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By Vic, 4 April, 2009 16:34

Well, I bagged my first squid of 2009 on the East arm at Brighton Marina on Friday afternoon; not a big one at around a pound and a bit in weight but a squid nonetheless. It was caught on a float fished, baited jig in bay somewhere in the 40’s (couldn’t be more precise as there were no painted numbers on the deck). The bait consisted of a small piece of mackerel tail fillet, lashed to the jig with bait elastic. I dropped another two trying to swing them in and lost another that let go of the jig at the surface.

All the action came after the first two hours of the flood on a neap tide. Not a lot else to say, except that it was supposed to warm and sunny down there for the afternoon whereas it was in fact cloudy, mist and bloody cold. Must remember not to trust the weather forecasts and pack appropriate clothing ‘Just in case’.

Hope to get down there again later in the week if conditions allow, so I can get in some practice before the 2nd ‘All England squid Championship‘, a friendly and unoffical bit of banter and competition between the guys on the WSF Forums.

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By Vic, 1 March, 2009 12:14

My previous session had gone reasonably well, so I decided on a day time session for Saturday on the East arm of Brighton Marina in the pursuit of herring and maybe a plaice.

As word has got out about the herring to be had on the marina, the usually quiet, wintery days have turned into a bit of a bunfight with multitudes of people fishing there. I hate to have to walk too far in search of a suitable spot to fish and I’m no great fan of crowded, shoulder to shoulder fishing, so I opted to set off early and get there in time to bag a decent spot.

I arrived in the marina and was at the door of The Tackle Box by just after 7am, just in time to see the owner, Dave arriving followed by the worm guy delivering some tasty fresh ragworm. After a quick chat and purchase of some odds and ends, I set off full of expectation.

Walking onto the arm, I noticed the lack of people there and the free reign I had to choose where I wanted to go. I walked around the bend and settled on bay 24 (or 25 depending on which painted number you take notice of) and started to unpack. With the tide rising I first had a shot at drifting a float through my section dragging the bait along the bottom to see if it brought any interest but this was impressively ignored by anything that might have been down there. I persisted for a while but as the tide picked up, it coincided with more and more people arriving, making it difficult to let the float drift through.

As time wore on, I began to work a set of 5 size 12 Sabikis and was immediately rewarded with a triple shot of small herrings, beautiful little bars of silver, dashed with a light mauve colour across the back and looking comletely unlike the grey dull offerings you normally see in a supermarket. Wanting to have some a bit larger, I continued to work the small lures, bouncing the lead across the seabed. Each time I had a hit, it was always the smaller herrings and nothing of a retainable size.

In an effort to try and bag something else, I swapped the float setup and went for a single size 2 hook ledgered DVice setup baited with ragworm. This was cast out at varying distances over the time I was there but each time I retrieved to rebait, the bait came back as good as it went out with nothing having given it a chew. The only exception was the capture of a small Masked Crab which had latched on to the worm and had refused to release it.

Had a few more goes for the herrings but only ended up with the little ones and these were very sporadic. As darkness fell, I felt there was little worth staying for, so decided to leave it for another day.

All in all it was a great day to be out and was another session of testing my back and showed that things are improving all the time.

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By Vic, 18 June, 2008 15:54

On Monday 16th myself and a few blokes from WSF decided to have a session at Brighton Marina. The target was smooth Hound (aka smoothie or smut). There have been a few small ones caught recently with the beginning of the annual moult of the Spider crab. It was hoped that the larger ones were not far off, coming in to feed on the soft, recently moulted/peeled crab. Not renowned for large smoothies, the marina does produce a few reasonable ones at times.

I arrived at around 6.45pm and while walking out on the arm, I spotted Fishyrob fishing in one of the lower bays using live prawn on a float rig. After a brief chat, I continued along and saw that there were a few already fishing along the ‘bend’ and filling the bays. I could have wondered all the way out on the arm for more room but wanted to stay in the lower mid section as we had decided earlier, for the best chance of a smoothie. I finally found a vacant spot and settled myself in bay 22.

I started off with a bit feathering for mackerel to top up the bait situation and managed a few. There didn’t seem to be that many around compared with other days but that is the way at the marina – some days loads, other days scarce.

As the evening wore on, I set up my rods ready for darkness to fall. One was set up with running ledger DVice with peeler crab or hermit crab on a 3/0 hook and fished at varying distances. The other rod was set up again with a running ledger but with a 4/0 pennel rig and alternating between whole calamari and mackerel fillet as bait.

The other lads turned up and after introductions and a quick chat, unpacked and set up their gear to begin fishing. We filled a few adjacent bays which apart from making for a better atmosphere and almost competition conditions, it is better as we were all in one place. The fishing was a bit on the quiet side with not even Pout to break the monotony. At least it gave us a chance to have a natter, as some had never met before and were just known through the WSF forums.

We had a brief period of activity where a few smoothies were landed which although not large, were in the 3-4lbs bracket. The spell was short-lived and as quickly as it started, it went quiet again and no further smoothies were caught.

By the end of the evening, for my efforts, I was rewarded with one pout but determined to have a least one half reasonable fish, I stayed after everyone else had gone. Shortly after Rob left, I brought in a small thornback ray which went for the peeler crab on the DVice rig. I really like rays, there’s just something about them that appeals to me. It’s just a shame that for some reason, this venue and Seaford produce numerous small rays but never anything of a decent size. Quite why this is, I don’t know but maybe I should do some research into the matter and try and find out why. I should make the effort to travel to better ray spots but there is nowhere relatively near for that produces decent rays in larger numbers apart from maybe Hampshire. Widewater at Shoreham does throw them up from time to time but not enough to go there specifically for them.

Anyway, enough of the muttering, the next piece of action was shortly after this. My second rod lurched over sharply and the ratchet screamed loudly as something below grabbed the whole small mackerel fillet I had lobbed over the side. I knew it wouldn’t be a Smoothie and that it was more likely to be a bass. It gave a very spirited fight and I did think it was going to be somewhat larger than the 2½ lb specimen that came aboard. However it was another fish under the belt and made up for the direness of earlier. I had intended to pack up around this time but opted to stay a just while longer (how many times have we done that) to see what else I could bag. I should have gone with my earlier decision as no more fish showed and it went back to unfishy. This being the case, I decided to jack it in at 3am.

Although there were no Smoothies in quantity, it was a nice little meet and good to see a few more faces from the WSF forums.

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By Vic, 10 June, 2008 13:32

Many years ago as a small boy, I remember going fishing for the first time with my father; just a short session on the River Lea in North London not far from where we were living. I recall the anticipation as we baited the hook with maggots and then as we waited for the float to bob down. The excitement I felt when the float went, and I landed my first fish, a small Perch – more by luck than judgement. It was a very special moment for me and for my father. Years later, I took my two daughters, Kerry and Katie fishing at Brighton Marina and remember the excitement they felt when we caught their first fish. Again, a very special moment and memory.

My son Alex who is just over three years old has been showing an interest in fish I bring home, often asking where it comes from and how I got it. He likes to handle fish and examine and generally poke them in the way that kids of his age do. Recently he was mightily impressed with the small dead fry that was stuck to my shoe. He was even more impressed when I told him that it had been ‘sicked up’ by a Mackerel that I’d previously caught and was in the process of gutting and cleaning.

I thought it time to take him along and show him how it was done. I hoped that if were to catch a fish himself, it would continue to hold his interest and maybe he would ‘get the bug’ like me.

Anyway, yesterday was a lovely Summer day, warm, not windy and ideal for an afternoon at the beach. To get Alex his first fish, it was obvious that mackerel would be the target as they they are easy and a virtual certainty. Anna and I packed up the beach stuff and headed off to Seaford. As we walked on to the beach, it was evident that a lot of our local population were also enjoying the afternoon sun. After a bit of walking, we found a decent spot to settle down.

While Alex enjoyed his usual hobby of trying to move Seaford’s shingle back into the sea – one pebble at a time, I set up a spinning outfit. Anna got herself comfortable in her beach chair and got the camera ready to record any action.

I cast out a few times with a small Dexter Wedge lure and got Alex to hold the rod and wind in. Although it needed me to help hold the rod, Alex was determined to do it himself, pushing my guiding hand away. I had to resort to standing behind him and steadying the rod without him knowing. Independent little toad!

A few casts later and I hooked into a mackerel. I brought it towards the waters edge whereupon I handed the rod to Alex and got him winding. The look of sheer delight when he first saw the fish and realised it was on the end of his line was something that will stay in my memory. His first fish and he was ecstatic with shouts of triumph.

We brought the fish ashore where I thought he was going to try and show it everyone on the beach. The beast was captured not only on line but also on camera for posterity. After much holding, prodding and further examination, the fish was dispatched and put in the cooler bag to take home. I’m pretty sure that if it had been up to him, Alex would have been happy to carry it around with him for the rest of the day.

It will take a bit longer before he can cast his own line and do all the other things that go along with angling. In the meantime he has experienced that feeling of achievement that I and many, many others have felt on catching our first fish.

Bet you can’t guess what he wants to do this afternoon… and tomorrow… and the next day. Guess who’s going to be eating a lot of mackerel over the next few weeks (or even months maybe). At my age though, the Omega3 oils and the often referred to “fatty acids” will come in handy in the middle age battle of the bulge and war on Cholesterol and other nastiness.

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By Vic, 9 June, 2008 11:42

Wanting to make the most of the current weather and get out in the fresh air, I decided fish the East arm at Brighton Marina yesterday. On arrival at about 7.00pm, I managed to get a space in bay 20. It was a fabulous evening, no wind, flat sea, clear sky, lovely and warm; Not ideal for great fishing, but lovely to be out in.

First off, I decided to try for a few fresh mackerel to bolster the bait. Funnily enough, compared to the previous trip, there were none around. I managed a small joey which was put out live in the hope of a bass.

My other rod was set up with a ledgered DVice and used either peeler crab or hermit crab. There was no action until the light faded, where almost like magic, bites started to occur. First fish was a very small smooth Hound pup. Next was a small thornback followed by yet another smooth Hound pup. Apart from the usual suspects – the Pout, the next fish of the night was a lovely little Tub gurnard. This made a welcome change and was the first I’ve had from the marina this year. It seemed as though someone flipped a switch because as soon as it started to become light, the bites stopped completely. I did have a quick go with the feathers for some more fresh mackerel – for the BBQ this time and not bait – but none seemed interested. I did see some movement but I suspect this was down to scad and not mackerel

I packed away all my gear and tidied up the area I was in before just sitting for a while enjoying the early dawn. Even at just gone 3am, there was enough light to see by. The air was completely still with not a breath of wind. The sea was as flat as it can get and only disturbed by the occasional fish breaking the surface. It’s time like this that I know just how lucky I am to be able to enjoy it.

My enjoyment of the session was somewhat spoiled as I walked back along the lower deck of the arm by the amounts of rubbish left by thoughtless people. These I presume, call themselves anglers but I prefer to call them selfish, filthy individuals who ruin it for others. They more than anyone else give angling a bad name and add ammunition for those who wish to ban this activity. They know who they are and should be ashamed of themselves. I picked up what I could and put it in the bags which are provided. It wasn’t difficult and surely not beyond the ability of those responsible.