Fished East arm of Brighton Marina, bay 12 yesterday from 7pm through til 3am. Fantastic night absolutely no wind, warm (double t shirt only – no fleeces or jackets).
Early part of the evening, after tackling up and sending some lugworm to the seabed, I tried for a few of the mackerel I’d been reliably informed were there – Nada, nowt, zilch.
As darkness I fell I set up another rod and used peeler crab on a running ledger and lobbed it out a few yards from the base of the wall.
First fish of the evening was a small ‘schoolie’Â bass which fell to the crab. This was followed by a never ending line of Pout to the worm baits. A few were kept as baits.
As darkness fell I was contemplating what a great evening it was when I saw a large tug on the rod with the Pout bait followed by nothing. On retrieving, there was a large chunk out of the baits head/neck area. Next bait it happened again leading me to believe that either squid or Cuttlefish were the likely culprits.
I would have tried a luminous jig but had left it home along with my float gear. I will not forget again!
I had another small bass at about midnight. More pouting and then all went quiet for the last couple of hours so jacked it again.
It was a lovely night, so nice not to be wearing floatation suit or fleeces or ‘owt like that.
Well, in a bid to try and find some species other than rockling, I felt a session at somewhere other than Seaford or Brighton was in order for last night. I knew some other members of WSF were going to fish at Widewater beach near Shoreham, so decided I’d join in.
I arrived at the mark just before 8pm – just about on high water which meant having to fish the tide down. I spoke to the other guys only to learn that it was only the dreaded 5 Bearded rockling being caught. The weather was fine but there were ominous dark clouds approaching from the North and appeared to be showering as they made their way towards us.
Undeterred, I set up one rod and fished a running ledger with size 1 hook alternating between lugworm, ragworm or cocktail of the two as bait. First couple of taps on the rod tip resulted in rockling. This was followed up by more rockling and then more. This continued for a while before stopping altogether.
With the tide dropping ever further and there being no more bites, I packed up at around 11pm and made the journey home.
I’m fairly confident that within the next couple of weeks, the pesky rockling will bugger off and leave the areas open for something with a bit more oomph.
Well that was a disappointing evening. Being restricted to a late evening session and not wishing to travel far so as to maximise fishing time, I got to my chosen mark at Seaford beach at about 7pm and fished opposite West View flats.
lug on a 1 hook long and low fished at varying distances only resulted in Pout and the odd whiting. Whole calamari on a pennel fished in close resulted in 1 Pout on the top hook and that was it.
Quite a nice clear night with no wind to start with with. Breeze picked up later and it just started to rain when I left at about 2.30am.
Think I’ll leave the beach for a while and try some new venues.
Spent a few hours yesterday at Brighton Marina East arm yesterday evening/night to catch the 2am(ish) high water. Arriving on the arm, I decided, as it was light, I would trot a jig on a float over the reefier inshore parts to see if any squid had turned up. Despite my efforts, none of the creatures showed up. Water was clearing nicely though, so they should be here soon.
After jigging, I started the ground fishing in bay 10. Baits for the evening were lugworm, ragworm and some peeler crab. Everything I tried resulted in Pout of one size or another. Cast after cast resulted in the blighters taking the baits. There was the odd whiting thrown into the mix. One good thing though, there were no rockling, so maybe they have moved off now for the year.
Although not brilliant in catch terms, it was a nice night to be out – clear sky, minimal wind and not as cold as it has been of late.
Last nightg was my first session at Brighton Marina for 2008. Although not really the time of year to fish there, I wanted a change of scenery and it’s pretty local and an easy mark. Not the best of sea conditions either with it being neap tides and high water predicted for 9.30pm. Arriving at about 6pm, the sky was overcast but no wind to speak of. Water was still and very coloured like weak coffee.
Chose the East arm and opted for bay 16 where I set up. One rod was tackled with DVice on running ledger with size 1 hook baited with lugworm alternating with ragworm. Second rod tackled with running ledger size 3/0 baited with half mackerel fillets.
Only fish of the night were 5 Bearded rockling and Pout which all took the worm baits. No touches on the larger bait.
Disappointing results but at least I was somewhere else and it made a change. Roll on the end of the month…….
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