice and flounder, if you are after sole, you need to have the bait firmly ‘pinned’ to the sea bed, so adapt your method and avoid long flowing traces that allow the bait to waft about in the current. Keep the traces short and consider using extra lead such as shot on the traces themselves or a specially made sole rig.

A killer method for bass is to livebait a small Pout down the side of the structure but be prepared that any hooked bass is going to immediately seek to get in amongst the concrete pilings, so decent rod with some backbone, decent quality line and nerves of steel are required.

When after Mullet, they will also seek sanctuary of structure when hooked, so be ready and have plenty of plenty of swearing practice beforehand. Groundbaiting the area first is a good idea and bread or small small pieces of mackerel flesh are good baits for the Thick lipped Mullet. If you want the Golden Greys, then small bunches of Harbour ragworm (aka ‘Maddies’) fished on the bottom is a good method but fish the inshore end near the beach.

Winter time will produce whiting by the bucketfull as well as Pout and the annual plague of rockling early in the year. Again, bottom fished lugworm baits work best and tipping off with slivers of squid often entices the better fish.

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By Vic, 9 August, 2009 10:18

Bit late this one and not much to write about but here goes:

Fished the east arm at Brighton Marina on Friday evening from 8pm through until about 2am. Baits were ragworm, Peeler Crab, mackerel (heads and fillets). Although nothing spectacular landed, it was ok for for the species count. The final tally was:

6 x smooth Hound pups (biggest abt. 2lb)
3 x sole slips
2 x schoolie bass
2 x mackerel
2 x scad
1 x Smelt
Numerous Pout

It was unusual in that the mackerel were conspicuous by their absence at last light. Whereas you would normally expect to bag up on a few, I only managed the two stragglers along with the scad and a lone Smelt.

I have to say, I was expecting a run of a few larger smooth Hounds over the high tide period but they failed to materialise which was a disappointment.

So all in all, not a momentous evenings fishing but it was pleasant being out on a lovely night.

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By Vic, 4 August, 2009 20:36

Apart from a couple of disappointing mini sessions, I haven’t been out fishing since July having being struck down by some mysterious buggy/virus thingy.

Anyway, feeling much better, I thought I’d have a dabble at Brighton Marina yesterday evening to see what was about. After grabbing some bait from the Tackle Box, I headed over to the east arm and got myself comfortable in bay 25. Things looked promising with just a waft of a breeze and a nice warm evening.

Started off with a 3 hook flapper baited with ragworm which  sent out about 30-40 yards. While that was doing its stuff, I set about trying to get some fresh mackerel to boost the bait supply. Although it was about low tide, I managed one on the first cast but that was to be it for the rest of the session with no more showing.

First fish to come in was a small smooth Hound which had taken one of the worm baits. This was sent back and the rig was re-baited and cast back out. This was when I noticed more weed building up. This was confirmed when on retrieving the next few casts, the weight and hook were festooned with a mixture of what looked like overcooked spaghetti and wet cat hair balls.

As darkness fell, I tackled down the mackerel setup and re-rigged it with a running ledger, baited up with some frozen Hermit Crab and launched it out to where I hoped there would be less weed. The flapper rig was taken off and a running ledger baited with mackerel head was chucked out.

A few more small smooth Hounds were landed but nothing of any great significance.  I eventually gave up when the weed close in made it a nighmare with the big bait and there seemed little point in carrying on.

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By Vic, 8 July, 2009 18:46

Fished the  ‘Paddle Round the Pier‘ competition on the 4th July. This annual charity event is held on the East arm of Brighton Marina and is in aid of the RNLI, Rocking Horse Appeal and Surfaid International. Quite a few turned up and braved the sunshie, heat and crowds to do their bit.

After the book in, draw for walk off places and raffle, we headed off towards the end of the arm where it would be less crowded and should have been cordoned off for the event. I finally settled in bay 45 and started fishing.

Now I’m not really into the match scene and am not used to targetting small fish to build up a score, so I decided to fish as nornal and hope I got enough to get a good result. I stuck to my usual tactics of  one rod with a two hook flapper baited with worm and mackerel strip which I hoped would get me some bream and the second rod with a large bait of mackerel fillet or head in the hope of a bass.

To cut a long story short, I should have done what the match regulars were doing and gone for quantity as my tactics resulted in an astounding catch of zero!

Anyway, it was a decent day out – sunshine, good company and a few quid for charity.

Full report can be read here Results from bottom of page 9 onwards (Opens in new window).