Weather

For up to the minute inshore weather reports and tide times in other areas please visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/

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05/01/09 Firstly, happy new year. I hope that you all have successful fishing trips througout 2009 and we have as many great catches as we did in 2008. As for the fishing. This week has been pretty slow due to the calm seas which has cleared the water out a bit. I heard that the last mackerel of 2008 was caught last week off the marina ( a little Joey) so i wonder how quickly one will be caught in 2009. Daytime has been slow everywhere with the odd flounder, rockling and whiting being caught at most marks including pevensey, seaford, hove and shoreham. My mate Charly fished at Shoreham by the HDSA club a few days ago and had a nice 13inch flounder on lugworm fished close in. He then followed this up with a rockling on ragworm. We are fishing the HDSA beach on tuesday and saturday eve so i will report back on that as soon as i have info. A few members of HDSA fished just out from the club (about 2 miles) and had some nice Codling up to 6lb. As most of you will know, its that sparse time of the year where you have to scratch for fish, especially in daylight. After dark will increase catches with lots of whiting at times. Therefore, apart from the above, there is not too much to report. After dark there have still been Whiting about as well as a few Pout, Flounders and Dabs but fewer Codling across all areas with best spots being where the water stays dirtier a bit longer. 29/12/08 Firstly, sorry about the delay in updating the site, technical issues and christmas festivities. Anyway, onto the business, this week has seen calm weather with cold NE and N winds. This has put many people off, well that and the christmas season. This does mean that there is not a huge amount to report but here is what i have.  I fished a HDSA beach match at Hove on 27/12/08 and in the calm conditions i wasnt expecting too much. We fished 2000-0100 and HT was around 11ish. I was using fresh Blck lug, Mackerel strips and Squid strips. You can use 2 rods in the match so i was putting one at distance and one close in to try and locate the fish. As the tide came up there were quite a few small whiting around the 25cm mark but as we approached HT and just over/after the HT the fishing picked up with the bigger ones being caught, some approaching 40cm (1lb). I found that the most productive bait was lug tipped with Mackerel strip at distance on my 2 hook clipped down rig. However, some of the guys i spoke to after said quite the opposite with closer in and squid strips producing so i think the fish were moving around a bit, or it was packed with them. I ended up 2nd with 32 sizeable fish (31 Whiting, 1 Rockling). It was catch and release but keep any you want for the pot so a few that were badly hooked were kept for a very tasty fish pie. In the daytime fishing has been slow but if you have ragworm then you currently have the chance to get a few Flounders. Pevensey Bay has been one of the better marks to fish in the day or night. During daylight there have been some nice Flounders and Dabs but after dark the Whiting, Pout, Rockling and Cod come on the feed with a few around the 3lb mark being reported. All on fresh lug. A few Dogfish have shown at Worthing as well as some Whiting and the a Codling or two. 09/12/08 This week has seen mainly calmer weather with a fair bit of rain and ice in between. There arent too many catch reports this week but by all accounts a lot of places have fished similar. In daytime, marks such as Worthing, Shoreham, Hove, Brighton and Seaford have been producing quite a few Flounders with some being of a decent size. There has also been the odd Whiting, Schooly and Dab as well. Brighton Beaches have been producing some nice sized Flounders during daylight but i have been told that the area has been heavily netted towards the end of the week with the nets not being far off the beaches. Brighton Marina has produced Mackerel, Gars and Herring during daylight when the water is clear but as the water stirred up towards the end of the week the whiting came on the feed as well as the odd Codling and Sole after dark. I fished a match on Sunday eve with the HDSA on the beach just by the club. Things looked promising but the bites were slow. While i dont have the full results quite yet I think there were 3 ppl in contention with 6 fish each, myself included, but i will confirm this once they are on the board at the club. Catches included mainly Whiting but there were some Flounders and Rockling as well. The fishing was slow in general and despite having a range of baits which included blow lug, black lug, king rag, white rag, squid, slippers, and Mackerel it was proving difficult to land a sizeable fish. I tried a range of tactics but mainly used a wessex rig fished close in and then a 2 hook clipped down rig cast as far as possible. The first couple of hours in daylight produced few fish and despite using some decent sized whites i just couldnt tempt a fish. As the darkness came on people caught a few and i had 2 sizeable whiting amongst about 8 or so undersize ones by the close of the first 3 hours. Just as we were over the high tide It slightly improved and i caught a couple more sizeable whiting with one of them being around 1lb. when it came to the last cast i still had a lot of bait left over which i couldnt freeze so i used a load of fresh lug on a paternoster Pennel clipped down and cast it to the distance. The rod knocked and as it came to time to reel in i knew i had a fish on and though i may have sneaked a just sizeable codling but no it was two Whiting caught on each hook of the pennel, although i wasnt too fussed as they were both sizeable which took my tally to a competitive 6 fish. Most fish came on the distance rod but i did get a double shot of sizeable fish on the close in rod (50 yards). The fish were preferring the baits that were tipped with mackerel or squid.   Pevensey has fished best after dark with the odd codling showing amongst the Whiting and dabs. This is mainly because the water has stayed dirty a little longer. 01/12/08 This week has again seen cold weather with calmer winds. This has meant that fishing in the day has been relatively slow from most beaches but still there has been some good catches after dark. I fished the BPPAA xmas match today on Brighton marina east arm. Its mainly catch and release with ppl only keeping what they wish to eat or have as bait. It was a cold easterly wind, as you would expect a day before Dec 1st! However..... The water was clear and despite the cold wind it was more like a summer match with Gars, Mackerel, Shad and Wrasse being caught, which i suppose is no longer surprising. Me and Arnoldteamssf had our suspicions that there may be a few gars etc still about so we started by using long flowing slider rigs and within minutes were getting bites on the float (very tentative, best to let them develop). While the rest of the day didnt live up to the early promise, there were some good weights and fish to be had, given the conditions as it was daytime and winter with clear water. (we fished pegs 15 & 16). Roy A won with 7lb 4oz (gars, Shad, Dabs and a Flounder) and me (Gars and 2x Shad) and Ben (Wrasse and Gars) shared second with 3lb 11oz each. I had my gars and shad on a slider rig fished with 2 size 4 hooks and mackerel strip for bait. I was also fishing a hook on the bottom at about 80 yards for whiting or anything else, with lug and squid, as part of the set up (as its a 3 hook match) but only had fish on the float. If it wasnt so cold it would have been more like a summer match with the only hint of any winter fish being a few Dabs. There were wrasse and pout down the wall and these were caught on ragworm and size 4's. there were also a few Mackerel about but these were on the small side. All in all an enjoyable but chilly days fishing. If your fishing the east arm while the weather is like this, all i can say is either fish close to the walls or use a slider but dont let your float move more than 40 yards from the wall as the fish are close in and mainly feeding when the tide runs. If your not sure what a slider rid is then check this link out (bottom of page): http://www.sussexseafishing.co.uk/8.html After dark there have been Whiting, Pout and the odd Dogfish caught. There have also been a few Codling with one around 4lb being landed. Seaford has fished similar to Brighton after dark. By all accounts the section near Edingburgh road has fished best but beware as there are some muscle beds there. Hove beaches have fished ok after dark with mainly Whiting and a few Codling. There have been a few Flounders in the day on ragowrm baits as well. There was a match on Brighton beach one night over the weekend with winning weight being 14lb. They mainly caught Whiting but there were a few Flounders and Dogfish. There was a match at Pevensey Bay on sunday daytime. There were quite a few fish caught with the winning weight being around 10lb but the rest of the weights were 8lb and below. They were made up of Flounders, Dabs and Whiting. 24/11/08 This week has seen a drop in temperature but slighly ore settled with calmer winds. this has meant that there has been some good catches but mainly after dark.  I Fished a friendly catch and release match/meet with HDSA last night on the beach in front of the club (behind hove lagoon). There were about 10 of us and it was a catch and release match. We fished from 16.45 - 21.45 with HT being around 1900. Conditions were calm. We used 2 rods and up to 4 hooks. I had fresh blow and black lug, whites, mackerel and squid. Things started slowly with only a few fish until about 1800 when it was fully dark and the fish came on the feed. For the most part it was constant whiting with double shots almost every cast. The most productive bait was black or blow tipped with mackerel so i used this on one rod and used the same set up on the other rod but tipped it with squid instead as i thought that this would give me the chance of a codling. I did mix things around a bit but this was the main approach. On the close in rod (tip tornado match and mag elite) i was using a wessex rig with size 2 kamazan hooks and probably fished around 50-80 yards, which gave really good bite detection in the calm conditions. On the further out rod (kompressor sport and mag elite) i was using a 2 hook clipped down rig with size 2 kamasan hooks. I used a roller on the close in rod and a grip lead on the distance rod. Both rods were constantly knocking with whiting bites and i was often hauling in 2 at a time on each. Most were sizeable with some approaching 40cm but there were spells of smaller undersize ones. I think my old man, who was fishing next to me, was getting fed up with signing them in as Chris who was fishing the other side was also catching a large amount of whiting. Towards the end, as the tide was going out, my rod had a cracking bite and bent right over and stayed that way so i lifted into it and knew that it was a better fish. After a brief tustle i landed a codling of 2lb 1oz which fought like a 5lber, oh and a whiting. This was on the closer in rod and was caught on black and squid as i ran out of mackerel, which was lucky. Overall i ended up with 44 sizeable fish and although it was a friendly match i was pleased with the win as the nearest to me had 36 fish. My old man had a dogfish and there was another Codling around 2lb caught with a few pout as well. To my understanding, the rest of hove has fished the same over the past few nights, as have Worthing and Brighton beaches. All in all an enjoyable nights fishing with some good company. I will add a picture shortly of the Codling. Brighton marina has fished well this week with plenty of whiting and the odd codling but all mainly after dark. There has also been some nice Sole and a few good Bass approaching 4lb. Thanks to Pete for this great report: My son and me went fishing on the west arm last night (sat evening), 5.30 till about 9.30. Cold but nice and clear and hardly any wind. From the first to the last cast we caught a channel whiting every time, sometimes two, they were coming up like mackerel! Some were a pretty good size. We caught 18 in all, on every bait we tried, lug, white rag, slip limpet, mackerel. I was using a clipped down rig (size 2 hooks) you made me and my son was using a 2 hook flapper (size 4 hook). Speaking to others on the arm they all had double figures, some well over 20. One guy caught a three and a half pound codling. Seaford and Pevensey have both fished well with plenty of whiting being caught as well as the odd codling. There was a Bass cught around the 6lb mark at Seaford on a whole squid. Tidemills has also produced a few Sole amongst the Whiting. Shoreham has seen Whiting as well, which is expected as everywhere else has seen plenty of them. There have been a few Flounders showing up during day light hours as well. There was also a decent Bass around 7lb caught near the power station. 18/11/08 This week has seen mixed weather and this has resulted in a mix of catches. Also, in addition to the usual Sussex reports i have some reports from Kent which is a nice Bonus as I know many of us head down that way in the persuit of Cod. Brighton Marina has fished well when its been open. There have been Mackerel, Garfish and Pollack on float fished mackerel strip and prawn respectively. There have been some good Whiting and Pout after dark as well as the odd Codling. A few Bass up to 5lb have been landed and there are also rumours of a big conger being caught. Sole have been caught after dark. There have been Whiting, Pout, Eels and Sole from Brighton beaches mainly on Lugworm baits. Shoreham beaches have fished similar with the addition of a few Schooly Bass. Hove has also fished the same as the above marks with some Flounders also being caught in daytime hours. Seaford has been fishing well with Plenty of Whiting being caught after dark as well as the usual Pout and the odd Doggy. Pevensey bay has fished well with Whiting, Sole and the odd Codling with best results being after dark. Onto Kent: I fished the Dover 3 day festival this weekend. As usual 9 of us Brighton lads make the trip and whilst numbers were down there was still a very competitive field of 37 Anglers. We arrived on the Friday evening and eagerly anticipated getting our draw for the Pegs over the 3 days along with wondering if we would fish the breakwater or not. Saturday arrived and we were on the breakwater so we were all pleased. We ended up on there for two of the three days as the last day was on the Prince of Wales Pier which doesnt compare in quality of fish. Typically this was the day that i had what would have been my best peg of the festival and the same happened for Glenn so we were both a little dissapointed. The standard of Anglers was very high and there was some good banter flowing, mainly surrounding the muppet cup! For those of you that dont know of this cup, it is an prestigious award set up by us Brighton lads for the person of our group that catches the least weight over the 3 days. Nobody wants to receive this because it is handed out at the presentation in front of all the anglers with some humiliating prizes and a trophy to identify you as the muppet! As im sure you can appreciate it adds a bit of spice and pressure for the match. I must admit i was nervous of getting this as i had only fished the Breakwater in one previous match, as we have usually ended up on the POW pier due to bad weather, and therefore i wasnt too sure what to expect. For those that have fished the breakwater you will know that the tide can run exceptionally hard and with the big tides it was difficult to hold bottom with large 8oz grip leads. Anyway, onto the fishing... Day 1. We were on the Breakwater and it was an intense fishing match as there was a lot of fish about. There a few Codling caught and a couple around 5lb. Despite my best efforts i couldnt get one but i still had a lot of Pout, Whiting, a couple of Doggies and a Dab. I was using a mix of 3 hook flappers and 2 up 1 down rigs with size 1 and 2 hooks. The Dogfish were caught on Sandeel and the other fish were caught on a mix of fresh lug, black lug usually tipped with Mackerel or squid. Glenn had similar catches to me along with a Codling of 2lb. We were casting between 30-60 yards for the majority of the day and couldnt do much wrong as the fish kept coming. I think there were only 2 casts where i didnt have a fish and this was when the tide stopped running so i had a couple of casts on the inside and managed to pull out another whiting. The only thing i couldnt do was catch a Codling, which was frudtrating as it felt like everyone on the pegs around me had managed to catch one. Nevertheless, i continued fishing hard and had plenty of pre baited rigs on the go. At times the fishing was so good that you would cast out, bait your rig and then reel in straight away with a fish on and continue that process all day. At the end of the day i had caught 11.5 kilo and had done ok in the section although not recorded any result of significance but i was still pleased with how i had fished and i think the same can be said for Glenn. Day 2. We were on the breakwater again and knew it wouldnt reach its heights of yesterdays exceptional catches. True to form the lower numbered pegs fished best, which meant that for us in the high pegs it was a struggle and there was a obvious difference in the winning weights of each section. I had Whiting, Pout and a Codling around 2lb, which was very similar to what Glenn had. We noticed that some of the local lads had been getting the odd codling on black lug and a long strip of squid so we addopted this tactic which paid off and i caught my Codling. Leggo had a sizeable smoothhound! Dave Pinchbeck bettered his previous days Cod by getting one of 9lb! After the close of play i had come 4th in my section with just under 7 kilo and was clear of the muppet cup which was very important. Dave Rose was in major contention for the muppet cup as he was 4 kilo behind his nearest rival. Now this wouldnt have been an issue if we were on the breakwater the next day as we were due to be in our best pegs but the weather reports were not promising and if we were on the POW pier it would be nearly impossible to catch up...the heat was on and banter flew around the pub all evening. Unfortunately i didnt get any pictures as was so focussed on fishing, plus i didnt want to get my new phone covered in lug juice! Day 3. On the final day we ended up on the Prince of Wales pier which was not great because had we been on the breakwater it was our chance to push on and try and make up some weight as we due to fish our best pegs but as we were on the POW it meant that even if you had the winning days weight you wouldnt have much impact on the standings. With this in mind me and Glenn decided to get Pollack fishing as this would possibly get us the species and pollack cups as no sizeable pollack had been landed yet. However, despite our best efforts we could only manage to catch lots of undersize Pollack. I had one which was 29cm at the end which was frustrating as they needed to be 30cm to be sizeable. There wasnt one sizeable Pollack caught during the whole 3 days. I did manage to catch a Whiting to avoid the blank though as i never like to blank.  Overall. Sam Sampson came 3rd and Vernon came 8th overall which were both very good results. Me, Sam and Leggo won the 3 man teams between the Brighton bunch, oh and i beat Glenn (not that we are competitive)! Oh and how can i forget, Rosie won the Muppet cup 2008 (pics below) which was presented in front of all the anglers at the presentation. Thanks to Howie for this great report from Deal: Me and keith went down to deal to fish for a couple of days a couple of weeks ago.we realy only fished in the dark with high water about 1 ish,at low water we had the usual whiting a cast and some dog fish to the rods baited with fish baits,some to 2lb plus.after about 2hrs into the flood i had a sharp pull/knock on the 1 up 1 down trace loaded with lug and tipped with squid cast at approx 100 yards,reeled in and lifted into a heavy weight (well heavier than the wheight of the whiting we had been catching) which preceeded to start nodding and when in shalower water started to splash around on the top of the waterand it was then i saw my first codling of this year which came in at 44cm,a good start.the fishing then reverted back to whiting and pout with the odd dog fish thrown in now and again for the next few hours and high water came and went.keith had had one rod out for 15-20 min or so with no noticable action so decided to reel in and re bait only to find a heavy weight on the end.he was expecting to be cleaning a load of weed off his trace or old carrier bag when he had finaly got it on the beach only to find it wasnt weed or a bag but a nice plump codling of 50cm his largest one to date.nice fish but no real excitement as it had played dead when reeling in,something neither of us has ever had before.after that and as the water was dropping away and the whiting were getting smaller and smaller we decided to call it a night,well a morning i suppose as it was 4am.we returned to the same spot the next night but no codling this time and not realy much else either.what a differance a day makes. last week me and zak went back down to deal again and decided to fish sandwich bay just accross the golf course by the chequers pub a mark i havent fished before but have heard realy good reports about and its only about a 5 min drive from the angling club area we normaly fish.high water was about 11pm and when we finaly found the foot path that takes you accross the golf course we arrived on the beach at about 6:30pm to find a number of head lamps along the beach right and left.this was a totaly different story to the main streach of beach along from the peir to the castle as there was no one fishing this bit of beach at all.this mark is a very steep shingle bank leading to a very flat sandy sea bed which is very shallow at low water for some distance so is really only fishable 3 hours before high water on a spring tide (should be a little more water around on a shorter tide) when we arrived the water was just starting to lap against the shingle and you could walk out (with wellies) for about 20 yards before it started to get deep.this is a place where the locals pump their own bait and causes scent which attracts the fish (according to the guy from a local tackle shop).we cast out and zak was first in with a double shot of yes you guessed it whiting and this was again to be the main source of entertainment for the first few hours as the tide built but these whiting were quite big and for some reason put up a good fight everytime which is some thing i havent found before along our streach of coast,zak was having treable shots and really enjoying himself.as the tide got to its peak the tide rip became very strong and a lot of the bites stopped we had to use uptide techniques with 60z breakaway leads modified to hold bottom better and people all along the beach were getting tangled with each other.as the tide started to ebb this rip eased off almost completely and the fish came back on the feed but this time even bigger,zak had a whiting of 38cm and i had a codling of 48cm close in on prawn which was fighting hard and made me think it was a bass at first.just more whiting and pouting after that so packed up but meeting people in the car park after we found that some big fish had been caught that night band on previous nights so if you dont mind travelling i would recomend sandwich bay and or deal.   11/11/08 - I am away fishing the dover 3 day festival match 14 - 18 Nov so will only have limited access to email and any shop orders will be posted on my return. Tight lines, Craig. This week has seen very strong windy and wet weather which has put quite a few anglers off.   Those that have braved it or managed to find a gap in the weather have managed to catch Codling, Pout, Dogfish and Whiting amongst other species.   Thanks to Kev for this cracking report: i was fishing with two rods both using 3 hook portsmouth rigs fitted with kamasan b940 size 1/0 hooks. i had sneakily managed to order some welsh blow lug from ebay to go with the usual fresh black , hoping the blow would be the killer bait.   hit both rods out as far as i could only to be swamped with whiting and big pout, nice but not what we were after. after about 1.5 hours i had the famous nod bite followed by a slack liner, reeled in to find a 2.5lb codling on the end,  a couple of casts later hit into another codling only smaller this time still sizeable though. about an hour later my mate also had a sizeable  codling of about 1.5lb  so this kept our enthusiasum up . after that it went quiet for half an hour or so not even any whiting about, then i got the mother of bites on the rod followed by the slack line, picked the rod up and felt an awsome thump on the line , started to reel in then the line went slack, i started to reel as qick as i could to take up slack then the rod locked up as the fish tried to swim back out to sea,  eventually after about 5 minutes or so got the fish ashore, what a lunker, i nice codling going 76cm long had no scales with me so i gutted fish and thought i would weigh it when i got home (weighed 5LB 6oz when gutted ). this made my night as usualy up to about 4lb is the norm for round here.  about 15 minutes later i brought another codling up about 1.5lb again.  after this it went quiet for an hour or so, so i decided to go. on reeling in i had got 2 nice whiting and a 32cm flounder on the same trace, what a great way to end a brilliant session. although initially getting soaked and blown about the wind eased somewhat and the rain stopped eventually  so we couldnt complain really.the bait worked superbly using blow lug tipped with black . i ended up with 4 codling  1 flounder  7 pout and around 40 whiting, my mate got 1 codling  10 pout and 30 whiting. this is a hot venue at present for the next few weeks before the codling move around to langley and eastbourne, well worth a visit if you can get out there. There have been a few Codling up to a couple of pound caught on lugworm and slipper limpets. Seaford has had similar results. Brighton Marina was fishing well earlier in the week with Mackerel, Garfish and Pollack but the strong winds has made the water dirtier which has pushed the fish out. Due to the rough weather the arms have been closed over the weekend but would be well worth a go when they reopen as you may be able to get some decent Eels, Whiting and possibly a Codling with best results at dusk and after dark. 03/11/08 This week has seen mixed weather again with strong winds and rain and then nice sunshine and calmer weather on sunday.   Thanks to Lloyd for this catch report:   Fished Shoreham beach behind the power station in the day . Tide was apx 11:45. Fished 2 hours up , 2 hours down   Kept busy all day with school bass, a few whiting and several not bad sized flounders.    The pick was my Dads Flounder which was 1 1/4 lb and I had a nice eel of 1.5lb.   John emailed with this report: Fished 3 nights in the week, twice at King Alfred. The first night was right behind King Alfred, with black lug and slipper. Plenty of channel whiting, but a lot of small fish, so only two keepers. Second night to the right of King Alfred, a real varied bag, but only two keepers, a sole, and a channel, but some tiny skate/rays caught, as well as Channels. Third night fished beach over from the lock gates. Very poor, but bait was stripped all the time with just one small channel caught.   My old man fished Shoreham this weekend had quite a few fish including Sole, Flounders, Whiting and a Schooly Bass.   Hove has fished well with Whiting, Pout, Eels to good size, the odd Codling, Sole and schooly bass.   There was a 10lb Bass landed at Seaford this week, which im pleased to report went back alive and well. The full report is on WSF forums.   The Marina has had the usual catches with a few Dogfish showing up. In the day there have been Mackerel and Gars with Wrasse down the side of the wall. There have been Whiting and Sole after dark.   Ben fished Newhaven East arm in the week and caught plenty of Garfish on float fished Mackerel strip baits.

 

 

Klobba All In One Weather Suit Our Price: £35.95 Fishing in the autumn and winter usually involves close contact with rain, wind and sometimes snow so what better to review than an all weather suit. AB Fishing Tackle kindly sent me the Klobba all-in-one weather suit. I have used many types of wet and weather protection gear in the past, from the skinny light wet weathers right up to the top of the range flotation and all weather suits so I was interested to see how this suit fared in the scheme of things. At £35.95 I was keen to see how it performed because as any of you who have been caught short in wet, windy and cold conditions know £35.95 is a minor cost compared to the warmth and protection it can provide which leads me nicely onto the review. Info This is an all-in-one all weather suit which is completely water and windproof. It has a heavy duty quilted lining, two handwarmer pockets and one chest pocket, a peaked hood with adjustable drawstring, a double zipped front with velcro secured storm flaps, a storm collar and extra long boot zips and velcro fastenings, and an adjustable belt strap. It comes in a dark Green and Grey finish. I'm 5ft 11ish and average build and I had the XL which fitted fine. Review I decided to test the suit at a local match fished on Brighton Marina in conditions that can best be described as fierce. It was a SW and a pretty sizeble force which made it just fishable. Those of you that have fished it know that in such conditions there is a lot of sea spray with some waves crashing up against the arm and the wind blows it right over you. I made the walk from the car and usually I would have carried my flotation suit which is quite heavy in comparison so it was nice to carry something quite light. For the size and the thickness of the suit I was impressed with how light it was. Once I started fishing I put it on and began the usual activities such as casting, crouching down to bait up etc. One of the things I was pleased with was that the suit felt very flexible and didn't restrict my movement at all, unlike some wet weather and flotation suits I have used in the past (mainly when casting). There was also a good number of pockets to put things in (usually bait elastic so i don't lose it), the only problem was remembering which pocket I had put it in! The suit itself had a nice insulating inside which kept me warm throughout the day and it also kept out the force of the chilling winds very well. As for the wet side of things, I tested it to the extreme with the waves and sea spray which would far outweigh rainfull. At times it was almost similar to chucking a bucket of water all over me and thats no exaggeration! There was only one point when I felt some dampness in the seam at the lower back but this was after a particularily large wave crashed against the arm and the dampness quickly dissapeared. I remained dry for the rest of the day. I feel it's important to point out though that I have experienced similar dampness in expensive wet weather and flotation suits as they can all only take so much so this really did perform very well. Overall I was very impressed with this items preformance and would certainly recommend it as great value for the price. The flexibility and movement while using the suit was non restrictive like other suits I have used. The suit kept me warm and dry in really wet and wild conditions, so for the price I couldn't ask for more. It has certainly given me a tough choice to make when fishing next between this and my more expensive flotation suit and if I'm in safe conditions (no risk of falling in or on a boat) then I will most likely opt for the Klobba suit due to its lightness and flexibility because in terms of keeping me dry and warm there was little or no difference and it was actually easier to fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20/10/08 This wek saw settled weather in the week and then the winds picked up over the weekend. Nevertheless there has been quite a few fish caught this week with Mackerel and Garfish coming out in good numbers.   Thank to Glenn for this report from the palace pier match, which was fished at Brighton Marina on Sunday (i also fished along side him):   Had our club match on the marina and as usual the wind picks up when we have a match making the fishing not quite so enjoyable! Started at 9.30am as the wind was picking up and the waves starting to crash over the wall. I was looking to bag up on mackerel and garfish but the water was getting murky. Fishing was slow to begin with, with only a few Shad and the odd garfish about, as time got on the waves crashed over more and the water dirtied up so i forgot about catching garfish as tried down the wall, only to produce a few undersize pout, rockling and blennies. An hour before high tide the water began to clear out and the garfish came back with a vengance and i managed to sneak out 18 in an hour and a half. I won the competition with 20 Garfish and 1 Shad for a total weight of 9lb 1oz, just beating my Dad who managed 18 Garfish, 1 mackerel, 1 pout and 1 Shad for 8lb 13oz. My good mate Craig Ide (ideyboy) was 3rd with 9 garfish and 1 Shad for 5lb 6oz which included the heaviest fish a 1lb 0.5oz Shad. Other than waiting 4 hours for the fishing to properly kick in and getting a good soaking i had a enjoyable day!   Must admit i usually like to wind glenn up but hats off the fella as he came into his own when the Gars came on. Admitedly i had to wait a little longer for the gars to make it to my peg as i was on the limits of the fishable area where the waves were crashing a bit harder. Despite this it was a good days fishing. I have some pics of the shad, although not my one, which i will add later. I would also like to advise that we released all the Shad as we practice catch and release in our matches and appreciate that they are endangered/protected although there is so many of them it makes me wonder if they are endangered as we have caught more in the past few summers than we have in the last decade. It must go someway to proving that protecting them has really worked. There were also some Mackerel showing just as we were packing up near the start of the arm. One fella also had an undersize Codling which adds to the real mix of fish.   Seaford has produced Whiting and Pout for the most part with one or two reports of small Codling but all after dark. The same can be said for Pevensey bay this week only with the addition of a few nice Sole.   12/10/08 This week has seen much more settled weather a a good range of catches. I have a bumper number of catch reports so thanks to all those that have emailed.   I will start with Brighton Marina, where there have been Mackerel and garfish through the week mainly caught on floatfished baits. There are still some Bass around but mainly shoolys. After dark there has been a few Codling, Whiting, Pout and Sole caught with best results coming from the east arm.   Thanks to Gary for this report from Brighton Marina: I was helping some novice anglers on Thursday evening on the marina west arm. We were having plenty of bites from mainly small pout and rockling. One of the guys caught a 2.25lb lobster and 2lb dover sole together on a wishbone rig. Somebody earlier in the afternoon had been catching a few bass on prawn and another had a couple of gurnard. On the middle of the bend somebody else had a large whiting together with a smaller one.   Pete fished Goring and had this report: Just to let you know that I went fishing wednesday night on the beach at Goring (my rod was kept up high so no probs with weed). I was only there for about 2 hours, but I wanted to try out my new rod and reel (AFAW four n bait and Daiwa 7ht mag). This rod is superb for casting and bite detection, plus the reel's ace as well. I used your clipped down rig with number 4 hook. It worked perfectly every time. I caught two eels, one was caught on the top hook (lug) and the other on the bottom one (lug and a small piece of squid).   My old man fished Seaford on Friday night with a few friends. They fished near the buckle and had Pout and Whiting through the night on fresh lugworm.   Thanks to Glen for this catch report from Seaford: Enjoying the website. Here's a report from Seaford Beach 100 yards west of the Buckle on 8th October. High Tide due about 6 PM so arrived about 3.30 pm with plenty of nice King Rag and Black Lug. Not really expecting much on these really small tides. The sea has calmed down since the early part of the week and the winds were slight. Not much weed either which was a relief. Fishing with 2 rods. One with two hooked clipped down paternoster and 5 oz weight. The other with a running ledger at first, later changed to 2 hook paternoster as well. I've never done well at this spot during the day but it's usually productive at night and today was no exception. Absolutely nothing in the way of bites up untill 5.30. A guy fishing about 50 yards futher east wandered up and said he'd been there since 1 o'clock with no bites either. Then the sun set and it was all change. In the next half hour I had a couple of whiting with lots of missed bites. Cured that by shortening the amount of bait hanging below the hook and started catching more whiting and a couple of small plaice. Finally had to give up as complete darkness descended and me with no illumination. but a very pleasant last hour.   Hove has fished well with repots of lots of Whiting, some eels and Pout. No doubt there will be some Codling to be had but by all accounts its a case of working your way through the whiting first.   Pevensey Bay has fished very similar to all the marks above. I would personally say that with this more settled weather it is probably one of the better marks to try if your looking at getting a Codling this week.Jay fished Pevensey this weekend and between him and his mate Rye they had a decent catch which included loads of Whiting, Pout and this nice Sole for Jay.     My old man fished with HDSA today and amongst their catches included Bream, Dogfish, Gurnards and quite a few Plaice (pics below of the ones that were kept).    Harry with a nice Plaice   Chris with another nice Plaice 06/10/08 This week has had mixed weather with calmer weather at the start and then turning to almost gale force by the weekend. With the rough weather there has been some good catches including Bass, Codling and Pout at Seaford.   I fished a Palace pier match (05/10/08) which was due to be on the marina but because of the weather it was closed and therefore a rover. I decided to brave the elements and fish Newhaven East arm as it usually does well when many places are unfishable as long as you dont mind being exposed to the elements. The day started slowly with not much action for me, Skizz however had 3 sizeable before i got mine. The wind and rain was thundering down and you could lean back in the wind and not fall over. I was trying short and far as well as different baits but it took 2 hrs to catch my first fish. I cast straight out from the end and let the tide/waves move my bait around which seemed to work as i got a schooly and some sizeable eels. As the tide got up the wind moved from S to SW or W which meant i could cast to my favorite area with the wind behind me (which i think is a gully about 90ish yards out towards the end facing seaford). I couldnt get to it before as the wind was just stopping my baits short or sending them inshore. I was using 2 and 3 hook clipped down rigs (size 2 hooks) and a selection of Black Lug, King, a bit of Mack and Squid and a few Peelers. This resulted in a double shot of Whiting followed by a couple of eels and a Codling around 1 1/2lb. Not a bad session in the day time. I wanted to stay on as the fishing seemed to be picking up but the comp ended and off to the weigh in i went. Skizz came 1st with some good fish and i came 2nd so was happy with that.   There has also been Codling at Pevensey along with some Sole, Pout, Flounders and Bass.   I will be adding more reports shortly. 29/09/08 This week has seen much calmer weather and some excellent catches. Im itching to get out myself as Sept/Oct are some of the most productive months of the year as the summer species are usually around in the day and the winter species tend to come in after dark.   Thanks to Derek for this report from Langley:   Tought i would dust my rods down and give my reels an oil , and start my Autumn Fishing, Decided to Fish at Langney Point (Eastbourne) on Thursday evening 25th Sep, Arrived at Beach at 6pm , Light easterly Breeze ,sea still had quite a swell. High tide was at 9.15 pm  , I had some old stale lug out of the freezer , and also some fresh frozen Lug, Baited up two rods  and cast out , not a tickle until 8pm ,when the rod shuddered and in came a nice dover sole about a pound . Fished on until 10pm ,but nothing else , Bait always coming in untouched .  Mind you i allways hate fishing when the winds in the east . Anyway a very enjoyable session  ,if not that hectic ,nice to wet those lines again   Staying in that area there have been a few Codling landed this week at Pevensey Bay on lug worm. There has also been the usual Whiting and pout after dark with the occassional Sole.   Seaford has produced Mackerel and Gars in the day with Sole, Pout and Codling after dark.   There was a 10lb Bass landed at Tidemills this week caught on Mackerel fished bait on a ledger rig, Pictures are on the WSF forums.   Brighton marina has been fishing well this week with Mackerel, Garfish, Bream and Pollack being caught in the day. There has again been some John Dory's caught on the arms. After dark there have been Whiting, Pout, Sole and a few Codling.   My old man fished with Hove Deep sea Anglers on Sunday and there was a mix of catches. They fished within 3 miles of shore and catches ranged from Pout, Plaice, Bream and Dogfish to some good sized Codling approaching the 8lb mark.   23/09/08 This week has a mix of catches from the usual summer species like Garfish to the winters ones like Codling. Brighton Marina has fished well this week with whiting and codling being caught when the water was a bit dirtier and after dark. Towards the end of the week when the water cleared the gars and mackerel returned with Gars to good size being landed. There have also been a few bass up to the 7lb mark on Mackerel baits. There has been a couple of unusual catches this week with a Trigger fish of a few pound and also a John Dory which is an even rarer catch off the marina. Both were caught over the weekend. John fished Shoreham west arm on Sunday and managed to get a few good sized Gars and a couple of Mackerel. There has been a few Codling caught at Seaford and Pevensey after dark so it may be the week to give it a bash, although i would maybe consider waiting for some rougher weather. There have also been quite a few Pout and Whiting caught at both locations as well as the odd Sole. Thanks to Ian for this great catch report from Tidemills: Report for Wednesday 17th Sept 08.   Forecast for the area changed its mind several times but eventually settled on a calmish day. Winds were mostly Easterly and light 10mph coming in at 20mph later. Patchy cloud started the day off and with the Easterly wind kept the clouds slightly inland. Visibility was good. Because of the light winds early on the sea remained calm and clear. Tides were biggish Springs 0.5 to 6.7, highest of the week. High tide was 12.59hrs.   I arrived at 10.00hrs, parking at Tidemills just before the railway in the little lane where all the dog walkers park. It's a short 10min walk then to the East Arm or even shorter to the beach. I use a trolley which pulls fairly easily over the concrete which has been left by the Seaplane hanger, not sure what it will be like in Winter.    Started fishing the river on the arm just at the entrance by the steps using Sand Eel on one rod on a sliding trace with a piece of cork to keep it away from the crabs. On the other I used Lug and Mackerel fillet on a two hook flapper. I had lots of very small knocks on the Lug but hooked nothing, probably very small Pout or Wrasse. Towards high tide still with nothing I looked along the beach to sea the water boiling, so moved all the gear and lobbed in, 10yds, a Sand Eel and Mackerel strip on the other. I put on a set of feathers with a dexter wedge for weight, but still nothing even though the water was boiling with fish. Took off the feathers and clipped on the old small prawn/baitfish feathers with the dexter and WAM, they liked that. If it came too close to the shore with a slow retrieve I was literally plagued with tiny Bass, not much bigger than small river Perch. I would say I caught about 20 in all. I figured there must be bigger ones around but nothing showed not even on plugs.    Haul for the day was 4 Mackerel, 1 Garfish and about 20 Bass. The Mackerel and Gars were keepable but obviously the Bass were returned unharmed. I think had I been a better fisherman I would have caught some big Bass that day and if I had spotted the feeding frenzy earlier would have come home with bucket loads. Other anglers were using Prawns to catch the odd Mackerel and Garfish and there was even a Fly Fisherman, something that I am passionate about, but freshwater only at the moment.  He also has a few pics which i will upload at a later stage. Me and Glenn fished a palace and deal pier match in Deal at the weekend. There were plenty of fish about (i reckon i caught 50 undersize fish before i got a sizeable one) but very few were sizeable. Me and Glenn both came in respectable positions with Glenn coming 1st in the palace pier match and 5th in the Deal one and i came 5th and 7th respectively. We both fished similar tactics and were fishing near the end of the pier. We begun with bottom fishing and after i was plagued with missed bites i reduced my hook size to size 4 which produced a number of catches but mainly undersize. we stuck with this method until the tide got higher where we changed to long 8-10 ft boom rigs and we both managed to hook a few Mackerel on rag and mackerel strip baits which flowd in the tide. All in all a really good day and while the big fish werent biting we still managed to scratch out some fish for a respectable finish. Glenns younger brother Ben won the Deal match as well which was fished by approx 35 anglers so a big well done to him. 16/09/08 This week has seen much more settled weather which is a pleasant change. Because the weather has just settled it means that catches have been mixed due to the water clearing. Brighton Marina has seen a few Mackerel and Garfish. There have been quite a few whiting and pout along with a few Sole and Thornbacks mainly on worm baits. If the weather remains settled the Mackerel and gars will return shortly. Thanks to Simon for this report from Seaford: Fished Seaford Sunday night, very calm with light North Easterly wind but nice big tide (6.3m). Whiting were in abundance but mostly undersize, 1 small bream, a very samll bass and a 2.5lb Bass on large mackerel fillet 30 mins after High tide. Also spoke to an angler who had caught plenty of whiting and a couple of good size soles. My old man fished with HDSA about 2 miles off shore where there were a few good Rays caught, plenty of whiting and the odd codling. I fished Dungeness this week with Glenn on Wednesday. Conditions were lovely but a little too bright. We decided to fish there as there had been a few Codling caught earlier in the week during daylight and dark. Despite our efforts we couldnt catch a Codling. It seemed that the water was bubbling with whiting and regardless of hook or bait size they still took the baits. i lost count of the times i reeled in two whiting on my 3/0 pennel rig. There were also some Dabs and Doggies which managed to take the baits before the Whiting. There was one Codling caught by an angler that turned up and fished just where i had been fishing after i left while Glenn stayed on. Glenn was not a happy bunny. 08/09/08 As you may or may not be aware i have been on holiday for the past couple of weeks and not been able to fish or get many reports. I do know, however, that the weather hasnt been great and places like the Brighton Marina have been shut for the most part due to the winds. Thanks to Jack for this report from 29th Aug: Fished the east arm a couple of days before this session and only had small pollock, makerel and small gars. Me and my uncle then fished peg 40-42 east arm on wed 28th. HT 21.30. good session. we used Rag, Lug, squid, mackerel and live prawns. we started fishing at about 4pm. started off slow, then an hour in we both started getting bites which were rays on rag and squid. then my uncle had 2 schoolie bass in the space of 10 minutes about 10 yards out on lug and squid. more rays then loads of makerel and a gar on mackerel strip. i then had my first wrasse on rag. then 2 good sized pollock on live prawn just before dark. then my first black bream on rag or lug. loads more pout, more rays which were getting smaller lol. as soon as high tide came it went quiet except for pout. Pevensey Bay has produced a few Codling, Sole, Pout and Whiting with best results being to fresh lug on an evening. As ever, i will have more reports again from next week once i can get my ear to the ground and wet a line myself. Although its not Sussex, i know that many of you begin to make the autumn/winter sessions at dungeness so i have a report from yesterday that there are quite a few Codling, Dogfish, Pout and Whiting being caught as it seems the strong winds have stirred the bottom up and got them on the feed. 24/08/08 I am on holiday for two weeks so wont be able to update the site. I will return on 6th September and will update the site then. Any emails or purchases will be answered/despatched on my return.

18/08/08

This week has seen patches of good weather but for the most part it has been windy with strong rain.

Glenn fished the palace pier match on sunday 17th and here is his report which included a club record catch:

Had our Palace Pier comp on the marina today, water was dirty but calmish so it looked good for some eels and pout. For bait i had peeler crabs, red rag, king rag, live prawns, mackerel and some manky old frozen black from 1994 or so it smelt like
I decided to fish peg 15 which is a favourite of mine when the water is dirty, spent the first couple of hours whacking out a 3 hook flapper as far as i could hoping for a big snotty. Kept getting lots of rattles which turned out to be small pout, in amongst them i caught 2 sizable pout, a small plaice, smoothound pup and schoolie bass.
On the high tide i decided to try my luck down the side on french booms loaded with red rag and prawns, kept just off the bottom to escape the blennies. Perservered for about 45 mins but all i caught was 2 undersize wrasse and a schoolie. After seeing a mackerel caught on feathers i put my slider out more in hope than anything but within 2 mins there was a garfish jumping out of the water.
At the end i weighed in 5 garfish, 1 mackerel and 2 pout and finished 4th overall with 3lb 4oz, i didnt make the prize money but i did beat my Dad and Sam in our own side bet so i still made a few quid.

Roger won the comp with 5lb 13oz and had the heaviest fish (1lb 11oz wrasse) One of our Junior anglers Richard came 2nd with 5lb 6oz. Although Sam finished down the field he did manage to catch a 8.25oz Topknot on live prawn which is a club record and i have a good picture which will be put up shortly!

Pevensey and Seaford have produced Sole, Schooly Bass and Pout after dark mainly on worm baits.

Worthing Pier has fished ok with a few Wrasse and eels. There was also a Codling caught around 1 1/2lb.Shoreham beach has also had reports of a Codling along with Flounders Eels and Sole. Besides this there have not too many reports from elsewhere as i think the weather put a lot of people off.

This weeks competition winners were Lhutchinson and Greg Penfold who will both receive 2 sets of Tronix Feathers and a Tronix popper lure as part of the launch of our new competitions page.

 

If you have fished any of these marks and have a report then please let me know. Im also looking to add information about Eastbourne and Worthing as these are areas that i dont get huge amounts of info on so if you fish them then please drop me an email.

11/0/08

This week has seen patches of settled weather amongst rougher more autumn like conditions. As such this has resulted in a mix bag of catches.

John Nicolas fished Newhaven East arm on Friday and caught a range of fish including Bream, Mackerel, Garfish and a Mullet. He had the Gars and Mackerel on float fished Mackerel strip and the Bream were landed on a range of baits fished on the Bottom. He then turned his attentions to Mullet and after getting them feeding on bread he managed to land a Mullet of 3lb 8oz using 10lb flurocarbon and size 8 hooks. Mick also had a mullet of 4 and half pound in the same session (pics below).

John with his Mullet

Mick and his Mullet

Brighton Marina has fished well this week with a range of catches including a few decent Shad showing up when the arms have been open. There has been large numbers of Mackerel and Gars at depth with quite a few Scooly Bass. There are still plenty of small bream with the ocassional bigger one also being landed. Pollack and wrasse have been caught down the walls on a range of baits with live prawn being deadly. There is still the odd hound showing up and a few good sole starting to be caught after dark.

Seaford has fished ok but not huge numbers of reports coming out of there. There will be plenty of pout after dark and some Sole to good size on worm baits. There has been small thornbacks caught as well as the odd bream. If the weather calms down you can expect shoals of Mackerel and maybe some Bass on this weeks evening tide. Pevensey bay has fished very similar to Seaford by all accounts.

I will try an fit a session in one eve this week so if anyone is going then drop me a line and i may join you.  

This week we are giving away a Tronix Bass suface popper and 2 sets of Tronix Feathers as part of the launch of our new competitions page.

If you wish to enter the competition you can do so by visiting the Tackle Giveaway page.

If you have fished any of these marks and have a report then please let me know. Im also looking to add information about Eastbourne and Worthing as these are areas that i dont get huge amounts of info on so if you fish them then please drop me an email.

04/08/08

This week has been a week of two halfs as such, in terms of the weather. The start was sunny and calm with windy conditions towards the end of the week that stirred the sea up.

I fished Brighton Marina East arm on Wednesday eve and i took my mate Andy along for his first real fishing session. Target was Mackerel and Gars while float fishing as its always a fun and entertaining way to catch fish. Given the calm conditions at the time i was optimistic of him bagging his first few fish. We set up and started fishing. While walking up the arm and setting up we hadnt seen anyone catch which was a bit concerning but it was still low tide. Andy had his first few casts and quickly picked things up. He was using a 1 hook float rig to avoid tangles and i was using a 2 hook version. I managed to catch a Mackerel straight away and then Andy's float dissapeared and he was also into one, which he lost on the way in. Things were slow for a while and then after changing tactics (fishing deeper 12-16ft and close to the wall) we kept hitting fish. We both had Mackerel and Gars. I ended up with about 10 and Andy was well chuffed with his 4. We didnt see much action elsewhere on the arm and this may have been due to the feather fisherman overcasting the fish due to them being so close in. We did see a smoothy pup and a baby thornback landed on worm baits but besides that it was about it. All in all a pleasurable session and good weather.

Glenn also fished the Marina but on Sunday in a Palace Pier match which was also fished on the East arm but in windy and wet conditions. Here is his match report:

Extremely rough and windy on the marina.

Top weight in our match was 7lb 7oz (Roy Arnold), which was a 4lb 14oz Mullet, a 2lb 1oz Bass and 8oz Wrasse. Second was 3lb 14oz which was 4 wrasse.

Species caught between the 12 of us...
Mullet, Bass, Pout, Wrasse, Smoothound, Blenny, Eel, Pollack, Thornback Ray and a sizable codling! 

Shoreham arm has fished very similar to Brighton Marina this week. My friend Charly fished off his Kayak at the hotpipe (shoreham) on Tuesday night and managed to catch Mackerel, small Bass and a few Mullet while fishing just passed the hotpipe outlet.  

Pevensey bay has fished ok this week with reports of some nice Dover Sole showing at dusk/dark. There have also been some good sized Pout and a few Schooly Bass, eels and bream about. In the day things have slowed down a little.

If you have fished any of these marks and have a report then please let me know. Im also looking to add information about Eastbourne and Worthing as these are areas that i dont get huge amounts of info on so if you fish them then please drop me an email.

28/07/08

This week has seen lovely weather and this has meant that many of the summer species are about in full force. Newhaven East arm has seen lots of Garfish and Mackerel being caught with plenty of action and fish on the surface. There have been a few Bass about but nothing of huge size yet. There are mullet to 4lb being caught on bread and mackerel flesh near the arm and Golden Grey Mullet are being caught around tidemills on reds and long flowing rigs. After dark there are some Sole showing at both marks and with the tides this week being around the evening i would say that there should be a few Bass caught. Seaford has been producing good numbers of Mackerel and Gars on spinners at dusk/dawn. After dark there are Pout and Sole being caught.

Brighton Marina has been producing large numbers of Mackerel and Gars, as you would expect. Wrasse and pout are being caught down the side of the wall on all sorts of baits and there are still bream being caught on worm and fish baits about 20 yards out but reports suggest that they are often smaller ones. There are some Bass about but again nothing of notable size. There are some good Mullet being caught to bread. Pollack are being caught down the side of the wall and over the rocks on the east arm to prawn. There are still Smoothhounds showing after dark to crab baits and there are also some more Sole starting to show. Thanks to Neil for this report from Brighton Marina: I fished Brighton Marina on Wednesday 23^rd July, peg 54 East Breakwater from 10.00 – 17:00. Fished 2 hook flapper with ragworn about 20 yards out and floated sandeel. A lot of bites from small Black Bream on the ragworm, with one, mercifully being sizeable. Had one garfish on the sandeel, and missed a number of bites – these though were more like a gentle pull on the float, rather than aggressive takes. After high water everything slackened off. Tried plugging later on, and on a number of occasions saw gars (or at least I think they were) following the plug but failing to show suitable appetite to strike it. No mackerel about. Blennies and small wrasse down the size, and one baby smoothound to a generous 3 peeler crab combination were caught by a few other anglers close to peg 54.

Pevensey Bay is best fished after dark with the odd Smoothy still showing and some decent sole on lugworm. The River Ouse is producing some decent numbers of Mullet around 3lb. Roy and Ben had 13 in one session this past week with best results coming to red rag fishes on a mepps spinner and bubble float. There are still the odd Schoolys and Flounders being caught up there but not the volumes we have been used to in previous years.

Shoreham has been producing very similar results to the Marina and with regard to the Mackerel, Gars and Bass, i think that you have an excellent chance of catching them along most stretches of our coast when the weather stays like this.

If you have fished any of these marks and have a report then please let me know. Im also looking to add information about Eastbourne and Worthing as these are areas that i dont get huge amounts of info on so if you fish them then please drop me an email.

21/07/08

This week has seen better weather with windy spells. There have been plenty of Mackerel on Brighton marina with huge shoals swimming on the surface. Scad are showing up at dusk. The odd gar is being caught on Float gear although numbers are less than usually expected. Roy Arnold managed a few nice Mullet just over 4lb on the east arm to bread baits. There are still hounds showing after dark with the odd one being caught up to double figures. Plenty of Pout and Wrasse down the side of the wall on worm baits. There have been a few Thornbacks caught but only small ones from both arms. Quite oddly there has been Whiting caught at night with reports of one around 3lb and one of 2lb.

Newhaven East arm has been producing lots of Mackerel in the day with large shoals on both sides of the arm. There has been Mullet up to 4lb on the arm. A few Hounds have been caught up to 5lb on the arm after dark on crab baits. There is also the odd nice sole showing. Seaford has fished very similar to Newhaven with best catches at dusk.

Pevensey bay has fished well with Sole to decent size and some good hounds still showing. There have also been whiting caught after dark.

Thanks for Ben for this email: fish area between north harbour eastbourne and pevensey. good place and fishing okay at the moment. been getting gurnard, flounder, eels, black bream and smoothound after dark on peeler. few mackerel about but not as many for this time of year. fish seem to love slightly stale black lug. best time for sure is 2 hrs before high tide and 2 hours after. not had a single bass schooly or otherwise. anyway top site glad to see it!  

I fished Dover Breakwater this weekend with Glenn and we had plenty of fish which included Mackerel, Scad, Shad, Bass, Dogfish and Pout. There were also some Hounds caught with the odd one reaching 4lb. At times there was huge shoals of Scad and Mackerel breaking the surface on the inside and the outside of the arm. I managed a Bass of just over 2lb which gave a really good account of itself in the strong tide. Glenn had a hound and his dad managed a nice Mullet. There was also a Codling caught down the side of the wall.

14/07/08

The past week has seen a mix of wind and rain which ended up with it turning out to be a nice weekend. I will start with SHoreham arms which have seen improved catches this past week with a few hounds to ok size after dark on peeler crab. There has been the usual mackerel and Gars in daylight/dusk with some Bream, Plaice and Schooly Bass as well as the odd Mullet.

Brighton Marina has fished well with Mackerel and gars in daylight. There have been a few schooly bass on a range of baits and the usual wrasse down the wall on ragworm or crab. Pollack have been caught over the rocks on lures and float fished prwan. There have been a few Smoothhounds after dark on peeler crab but i have been told that with the strong winds, sea weed has been a problem meaning that baits are getting covered before the fish find them. Im sure that if the settled weather stays it should ease off and the fishing improve.

My old man fished with Hove Deep Sea Anglers and they fished around 4 miles out and they managed to catch some Hounds up to 7lb, a few Tope to average size and a few Bass. There were also soime Bream up to 1lb landed on fish and squid strips. They were fishing a mark just out from Shoreham harbour.

Pevensey Bay has been producing some nice sole and smoothhounds. There were some landed to near double figures over the weekend but most around the 4-5lb mark.

Newhaven East arm has produced Mackerel, Pollack, and Gars with the odd Schooly. There have also been a few Sole landed there after dark.

Nothing to report from Seaford but i would expect there to be quite a few Pout and the chance of a decent Sole after dark.

Sorry its a bit brief this week but not huge amounts to reportv as i have been away and havent had many catch reports. If you go fishing then let me know how it goes regardless of whether you catch or not.

07/07/08

This week has seen stronger winds from the W and SW. This has lead to rougher seas in places and has meant that there have been a few Bass about at Hove, Seaford and probably a few other stretches of beach. There was the Paddle round the Pier match on Saturday night. It was held in rough conditions but by all accounts this didnt deter the fisherman or the fish. Species caught included Smoothhound to good sizes, Eel, Dover Sole, Thornback, Plaice, Bass, Bream, Whiting, Pout and Mackerel. Besides this the Marina has actually fished pretty well besides the poor weather with some good Mullet being caught on bread, plenty of Mackerel on the west arm up until friday. There have been a few Horse mackerel landed on feathers and lures and plenty of small bream on fish and worm baits. There have been hounds up to 7lb caught after dark on peeler crab.

Newhaven has fished ok with Eels, Bass and the odd Sole over the weekend. I popped along to fish with Glenn who was fishing a Palace Pier match at the Hope Inn (Newhaven) as Brighton Marina was closed. The wind and rain came down hard all day and despite having fresh Peeler, rag and Lug we both Blanked along with the 10 other anglers along there. I have no idea why there were no fish there as it usually produces when its rough but it may not have been rough enough for long enough to bring the fish in (well thats my excuse). We did meet some friendly guys and gals from the Sussex Sea Fisheries who gave a very informative chat with us and gave me some useful info which i will add to the site shortly to help educate fellow anglers and viewers to the site. I will also be adding their link should anyone wish to view their site. As for the match, we decided it could be fished all over Newhaven but me and glenn chose the wrong spot as the winning weights were all from Newhaven East Arm and were:

1st: Sam S, 3lb 10oz (3 Eels and a 1lb 12oz Bass)

2nd: Richard, 3 Eels

3rd: Roy A, 1 Sole, 1 Eel

I would like to add that i wasnt in the match and purely went along to wet a line and keep glenn company so it doesnt count as an official blank lol (worth a try)!

There have been Pout after dark and the occassional Sole at Seaford. Similar reports to Pevensey bay but for the addition of Smoothhounds.

With similar weather forecast for this week i would expect some good Bass to be landed for those who brave it. Also some good Eels and Hounds may also be caught with best chances being after dark. One thing i would say though is be safe and always fish with at least one other person. 

I will be away between fri 11th and sun 13th camping (praying weather calms down) so have no access to emails. If you have any questions or purchase anything from the shop then please be patient and I will reply upon my return.

This week has seen strong winds matched with sunshine which has made for rough seas and not ideal conditions, however, while there may not have been as many Mackerel caught, there hase been some good Bass about.

Rob (fishyrob) had a bass of 6lb 9oz on Brighton Marina East arm earlier in the week caught on squid. There are also reports that some better sized smoothhounds have begun to turn up with most being around 4lb but reportedly a double figure fish was landed on crab bait on the east arm. There were Makerel and Gars earlier in the week but with the rougher seas the numbers have dropped.

Nick T fished the marina in the week and had this report:

Hove beaches have produced the odd Schooly Bass and pout along with a few hound pups and the occassional hound up to 4lb after dark. 

Seaford has produced Pout after dark as well as the odd Sole. Pevensey Bay has fished Similar to Seaford although there are some hounds to 6lb being caught and a few Schooly Bass on a variety of baits.

Not much else to report this week but if you have any peeler crab then i would save it for the evening tides later in the week and you may grab yourself a hound. Also please email me if your interested in fishing the Paddle round the pier comp on Saturday. It will be a great event and all skill levels welcome.

23/06/08

This week has been a week of mixed weather, great sunny conditions at the start and then windy but sunny conditions over the weekend. I started the week with a session on Brighton marina east arm with 5 of the guys from the WSF forums. I arrived at 7 and there were plenty of Mackerel about so i got a few for bait and a live joey as a bass bait although nothing happened on my bass rod for the whole eve. As it began to get dark a few of the lads cam up and fished the same area around peg 21 ish in persuit of hounds.

I was using a pulley rig with size 3/0 hook and peeler crab cast about 70 yards. First off i had a pout that could have only been as big as the hook itself! Then I had a little hound pup. A few hounds were landed in quick succession around 10ish and at this point I had a nice slack liner which was a hound between 3-4lb. I continued to catch the odd pout and hound pup and then thought i had a small hound pup bite when it actually turned out to be an eel just over 1lb that decided to really give it some.

With this in mind and the rougher weather I fished a match with the palace pier on Brighton marina east arm on Sunday 22nd. It was very rough with water shooting up as it does and soaking the walkers by and the anglers.

It looked prime for a good session and as i had plenty of crab i was optimistic of catches. However, i was wrong and it was a struggle. I was casting out my bait on a regular basis and bringingback in the same condition. There were hardly any fish caught and only put it down to the fact that it was the first real windy day we have had and had it been windy and dirty for the past few days it would have fished better. I stuck to my guns of casting out a juicy pealer and was rewarded with an eel of 1lb 2oz. I caught it casting about 70 yards with a pulley rig and 1/0 hook on peg 18 if anyone is interested. Richard who also had fish (below) was fishing peg 16.

Richard won with 2lb something made up of an eel 1lb 6oz and a pout and small eel i think. I came 2nd with my eel. Glenn and John battled it out in mid table with 6oz and 5oz 1/2 with Rockling and pout respectively, although glenn is clerk of the scales so i think there should be a stewards enquiry lol. There was also a small thorny caught and a sole by pleasure anglers on worm bait. I met a few guys from London who had made the trip down to the Marina and despite the weather and the 4 or 5 soakings they got by waves they kept in good spirit and were rewarded with a sole for their efforts. All in all a slow day but a good day and good company.

Pevesey bay has fished well with some smoothhounds up to 5lb after dark caught on crab and there some pout and the odd Sole being caught.  

Seaford produced mackerel and gars in the day with the odd Bass also being caught. After dark it is similar to Pevensey bay minus the hounds. Hove has also fished similar to Seaford and Pev with a few hounds to 5lb being caught.

This week has again seen improved numbers and quality of catches which may be due to the more settled weather. Brighton Marina has been producing Mackerel and Gars on Feathers and float fished baits. Live prawn has been catching Pollack and the odd Bass. Mullet up to 6lb have been taken on bread and there are reports of hounds up to 5lb showing after dark. There has also been a few Wrasse down the side of the wall tempted by ragworm baits.

There has been shoals of mackerel along brighton and hove beaches. Worthing has also seen similar results.

There have been some good Pout and the odd Hound landed at Pevensey bay this week as well.

I fished an inshore boat match with Hove Deep Sea Anglers on sunday 15th and had a very enjoyable day. We fished around 4 miles out from Shoreham harbour over some mixed to clean ground. We started off by getting Mackerel for bait about 2 miles out I found the Mackerel were very deep only one turn off the bottom. Once we had enough bait we moved onto our mark and the target species was Bream. In the club there is a target species of the month and also quotas on the number of each fish you can keep and weigh as well as some species that are off limits (unedible ones).

Anyway, the action begun slowly and i had a few taps and landed my first dog. The action continued in fits and starts and through the course of the day i managed to catch Smoothhounds, Doggies, Bream, Mackerel and a Thornback, however, I weighed in 5 Bream, 2 Hounds and 2 Dogs, as per the quota system, which landed me 4th place with 15lb 2oz. Amongst the other catches were 2 Undulated Rays just over 14lb(pics below) and a few Bass up to 4lb (pic below). There was also a 2lb 4 oz Bream. It was a good days fishing with a number of good fish landed and overall i was pleased with 4th from about 20ppl as im still new to all this boat fishing but really enjoying it.

Seaford is fishing ok with Mackerel showing as well as Gars and the odd Bass. Thanks to Sam for this report from Sunday: Hi Craig i went fishing today and caught 2 mackerel. There weren't many people down there but i did see about 8 fish being caught. It was a bit cold and not very sunny when we were there. There is one funny thing that happened and that is that there was a small plank of wood floating close to the shore and my dad said look at it and there was a garfish jumping over it. The garfish did this about 5 times and then i cast out with a spinner at it and it swam off. I caught the first mackerel with my new spinner and it was my first fish with that rod and the other mackerel was caught on feathers. After dark there have been quite a few Pout landed on worm baits.

PADDLE ROUND THE PIER - MATCH - SAT 5th JULY

BOOK IN AT 4.15pm
PRIZE DRAW AT 5.00
FISHING FROM 6-12.30
2 RODS 4 HOOKS
WALK OFF RULES APPLY

This week has seen much better catches. There have been plenty of Mackerel and Garfish at Newhaven East arm as well as the odd Mullet. I fished Newhaven on saturday afternoon and the water was pretty much bubbling with shoals of them at times.

Charly Gill fished Newhaven this week and had a few productive sessions by catching a 5lb 5oz Bass (pic below) on a mackerel fillet along with a Mullet and Pollack.

Charly Gills 5lb 5oz Bass

Simon Pickles fished near Seaford and had 4 bass between 4lb and 9lb over two sessions using squid fished at close range. There seems to be quite a few bass about at the momment and it may be to do with the bigger tides last week and the increase in Mackerel. Roy had one at Pevensey around the 2lb mark as well.

Brighton Marina has been fishing well at times with the Mackerel showing in numbers and a few gars as well. There havent been many wrasse down the wall but the odd one came up. Sam Sampson had one around 1lb 4oz in a Palace Pier match on sunday. There have been a few pout after dark and i expect that the Smoothhounds will make an appearance soon whjen the Spider crabs come in.

I fished Pagham on saturday night for a few hours and unfotunately i missed a good slack line bite and ended up with a blank but Jay had a couple of Smoothhounds and the biggest being 6lb (pic below). I had to leave just before high tide which i hate doing as i always think the fish may come on the feed but it was 2.30 and i had to be on the boat a few hours later. There was also a 65lb Stingray landed at Pagham this week which was a monster. Pictures are on the WSF forums.

Jays 6lb hound

After my poor eve at Pagham i went out and fished a match with Hove Deep Sea Angling club. We fish relatively close to shore and are usually within 4 miles of the coast. Anyway, after my blank I managed to redeem myself. We started at 2 miles to get some fresh Mackerel as bait. After enough had been collected we headed out to 4 miles and i dropped one rod over the side with crab for a hound and another with two strips of Mackerel for Bream. Within minutes the bream rod was tapping and i landed an undersize bream, as i was unhooking it my other rod doubled and i had a good fight with a hound of 4lb 5oz which thought it was a 15lber.The day progressed an within the first hour or so i had reached my quota for hounds and Dogfish (only allowed to weigh 2 of each species) although i continued to catch quite a few of each species and lost count of the dogfish i landed. They were all caught on a simple running ledger and a 3/0 hook baited with crab or Mackerel. I did try for a Ray as a few were caught but the doggies kept taking the baits. I then targetted Bream and managed to get the 5 fish i needed using a 2 hook ledger with size 4 hooks and Macky strips. Pete who I was fishing with was also having similar results. I also had a tope take my live mackerel, I got it to the surface ad it shook its head, ripped the bait in half and left a toothe marked half a joey (pic below).

Craig Ide with 1lb 8oz Plaice and 4lb 5oz Smoothhound

We then came inshore to about 2 miles and I also managed to get a Plaice of 1lb 8oz while drifting and a Gurnard as well. All in all i had wicked time and ended up coming 3rd with just over 17lb. Kevin Messer had a lovely Bass of 12lb 2oz (pic below) and came second with a total of 19lb and Clive came 1st with 22lb including a ray of around 14lb (pic below).

Clives 14lb Ray

Kevins 12lb 2oz Bass

There have been shoals of Mackerel along most beaches this week. Providing the weather stays the same this week we can expect more of the same with hopefully the addition of hounds off Brighton.

02/06/08

This week has seen pretty good weather and a steady increase in catches. The weekend, however did see some very unsettled weather with strong winds and rain on saturday and monday. All in all a fairly productive week with reports of fish being caught across the county but still not quite in the volumes that most would expect. Most anglers are of the opinion that everything is a few weeks behind last years catches.

Brighton Marina has fished fairly well with quite a few Gars and few scatered Mackerel shoals in the daytime with best results being at dusk on either float fished baits or feathers. There have also been a few Bream to fairly good sizes caught. There is the usual Wrasse down the walls on worm baits. There are still a few Squid about on squid jigs and a few Pollack have been caught on live prawn. After dark it is mainly pout but i expect the Smoothhounds to be about in a few weeks time. John fished the palace pier match on sunday and had garfish, bream and a wrasse on the west arm. Sam Sampson also had a Bass of around 2lb.

Pevensey bay has fished better after dark then in the day with reports of mainly pout and schooly bass, although there were reports that a small smoothy caught and also another report that a couple were caught at Eastbourne so it looks like it wont be too long til they are here.

Seaford and Newhaven have produced Gars and Mackerel in the day and mainly Pout after dark. Ed Bettison had a Sea trout and so did another angler while spinning off Brighton beach in the week, he was fishing for Mackerel and Bass when the fish took his lure. He unhooked it and returned it safely as they are a protected species and should not be kept.

I fished Pagham which is known for its good sized hounds and after hearing a few positive reports i planned to give it a go on Saturday night. I fished from 9pm til 3am and the conditions were horrible with a strong Easterly and relentless rain. I fished crab baits at all ranges and ended up with 2 schooly bass and a small Smoothhound so a little dissapointing really as i had heard there were a few about but i think the bad conditions played a part as there were about 15 anglers along the stretch of beach i fished and i dont think one decent hound was caught, a bit frustrating but thats fishing and there is always next time.

Important news: Brighton marina west arm has now been reopened for angling.

 19/05/08

This week has seen much better weather with the exception on Saturday morning. This has meant that the fishing has begun to pick up a little. The sea is very clear at the momment for any of you that are interested.

Me, glenn (arnoldteamssf), john (uglyjohnny) and glenns bro fished Brighton marina east arm yesterday between 9am and 1pm. we fished around peg 20-25 and each used 2 rods. One with float fished baits and the other down the wall for wrasse and pout. I also changed tactics and stuck a rod out with peeler crab on at times. We arrived and were set up by 9am and fortunately we had just missed the worst of the rain.

Most of us were using a 2 hook float rig at depths between 10 and 18ft to find the fish. The water was gin clear and even at ht you could see the bottom so we knew that bites may be more tentative on all rods. Glenn started the action with a nice gar on his first cast. Ben also had one shortly after and then i followed up witha double shot of gars on my second cast so a pretty good start and it was all of our first gars of the year. The garfish bites were pretty typical with the float wobbling around, moving against the tide and ocassionaly bobbing under.

We had a few more gars and then tried our luck at down the side fishing. Ben lost a squid on his squid jig but made up for it with a couple of nice wrasse just over the 1lb mark. me and glenn also had a couple of nice wrasse and a blenny or two. John was still blanking and was taking a ribbing but then he pulled his finger out and caught 3 gars in quick succession. Ben also had a flurry of gars. They seemed to come on in bursts yesterday and when one person hooked up it seemed that others nearby would as well. they were caught at all states of the tide and we found that over the ht we had some better bites with the float being pulled under instead of just being played with. Glenn missed one which could have been a macky. I had no luck on the crab bait which was fished at range. At times the tide run so hard at distance that it was better to use an 7-8oz grip or a 6oz long wire to ensure you didnt cut across other peoples swims.

All in all a good days fishing and each of us had around half a dozen gars each and a few wrasse in the short time we fished. I have a couple of pics of ben with his fish which I have added and also some video which i will try and sort out.

Ben Arnold with Wrasse (above) and Gars below

I spoke to a chap who had been night fishing on the East arm and he said that there were loads of pout after dark and a few Mackerel at dusk and dawn which is supported by other reports that i have heard. There have also been a few Squid caught on Squid jigs this week as well.

Thanks to Simon Pickles for this great report: I've been on a mammoth session the last 24 hours visiting about 5 marks and fishing for around 12 hours.

Reef over Birling gap way - nothing on the lures or prawns.
River Ouse - 1 nice thick lip 2lb 5oz to bread.
Southwick beach - tried spinning for mackeral and blanked but got 1 small bass aorund 32cm to prawn.
River Adur - 2 mullet, one at 4lb 10oz.

So generally the expected Bass & mackerel has not happened but the mullet have. I think the North East winds have killed the beach fishing but the rivers are OK.

I have heard reports that down Pagham way they are getting bream to good sizes. There have also been reports that there was a small smoothy caught at Pevensey bay, however, this is the only one i have heard of locally but im sure it wont be too long until they are on our beaches (fingers crossed). Pevensey has also been producing flatties and pout.

Important news: Brighton marina west arm has now been reopened for angling.

12/05/8

This week has again seen better weather but i am told that the sea is still fairly cold, however, providing that teh temperatures stay warm then this should help things.

Sam fished Seaford where there wasnt too much to report and very few signs of other anglers landing fish. Pevensey bay has still been producing Pout and the odd Flounder on worm baits.

There was a match on Sunday at Goring with the winning weight being 3lb 3 1/2oz made up of Garfish. There were also some Flounders caught and SSF's very own Glenn Arnold was 7th and only just missed out on heaviest Flounder by a couple of ounces.

There was a squid match on Brighton Marina East arm this weekend with quite a few squid being caught on Squid jigs with some up to 2lb. SSF's John Nicholas was in attendance and had a squid. He also had a garfish and a few Wrasse. Fishing on the Marina has picked up this week with some more Mackerel and Garfish being caught. There have also been Pollack and Wrasse caught down the side of the wall on prawn and ragworm baits. The usual Pouting have also put in an appearance so things in general are looking up in terms of numbers of fish being caught. There was also a report of a few nice bass up to 4lb being landed.   

Finally, a few friends went out on inshore boats this weekend around 2 and 4 miles out. Their catches included Gars, Mackerel, Dogfish, Bream to good size and quite a few Plaice (pic below). The Mackerel were mainly off the marina and the others were caught between 2 and 4 miles out over open ground from Shoreham.

Glenn Ide (Plaice)

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