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By Vic, 3 October, 2007 14:43

Once again I opted for my old favourite and fished just up from the Beachcomber pub last night. Arrived and set up just after 9pm about and hour before low water. I was confronted by flat calm sea, the slightest NE breeze and overcast sky which made it quite warm.

Usual tactics – one rod with 2 hooker flapper rig using size 2 hooks baited with lugworm varying the distances. Second rod with 3/0 pennel and whole squid.

Wasn’t long before my old friend Tiny thornback appeared again…and again….and again, taking the lugworm. This was followed by some small Pout.

I had a couple of knocks on the calamari but put this down the usual suspects, small Pout or whiting.

Fishing was pretty slow until not long after 1.15 when I had two bass of around a pound and a bit hit the squid on successive casts. Next take was a beauty which had the rod slammed down hard. A nice bass of 44cm was beached. All three fish were taken, at most 20 yards out.

After these three, it was back to Pout. By 5.30, I’d had enough and decided to head for home. I don’t know if sticking it out longer would have resulted in any codling or not but quite frankly the thought of a warm bed was more appealing.

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By Vic, 30 September, 2007 14:50

Saturday 29th September was the date, Widewater beach Shoreham was the venue. The occasion was a friendly meet/get together/competition organised by S.A.S. (Shoreham Angling Squad) and involving anglers from Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Kent and Essex.

I arrived at about 10am to see that there were already numerous participants mooching around the marquee waiting to snaffle the breakfast rolls that were being expertly prepared by club members ‘Mesito’ and ‘Bloated cod’. Once I’d scoffed a belter of a bun with bacon, sausage and egg, it was time to sign in, get my scorecard and await the walk off.

True to form, I was last to walk off and headed off to my chosen spot. (oh how I wish I’d gone right and not left). I set up my rods – one single hooked and baited with whole calamari and lobbed a few yards out, hoping for a prize winning bass. The other rod two hooked paternoster baited with lugworm and sent out about fifty yards or so. I sat back and thought positive thoughts.

Time passed slowly and uneventfully (apart from witnessing catches made by Mark_S fishing the next beach). Every so often the monotony was broken by absolutely nothing. I poured coffee, I shuffled my feet, I even began to wonder if I could count the boulders in the sea defences – nothing would provoke any fish into helping me win prizes.

Eventually, I had my first fish, a bass. Unfortunately this particular bass was not even anywhere near close to the 18cm minimum qualifying length. Neither were the next two I had. So three fish and none counted towards points.

After what seemed like five and half hours – oh that’s right, it was, the competition ended. I packed up and walked back to the marquee where I was greeted by the smell of burgers, hotdogs and Paella.

Anyway, the boring stuff was dealt with and the prizes handed out. At least I wasn’t going to be lumbered with carrying loads of goodies back to the car.

After being fully and totally stuffed with Mesito’s excellent Paella, it was time to bid farewell to the gathered motley crew and make my way home and back out of ‘Bandit country’.

A thoroughly enjoyable day spent with great folks, great food and no fish.

Full report and pictures

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By Vic, 27 September, 2007 13:45

Fished Seaford beach last night but seeing that two of my favoured marks looked like they were taken, I settled for a spot near to Edinburgh Road.

From the 8pm start, I wasn’t too hopeful. There was quite a stiff Northerly breeze blowing but the sea was flat calm with no surf. The moon was so bright, that at times it almost like day.

Fished whole calamari on a pennel rig quite close in, hoping for bass. Other rod was baited with lugworm/squid strips and fished at varying distances looking for codling.

There were persistent bites that produced loads of whiting up to about 12oz. Didn’t seem to matter where I put the bait, it was immediately snaffled. Nothing touched the whole calamari apart from crabs and small stuff nibbling away.

I carried on until 2am before calling it a night. Total for the night was about two dozen whiting, none of which were keepers.

Hopefully the wind will come round to SW soon to stir things up a bit.

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By Vic, 19 September, 2007 16:40

Had a decent session last night at Seaford beach, fishing from 8pm from low to over high water.

Set up just East of the Beachcomber and saw that there a reasonable surf running, although there was no wind to speak of. On one rod, I used a running ledger, single size 1 hook baited with black lugworm and cast out about 50-60 yards. Second rod also had a running ledger but using a 3/0 Pennel rig baited with whole squid and lobbed out about 20-30 yards.

First fish was a mackerel that took the squid. This was promptly filleted and used on the same rig. During the time that the various sections were used, it wasn’t touched once, apart from being picked at by small stuff. The lugworm was continually pestered by small thornbacks and Pout but not one decent fish all night. Can’t say I remember ever having had so many small thornbacks before and am wondering, is there that many more around this year or is it normal and I just haven’t been catching them in the past.

By about 2am, the wind had shifted around to a more SW direction and had strengthened enough to produce a good surf which was running well up the beach.

The fishy action didn’t start proper until after high water when I had an almighty take that almost had the rod out of its rest. The result was this codling of 18 inches. It was quite scrawny and the belly didn’t seem particularly full. In the next hour, I had another five, although these were only about 12 inches or so. All fish took the squid and were hooked no more than 30 yards out just beyond the breakers. As sudden as it had started, the action stopped, by which time I was ready to call it a night.

On a side note, I had added a ‘secret’ ingredient to the squid which I’ll reveal when I’ve tested it a bit more to make it wasn’t a pure fluke.

Have to say. it was one of the best sessions I’ve had at Seaford for a while. I don’t know how much longer the codling are going to be around for but I hope they stay long enough for me to get at least one more crack at them.

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By Vic, 13 September, 2007 16:00

Fished the East arm, Brighton marina on Tuesday evening in bay 17 from 7pm through until around 3am.

Loaded the bait armoury with some mackerel, freshly caught on small Hokkai feathers soon after arrival. There were a large number present and were feeding heavily on a huge shoal of small fry of some description.

I Fished one rod with lugworm on a running ledger set up, varying the distance in the search for fish. For the rest of the session, this bait was fiddled with, buggered about with and generally molested by small bream and Pout.

The second rod was baited with fresh mackerel – fillets and heads and lobbed just out from the base of the wall. Small Pout live baits were used on the third rod and were dropped down the wall.

The wind rose and was causing a bit of movement in the water before dropping completely in the early hours.

I had one take on the live bait which was dropped and then nothing for the rest of the night.

While fiddling with a newly acquired rod rest, there was a huge take on the mackerel head. On lifting the rod, I could feel huge resistance and a quivering sensation followed by much tugging.

Bringing the line in towards the drop net, I looked over the edge with my headlight and thought I’d stumbled into the set of ‘20,000 leagues under the sea‘, as below me there was a huge Cuttlefish hanging onto the mackerel head. Seconds later, with a sound like a huge watery fart, it released its prize and shot off towards who knows where.

No more heads available, I carried on and baited up with half fillets. I had just cast out, set the rod down, and turned around, when the rod lurched over. I lifted into a fish which shot off along the wall. I brought the fish back and was trying to get the net when I looked over and saw – mackerel, a big bugger too. Managed to swing it up without the net. Although I had no scales, this sod was around the two pound mark, much bigger than those we normally get.

It was around this time that while looking over the wall to investigated repeated and frantic thrashing noises, I saw fantastic sight. In the dark water, I could see mackerel, herding small bait fish into the corner of the caissons. They were leaving a sort of phosphorescent trail behind them as they hunted. As the large shoal of bait fish were split, they left the same trail but as there was a huge number of them, it was more like phosphorescent waves fanning out. It was a truly amazing thing to watch.

After watching the spectacle for a while, I returned to concentrate on fishing only to find I had a fish on again. It turned out to be yet another big mackerel. This carried on for a little while before stopping as quickly as it had started.

My next ‘catch’ was an old, minging drop net which was covered on foul smelling crap and weed and stuff. Sorry to any staff reading this but I couldn’t carry it when I left so I left it propped up against the railings.

By now, it was well into the ebb and the bites stopped completely. As I packed up, I was already thing of a return at the earliest opportunity.