Oct02

Brightn Marina East Arm – 30th Sep

by Trikky2 on October 2nd, 2011 at 10:18 am
Posted In: Reports, Brighton Marina, East Arm

Hi Folks,

Bit late as had a lazy day yesterday but here is a round up of what happened.

I started fishing around 1.30PM on peg 8, very hot and sunny with a little breeze to cool things off from the south east. Not much swell but a little choppy and some colour in the water.

Although glorious weather and coming up to a good high tide ( 2 ish ) there were only a few feather chuckers around who were managing to land a few mackerel .. But they did not seem to be about in numbers.

Had a chat with one of the wardens and there were a few fish around but nothing big with Pouting, Gurnard, Gar, Wrasse showing.

Baits were rag, lug and squid.

Tried floating some strips of squid but did not get a nibble … Mind you was the first time I have ever float fished in the sea so probably making a total mess of it :)

There was a bit of weed around, was annoying but not as bad as it has been recently.

The first victim was a nice little Wrasse caught just down the side on lug tipped with squid :

 

Wrasse

Wrasse

 

This was quickly followed by a Bullhead.

Then I managed to break the handle on one of my reels, sods law really as did not have my spare reel with me … But did have my little travel spinning rod … So 3 rods and 1 reel :wallbash:
Was not too worried … It cost me about £7 on Ebay and had been well abused:) But it did mean I was down to one rod.

Had one decent bite … but did not connect.

As the sun went down the wind shifted round to come from the North.

One guy that was packing up gave me some left over rag, he had only had one mackerel all day.

A couple of hours after high tide the weed disappeared.

Around 6PM had another Wrasse about 5 meters out, again on lug tipped with squid :

 

Wrasse

Wrasse

 

An hour later got a little Shanney just down the wall on squid :

 

Wrasse

Shanney

 

As darkness descended so did the pout which were hitting everything upto 2/0 hook size … Changed over to whole squid on 4/0 pennel, the still nibbled but at least even they could not hook themselves :)

Had a chat with one of the wardens ( Phil ) who had a spare reel in his car, which he sold to me for a tenner and threw in a nice pulley rig … So if your reading this … Thanks Phil :clap:

Put a small hook on and got one of the pout which was then put back out as live bait.

Around 10PM ish got a nice run on the squid which tore off a few yards of line but, sadly. could not connect :(

10.30 and the pout went off to bed and it all went quiet.

An hour of nothing went by, then a small knock on the rag rod. Connected, but not a lot of resistance. Caught a flash of something long and thin in the headlight … At first thought it was a soddin eel, but was quite surprised to pull up this little baby :

 

Wrasse

Smoothhound

Starry Smoothhound

Starry Smoothhound

 

Around 12.30am the weed started back in, but not nearly as bad as before … Very easy to fish through.

Just after high tide ( 2am ish ) I caught my first Whiting of the season on rag tipped with squid :

 

Wrasse

Whiting

 

Whilst clearing the line of a bit of weed I managed to knock off my tip light … Again :bangin: Luckily, this time, I had spares.

A couple of hours after high tide what weed there was cleared off.

As morning arrived the Pouting returned afresh , quickly followed by some mackerel.

On pulling in yet another Pout I found this tiny starfish clinging on for its life to the lead :

 

Wrasse

Starfish

 

As I was packing up Matthew from this forum wandered by on a species hunt, nice to meet you.

Not a great session, but was lovely weather …. Only a T-shirt all night .. And just nice to get out from the city.

All the best.

Richard

└ Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
 Comment 
Sep10

Brighton Marina East Arm – 9th Sep

by Trikky2 on September 10th, 2011 at 11:48 am
Posted In: Reports, Brighton Marina, East Arm

Hi Folks,

Been a while since my last report, have had two trips out but nothing much to report. If I can dig up my notes I will get round to writing them up at some point … Not been down the pub as much as usual :)

Also had a two week break as better half had a couple of weeks off work.

So I decided to head back to my usual haunt of the East Arm at Brighton Marina, after the storms of the last few days I was hopeful for a bass or two.

After picking up some Black Lug, Squid and Slipper Limpets from The Tackle Box I wandered along to peg 13 which is where I had managed a few bass from before. Just as I was setting up I got a phone call from the girlfriend asking if I wanted to go for a beer back in Brighton, almost decided to pack it in and return but decided I needed my fishing fix …. I was to regret that decision.

Chatting to the people around me I got the impression that it had been a bit slow, it was now 3PM ish with low tide due in an hour or so, although a few schoolies had been taken.

Had a couple of micro pout straight away, and then something new for me :

Shanny

At the time I was not sure what it was, but later research and help from the folks on the World Sea Fishing Forum identified it as a Shanny ( Common Blenny ).

The weed was not too bad …. But did bring the eels in. My first one of the evening :

Silver Eel

Silver Eel

Did not weigh it but guess it was around the ¾ lb mark. A couple of lads feathering a bit down from me asked if they could take it home but I explained that they were actually protected and it was returned. They were a bit disappointed, and surprised, but seemed interested to find out something they did not know before.

The second one came a few minutes later … Actually I’m not totally sure that it was not the same one :) This time it managed to squirm its way out of my grip and dropped just over the wall onto the buttress just below. Instead of heading down slope into the sea it started to crawl its way back towards me …. A few little prods with the rod tip helped it on its way though.

A guy fishing in the higher numbers managed a Ling and one of the wardens showed me a picture of the rafts of weed plaguing the West Wall.

Although not many fish around it was not till dark that things started to go really wrong, it started when I took out my head torch to find it had managed to switch itself on earlier and was nearly dead … luckily had some spare batteries.

Next I managed to knock one of the rod tip lights off and watched it slowly roll into the sea. This is also the first night I have not had spares with me.

Then the weed started and it rained on and off …. Still no decent fish or bites.

Had another micro Pout, which went back in as a live bait to try and trap a Bass but the weed just removed it from the hook.

Clearing weed from the line I managed to knock the tip light off the other rod … which duly followed its brother into the depths.

After constant weed and no fish I decided to call it a night at 11.30 ish.

I got home and thought ‘thank God that’s over’ ,,,,, Until I went in the kitchen.

I had taken a few small bags of frozen bait from the freezer …. To get to them I had to remove a full slab of frozen Squid … Yep …. You guessed it :) I had returned home to find a thawed out block of squid sitting in the middle of the kitchen.

Here’s to the next trip :)

└ Tags: , , , , , , ,
 Comment 
Aug17

Brighton Marina East Arm – 16/17th Aug

by Trikky2 on August 17th, 2011 at 9:25 am
Posted In: Reports, Brighton Marina, East Arm

Hi Folks,

I had originally intended to fish the Banjo Groyne but on arriving at the Tackle Box in the marina I realised that I had forgotten my tripod so decided to return to the East Wall and started fishing around midday with high tide due a couple of hours later.

Over high tide was quite busy with a fair few bites and rattles which resulted in 3 Bream and a couple of small Pouting.

Mackerel were being caught in dribs and drabs, as the afternoon wore on the sky started to cloud over and the wind picked up a bit. Weed was not a problem close in but any further than 20m from the wall there was a fair bit around.

Had a nice chat with the guy set up on the peg next to me, he had only been fishing a couple of times and was having problems with his worms being nicked off the hook so I gave him a squid and showed him how to tip off the bait.

Around 4PM we were treated to a great sight. About 2m off the wall a 7/8lb Bass was just cruising along at a slow walking pace only just below the surface … Followed by quite a few people :)

Two pegs up from me a Dad was taking is son for his first fishing trip, nice to see him get a few Mackerel.

I got a couple more small Pouting, not much happening elsewhere either. Further round from me a small Bass was taken as well as a Red Mullet and Gurnard.

The guy next to me packed in late afternoon and left me a Mackerel, then the Dad and son left me some Rag as well.

As darkness descended I managed a small Thornback Ray which fell to lugworm tipped with squid.

Around 21:30 I managed a small Bass which took a ragworm/squid combination. Weighed in at just under a pound :

Even though I had switched to larger hooks and baits a greedy micro Pout still managed to hook itself. My other rod was set up with a whole peeler crab on a 3/0 pennel rig which was in fairly close, so the Pout was attached to a live bait rig and sent down the line.

This resulted in another Schoolie, slightly large than the previous one :

Around 1 AM the sky cleared, the wind died down …. And the weed arrived with vengeance.

I got a descent rattle on the rod loaded with Lug tipped with Squid and pulled in this 3.5lb Pouting :) :

 

OK …. So about 3 pounds of that weight was weed but it was still made a nice change from the usual micro pout.

The weed got worse and apart from another micro pout nothing was happening, it did take me nearly 10 minutes to land one stubborn raft of weed … I did think I was going to need to use the drop net but, luckily, enough dropped off for me to handline it in.

The weed disappeared as quickly as it came and I had a little rattle around 4.00 AM. Now, you might know I have been after a flattie for a while so was delighted to pull this Flounder in :

Not big, but was happy anyway :)

Finished up around 7 AM and the final tally was :

3 Bream
2 Bass
6 Pouting
1 Thornback Ray
1 Flounder
4 Tonnes of weed

As I was packing up a couple of lads arrived and set up two pegs up from me so I passed on what bait I had left. One of the wardens was fishing around peg 7 and managed a 4lb Bass.

And to finish a bit of friendly advice … Also some supporting evidence for my application to be Numpty of the year :)

When it gets early in the morning after a long session do try and concentrate. If you want to change to a rig with smaller hooks but don’t have one it is perfectly acceptable to cut of the hooks from one rig and tie on smaller hooks ….. However …. When baiting up MAKE SURE you are putting the worm on one of the hooks you have just tied on AND NOT on one that you have just cut off :)

 

 Comment 
Aug10

Brighton Marina – 9/10th August

by Trikky2 on August 10th, 2011 at 8:29 am
Posted In: Reports, Brighton Marina, East Arm

Hi Folks,

This report is mainly coming from memory a few days later which, if you know me, you will realise means that it might not be 100% accurate to say the least.

I stopped off at the Tackle Box for my usual supply of bait, including some very impressive peelers. I had a nice little chat with Dave and he recommended trying around peg 19 on the East arm, which sounded like a plan so I headed off.

There were a few people around on the arm but it was not as crowded as it has been. I really fancied a bit of peace and quiet for that night so kept on walking having had a couple of nights messed up by the groups of Horse Mackerel fanatics that seem to hunt in packs complete with base camp and enough lighting to illuminate your average sized runway …. Why do they always set up next to me ?

Settled on peg 46 and started to set up, it was fairly cloudy with some nice sunny spells and a light wind coming from the south west. The first line went out around 2.30 PM with low tide about to arrive.

One rod was going to be left in close with a large bait, alternating between a whole squid and a large peeler to try and snare a bass with the other rod at varying distances and baits to see what else was around.

Around 3.30 PM I landed the first fish, a small bream :

Black Bream

It fell to rag tipped with squid at about 30m from the wall.

As the afternoon wore on the sky cleared but the wind picked up, at one point I saw a wave break over the end of the West arm …. I also managed an amazing turn of speed for a fat git as my baccy pouch was propelled along the ground towards the great abyss.

Weed started to make an appearance as the wind got stronger and I was going to be lucky to see a bite from anything less than a great white ! Just after dark and high tide I reeled in to find a small pout hanging on for dear life.

Thankfully the wind eased off and it became a pleasant night, apart from the lack of fish.

I was getting regular breamesque knocks on the lighter rod but could not connect, tried various rigs and baits with hook sizes from 1/0 down to 6 but no joy. More annoyingly on the rod I had put out for the Bass I got two soddin great thumps that bent the rod over and dragged it along the wall a bit, but again came to nothing.

Around 4 AM I got a slightly lighter knock on the big bait and struck, at first I thought I had missed again but there was a weight there but no run. I thought it was just weed but as I held it I could feel something give a kick so started to reel in. Not much of a fight and in my headtorch I saw something silvery and a bit thin, as it broke the surface I could see it was an eel. I have caught them before, but only the really annoying shoelace little buggers that tie themselves in knots and mess up the rig and anything else in the general vicinity but this was a bit bigger.

It was extremely well behaved, allowing me to land, unhook, weigh and photograph it without much of a struggle. This placidity did not last though, as I was just about to return it to its home it made a sudden break for freedom, but only managed to free itself from my right hand which was holding its tail. So, with my left hand holding it firmly behind the head, it wrapped itself round my arm as far as my armpit. Luckily I was wearing just a t shirt so relatively easy to have a good wash :)

It weighed in at just under 2lb, to give you an idea of scale the white blob in front of its mouth is a whole calami squid . Sorry for the photo but I was trying not to get the camera slimed up :

Eel

Eel

 

As a side note in case you were unaware of this, it is ILLEGAL to take a silver eel they must be returned, it is even illegal to target them specifically.

After it had been returned and the rod re baited it was time to change the bait on the other rod, on reeling in I found a small Thornback Ray :

 

Thornback Ray

Thornback Ray

 

It must have taken the bait whilst I was dealing with the Eel and then just sat on the bottom waiting its turn whilst digesting the lugworm and squid :)

As the sun made an appearance the mackerel showed up, also as I was packing in, a few pegs above me a few mullet were taken on mackerel slivers just down the side of the wall … Will have to try that next time as never had a mullet.

As I say, this was from memory. I made notes at the time but bought the wrong notepad out to the pub to write it up :) Will check them later and add anything I missed.

 

 

└ Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
 Comment 
Aug04

Brighton 3/4th August

by Trikky2 on August 4th, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Posted In: Reports, Brighton Marina, East Arm

Hi Folks,

Started fishing the East Arm at the Marina around 2.30PM. Had actually wanted to fish a little further round, somewhere around peg 13 but pretty full all the way up to the mid twenties and managed to find a spot on peg 9.

Almost immediately got a nice little wrasse ( the first one I have ever caught ) which took black lug :

Wrasse

Wrasse

 

It was soon followed by another, then a couple of bream. All on either lug or rag tipped with squid :

Black Bream

Black Bream

 

There were a few mackerel knocking around but not in the numbers they have been recently, I then picked up a tiny Pollack :

Pouting

 

That marked the end of the first hour, things were looking good :)

Then it went quiet until the Mackerel arrived around 4.30 PM so I decided to try some feathers with the hope of getting a couple for use as bait through the night.

3 rd cast bought in a full house so that was me sorted.

The evening and night were very quiet, a group set up next to me to go for the Horse Mackerel over high tide which was due around 3 AM. They actually packed up just after midnight as were not catching and the rain was due to move in.

I stuck at it as the wind picked up and the clouds closed in …. Despite looking really threatening there were only a couple of very short showers.

Just before first light I got another micro Pouting and decided to call it a day. As I was packing up a guy wandered round from further up, his night had been quiet too but at least he managed a Bass.

One of the wardens also managed a 2lb eel from the West Arm but it seemed to be quiet all round.

Will be back out Tuesday to try again … Might wander round to the high numbers on the East as not tried them before.

└ Tags: , , , , , , , ,
 Comment