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By Vic, 12 May, 2011 10:26

After several recent trips in search of squid, I have to report that the closest I’ve had to success has been three dropped at, or just before the net – so things not looking too good. Undeterred though, I headed off to the East arm of Brighton Marina last Sunday for the ‘4th International Squid Championship‘, organised by George Cunningham, CEO of TronixPro, along with Robin ‘Fishyrob‘ Howard.

This annual event, in aid of the RNLI was attended by even more than last year and I believe it was in the region of 78 anglers participating. We all met up at the cafe on the end of the arm, where after a chin wag, we booked in. I queued and collected a free squid jig (courtesy of TronixPro) and score card, which had written on which peg number I was to fish…. arse!!! I had drawn 68, right out at the far end – best start walking then!

After doing a stunning impression of a cart donkey, I eventually got to my peg. There had been some confusion over peg numbers reserved for the event but quite frankly, I’m losing the will to live just thinking about it, so I’ll go no further.

Fishing (or squidding if you prefer) started at 1pm on the dot and for me, what followed felt like a lifetime of staring at the orange blob that was my float as it did just that – float. No sliding under the surface as a squid made off with my jig. As hard as I tried, I just could not get a take. The only excitement was when the jig drifted into a bit of weed and was pulled under – at least I knew what it would look like if any creature felt like trying its luck.

Even an afternoons visit from FPO, Anna along with her Mum and our son Alex didn’t induce the critters into action.

I stuck it out and tried as hard as I could and was spurred on by one caught and lost and one landed by the guys to my left. With half an hour to go, I studied my float and watched it slide under – weed again I thought – but no, it was a real, live squid, a good ‘un too. I brought it in closer and was about to ask the guy to right for a hand with the net when the damn thing let go and was away. I quickly let the jig back down in the hope that it might be taken again but was disappointed when the float remained as it had for most of the day – floating.

6pm and the competition was over. I packed up my gear and made the long walk back to the car and loaded up. It was then over to the pub and a welcome pint while the trophies and prizes were dished out to the winners. The day wasn’t a complete ball breaker for me, as I managed to snag a bait pump in the raffle

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By Vic, 19 April, 2011 18:36

Now, normally I would write up this report and insert pictures in a chronolgical order but to be honest, I couldn’t say with 100% certainty, which fish came from which wreck and at which time. Plus too many pictues and not enough text make it all look a bit messy, so to keep things tidy and to stop me blathering about on about anything and everything, I’ll give a bit of an outline and put up some nice pictures. Photos are curtesy of the resident photographer for the day, Mr Terry Hill.

Following my trip out on Friday, I had the opportunity to again set out to sea on Sunday – this time, aboard a private boat, ‘Sea Mistress’ skippered out of Newhaven by WSF member Terry Hill. We met up at about 8am at Newhaven and after a bacon butty and coffee at The Captain’s Table, Terry arranged for his boat to be trailered from the boat yard, down the slipway and into the water. We set about stowing our gear aboard, while Terry fuelled her up and did other stuff. We were joined by fellow forum member, Dave and once everything was ship-shape, we set off out of the harbour.

Terry opened up Sea Mistress once we were clear of the harbour confines and headed off to some wrecks in search of cod and pollack. Like Friday, the sea was mirror calm and with no hint of a breeze to ruffle the surface, we made good time. It wasn’t too long before we were over the first wreck and Terry set up the drift.

Tactics were the same – long flowing traces with artificial lures worked close to and over the wreck. Although the water was clear, it was evident that there was already a lot of the dreaded ‘May rot’ in the water which could have an effect on the fishing. Terry was the first into a fish and nice bass was soon aboard. Expectations were high and we were buoyed up by such an early result. Unfortunately, that was the only fish on that wreck, so after a few fruitless drifts, we were off to the next mark, a few more miles out.

Fishing was slow over the next couple of wrecks but Dave managed a couple of reasonable pollack, while I seemed to be attracting large pout for my efforts.

Terry started up the engine again and we were off, this time to a wreck some sixteen miles out. Progress was good, with a steady cruising speed only interupted by the wakes of occasional passing larger vessels. First couple of drifts, I was getting small snatches at my lure but couldn’t get anything to take it fully. It wasn’t long though before I boated my first ‘proper’ fish, a small but welcome pollack.

…and then not long afterwards, Terry got the first of the target fish of the day, a tidy codling.

With renewed vigour, we continued to work the lures but to no effect, apart from more pollack for me and a beautiful little tub gurnard for Dave.

I then boated a whiting of all things – all this way out and I still get bloody whiting. At least it was of a decent size anyway.

Another wreck later and although we still weren’t getting large numbers of fish, we sort of ticked over with bits and pieces. Dave then had his first bass of the session after a short tussle.

…and he followed this up a bit later with the biggest pollack of the day at a shade under the ten pound mark.

While he was doing the pollack – so to speak, I had my first codling of the day but unfortunately didn’t get a picture of it.

We fished on for a bit and did some wrecks on our way back to port but as the tide slackened off, the fishing died with it. We decided on some ground fishing on the shoals off Beachy Head, so swapped our artificials for ragworm fished on long traces with plenty of beads and colour, in the hope of attracting a plaice or two. Alas, this wasn’t to be the case and all we managed to attract were pin whiting and pout.

So it was with an Easterly breeze picking up and chopping the surface, we headed back to port. I attempted to fillet my catch on the return but this proved a little risky, so after one fish and deciding I’d like to go home with the same amount of fingers as I had when I left, I opted to fillet the rest at home.

Back at port, we unpacked the boat and did other nautical things with ropes and pipes before collecting up our assorted bits and pieces and going our seperate ways. A big thanks again to Terry for the day out and putting us on the fish.

Here’s the stuff I didn’t get around to preparing on the boat and is awaiting the filleting knife.

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By Vic, 10 May, 2010 12:33

The third ‘All England squid Fishing Championship‘  was held yesterday on the East arm of Brighton Marina with a good turnout of 48 competitors who raised £240 for the RNLI. In comparison with last year, when the competition was held in warm sunshine and I got sunburn, the start for this year was somewhat different – cold NNE breeze (very light) and light rain. Last year was ‘T’ shirts, this year was waterproofs and thermal wear. It has to be said though, that later on, the breeze was virtually zero and the slight  rain was patchy to zero, so not that horrendous.

Before going to the appointed meeting place, I popped into ‘The Tackle Box for a few bits ‘n’ pieces. Being someone with a limited memory, I had written ‘Bait Elastic’ on the back of my hand, it was unfortunate that I had omitted to write or add ‘Bait’ to the list, as that vital item was sitting forgotten at home in the fridge!

Everyone met up at the café on the East arm at 4pm where entrance money (towards RNLI charity) was handed over and in return, entrants were given a Tronix squid jig in the colour of their choice, I opted for a very fetching green. We drew numbered score cards that denoted the order in which contestants walked off for the start – I drew no.10 which wasn’t too bad. Soon we were off and walking to wherever we could get a space. Another WSF member, ‘mr codling’ and his cousin ‘Ant ‘ were just before me but we decided on fishing together so that witnessing and card signing would be easier. We eventually found some vacant space at bays 41-43 and started to set up. We were also joined by Mr and Mrs Wee Haggis and their usual large amount of kit.

Official kick off  was 5pm and at that time, many jigs were cast out in expectancy and 48 pairs of eyes stared at floats, waiting for them to slide under the surface. In our little merry band, Mrs Haggis was the first to strike within the first 10 minutes and after I wielded the net, her first ever squid was safely on the deck. It was quickly dispatched, measured at 37cm and put in the cool bag. Things were looking good and it promised to be fruitful session.

After this first bit of activity, I’m afraid I got  lost  in it all and couldn’t tell at what happened at what time but my turn was next when I had a reasonable sized Cuttlefish on the line which escaped during the attempts to net the thing – my first chance blown! It wasn’t until quite a way into the session that my next chance came when I hook a squid, which got to the surface and then let go. I immediately let the jig back down and luckily, the squid grabbed it again and this time was safely netted by wee haggis. After measuring the critter (37cm) and getting my card signed, it was back for attempts at more; in my case no more, as that was it for me – not even a sniff at another squid or cuttlefish.

For the rest of the time, we saw no more action apart from wee haggis getting a mackerel on his jig and Ant managing to bring in a black bream on his…. weird! I did get to enjoy some very nice coffee from Mrs Haggis’ ‘kitchen’ which was certainly better than what I had in my flask. Before long, it was 10pm – the finish of the competition and the walk back to the meeting point, totting up of points and the giving out of the awards and prizes. Sadly, I got nowt for my efforts apart from a tasty squid for dinner and a great time in good company – just hope next year is a bit warmer and drier.

Many thanks to Fishyrob and George ‘Tronix’ for organising the event, the sponsors and dealers who donated kit for prizes along with the Brighton restaurant FishyFishy

Competition results can be viewed here. Hopefully, I’ll have some photos to add soon.

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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).

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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.