Category: Fishing

Webcam

By , 16 March, 2014 13:38

I’ve just set up a Seaford Web cam, showing local conditions at Seaford Beach. Barring any technical downtime, this will be online from 0800-23.55 each day.

Can be accessed here Beach Cam or click on the link in the menu bar above.

The original idea was to have a live video feed but as it really is only for monitoring conditions, live video not really necessary. For the  time being, the image will update every 30 minutes, I may well either increase or decrease that period, once I’ve assessed it for a while.

When you first view this page, hit your page reload button to get the latest image. Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated and will help decided whether this is a viable concept or not.

Cuckmere Beach Clean

By , 23 February, 2014 10:10

Still being incapacitated as far as fishing, or any strenuous activity goes, I’m left feeling a bit like a desk warrior. This means I’ll also be missing out on the ‘Cuckmere Beach Clean’ event, taking place on 1st March. It has been organised by fellow WSF‘er and local ‘Fish whisperer’, Craig Gosling and in conjunction with the R.S.P.B. and Sussex Sea Angling Network (SSAN). Not being able to join in, I’ll just have to do my bit in trying to get the word out.

The event will see the guys clearing up all the crap that has accumulated on the beach at Cuckmere Haven after the recent storms and leaving it in a more habitable condition.

Sea anglers do occasionally, get a bad reputation (sometimes justified) for leaving venues in crap conditions, with discarded rubbish and the like. This event will hopefully, go a long way to showing that the great majority of us are responsible and caring folk who do care about the environment. We are not the same as the tossers who are just too idle or too fucking stupid to either use a litter bin, or take their crap home with them. We take our crap and usually the crap left by others, home or dispose of it in a sensible way. There is a world of difference between dedicated sea anglers and the other group, who are arseholes who just happen to fish a bit.

It also has to be said that crap leavers are not always people who are fishing, there are other culprits – like tourists, or locals having a day at the beach, or partying teens and adults, or flotsam and jetsam, negligent dog walkers who fail to clear up after Rover has emptied his bowels – the list is endless. We just happen to get it in the neck as we are more easily identifiable and therefore blameworthy.

Anyway, here’s the link to the event with times and meeting places etc. Cuckmere Haven Beach Clean

Have a great time and I will be there in spirit, not in body.

Sea Mistress

By , 21 July, 2013 08:21

Picture of pollackSunday morning a couple of weeks ago, saw me down on the slipway at Newhaven, waiting for boat owner and fellow angler, Terry Hill, as we were going out on the hunt. The plan was to hit some wrecks and hopefully find some cod before heading West in search of bream.

Once supplies for the day were loaded, ‘Sea Mistress’ slipped out the port and we headed to the first mark. We stopped en route to stock up on fresh mackerel, which were duly plonked into the live bait tank.

After a not too long steaming time, Terry found one of his favourite marks and set up the drift. The rods were rigged with running ledger with a six foot hook length. Live joey mackerel were hooked and sent down to the bottom to work their magic.

Picture of pollackAlmost immediately, something hit the bait and although there was a fish on, it could only have been small, as there was no fight. It was brought to the surfaced and I was gob smacked to see a pout fairly hooked in the mouth and no sign of the joey. The bloody pout wasn’t much bigger than the bait and had no business being there!

Anyway, a fresh joey was sent down on the next drift and both our rods arched over as the baits were hit. Two fine pollack were boated, mine going 8lbs, terry’s 13lb – a nice start.

My next catch wasn’t so good as I got got snagged in the wreck. I wrapped the braid around a stern cleat and hoped for a pull out or a break. Unfortunately, the braid slipped on the cleat, pulling the rod tip onto it and snapping it clean off… Bollax!!

Terry loaned me a rod for the rest of the trip but the words.. “you can christen this one, it’s hasn’t been used before” made me shudder… no pressure then.

Picture of black breamWe boated a further two pollack on this wreck, both just under the double figure mark. On the way out, Terry had told me of some fish that had been lost previously on this mark, strong, fast fish that smashed tackle up. Could be big coalfish (coalie), maybe even tope or similar sharky things. I was to experience this myself when something below grabbed my live joey and took off like a bat out of hell. With the drag set as hard as I dare, the fish just stormed off and snapped the 30lb mono leader like cotton. I guess we still don’t know what the mystery fish is.

Picture of black breamWith not much else happening, we moved off West to fish Kingmere rocks, a reef just off Littlehampton known for its black bream fishing. Once there, Terry dropped anchor and started to fish. I used a two hook flapper baited with strips of cuttle and was almost immediately in to a bream, albeit a small one. Although most were small, I did manage a few keepers, while Terry had the best individual fish of the day at 2½lbs. He also bagged the one and only bass of the day.

Later in the afternoon, with the wind starting to freshen, it was decided to call it a day and head back to port. I had a fantastic day in good company and with a few fish fillets for the freezer. The only downside, was the smashed rod with a good 12-18″ lost, I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with it – a stubby boat rod maybe. I guess it means having to go shopping for another – shame 😉

Tea time was nice, lovely fresh bream fillet gently fried and served up with a crisp salad… yumm.

Well done Terry for putting us in the right place and many thanks for the loan of the rod.

Insomniac At Seaford

By , 5 July, 2013 12:48

On Monday, I decided it was time to get out on the beach and have an evening ‘blow away the cobwebs’ session. I knew the tides were short but was going to go anyway.

I stopped in at ‘Tools and Tackle’ in Newhaven and picked up a box of frozen squid. I was only going to be bassing, so need of any worm baits.

Later in the day, I decided against going, as I really needed to try and get some sleep. For a while now, I’ve had no problem getting to sleep, it’s just I can’t stay asleep. Anyway, I unpacked all my stuff, checked it was all ok before re-packing my bag ready for next time.

After a relaxing evening, I headed for bed and as usual and dropped off quick as that. Midnight – awake – bollox! Wide awake, I grabbed my bag and the now soggy box of squid in the sink that I’d forgotten to put away in the freezer.

Half midnight, I was on Seaford beach opposite West View. One rod, simple running ledger, single 6/0 baited up with whole squid and lobbed it out just beyond the waves.

Conditions weren’t too bad – on shore breeze and a small but decent surf and about two hours before low water. I had a hit almost straight away that had the rod bouncing like a good ‘un. Turned out to be a schoolie of around a pound. Fish returned, hook re-baited and chucked out about the same distance, The long wait began… and went on… and on…

It wasn’t until just after low water that I had the next hit, which was a lovely pull down – again another schoolie that could have been the twin of the one before it.

As the tide rose, the breeze dropped until there was nothing – and along with it went the ‘surf’. The sea went calm and apart from one rattle which could have been a pout worrying the squid, there was no other activity.

I stayed a while longer and was entertained by two of the local beach foxes squabbling over whatever scraps they were finding. They then split up, with one trotting its way further along the beach, while one remained and sat not too far away from me, obviously interested in the smells from my bait bucket.

I left the beach as the sun crept up and made my way home, hoping that the fresh air would have done its bit and I would get a decent kip.

Another Trip For Squid

By , 6 May, 2013 13:13

Picture of sunny morning at Brighton MarinaI was determined to bag some more squid, so with that in mind, I headed off to Brighton Marina on Friday morning, nice and early. Got onto the East arm at about 7am and it was virtually deserted. Absolutely beautiful morning, bright sunshine, no wind, flat calm, clear sea – perfect. I was on a dropping tide but decided to start in bay 1 with the intention of moving up to the higher numbers as the tide fell.

Standard set up of a sliding float rig with TronixPro squid jig at the end of the hook length. I plumbed the depth to make sure the jig was settling just right and then had the first proper cast of the morning – well, more of a gentle under arm lob really, putting the float out at about ten yards out.

Picture of lure caught squidI had a quick coffee then returned to the rod to see what the drift was like. The float had come in closer, so went for another lob. As I retrieved the gear, the rod tip suddenly dipped and the line went taught. A squid had taken the jig as it was rising and was soon on the deck.

I quickly put the float back out and then tended to the catch. Same as the other day, a relatively small one compared to what I’ve normally had off the arm. Would still make a decent lunch though, so it was quickly dispatched and tucked away.

The rest of the morning was slow, I mean really slow, no more interest shown in the jig, even after having moved up to higher bays. Looked like they’d all done a runner and disappeared. I gave it until around mid day and then decided I was on to a loser for the day, plus I needed time to get cleaned up and ready for work that evening anyway, so packed it all in and headed off home.

Lovely day to be out, I just love those early mornings when it’s dead quiet before the masses turn up and you have the place to yourself and pretty much go where you want. I had thought about going today but having been to the marina on previous bank holiday Mondays, I decided I couldn’t be arsed fishing elbow to elbow with the inevitable tinsel chucking. Besides which, work beckons anyway, so it was pretty much a no go anyway.

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