I was tempted out into the wind and rain on Friday night to try and hunt out some codling and whiting down at Seaford beach. On arrival about an hour or so before low water, I saw that the sea was pretty lumpy with some good heavy wave action. I set up just East of the Beachcomber and used two rods – one ledgered DVice loaded with lugworm and squid cast at distance, the other, a ledgered 4/0 hook pennel rig with whole squid cast into the turmoil of the waves.
To cut a long story short, I fished until about 1am when I had to pack up due to running out of bait. The conditions had been ok, even if it was a bit a bit wet and windy. Although no codling showed, there were enough whiting to keep things busy; most being reasonable size, with two being good table size. The great majority of fish fell to the lugworm and squid cocktail at about 50-60 yards out but a few did take the whole squid in the surf.
Saturday was a ‘Do I, don’t I’ sort of situation. Calm clear seas with no movement, didn’t bode well for a beach session but I needed to get out and fish. I finally made up my mind and so armed with some fresh lugworm and frozen squid, I headed for Seaford beach. I arrived early at about 6pm, as I’d heard that there were competitions being fished in the area and the beach could be crowded later on. Although there were already people there, it certainly wasn’t crowded. I chose a spot just east of the Beachcomber pub and setup two rods – one with a Dvice on a running ledger armed with size 1 hook and baited with lugworm tipped off with squid strip, the other, long link running ledger and size 4/0 pennel with whole squid.
The water was gin clear and with virtually no movement, so I wasn’t expecting much at all, it was just great to be out on the beach. Worm rod was sent out at distance, while the whole squid was lobbed out a few yards in the hope of a lurking bass.
Not much to write about really, so I’ll just give a brief total for the night. Finished at about 2am, so worked out at about 8 hours fishing. Loads of whiting but none in the decent keeper bracket, three small rays and some Pout. The Pout went out as bait in the hope of a decent bass being tempted but by the way they were coming back with the tell-tale ‘V’ notch taken out of the neck area, they had obviously been attacked by squid. That being the case and me not having any jigs with me, I gave that up.
Anyway, it was a decent night to be out and did get some fish, so not all a loss. This coming week should give some better results with a shift in the wind and hopefully some movement and colour to the water.
I’ve been eager to have another experimental session targeting bass at Seaford beach using only sandeel / launce for bait, so last night, armed with some large Ammo frozen launce, I headed off to see what I could achieve. I got to the beach at about 7pm, unloaded the car and walked across the shingle to a spot between the Beachcomber and West View. I was greeted by a mainly moderate sea with a bit of a swell which resulted in some nice wave action. Wind was minimal and when mild gust did come, it was from the West.
I set up the ‘experiment’ rod with a long lead link, running ledger with a 6′ trace terminating in a 4/0 pennel. I mounted the launce on the hooks and lobbed it out into the waves. I had brought another rod to see if there was a codling about, so set this up with a DVice on a running ledger baited with lugworm and squid. I cast this out before returning to hold on to the bass rod.
First fish of the night came about two hours before low water and was a nice fat whiting of about a pound. This was soon followed by another of identical size. While dealing with this second fish, I heard the other reel give two sharp tugging runs but by the time I got to it, there was nothing there. On retrieval, the sandeel had been absolutely smashed and was in tatters. Both rods were rebaited and cast out again.
At low water, I felt a huge take on the bass rod and lifted into a fish. as it it slid through the waves, I could see that it wasn’t the expected bass but a decent sized whiting. From then on, it was a long succession of whiting, some were good table size.
It wasn’t until about 3 hours before high water that the bass seemed more confident and were hitting the launce hard with long, ragged runs. None were huge, all being in the 2-2½lbs range but good fun all the same. all were taken just behind the first breaker in the turbulent water, no more than 10 yards out. I missed several runs through not being attentive or when I left the rod in the rest while dealing with the other road. Now I know that when bassing, you should only use one rod and that it should be held at all times but I can never resist the temptation to have another rod out for anything else that may be around. If you play it this way, you will pay the price and may miss THAT fish.
By 2.30am, I had run out of bait and so with a couple of hours of the flood and hour of the ebb tide left, I had to call it a night. It was not an amazing night but it was enjoyable one with a total tally of five bass and many whiting. Next time, I’ll make sure I have enough bait to see me through.
The ‘sandeel only’ bait experiment I had been thinking of got under way last night with a session just East of the Beachcomber at Seaford beach. I arrived just after low water and set up two rods – one with a ledgered DVice pennel and one, a standard running ledger with a pennel, both baited with sandeel. I had only been able to get packets of small sandeel instead of the larger launce I had wanted, so due to the small size of the bait, I had to scale down to 1/0 hooks as opposed to the usual 4/0 or 6/0 I would use.
The Dvice was sent out at distance and the other chucked out just beyond what breakers there were. I was disappointed to see that the sea had flattened out substantially with hardly any lumpy water, it had retained virtually no movement after the recent winds and had cleared out with just faintest hint of colour.
About an hour after low water, I had the first take on the close in bait, which resulted in a plump bass of around 2½lbs. Shortly afterwards, I had another take which I snatched at and missed.
Things went quiet for a while as the water movement dropped off and it wasn’t until around 10pm that I had another take which I missed. A couple of whiting then made an appearance on the distance rod but they were of no real decent size, certainly not big enough to go home for fish cakes.
While dealing with the last whiting, the reel on the rod screamed and the rod arched over. I picked up but it had gone. As I started to retrieve, it went heavy and almost snagged up. I could feel the kicking of a fish on the other end and from the weight, it felt like a good ‘un. I was however, gutted to see a large ball of weed coming through the water and then weed jamming in the tip ring. I cleared the tip and then dragged the weed onto to the shingle where a bass of around the 2½lb mark flapped on the shoreline.
Another missed run about an hour after high water followed by nothing.
As the weather looked promising with some Westerly winds building up over the weekend which meant more movement in the water, I decided to take advantage and fish Seaford beach after work on Friday. I arrived at the beach at about 9pm and set up just about half way between The Beachcomber and West view. The wind was a moderate, in the face breeze; sea state was not rough – a bit lumpy and easy enough to hold bottom. DVice held solid as did 5oz Breakaway gripper. Things looked just right.
I fished one rod with lugworm /squid cocktail at varying distances on a ledgered DVice and another rod close in with a ledgered 4/0 pennel baited with either whole squid or sandeel.
First fish of the night was a bass of around a pound and a bit which took sandeel close in and then managed to get its revenge by slicing my thumb with one of it’s gill plates. I then missed a lovely run, and followed it with a hook up but dropped fish, both again of sandeel. Only had one knock on the squid which took me by surprise so much that I struck, forgetting I had the reel in free spool (not a good idea). These were all about 1 – 1½ hours before high water after which it went dead.
Had a couple of small Pout on the lug/squid combination and then about an hour after high water, had a couple of whiting which were of a decent size. It then turned off completely with no other bites showing.
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