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By Vic, 11 May, 2009 15:17

Despite the forecast Easterly winds, which are not a fisherman’s best friend according to the old folklore “When the wind is from the West, fish feed best. When the wind is from the East, fish feed least“. I decided to still go ahead with a session down the at Brighton Marina, fishing from low water through to high water at about 1am.

On arrival at bay 30 and setting up, it became apparent that float fishing was going to be a no-no, with the float just being swept back in towards the wall with all the weed and crap. I packed that up and sent out a lugworm on a ledgered DVice and then set about trying for some fresh mackerel for bait. No luck on the Sabikis and the worm baits kept coming back masked in fine stringy weed.

It was about this time that Keith, one of the wardens came along and mentioned that the West arm was pretty much wind free. With the wind strengthening and the weed getting worse, I soon made the decision to pack up and head off to the West arm, even though I thought it would be packed. As I got there, I met a bloke who had just finished and asked if there was any space on the arm; I was surprised when he said that it was empty apart from only a few fishing there.

As I arrived on the arm and started walking out, I couldn’t believe my luck, it seemed as though the bloody wind had followed me and had now swung round from an Easterly to a Northerly and was blowing straight along the arm. Undeterred, I set up about half way along determined not to blank. First rod out was a ledgered lugworm tipped with strip of mackerel that I had blagged from Keith who was now on the arm too. As I was waiting for a take on the worm, I worked some Sabikis and managed to haul out four mackerel in a few casts.

The worm rod started lunging and the first fish to hit the deck was a nice black bream. I re-baited, cast out and started on the Sabikis again but nothing else seemed to be interested, so I changed over from that and set up a running ledger with 3/0 pennel rig baited with half mackerel fillets.

As the light faded, the wind swung round even more and was now quite fierce and was blowing fine sand and all sorts of rubbish along the wall which seemed intent in getting into my bag and bucket. As I was clearing out the crap from my bucket, I noticed the worm rod nodded a few times and the next bream was quickly aboard. This was slightly larger and was probably around the 1lb mark.

The next take seemed better and having initially struck, I became snagged but could still feel a fish at the other end. I got out of the snag but the rattling on the line had stopped and was now just a dead weight. I cranked the ‘weight’ in and swung aboard the culprit – a set of what I presume were supposed to be a string of mackerel feathers but looked more like something that would not look out of place draped around the shoulders of Elton John or Lilly Savage. Christ, I have never seen such a garishly coloured set of monstrosities; the hooks were huge too, at least 4/0. I reckon the previous owner had deliberately left them snagged there out of embarrassment or a big game boat had passed through thinking there were Marlin or some such beasts lurking near the West arm and lost them on the reef. Anyway, I cut it all free from my gear and dropped them in my bucket with a metallic thud.

I carried on for a while and landed another two bream on the worm baits whilst the mackerel remained untouched. By about 11pm, the wind had increased while the bites had stopped, so with thoughts of a decent coffee (not the hot brown sludge in my flask) and a more comfortable setting, I tackled down and headed for home. At least it was the first time I had fished the West arm and been virtually the only one there.

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By Vic, 22 July, 2008 15:11

Decided to have another bash down at Brighton Marina on Sunday night as it seemed a pity to waste the good weather.

So armed with some peeler crab, I arrived at the East arm around 9.30pm. I first set up in bay 16 but after a few casts, decided to move further out to bay 26. Tackle consisted of a DVice on a running ledger and single 3/0 hook.

The weather was settled, although the predicted North Westerly breeze had shifted to a Westerly and so was blowing straight along the arm instead of behind.

I had my first run some time later, which happened just as I was engaged in paying for my ticket, so missed it. However, As I retrieved, there was tons of slack line which after taking up, I found a fish still attached – a nice little smooth Hound of around 2½lbs.

I rebaited, cast out and had a run instantly which was another smooth Hound, this time around the 5lbs mark. This turned out to be the largest of the night, although I totalled 8 by the end of the session. A couple were really small pups which I couldn’t believe could get a 3/0 hook in their mouths.

A second rod had been used during the session which I had baited with lug worm in the hope of getting some sole. All it managed to attract though, was a small ‘micro’ bass, as small thornback and the usual Pout.

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By Vic, 19 July, 2008 16:20

After a month of being laid up and not being be able to get out amongst the fishes, I was glad to finally manage a session a few days ago on Wednesday evening.

For ease of access, I plumped for the East arm at Brighton Marina and on arrival settled, myself in bay 28 and unpacked my gear.

I set up a rod using a a DVice on a running ledger with a 3/0 hook baited with hermit crab and cast it out. I then saw the mackerel shoaling near to the wall, so set up some feathers to get a few to top up my bait. Within a minute I had enough to see me through the session.

The water was literally boiling with the amount of mackerel. I have seen big shoals there before but not to this extent; to say the water there was full of fish would have been an under statement. It never ceases to amaze me when I see this happening, it really is one of nature’s little shows.

Having stocked with bait, I set up another rod with a running ledger and two hook pennel baited with mackerel fillet and lobbed out.

The next wonderful nature show was a couple of Dolphins a few hundred yards out from the wall. I saw at least two individuals doing there thing around on the surface but don’t know if there were others around too. I wish I could have caught them on camera but with the limitations of the camera and not knowing where they were going to surface next made it impossible.

Having watched the Dolphins, I sat back and waited and wondered when the predicted rain would arrive, The clouds were dark and threatening and were coming in on a light breeze from the South West, where it appeared to be getting darker. As it happened, the rain never materialised and it stayed a dry night.

First fish didn’t arrive until the last light had gone and was a small thornback about twice twice the size of my hand which had taken the crab bait. This was released, the hook rebaited and cast out again. The next bite was a sharp tug followed by nothing which I left to see if it would develop. After about 2-3 minutes, I retrieved the rig to find a small whiting firmly attached.

As for the other rod, I rebaited several times and no matter what I tried, I could not get a bite on this at all.

The next customer was a small smooth Hound pup of about 2lbs which was swung in, unhooked and released. I did hope that the larger ones would show up soon but it went really quiet with no more action until about two hours after high water when the crab rod suddenly lurched right over and the ratchet screamed, indicating a better fish. After a couple of minutes, the fish showed itself on the surface and was guided into the drop net (not easy when done single handed). It was another smooth Hound – a bit bigger at around the 4lbs mark, again it was unhooked and returned by way of dropping it in the net.

That was it for the rest of time I was there, with no indications of further fish activity. So, slightly disappointed, I walked off at around 2.30am.

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By Vic, 18 June, 2008 15:54

On Monday 16th myself and a few blokes from WSF decided to have a session at Brighton Marina. The target was smooth Hound (aka smoothie or smut). There have been a few small ones caught recently with the beginning of the annual moult of the Spider crab. It was hoped that the larger ones were not far off, coming in to feed on the soft, recently moulted/peeled crab. Not renowned for large smoothies, the marina does produce a few reasonable ones at times.

I arrived at around 6.45pm and while walking out on the arm, I spotted Fishyrob fishing in one of the lower bays using live prawn on a float rig. After a brief chat, I continued along and saw that there were a few already fishing along the ‘bend’ and filling the bays. I could have wondered all the way out on the arm for more room but wanted to stay in the lower mid section as we had decided earlier, for the best chance of a smoothie. I finally found a vacant spot and settled myself in bay 22.

I started off with a bit feathering for mackerel to top up the bait situation and managed a few. There didn’t seem to be that many around compared with other days but that is the way at the marina – some days loads, other days scarce.

As the evening wore on, I set up my rods ready for darkness to fall. One was set up with running ledger DVice with peeler crab or hermit crab on a 3/0 hook and fished at varying distances. The other rod was set up again with a running ledger but with a 4/0 pennel rig and alternating between whole calamari and mackerel fillet as bait.

The other lads turned up and after introductions and a quick chat, unpacked and set up their gear to begin fishing. We filled a few adjacent bays which apart from making for a better atmosphere and almost competition conditions, it is better as we were all in one place. The fishing was a bit on the quiet side with not even Pout to break the monotony. At least it gave us a chance to have a natter, as some had never met before and were just known through the WSF forums.

We had a brief period of activity where a few smoothies were landed which although not large, were in the 3-4lbs bracket. The spell was short-lived and as quickly as it started, it went quiet again and no further smoothies were caught.

By the end of the evening, for my efforts, I was rewarded with one pout but determined to have a least one half reasonable fish, I stayed after everyone else had gone. Shortly after Rob left, I brought in a small thornback ray which went for the peeler crab on the DVice rig. I really like rays, there’s just something about them that appeals to me. It’s just a shame that for some reason, this venue and Seaford produce numerous small rays but never anything of a decent size. Quite why this is, I don’t know but maybe I should do some research into the matter and try and find out why. I should make the effort to travel to better ray spots but there is nowhere relatively near for that produces decent rays in larger numbers apart from maybe Hampshire. Widewater at Shoreham does throw them up from time to time but not enough to go there specifically for them.

Anyway, enough of the muttering, the next piece of action was shortly after this. My second rod lurched over sharply and the ratchet screamed loudly as something below grabbed the whole small mackerel fillet I had lobbed over the side. I knew it wouldn’t be a Smoothie and that it was more likely to be a bass. It gave a very spirited fight and I did think it was going to be somewhat larger than the 2½ lb specimen that came aboard. However it was another fish under the belt and made up for the direness of earlier. I had intended to pack up around this time but opted to stay a just while longer (how many times have we done that) to see what else I could bag. I should have gone with my earlier decision as no more fish showed and it went back to unfishy. This being the case, I decided to jack it in at 3am.

Although there were no Smoothies in quantity, it was a nice little meet and good to see a few more faces from the WSF forums.