As the weather looked promising with some Westerly winds building up over the weekend which meant more movement in the water, I decided to take advantage and fish Seaford beach after work on Friday. I arrived at the beach at about 9pm and set up just about half way between The Beachcomber and West view. The wind was a moderate, in the face breeze; sea state was not rough – a bit lumpy and easy enough to hold bottom. DVice held solid as did 5oz Breakaway gripper. Things looked just right.
I fished one rod with lugworm /squid cocktail at varying distances on a ledgered DVice and another rod close in with a ledgered 4/0 pennel baited with either whole squid or sandeel.
First fish of the night was a bass of around a pound and a bit which took sandeel close in and then managed to get its revenge by slicing my thumb with one of it’s gill plates. I then missed a lovely run, and followed it with a hook up but dropped fish, both again of sandeel. Only had one knock on the squid which took me by surprise so much that I struck, forgetting I had the reel in free spool (not a good idea). These were all about 1 – 1½ hours before high water after which it went dead.
Had a couple of small Pout on the lug/squid combination and then about an hour after high water, had a couple of whiting which were of a decent size. It then turned off completely with no other bites showing.
Having been weeded out at the Beachcomber in Seaford last time around, I was eager to have another go and to see if there were any decent bass in a feeding mood, so I had another session last night. Got there at about 7.30pm while still light and parked about 50 yards East of the of the pub and hopped out onto the beach for a peek to see if the dreaded weed was lurking. At first glimpse, I couldn’t see any weed but I did see what I thought was a string of net markers only about 10 yards from the shoreline. It wasn’t until I got closer and had a good look, that I could see they were Gulls – strangely all equidistant and in a perfect line and parallel with the shore, it was so weird. Anyway, I’m off to Specsavers tomorrow so as not to be so easily fooled next time.
Having seen that there were no signs of weed, I set up one rod with a ledgered DVice, size 2 hook baited with lugworm and chucked this out while I set about setting up the bass rod in preparation for darkness. Having got everything sorted and had a coffee, I tended to the worm rod, to find it rattling away. On bringing it in, I saw an obvious small flatfish coming in that I first thought was a dab but having taken hold of it and turned it ‘colour side up’ I saw that it was a small plaice. Unhooked and put back, baited up and re-cast. The next two fish were whiting which although not ‘pin’, weren’t exactly ‘jumbo’ either.
As darkness fell, the bites dried up with not one bit of interest shown except by large balls of the ‘Spaghetti weed’ we’ve been plagued with. Anyway, I decided it was time to deploy the bass rod in earnest. I put the worm rod to one side, baited up the 4/0 pennel rig with a whole squid and lobbed it out into what was not so much a nice surf but a gentle tumble of wavelets. First hit was a small bass which threw the hook at the waters edge. Next was another bass of about 1½lbs. which was quite a spirited little blighter.
It all went a bit quiet after that until about 2 hours before high water when it went a little hectic with a bass a chuck, the biggest going about 2½lbs but not one was on squid. I’d changed tactic when it had gone quiet and had tried to some largish blast frozen Ammo launce (Greater sandeel) which the bass hit really hard. One of the fish had a distinct deformity of the lower jaw and lip which made it look like Victoria Beckham at a photo opportunity. Its mouth could hardly open and it was a hell of a job to get the hook (how a 4/0 got in there in the first place is a mystery). Hook was removed and ‘Posh’ was returned to pout another day.
I was full of expectation for the ‘Golden hour’ after high water but it was not to be. After the earlier flurry of activity, it went to none at all and before long it was 2.30am with not one more fish added to the tally. As I packed up, I reflected that it hadn’t been too bad really – total of 8 bass, 2 whiting, 1 plaice. Now, I know the bass weren’t huge – not even big but it was good fun and its better than a blankety blank. I think I may give the launce another try on the next trip and see if I get similar results. I was surprised that only two were taken on squid but it could just be coincidence that at the time I changed over to launce, the fish came on at the same time and that if I’d carried on with the squid, I would still have caught anyway… who knows.
Decided on
Seaford (again) for a session yesterday evening. I fished from about 4pm at a spot that was about half way between the Beachcomber pub and West View.
Sea was a bit rough early on with a stiff South West breeze in the face but it did calm down considerably a bit later on as the wind dropped and the tide rose but still retained some of it’s energy. I used one rod with a two hook flapper baited with lugworm and varied the casting distance. On the other rod I used running ledger with a 3/0 pennel and whole small squid cast close in.
The only fish I had were a small Tub gurnard caught not long after I started, two Pout and a whiting which came near to high water (all on the worm baits). About half an hour after high water, I had a tremendous pull down bite on the whole squid but as I was tending to the other rod, I couldn’t get to it in time, and the fish was gone, so that pleased me no end.
Once the hour after high water had passed, there no more bites and it all went dead.
Following the back surgery I had to have a few months recuperation which meant I was not allowed to stretch, bend, lift my arms above my head and all manner of other restrictions which drastically meant no fishing. Well, after about five months of no worm drowning, I finally felt fit enough to go out on Tuesday evening for a few hours. Rather than tackle the shingle at
Seaford, I opted for the easier flat concrete of
Brighton Marina, arriving on the East arm at about 6.30pm or so.
I had planned to get there earlier in the day and try for some of the herring I’ve heard so much about but unfortunately that was not to be, so I was a little peeved that I got there in darkness. I was even more deflated when I met FishyRob and Dytiscus, two of the guys from WSF forums who had finished for the day and were leaving with a bucket of herrings.
Anyway, I went to bay 16 and set up two rods, one with 2 hook flapper and one with single hook ledger DVice, both baited with either lugworm, or ragworm or a cocktail of both. I didn’t hold out much hope of anything decent, this being renowned as the worst time of year and the tides heights and times were not good but I was just glad to be out in the fresh air once again. Fishwise, the weather wasn’t brilliant either, flat sea, no wind and no rain but at least it was comfortable.
By the end of session, things had gone as I predicted, with just a load of pin whiting and a 5 Bearded rockling. On the plus side, my back held up with no major problems, so I’m confident of some serious fishing for the coming year. If things carry on improving, I might even be able to get some boat trips in as well.
Just a quick report this time. Last night, I fished Seaford at the Edinburgh Road mark from 8pm-3am. High water was 2.30am. No wind to speak of, sometime very, very slight breeze from NE. Clear sky, flat calm sea.
Baits used were lugworm, calamari & ragworm, either singly or as cocktails. Rigs used were one size 1 hook clipdown.
Total for the night was five 5 Bearded rockling, two whiting, one Pout and one tiny codling of around 6 inches. Not fantastic results but better than blanking and it certainly was a lovely night to be out in the fresh air.
Hopefully, we’ll soon be out of the ‘Doldrum’ months and into proper Spring fishing. I have vowed to wait until then before fishing again and to spend my time cleaning gear and building rigs – but you never know when the fishing bug will bite!
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