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By Vic, 13 August, 2010 18:55

I haven’t managed to get out for a while, so took when the opportunity came up to go out for a session last night, I took it and decided to fish a regular spot at Seaford beach. I got there at about 8pm and set up just West of Edinburgh Road. The weather was calm with very little breeze and what there was came from NW. The sky was clear but cloudy over to the West and could have been heading my way (but didn’t). The water was clear and calm with just a bit of wave action as the tide started to flood. High water was predicted to be a biggie at over 7 metres and due at around 2am.

One scratching rod rigged with a size 4 two hook sole rig baited with black lugworm. The bass rod was rigged with a long link running ledger and using a long 8′ fluorocarbon hook length ending in a 4/0 pennel baited with large launce. The scratcher was cast out about 50 yards or so, while I kept the bass rod back until the light faded.

The first bites didn’t come until after sunset, at which point, someone flipped the whiting switch – the bloody things virtually hitting the bait as soon as it settled on the bottom. I wouldn’t mind so much if they were a decent table size but they weren’t, just little pins of about 15cm. There was one small schoolie bass of about 20cm in amongst the pins but it was the only one.

I think it was at about 9pm or so when I was joined by Graham (good to meet you by the way) – another guy who uses a couple of forums I’m a member of – WSF and Fishing Forum. We had a good old chin wag over various topics while I hauled in a few more whiting and then miss a lovely take on the bass rod which resulted in the fish dropping the bait after its initial run. Shortly after this, I had another run, shorter this time and less frantic but at least I got a fish onto the beach this time – a lovely conditioned 2½ pounder (pictured) of 46cm. If I remember correctly, this was at about 10.15pm about 3½ hours before high water. As for the whiting? I abandoned the scratching rod as it would just have been whiting all night and just concentrated on the bass rod.

I had another bass at about an hour before high water which was a small one at about a pound or so. Missed another take about half an hour later and then that was it for the rest of the night – distinctly quiet and fishless.

While I was standing there, frantically not catching fish, at least there was Perseid meteor shower to watch and keep me occupied. There were some real stunners, leaving trails that were visible for a few seconds afterwards. I was lucky really, as the day had been quite cloudy at times but this was a fantastically clear night, so had good views as they streaked across the sky.

Just before I left, I cleaned the bass and found a whole small squid in the gut along with two very small hard back crab, this got me wondering – is now the time to switch from launce to squid? I don’t know but the next trip will be a comparison, squid on one rod, launce on the other.

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By Vic, 27 July, 2010 12:45

It was back to Seaford beach again last night for more bass hunting. I arrived at Edinburgh Road at about 8pm to fish the flood tide up to high water at 1am. The weather was low heavy cloud with a light Westerly breeze. Not long after arrival, a heavy drizzle/light rain came in, which managed to get all my gear nicely soaked but only lasted an hour or so before clearing out top leave a very pleasant evening. The sea was flat with very little in the way of wave movement – but the good thing was there were very few signs of the weed which would make things easier.

I hadn’t been able to get any lugworm, so had to rely on some peeler crab I’d obtained and launce strips for the scratching rod, which I set up with a DVice on a running ledger. I cast this out with the launce and set about getting the bass rod all ready for when the sun had gone down. The rig was, as usual, a long link running ledger ending with a 4/0 pennel setup baited with the lovely large launce, I had managed to get from The Peacehaven Angler.

When I returned to the scratching rod, I saw that there was loads of slack line, so retrieved it only to find a mackerel had taken the bait on the bottom – more bait! Apart from that, there was no other interest shown in the offerings I was chucking out.

As darkness fell, I swapped the launce for crab on the scratching rod but this only resulted in more whiting in the same bracket as the previous night – all pins. Once the crab had been used, I went back to some mackerel strip instead but again this only produced whiting.

The slight breeze that there had been earlier, died totally leaving it very still, warm and humid – enough to get away with wearing just a tee shirt, although I did put my jeans back on after protests from a passing dog walker 😉

The first proper action didn’t happen until about 11.15 when I saw a small pull down on the bass rod which resulted in a schoolie bass of about a pound. This was just after I’d spent a good while talking to another guy who had been fishing further along.

The next fish was at 1135 and was a better fish at 2½lbs which had really punched above its weight, giving a really good run and dogged fight which had me believing it was something a bit bigger. It was a nicely conditioned fish, lean and fit.

It wasn’t until an hour later that I had the next and last fish of the night, another schoolie of around 1½lbs. After this, it went completely dead with no further indications of any sort. I had anticipated at least one take during the hour period after high water but there was no interest shown at all. I gave it until 2.30 before calling it a day and heading for home. All three bass were taken at a range of no more than ten yards out. I think this is something people should bear in mind when targeting bass and should give confidence to those who are not great casters (myself included) and who perhaps try too hard to get those ‘extra’ yards. It’s not always about distance.

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By Vic, 26 July, 2010 16:45

I’ve been eager to carry on with my launce trials for bass at Seaford beach but was dealt a blow yesterday when I could only get smaller sandeels. Not to be put off, I decided to go in the evening anyway, so armed with a couple of packs of frozen sandeels and some lugworm, I headed off for Seaford.

I arrived at the Edinburgh Road parking area at about 7pm and walked over onto the beach to be greeted by a fresh Westerly wind, whipping up quite a lumpy sea with large breaking waves on the beach. I could already see rafts of weed in the nicely coloured water but it didn’t look too bad provided there wasn’t more of the damn stuff unseen lurking under the surface.

Fished two rods, one with size 4 two hook sole rig baited with lugworm, the other a long link running ledger with a 4/0 pennel rig with the sandeel. The worms were sent out about 40 yards and although I didn’t expect much on the other rod during daylight, I cast it out anyway to see if anything was around.

Before it got dark, I had a small gurnard and two schoolie bass on the worm and nothing on the sandeel. Once darkness fell, it was a whiting fest on the worm – virtually a double shot of the bloody things every cast; all of them pins and nothing of any decent size.

It wasn’t until about two hours before high water that I had the first hit on the bass rod – a huge pull down and screaming reel but I missed it whilst doing an impression of Billy Elliot as I tripped over the tripod. 10/10 for artistic impression but ‘nil point’ for results.

Had another take on the bass rod about 20 minutes later and this time I connected and landed a plump bass of about 2½lbs. Missed another take about 10 minutes later through inattentiveness and  that was it for the rest of the night.

By 11pm the wind had died, the sea calmed right down to a swell and it remained fishless until I packed up an hour after high water.

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By Vic, 6 January, 2010 13:27

Had the first session for a couple of months and the first of 2010 on sunday out at Seaford beach. Loaded with some nice black lugworm and two boxes of squid, I arrived at around 6pm and started to unload the car. By the time I’d got all sorted and walked onto the beach, I couldn’t feel my fingers it was so bloody cold!

Undeterred, I trudged across the shingle and started to set up the rods. After the first was done, I had to have a short break to warm the hands and fingers up before doing the next one. Big baits were the order of the day to try and avoid any small whiting and rockling, so one rod sent out with ledgered DVice 3/0 hook crammed with lug and squid, second rod out with whole squid on 4/0 pennel rig. It was then a matter of keeping warm and waiting!

Although freezing to start with, later on, as cloud covercame over, it actually felt like it was warming a bit – so much so that I had to open the main zip on my ABU floaty suit as I was getting a bit too warm.

Fish wise, I ended up with a few whiting and the dreaded rockling ‘slugs’ which still manaed to get themselves hooked on the worm baited 3/0’s. Not a great start to 2010 but at least it wasn’t a blank. May leave the beach for a while now as the rockling seem to be in abundance and the cod having moved off before I could target them in earnest. Will now concentrate on the herring at Brighton Marina if the seas clear out.

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By Vic, 10 November, 2009 14:03

I Fished Seaford beach last night after work, from 9pm through until 4am. It was a brilliantly clear night which became cloudier later on, not a breath of wind but still quite chilly. There was very little movement in the water which had just a tinge of colour. I used a familiar setup, two rods – one with size 2, two hook paternoster baited with black lug and squid strip. The other rod, used a 3/0 pennel with whole squid relatively close in.

There were loads of whiting from the off, with many double shots of small to medium fish on the lugworm/squid combo but some really decent sized ones of around the pound mark (with one in particular at 1lb 10oz) on the bigger baits. It was pretty frantic at times with both rods rattling and bouncing away with bites at the same time. I swear there must have been a carpet of the things as the rods were going virtually as soon as the lead hit the bottom. As the tide rose and approached peak, the bites dropped off until there was nothing happening at all. Having been reduced to just scraps of bait, I decided to call it a night and head for home safe in the knowledge that I had enough whiting to keep Anna happy in the kitchen.

Ended the night with a dozen keepers which are now all cleaned, filleted and skinned and ready for Thai fish cakes and fish balls.

All in all, a cold but busy and enjoyable night.