Due to other commitments, weather and tide conditions, last night was my first session of 2008. I have to say, it was welcome too, I was almost having withdrawal symptoms.
I scouted the beach at Seaford beforehand during the early afternoon to check out the current ‘wood problem‘ which was affecting other parts of the coast. It didn’t seem to bad, with most of the larger pieces having been moved above the high water line and little evidence of more in the water. Reassured, I decided to return to fish the evening tide.
Arrived at Edinburgh Road at about 7pm and set up just West of the car parking area. The Southerly breeze had picked up since the afternoon pushing the cloud in. There was a reasonable swell which increased during the evening. All in all, conditions looked pretty good.
One rod was set up with 2 hook flapper using size 1’s baited with lugworm/slipper limpet cocktails. Second rod set up with 4/0 pennel baited with lovely big cuttle fillets.
Action (or lack of) was slow for the first couple of hours with the odd knock but no fish. I used this time to scout around for any timber that could prove useful for mending my garage. I couldn’t fit the bigger lengths into my car and found that the suitable stuff that was left had been broken up beyond use. As the wind and wave action increased, I did noticed more wood being washed in further West of me but funnily enough I wasn’t affected by it at all.
An hour before the 11pm high water, the whiting started to appear, hitting both the lugworm and the cuttle. Although numerous, none were of a decent pot size.
The whiting onslaught carried on until I called it a night at 12.30. Total tally was in excess of 20, so not a bad start to the year. I would of been happier with a codling or two or even a few pot size whiting but at least I didn’t blank and didn’t lose any gear to the wood.
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.
Saturday night was to be a late do, with high tide predicted for about 3am. I was going to fish a certain area on Seaford beach near Edinburgh Road but changed my mind and moved further East to a spot near the Beachcomber pub.
There was a fair breeze blowing in from the West which produced a decent size surf to stir things up a bit.
I set up and started to fish at about 8pm. One rod had a two hook Paternoster with size 2 hooks baited with lovely fresh black lug and cast 50 yards out. The second rig consisted of a Pennel with size 3/0 hooks baited with whole calamari and lobbed out just beyond the surf.
First two fish of the evening to come in, were two palm size thornbacks which took the whole calamari. It’s not often that the bait is actually larger than the fish that takes it and gets hooked.
Next fish to visit was a small ‘Snotty’ eel which managed to reduce my precision made rig into a ball of knotted, mucous covered line. By the time the eel had been unhooked, there was no choice but to attach a fresh rig and cut up the tangled one.
Next in were two smallish whiting on successive casts. A bit bigger and they would have been keepers but as it is, they were returned to put on a bit of weight.
Apart from a couple of really small (and I mean small) Pout, that was it for the night until around half an hour after high water when I had two savage takes on the calamari rig which I managed to fluff up and miss. That got the adrenalin going and expecting more of the same, I stood by and kept a watchful eye on that rod. Time went on and nothing happened.
Disappointed, I packed up at around 4.30am and as I headed home, I was already planning a return.
It later transpired that one of the guys from World Sea Fishing forums fished at the spot I was originally going to use and he ended up with a couple of codling of just under two pounds each. Read his report here.
On Friday 17th. August, the weather looked awful with quite high winds and didn’t appear ideal for fishing. Undeterred, I decided I was going to fish come hell or high water. The East arm of Brighton Marina was the favoured venue and I was aiming to go quite a way around on the arm but as there was quite a bit of water being thrown up over the marina wall (slaps) by the wind, I decided to fish further inshore on Bay 18 .
I set up at around 9pm with two rods; one on a single running ledger baited with lugworm and sent out at about fifty yards or so. The second rod was a 2/0 pennel rig baited with whole calamari and lobbed down the side in the hope of a large bass.
The wind was blowing quite a bit with a strong W/SW breeze and there were a few slaps coming over but on the whole not too bad. There was a lot of weed though, which eased towards high water.
The first fish to come were small ‘bootlace’ eels which created havoc with my rigs, coating them in slime and knotting them up as they usually do. A couple of bass soon followed but were unfortunately only small schoolies, not large enough for the table. All these came to the lug baited rod. The next few fish were to my surprise, small codling of around 12oz. again too small for the table but indeed a welcome sight and perhaps a sign of better fishing to come.
As it neared high water, the wind strengthened and the sea was getting lumpier, with ‘slaps’ becoming larger and more frequent. It was time to leave, so having packed up and donated my unused bait to a chap fishing along from me, I trundled back to the car quite content with the evening’s result.
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