I had an early session down at Brighton Marina this morning, arriving on the east arm at about 4.30am in order to catch first light and with the intention of getting a few mackerel on feathers and then float fishing fish strip for garfish and anything else that happened to be around.
Two things struck me arrival, the first was the amount of noise coming from what appeared to a rave over on the beach at Ovingdean Gap. I may be getting on a bit and my hearing isn’t what it used to be but bloody hell, I’m surprised my ears didn’t bleed from the ‘musical’ onslaught that was drifting in my direction. Don’t get me wrong, I love loud music but this was, well, to put it bluntly – crap, truly crap.
The second thing that got me was still the amount of May rot in the water, it was as thick as soup close in to the wall and still cloudy at about fifty yards out. with only small patches of clear water. It didn’t look good for anything to be honest and I was quite prepared for a fishless session.
Anyway, not to be beaten, I set up a float outfit and had that ready and waiting should I get anything on the feathers that could be used for bait (I hadn’t brought any with me). After a number of casts, I was feeling more and more like packing in and saving my energy but things perked up a bit when a guy further along brought in a solitary mackerel. It wasn’t until about 6am that I had my first hit and one mackerel in the bucket and then a short while later hit another two and then a single. Mission accomplished – bait and lunch.
Swapping over to float gear, I baited the hook with a piece of belly strip and cast out into some relatively clear patches and then again and again. This went on for several hours with not a single hint of anything remotely fishy taking the bait. As high tide came and went, the ebb dropping away, it became apparent that there was going to be no action in these conditions. I eventually packed up content to take three fish home for lunch but a tad disappointed that nothing showed up. As I left, the ‘rave’ was still in full swing; I expect there will be an upsurge in alcohol/drug related injuries and deafness at A&E today – best of luck.
Once I got home, the mackerel were prepared and bunged in the fish smoker and not long later – voilà – lovely smoked mackerel with Bill’s wonderful ‘chewy’ bread. This time we added some Bay leaves and dried Taragon to the wood dust and the result was marvellous, a really rich smokey and arromatic taste to the fish.