Im back from my holidays and got a real itch to fish! I have had a few reports while i was away and more will come in over the weekend, so i will update the site as soon as i get them. 

Brighton Marina has been shut for most of the past week due to the strong winds. This has churned the sea up and made it fairly dirty but when the arm has been open, there has been quite a few mackerel, garfish and bream. Reports of a few good bass up to 4lb on mackerel baits. Wrasse down the walls on worm baits and Mullet on bread.

The Hope Inn has produced some Eels & Flounders on crab and worm baits. Pout have also been caught as have schooly Bass. 

Newhaven east arm has produced flounders and schooly bass on worm baits in the day. Mackerel and gars have been caught on float fished mackerel strip and feathers. After dark there have been some good sole caught on worm baits.

Seaford has been fishing fairly well. There has been less weed than Brighton and Hove for a start, which is good. There has been some Mackerel and garfish during the day, with the odd bream. A few nice Bass up to 4lb have been caught in the surf. After dark tere have been a few nice Sole on worm baits. Some baby Thornbacks & Eels have also been landed. The first of the whiting have started to show as well but all very small along with pout and the odd Dogfish for good measure. Now for the bigger point of interest, a small Codling (under 1lb) was caught but its the first i have heard of this year.   

Pevensey has fished very similar to seaford with reports of whiting, eels and flounders on lu or crab baits. Some nice sole over 1lb have been caught as well (after dark).

I am hoping to get out and yak soon so hopefully i can provide a report asap. 

Thanks 

Hi all, 

Just a quick note to say that i am on holiday this for a week as of today so I will not be able to respond to any emails or post any items purchased via the shop until i return. In the meantime, have a great weeks fishing. 

Brighton Marina has been fishing fairly well. The wind has been up which has meant that the water has been dirty at times and the fishing not as fast paced as usual, however, things will pick up as soon as a few calm days come our way. There has been Mackerel on feathers from both arms and garfish on float fished mackerel strip. Plenty of bream have also been caught but mainly small. Wrasse and pollack have been caught down the walls on worm and live prawn. Quite a few schoolies have been caught on these baits too. A few Mullet have been showing on groundbaited bread. After dark there have been pout and Sole on worm baits, with some hounds still showing on peeler crab. 

Shoreham arms have fished similar to the marinawith weed being a bit of an issue at times. Some better size bream have also been landed with reports to some over a 1lb. 

Golden grey mullet have been caught at tidemills in the day with some nice sole starting to show after dark. Seaford has produced mackerel and gars in daylight, with some pout and sole after dark. 

Newhaven east arm has been providing good sport with Pollack, pout and wrasse down the walls/struts. Mackerel and gars caught on the usual methods with some mullet and bass also showing.

Pevensey has produced some nice Sole after dark. 

Hove Shoreham and soutwick have been producing some nice bass in the surf. 

Until next week, tight lines

Craig

19/07/2010 

Here is a quick midweek update report from Glenn, so a big thanks:

We had a Palace Pier Comp on the East Arm today. Fished from 9.30am till 5pm and 12 turned up. Overall it was hard work for very few fish, but there were some decent fish caught.

1st Ben Arnold 7lb 6oz (8 Wrasse -Biggest 1lb 7oz, 1 Eel- 1lb 13.5oz)
2nd Glenn Arnold 4lb 13oz (2 Shad -Biggest 1lb 6.5oz, 3 Mackerel, 1 Garfish)
3rd Roy Arnold 4lb 7.5oz - 1 Thick Lipped Mullet.

Most fish- Ben Arnold 9
Heaviest Fish- Roy Arnold - 4lb 7.5oz Mullet

My third 2nd place finish on the trot (nice guys come 2nd ) only because i had to leave nearly 3 hours before the end of the match and at that point i was over 3lb infront of everyone

Didnt see much else come up other than a few mackerel, garfish and wrasse. 

Glenn

Hi all, 

Its been a pretty good week for reports and catches so with no further delay, here we go:

Brighton Marina hasnt changed d gars have been in fewer numbers than would be expected. One of the best ways for the mackerel is to try fishing a little deeper than normal. Garfish are on float fished  still being caught on mackerel strip (fished near surface) and Pollack to prawns (fished deep - pref by rocks or close to wall). There are still Bass being caught with reports of fish up to 5lb being landed on Mackerel. Small bream and wrasse have been caught near the walls on worm baits. After dark the smoothhounds have started to show (because the spider crabs have come in) and there has also been some Sole on worm baits. A few small thornbacks have also shown. The seaweed may start to become a bit more of an issue with the windy weather but on the flip side, there is a chance of some nice hounds after dark and some good Eels too on crab baits.

I went out on my yak at the weekend and while it was a bit to bumpy to fish from i did see a few mackerel shoals break on teh surface about 60 yards out. 

Seaford has been producing some nice sized eels and pout after dark as well some schooly bass. Mackerel have shown on feathers but they may now be slightly further out due to the rougher weather. 

Glenn fished Kingston beach and had some schooly bass and a couple of nice Flounders. It was also his boys first trip out fishing and he is a natural, pulling in a nice Flounder! Here is his full report:

Ever since my son Toby was born just over 3 years ago ive been itching to take him fishing and mould him into a angler. He started pre-school a couple of months ago which has calmed him down a bit and made him more sensible. So i thought id pick a safe spot to take him fishing where he had a chance of catching a few little fish.
After reading Puddlemans report, i thought Kingston Beach would be a perfect little spot and it'd be easy for me to dig some i brought it in very quick as i didnt think there was a fish on and maddies before i went to work.

So i had to drag the missus along with my 18 month old daughter, knowing that they'd only want to stay for a hour or so. Luckily i had rigs made up and id be able to get set up fairly prompt. We arrived at 5.15pm and the water was fairly low and i noticed there were a few snaggy rock infront of us which might hinder Tobys winding in as he wouldnt be able to retrive very fast as he had never held a fishing rod let alone used a reel.

I got him set up with a short 2 hook rig with a flowing bottom trace with a few maddies on and managed to cast his 7ft rod out about 20 yards. Quickly followed by my rod which i pinged out around 50-60 yards. We waited about 10 mins with no bites, so i got Toby to wind his rod in. He wound in about 5 yards before getting snagged, i pulled and yanked for a couple of mins before getting off the snag and typically there was a small schoolie of about 6ins. Toby was excited to see a fish but i felt guilty as i had brought it in

For the next 30 mins nothing happened but Toby was behaving himself and didnt seem to be getting bored, then he had a knock on his rod (schoolie bite) and he wound in without getting snagged but the bait had been stripped off. Straight after i was into another small schoolie.
Next cast Toby had a bite soon after i had cast out and i could tell there was a small fish on this time and after a brief struggle Toby had landed his first ever fish, a schoolie of about 8 inches. He was so pleased as was i! Mission Accomplished, he was hooked already.

The bites were becoming fairly rapid now but i was running low on worms. Next cast i had a good bite and i was into a fish that was putting a bend in my rod, and i pulled out a fairly decent flounder of 33cm maybe 12-14ozs in weight. Toby said "wow daddy, thats a whopper!" and he began asking lots of questions about the flounder. All i needed now was for Toby to hook into a flounder of his own.

It was 7pm now and i could see the missus was wanting to go home so i put on the last half dozen maddies on Tobys hooks and cast his rod as far as i could and waited. I packed my rod up and sat with Toby whilst he was watching his rod for a bite, all of a sudden there was a single pull down and then was the rod was motionless again. I was sure it was a flounder bite so i said to Toby we'll wait 1 more minute and then it was time to wind in and go home.

I could tell as soon as i picked up the rod there was a fish on it, i stood behind Toby and held the rod about 2ft above the reel to help steady him and keep the rod up high as he struggled to wind in, "its heavy daddy" he said. I told him to keep on winding in as there might be in a big fish on. As it got closer in the line started shifting to the right so i was sure it was a flounder and the rod was nodding and then to the delight of myself and Toby a plump flounder of 29cm slid up the beach, and he was so chuffed, as was i.

Pevensey bay: has produced eels and Sole in the day. Some better sole have started to show after dark. A few Bass have been landed after dark along with more eels and pout. Some hounds have also started to put in an appearance. 

The Ouse and Adur have started to produce some nice Mullet as well as a few Flounders, schoolies and Eels. 

It may be well worth a bass session this week because of the SW winds creating perfect surf conditions.

06/07/2010 -

Hi all, 

Firstly, apologies for the lack of reports and updates over the past week and a half. The reason is due to net issues, which are now fixed. 

So, onto the reports:

Brighton Marina has been been hit and miss depending on what you are after. There has been quite a few Garfish on float fished mackerel strip (fished near surface) and Pollack to prawns (fished deep). The mackerel have been about in spells but not in their usual good numbers. There have been some good bass caught with reports of fish around and just above the 5lb mark. Small bream and wrasse have been caught near the walls on worm baits. After dark the smoothhounds have started to show (because the spider crabs have come in) and there has also been some Sole on worm baits. With the winds getting up, there is a chance of some nice hounds after dark and some good Eels too on crab baits. 

Thank you to Steve for this great report from Hove & Shoreham:

This week has definately seen a marked improvement in numbers been caught, I fished tues night and after three hours came away with 5thornbacks,3dovers,two schooly bass and an eel all on one rod with twin booms and size 1aberdeens bait was ragworm,,i had live lug from internet not a bite on it.Fish all taken before high tide and about an hour after low tide thornbacks are small but put up a good fight on a salt bass rod.Friday the mackrel turned up i managed 37 in two hours with a single 28grm dexter(mostly joeys which went in my freezer for bait in winter).Another mate of mine was on 68 when i'd had enough (mostly returned),and the following day 40% of the beach had the seasonal mackrel fishermen down on it(total chaos casting over each other and all that palaver).So sunday saw me,mark and mohammed treking to shoreham beach where we'd been lured by tales of half decent bream by a friend of marks,there was a low pressure weather system passing over most of the day which kept the surface really still so i went to the rocks at the far end so i could plug the rocks,the water was so clear you could see all the weed.Mark and mohammed set up in the middle where after half an hour marks mate came and set up there as well.At the end of the session we'd caught 4bream,1flounder and marks mate(sorry if your reading this head like a sieve)caught a cracking 47cm length by 27cms girth golden mullet first time iv'e seen one, lovely fish though returned of course.I plugged the rocks but to no avail a little bit early yet,still it gave me chance to try my new gravell teklon concept spin 802 ml out. 8ft in length casting weight 10-40grammes half the reel seat is moulded into the rod this puts the reel seat about 14inches above the butt of the rod which when i put a light rear drag reel on balanced at that point in my hand.This rod is an absolute must for any spinners out there its perfectly balanced and you can cast it with one hand it only weighs 7ozs.It will fling a 38grm dexter out to the horizon with impunity or a 10grm lure with a backbreeze 60yds.the tip of the rod is one and a half millimetres in width and will take a double figure bass.The rod becomes an extension of your arm so you can really work your lure, the bite detection is unreal you can tell what your lures doing by the tip, i really can't fault this rod its a beaut.distances cast was with 30lb braid.  
To add to Steve's comments, i also saw a couple of Mullet at hove beach jump clear out of the water!

I also popped out on the boat with HDSA a week and a half ago and managed to get plenty of bream at a spot just a few miles out. I also managed some dogfish and a couple of hounds. There was a 10lb undulated ray caught by Iain on another boat.

Seaford has been producing some nice sized eels and pout after dark as well some schooly bass. 

Pevensey bay: has produced eels and Sole in the day. Some better sole have started to show after dark. A few Bass have been landed after dark along with more eels and pout. 

13/06/10

Hi all, hope you had a good weeks fishing. There is a good set of reports this week so lets get cracking:

The first one is my report from Pagham. I decided to fish it on Fri 11/06 in persuit of the illusive double figure hounds. Those of you that often read my reports know that despite being able to help friends catch doubles there, i have had no luck, until now. It was a bit of a last minute trip but i managed to get about 20 peelers plus a couple of frozen ones i had.

I got to pagham at about 8ish and set up by the end of the fishing boats (between boats and pipe). There were quite a few anglers on the beach but as i had made a walk i did manage to get a patch where is was clear 100 yards either side.

The water was flat calm and no wind. I started properly fishing at about 9.30 just as the sun went down. I did see a hound pup caught which gave me a bit of optimism. I was using a clipped down pulley rig with a single 3/0 hook baited with fresh peeler elasticed on. I was casting as far as i could which is a good distance but no record setter. For the most part weed wasnt an issue until just after slack when it came on strong!

At about 10.15 as the tide started really coming in i saw my first bite, a few light bumps and then slack, i tightened the line and the the rod doubled over so i lifted into the fish and a good battle started. After a while of fighting i got the fish near the beach and knew it was good when my headlamp flashed on it in the shallow water and reflected off its eye. I was pretty certain this was going to be my first double for sure until as just on the beach it went ping! unhooked and turned back! gutted! i was down to say the least as just lost my first double and thought that i may have missed my only chance.

Like a true glutton i switched my pre baited rig and cast out again. Within 10 mins i had another similar bite, slack then thud! fish on! After the battle of wills i managed to get this one onto the beach and onto the scales, 12lb 8oz! Woo, my pb hound and first double. I was over the moon! I ran along to the chap next to me for a photo (thanks again)and waded in to return the fish, which was amazing as got to hold it and then see it swim off in the light of my headlamp. 

I cast back out and again the same bite and another hound of 12lb 3oz, its like buses, no doubles for ages and then 2 at once but i wasnt complaining! Mission accomplished. 

There was little action after that as the weed picked up around half eleven and just before i left i managed a small schooly. I packed up, gave the guy next to me a couple of peelers as thanks and went home a happy guy to say the least!


Thanks to Steve for this great report from Hove beaches: 
Well this week has fished pretty much the same as last week,schoolie bass,eels the odd flattie.The may rot is hanging round like last year so no mackrel yet,the bait fish are about 250 yards of shore(judging by the ammount of gulls round there).Kenny and i fished the low to high on thursday to no avail.The bait kept comming in untouched.We also managed to pull in some of the same weed that plagued us for a while last year after the may rot went(please not again).I did hear reports of another seven pound bass at the hot pipes(courtesy of lagoon bait and tackle).

Brighton Marina has still been producing mackerel but the numbers have been limited due to the may rot sticking around. They have been caught on feathers and float fished mackerel strip. gars have also been landed using this technique. Live Prawn floatfshed over the rocks or down the wall has produced a few Pollack and schooly Bass. Quite a few bream to worm baits during day and night. Wrasse are still being caught down the side of the walls as well as some schooly bass. After dark there have been some Pout and dogfish caught as well as hound pups. I have heard that the spider crabs are showing and this means that the bigger hounds wont be far away. 

Palace pier - Charlie fished the palace pier on his kayak as a bit of a last minute trip. He had some old black lug and a few lures to use. He yakked out to the end of the pier and tried his luck with the lug but not much happening so he headed further out and managed to get some mackerel using a dexter wedge lure. He managed to get a joey so paddled back in to use it as live bait near the pier but he didnt manage to catch. He did catch a few schoolies using his lure around the pier but no bigguns.


My dad fished Shoreham on Sunday with HDSA and had Dogfish, Plaice, some good Bream and a small ray.  

Seaford has been producing some nice sized eels and pout after dark as well some schooly bass. 

Pevensey bay: has produced eels and flounders in daylight as well as the odd ling. A few Bass have been landed after dark along with more eels and pout.

Finally, i have started to update the gallery for 2010 so feel free to check it out. If you want a picture of your catch in the report or gallery, then feel free to email me and i will add it asap.

Hi all, hope the fishing has been good. I have just returned from my trip (not a fishing one - unfortunately). Despite being away, i did manage to get one trip in which i will detail below and i have also had some good reports emailed to me.

Brighton marina has been fishing relatively well this past week. There still appears to be a bit of may bloom about but its lestening. Mackerel have been caught on feathers and float fished baits with best results being when fished slightly deep. Garfish have also been caught on float fished mackerel strip and pollack to small prawn. A few schoolies have shown and one or two better bass have also been landed. Wrasse and bream have been caught on worm baits down the walls. Smoothhound pups have been caught after dark on crab baits and the odd dogfish has also shown. Glenn fished on sunday in a match and came second with a nice eel of 1lb 4oz.

Hove beaches (a big thanks to Steve and the chain groyne boys for this report): This weeks report go's thus: Regardless of the may rot this week has fished quite well with several bass taken from the groyne and areas either side(to next groyne) weight's ranging from 1lb to 2lb 6ozs, all taken on black lug.We've also seen some doggie pup's for the first time this week.I had a really nice 30 inch 2lb 6ozs silver eel along with a 2.2lb bass(black lug) 47 centimetres over monday and tue's evening session,my mate kenny had three bass over two day's fishing the low water mark.There has also been the odd flatfish and rockling caught behind the king alfred. 

Will fished Goring beach and had half a dozen bass in a productive session (pic to be added).

Langley point has produced schooly Bass, Eels and Pout after dark.

Seaford has been producing some nice sized eels and pout after dark as well some schooly bass. 

Pevensey bay: has produced eels and flounders in daylight as well as the odd ling. A few Bass have been landed after dark along with more eels and pout.

Pagham: Decided to fish pagham on 25/05/10 as it was my only chance at getting a relatively night tide as I now cannot fish for a week or so and wanted to try and catch a hound.

I turned up armed with peelers and fished 1 rod with clipped down pulley rig 3/0 cast about 90-100 yards with fresh peeler elaticated on. The weed wasnt too bad but i knew i would be lucky to get a hound as most of the incoming tide was at dusk and only an hour of incoming in dark and then slack at dark. I kept my rod tip up high to avoid most of the weed that was in the surf.

I pre baited rigs and basically fished my nuts off but no hounds! gutted again as pagham has the hoo doo over me (I seem only be able to help other catch good double fig hounds there as my mates i take catch em but i havent had a double there yet - i set up their gear etc). I did manage 2 Bass which was nice, 1 just under size and one just under 2lb, either side of HT. The 2lber gave a bite as if it was a hound to start with as it was a long pull but clearly not a hound. Both were returned unharmed. 

Speaking to everyone else on the beach it was pretty much the same as no hounds caught but i left at 11 due to an early start at work.

We have had great weather again this week. The biggest issue has been the May bloom which is still effecting the fishing. This is an Algae which blooms and turns the sea a green or tea colour. It fills the water and puts many fish off feeding in shore. It will go soon but for the next week or so, will reduce catches along the coast.

Brighton Marina has still been fishing relatively well with mackerel caught on feathers and gars to float fished mackerel strip. Pollack and Schooly bass have been caught on float fished prawn. Bream and Wrasse have been caught down the walls on worm bait and a few Sole and Smoothhound pups have been caught after dark.

I fished a match with HDSA on Saturday and took my mate Charlie out for his first boat trip. We headed out at about 2 ish and were heading to a good mark for bream and other species. On the way we stopped almost every half mile for mackerel but didnt get any until we were at least 3 miles out and only then they were few and far between. We got to our mark and set anchour. We both used 2 rods, 1 set up for larger species and the other for bream and smaller species. On my fist cast, i put peeler crab on a 3/0 running ledger and put it about 20 yards from the boat. The other rod i set up with a 2 hook ledger and tronix luminous beads and put this closer to the boat for bream. Within 5 minutes i noticed that my big bait up had moved against the tide and thought a hound had picked it up, as soon as i lifted the rod i realised this was no hound as it stayed low and powerful with the odd thud, it was a ray. After keeping the tension tight and fighting for a good five or so minutes, the ray was at the boat. it had managed to wrap itself around my line so it felt a 10 pounder rather than a 6lber but it was 6lb on the dot and a PB thornback for me. 

After this, the bream came on the feed and we had a few between us. Charlie then had his first dogfish and then another and another, until he became pro enough to realise the bites and call the species when reeling in. He then had a Whiting, Dab, Gurnard and a small Plaice to add to the mix of species. We also had a few Hound pups around the 2lb mark on peeler crab over the high tide. I also managed to get plenty of bream and the above species, plus a small schooly bass. The wind eased as we got to about 1900 and the fish came on the feed with mainly Bream and dogs taking the baits. At some points i had to strike one rod while reeling another due to the bites. In total i weighed in 13lb of fish, which consisted of 2 Dogfish, 5 Bream, 1 ray, 1 dab and 1 Plaice. Charlie was a guest in the match so didnt need to weigh in but i can honestly say that excluding the ray he wasnt far off me. I also feel its important to say that club rules only permit a certain number of fish per species and this is why i weighed 2 dogs and not 15 and the same goes for bream as its in the interest of only taking a sustainable amount that you will eat. I won the match with my catch and Kev came 2nd with nearly 12lb and lost a very good fish after a 10 minute fight. On the way back in we got to admire a fantastic sunset just to finish off a great days fishing. On the other boats, there were a few good other fish including a 2 lbb 11oz Bream caught by Merv at Lou Gate. 

Elsewhere, ferring, worthing and goring have produced Dogfish after dark and Schooly bass in the day. 

Pevensey has produced Ling, Pin whiting, dabs after dark as well as some dogfish. During the daytime there is still a few Flounders and Plaice being caught. Also a few schooly bass have been landed.  

A few Mackerel and Gars have been showing at Newhaven East arm and Seaford beaches during the daylight but they are still slightly fewer due to the may Bloom.

17/05/10

This week has seen good weather with mostly sunny skys and settled seas which have just started to stir up at the end of this week. I have a few catch reports so here we go:

Brighton Marina has been slower this week than in the previous week and this is due to the may bloom/rot which has slowed the fishing down. This happens each year and tends to slow the catches down. Saying that, there has stil been a few Mackerel and gars caught on feathers and floats. The first few Bream have started to show and schooly bass and wrasse have been caught down the side of the wall on crab and worm baits. A few Smoothhound pups have started to show after dark but no big fish, as yet.

Seaford has suffered the same fate as the marina with slower catches. There has still been a few mackerel and schooly bass caught and the odd dogfish after dark.

Pevensey Bay has produced a few Scholy bass and flounders but not too much to report.

I popped up the river ouse and spotted a few Mullet swimming about. I only had a brief bit of time to fish and unfortunately couldnt lure any, however, my next trip (below) was much more productive!

I fished sat with the HDSA. We headed out on a flat glass like sea at about 9am and stopped at approx mile intervals and tried to get some mackerel. We didnt hit any until 3 miles out and even then they were hard to come by. we anchored and set up for the day. There was 3 of us on the boat and a range of baits (prawn, crab, rag, lug, squid and makky). For the most part we were using ledger rigs and 2 rods each. 1 with a big bait for rays or hounds and the other for smaller species such as bream. I was using a 1 hook ledger with 3/0 for hounds, rays and the inevitable dogs and a 2 hook ledger rig with size 2 hooks and tronix luminous beads. these really worked as i had more fish on them than the plain rigs.

The tide was running hard but first cast produced a double shot of bream and then the next cast a double shot of dabs. Through the day we had more bream, about 5 plaice and more dabs. then the dogs came on and attacked our baits. Harry had a ray of about 4 or 5lb just before HT, which was returned. I had about 5 hound pups up to 2lb which gave a nice scrap on light gear but no real big fish. My dad had a sizeable Plaice and then a gar on the bottom. In total we had dabs, plaice, bream, dogs, hounds and a ray (oh and starfish). The dogs were suprisingly good size and put up scraps instead of deadweight. the weather got up for a bit and there was a little white water which gave us a bumpy few last hours and the fishing seemed to slow a little. Most of the bream were taking worm and the hounds were taking prawn or crab. The ray was on mackerel and the plaice, dogs and dabs pretty much had anything on offer.

We then moved to lou gate for the last part of the day and had some nice bream before we headed in. I dont know the number of fish we caught but it was nearly a fish or two every other cast and a really enjoyable day. I hadnt expected to catch as much and while there wasnt anything of great size, it was constant good sport which i cannot complain about! its nice to have a productive session after a slow past few months.

I have added a couple of pics. These were the only fish we kept (plus 3 bream) between 3 of us on a very productive day. I think it worked out that we had about 4 fish each to keep and the rest were returned alive.