29/8/11 Conger!..........#5, #7

0900-2100  HW 1208-6.1m

Good trip this one. Left the marina with just enough water under my hull, but on a rising tide which is always useful. Usually I just creep past my neighbouring boats often using them to gently 'pull' myself along to deeper water where I can use my engine. It must look quite a cumbersome manoeuvre to a casual onlooker, and has gone wrong on a couple of occasions, usually when there's a breeze.
The sea was a little lumpy on the way out and the plan was to head directly to the #5,gather bait, and then anchor up just at the turn of the tide and fish the ebb down-the supposed optimum time for a bass.
Stopping short of the mark I drifted with feathers and first drop down resulted in full house of pretty big shad-not really what I wanted. However the mackerel soon showed in big numbers and It wasn't long before I had enough not only for bait, but a few to take to work for tomorrow's lunch. Not another boat in sight so I settled virtually directly on the numbers at slack tide but was soon slightly miffed by another boat turning up and anchoring only yards away from me, and exactly where my baits would settle once the tide had turned. WHY would you do that.!!!
Before I'd even sent a bait down ,I'd upped anchor and moved to the southern edge of the reef as shown on the chart, to seek my own space. Big baits only and the fishing was predictably slow. A dogfish showed, and then a nice thornback on the light outfit which proved to be a handful in the now quickening tide .

Finally, what I'd come for turned up, and not for the want of trying.  Typical nodding bite-give slack, let her run a little, then gently lift the rod to set the circle. Head banging fight meant only one thing- a bass. Not quite as big as my last one, yeah right............ but......nonetheless..... a bass.
The self take was a little more successful this time , but needed a bit of photo shopping at home. I'll get there with this photography lark.

Apart from a tiny ballan wrasse (another boat first)things again went slow, so I decided to move a little further north on to the reef to try and locate Alex's elusive bass. .Nuisance bream constantly nipped at my baits and only heads survived for any length of time, but that was all that showed up. O.K I got my bass, but not in the numbers that I'd aimed for, and know, can be caught from somewhere around here. Again.................I'll get there in the end.

Ordinarily, I'd have packed up at this stage in order to make it over the bar and indeed, all the other boats in the locale were doing so but, it had felt like a short trip, and with France and the Wye barbel trip looming, it may well be a month before I get out again. I decided to sit out the lock out for another five hours, and return to port in the dark-not something I'd done before.
#7 was my chosen destination, and a slow cruise for the three miles or so over slack water would have me arriving just as the tide was making. Looking around, I had the sea completely to myself-literally not another boat in sight and , unusually, the air waves were quiet too. The shallow reef mark, around 35ft at L.W, does have a bit of heritage with conger and, as I'd not had one to the boat before, this was my target.
Once the pick had been dropped, I sent down about a dozen or so chopped scad and mackerel as chum. The tide hadn't picked up enough to wash them away so I was confident they were doing their job in my fishing zone. Heavy rod on a mackerel flapper with big circle to commercial mono (standard big bait rig) light rod on a 1/0 stuffed with squid and cuttle .
The wind had dropped, the light was fading and the boat, and lines, had settled perfectly in the steadily running tide-very comfortable fishing conditions indeed in a peaceful environment. Better sized bream of about a pound and a half steadily showed to the cocktail baits, a couple of which I took for the table- a welcome return after the palm sized ones that we've seen of late.

 It was whilst unhooking one that the ratchet on the 7001 ticked away at a pace. Allowing the run to develop at first, i tightened and set the circle into something heavy which continued to pull hard. The fight was nowhere near as fast as my tope, but just as entertaining with strong, line thieving dives, before the beast surfaced and grabbing the thick trace, managed to subdue her at the side of the boat. I estimated her at around five feet in length and a supposed weight of 35-40lb, got a couple of hasty snap shots, but unfortunately had to cut the line to free her as the hook had lodged inside the mouth and i didn't want to go poking around in there. I'm not too worried-it's barbless.

A fine , though it has to be said, hideously ugly fish but, I'd achieved my target and experienced another special moment in this year's boat fishing saga. A few more bream, and wrasse came along but darkness was descending and the tide would have flooded enough for me to get in so it was time to go home.
A silky smooth run in at 12kts,the speed restricted only by having to keep a watchful eye out for pots in the dark. I ducked under the anchor light using the peak of my cap as a shield, and my night vision soon adapted. I trickled in over the bar with one eye on the sounder but needn't have worried as there was never less than 6ft underneath me. The river was eerily quiet.
 It was great fun being out in the dark, especially alone, but I was satisfied to reach the mooring safely and without incident. I shall certainly be doing more of this night time stuff in the future.

28/8/11 Frustration

A three hour afternoon mullet session on the West Bank and, In unfavourably clear conditions, there weren't actually that many mullet about. Those that did show were flighty and seemingly not in feeding mood. I chased down a couple of sightings which I've done so many times before when the water is like this. You see them, approach them, feed to them, but they seem to sense you from 30yds and disappear downstream out of reach and continue to tease you.
I bumped off one fish so must have been doing something right but, that was that.
Pure frustration.

27/8/11 Mud Flats

I can't believe that it's nearly September and this is my first visit to my old favourite 'The Mud Flats'. Dave joined for a short early morning , and flooding tide session and it was my mate who did the business with the mullet-a fish of about 3lb. I did catch....a bass of about 2lb but that was that.

21/8/11 Fishing with Jack #2 Half Way,#5.

 Took 'the boy' out fishing  again today and I even let him 'drive' the boat for while.
After our last trip ,Jack was keen to get out again however, with the recent fishing being decidedly 'average' I was concerned that it may not be such a success this time around......I needn't have worried.
Out the harbour at 0700 ,with a flat calm sea on the way out, the plan was to go to Black Ledge and try and get some bait which proved to be fruitless. 'Sprirt' was anchored up in the distance, south of the Half Way mark, so I called Neil up for a chat. 'One string' of mackerel was all he'd found bait wise so, having squid and cuttle plus a solitary mackerel that Jack had feathered, on board we decided to settle at Half Way.
No sooner had we dropped the pin than up came a pack tope, followed by a couple of nice undulates which seem to be the mainstay of inshore boat fishing around these parts this year. I've no complaints-they're spectacular looking fish even if they fight like a 'dustbin lid'

There must have also been plenty of small bream about because our 'big' baits were constantly nipped at by something too small to hook.
One problem we did have at this mark was the baits seemed to be moving back slowly towards the boat against the tide. I thought it may be undercurrents  however, eventually it dawned on us that the boat was creeping down tide and on hauling the anchor we found the reason why. The chain had tangled on one of the flukes preventing the anchor from doing it's job properly.
Things slowed down so we tried yet again for some mackerel this time heading south of the #5. Eventually our patience was rewarded when we hit upon a shoal and feathered up a dozen or so along with half a dozen scad to replenish the bait supply.
The wind was steadily increasing but we decided to anchor up on #5 to try for bass with mackerel head baits. Alex had yet again scored a few  on yesterday's ebb tide. Today we didn't have the luxury of being able to fish the ebb, but it would be worth a crack.
Jack had a delicately creeping bite which turned out to be this nice 14lb Undulate and the best fish of the day.

 After a short move to the site of last weeks big bass, we finished at 1530 as the sea really began to chop up from steady F4 winds and ,as the tide was about to ebb, the threat of a nasty wind over tide sea at anchor-not a pleasant thought.
Exhilarating ride back in which Jack thoroughly enjoyed . Great day out and once again, the boy proved to be excellent crew.

19/8/11 Small Stuff #5,#6,#33

Once again today was a general struggle to find any fish and this seems to be the trend locally. Clive, at the  marina, even pulled his boat out for maintenance this month.
It was one of those days when things didn't really go well from the start. Incredibly, I didn't find one solitary mackerel though thankfully I did have some frozen. Then, having moored up at #6 the pot boat had to haul his line of pots right in front of me .Of course, I had no idea they were there when I anchored up.
He's actually quite a friendly and polite bloke and asked me nicely if I'd pull up my lines whilst he did his work. I obliged but felt that the disturbance might have 'killed' the swim so to speak.
I moved to #5 and settled down comfortably and who showed up after a while...none other than '110'. I'd anchored again, right over a line of pots he was hauling and he proceeded to 'haul' up my anchor. He didn't seem to mind, just a friendly wave and dropped the anchor back in place. He seems to be exceedingly content with his lot this chap, cheerfully working away with Radio 2 blaring out over the loudspeaker on his boat. His boat handling skills are amazing. Not only does he operate at sea alone, but he moors at the marina and watching him single handedly 'park' what is not a small craft, is very impressive.
I'd only caught small pout, wrasse and bream at the ditch so decided to move to #33 and jig some feathers with a pirk in tow in the hope of at least some mackerel. I didn't get any of the target specie but instead had fun with small pollack to 2lb taking the feathers in sometimes less than 20ft of water.
Not my best boat trip of the year.

17/8/11 A New Specie...#5

 Not that much to report on the fishing front with this trip. It was a short one, being in between my night shifts and basically I stuck it out on the #5 in search of bass but found it quite difficult to even find mackerel bait.
 I picked up a few, along with a new specie for me in the shape of scad or horse mackerel but, apart from losing something sizable on a mackerel head, highlight of the trip was finding the coaster 'Mungo' stranded on the training wall at the river entrance when I came home. Quite a sight. She'd passed my stern earlier in the day whilst making her way to port.
Apparently she'd lost her steering!!  Fortunately and rather amazingly, no real damage was done to either boat, or wall and she was safely floated off on the next tide and put in at Shoreham to unload.

16/8/11 Back To Basics....Mullet

It's been a while since I've caught a mullet having generally neglected them this summer , but also failing to land fish on the last couple of attempts, despite making contact.
I do still enjoy the simplicity of mullet fishing on the river. Rod , net , small tackle bag and a bucket of bread mash is all I take with me and rarely stay in one swim longer than twenty minutes if no bites are forthcoming.
Conditions looked promising (cloud cover and fair water colour) and the tide was just bottoming out as I walked up the west bank easily spotting a few likely candidates in the shallows. I didn't have long as , when the tide starts flooding properly, I tend to lose confidence.
Within minutes of starting I'd bumped off yet another fish and was beginning to think I'd really lost my touch, and was facing another blank. With the tide now starting to flood I moved upstream a few yards to a fresh swim and soon had some tentative bite activity.
It didn't take long for a positive take which resulted in me beaching a nice fish of about 2 1/2 lb which, having been unhooked, decided to cleverly slip out of the landing net before I could get the camera ready. It didn't matter as I achieved my target, but decided to fish on In the hope of getting another. Some bites did soon materialise but resulted in a small bass-my first from the river on bread this season.
Two hours after starting and with the tide was now pushing in strongly , It was time to go. Job done.

12/8/11 Short Session on #5

The winds have been quite strong recently preventing any boat trips, but I have had a couple of unsuccessful bank sessions on the river.
The first, a blank bass lure trip on the east bank with Andy, the second a morning after mullet at tesco's which resulted in one bumped fish-not good.
Today's window in the weather meant I took a chance,  and headed out to #5 after bass.As far as I know I was the only boat in the marina out. Even 'Spirit' remained on it's mooring as I left the river.The run out was pretty bumpy, but the wind dropped and things settled down for a short time,though mackerel baits weren't easy to come across.
I anchored centrally on the reef and the tide was ebbing nicely-usual mackerel head on heavy outfit, fillet on light.Some snappy bites on the fillet indicated that I should change down to a small hook paternoster and soon two of the culprits emerged in the shape of small bream.
I decided that I didn't really want to catch any more of these little fellas, so switched the light rod over to circle hook and head bait as well.
Only action was this male undulate on the heavy rod and a dogfish on the light before it became lumpy. The wind had increased making things too uncomfortable,and I finished half an hour earlier than intended to make the tide.
I've not been that happy with shots of recent fish just taken on the deck.The self take photo was my first and , as can be seen,the set up needs a little tweaking, but at least the picture gives a better impression of the fishes' size.

3/8/11 Double Figure Bass!.....#5

I took the boat out of the water on Monday to see what effect two months on the mooring with no anti-foul had had on the hull. There wasn't a great deal of weed growth, certainly not enough to slow her down but, there was noticeably more on the side exposed to the sun so it would probably be worth turning the boat round on the mooring every month. Being on a berth that dries at LW and the fact that there is a freshwater rife outlet close by probably keeps the weed at bay.
Perhaps the marina's resident population of mullet keep the hull clean.

A bi-monthly clean up isn't too taxing especially as I can get her out on my trailer but, at the public slip. You would have thought, with all the dosh that the marina take off me that they'd let me use their concrete ramp!
Jan did the honours driving the 'rig' and there were no issues, but it did remind me what a 'work up' it is launching from the trailer compared to the luxury of the mooring.
 I had intended to carry out an engine service while she was on the drive at home, but the parts weren't available so it didn't happen. The boat's had plenty of use and is probably due a service time wise, but I feel that this regular use is probably preventing any problems occurring, and she can get her oil change when she next comes out in October. Nothing mechanical likes sitting around doing nothing and this is especially true of boats which lie in a very hostile environment.
The sea was flat calm this morning so I decided to conduct an experiment and shed as much weight as possible to see exactly how well she'd perform.
Of course I carried a full tank of fuel and fishing gear but, I dropped the auxiliary,  dumped the second battery and bait tank, and had already trimmed down some of the extraneous kit, that I don't really need, whilst she was at home.
She certainly went better, smoother and faster-the hesitation on acceleration virtually disappeared and planing was easy, but I don't think the increase in speed outweighs the advantage of carrying the second motor. The difference is hardly noticeable when there is any sort of swell that slows me down to around 10kts.
 I might feel different about this when I've done a bit of surgery , found out how the motor ticks and have built up my confidence in her. Ted doesn't carry an auxiliary on his 520, and neither does Alex, and they have years of experience between them, Both cite complete faith in their engines as the reason and the ability to sort out most problems should they occur, and would rather not lug the extra weight around. I'll wait on this one.
Dropping the second battery and tank when not needed will help with the weight issue anyway.
So to today's fishing. Time again was limited because of boat testing and the big 6.1m tide which meant a delay getting off the mooring. I also wanted a 'timely' return as the weather forecast for the next few days doesn't look conducive to boat cleaning, so I wanted it all sorted before 'tea'.
I was disappointed not to get a bass four days ago especially as Alex had reported another good catch in superb sea conditions yesterday fishing with piking hero Dave Horton.
I had considered a live bait trip to the Pine wreck but felt that persevering for a #5 bass might just pay off.
Let's learn to walk before I run.
Also this will probably be my last chance at this set of big tides.
Zipping out on the flat sea to the mark, and easily picking up enough mackerel on the way, I found Spirit , Lynander and another boat all at anchor in the wider area. I asked Neil if he'd had any spikeys and he reported reasonable sport with general stuff but none of my intended quarry...yet. He did feel that when the tide picked up pace, there would be a chance.
If two of the most respected charter skippers in the port were on the scene, I can't have been far off the mark.
I started with a couple of drifts with a bucket kept live bait(worked....just) whilst waiting for the tide to turn but also used the time to get a good picture of what lies beneath, which is becoming a little easier now I'm finally beginning to get the hang of operating and interpreting the sounder .I discovered yesterday that the transducer is adjustable and that I'd had it set too high which is why it didn't work when the boat was moving-it was probably sitting in a pocket of turbulance.(Numpty)
Nothing hit the live bait ,so I picked my anchor spot pretty much central on the mark still within sight of my mates and, as the boat settled I chummed with about eight thawed mackerel using the plastic bag method which seemed to get the bait down where I wanted it. I started with a fillet on a 4/0 and a head /flapper on a barbless 10/0 circle .Having caught a 6 1/2lb bass on the circle before I'm not worried by it's size. The gape is equivalent to about a 6/0 'J' hook and seems to fit a mackerel head bait well.
The tide was already picking up, and so was the wind, but bites were slow in materialising and when they did, I would imagine they were barbecue bream or pouting ripping the fillets to shreds and not getting the 4/0 into their faces.
 The big bait produced two ' thumpers' that were missed. I did suspect bass at this stage and as the tide was now in full flow  I needed 8oz to hold bottom. I decided to bin the second rod and concentrate on holding the 'big bait' rod with the reel out of gear, the spool held by thumb pressure.
Things were beginning to get really bumpy but i decided to sit it out especially as Neil was still about (the others had left) giving me a feeling of security.
Suddenly, and during a quiet pensive moment, I felt a solid thump through the rod handle, immediately let the spool run free remembering the words of John Darling and whatever was down there steadily took line. Seconds later I engaged the gear and slowly lifted the rod to set the circle Into something firm that was banging it's head and taking line.
 Watching the angle of the braid, the fish came up to the surface quickly well down tide continually letting me know that it wasn't giving up easily by continually shaking it's head. I remember thinking that this was no tope , certainly no ray, and hoping that a bar of silver would show. When she finally appeared after a dogged scrap I had one of those 'talk to yourself' moments.....YES, it's a BIG bass!!!!!!! It did look huge in the water-I'd hit the target.
Netting her wasn't exactly easy in the tide and swell but i managed it on the second attempt and had one of those 'why you go fishing' moments when she was safely inside the mesh.
I knew immediately that she was a double. A stunning looking specimen -really thick set and mean looking as big bass are. The scales middled out at 12lb on the nose, a new personal best ,first double to the boat and yet another one of those days when something really special came along.
It's a shame that the pics don't really do the bass justice but they're about the best I can expect without spending too much time setting up a remote and risk harming the fish. The landing net is 24" in diameter so at least this, and my size 12 'plate', gives some proportion .
As it was, when she went back I watched her on the surface for a while, looked down momentarily to sort out some tackle and when I looked up again she'd disappeared off to the depths. I'd love to know whether the fish picked up any of my chum.
Nobody else was about so I gave Neil a quick radio call on 17 who was, as usual ,really enthusiastic, but respectful of my wish to go 'low key' and coincidentally moments later Alex called me on the mobile and was equally chuffed. TBH both these top blokes played a big part in the capture of this fish with their endless help and advice. Thanks chaps.
I dropped a flapper down once more but a wave broke over the stern and splashed my shades so I decided that enough was enough.If I want to play in the big stuff with the big boys then I'm gonna need a bigger boat which I can't have so,............... I returned home at a 'ripping' six knots(it was that bumpy)riding out each and every swell and passing Anthony in 'Lady Bird' on his way OUT for a night session. It did amuse me slightly when he commented over the radio that the wind was a little more than given.
It was quite a 'roller coaster' coming in and the river mouth was the roughest I've yet experienced (big tide, full ebb, lots of messy stuff)  but we got through without a hitch and back to the mooring with plenty of time to spare.
I love this boat fishing lark!

31/7/11 Big Ray..........#5

Alex  inspired me by taking a few good bass on simple mackerel fillet and head baits yesterday breaking the trend of generally lean fishing recently. I've promised him that I won't publicise the location, so it'll simply be known as #5.....which is how it's labelled on my chart at home......not that it makes much difference to me as I didn't get a sniff of a bass here, today.
It was to be a carefully orchestrated trip maximising the time I had available. Off the mooring at 1030, catch some bait, anchor up just as the ebb sets in at 1130 , fish the tide down(the optimum time) for four hours until 1530, nip in, nip home, and nip to work.
On the way out Steve, with Ann and Lauren aboard was at the slipway with his boat for its Inaugural trip out to sea.

With the big tide the water in the channel was a bit 'chaotic' to say the least, so I agreed to lead him out, and meet him just west of the entrance whereupon his engine died. Not wishing to leave my mate alone I kept him company, towed him out a few times to prevent him from ending up on Clymping beach, and spent an hour or so with him until he eventually managed to fire up the engine. The cause of malfunction?....dirt in the float bowl.
I then led Steve back to the slipway and safety and returning to the open ocean eventually dropped my feathers around midday struggling to actually find any bait at all. Half an hour , and half a dozen mackerel later I was finally anchored up in the middle of the reef.
One sail away bite on the big circle resulted in an empty hook, three dogfish on both mackerel fillet and head ,pouting,and a move to the down tide edge of the reef ensued which quickly resulted in the anchor losing it's hold........Not my best session so far.
I moved back on to the reef proper with half and hours fishing time left and then the light rod baited with mackerel head on a 6/0 nodded  and up came this big undulate at 15 1/2lb to literally save the day at last knockings.

The ray, and a phone call from Andy delayed me just enough to miss the mooring so I sneaked it on to a 'full time' spot and cleared it with Darren at the marina before just making it home in time to go to 'the office'.
The bass will have to wait.

28/7/11 A Mixed Bag..... Half Way....The Stick

Fishing from my little boat is a seriously enjoyable experience even if sometimes, the fishing isn't that productive. Just 'being out there' is fun and there is a huge amount to learn with endless variables of tide, weather ,sea state, time of year etc etc.
The recent calm weather has meant that there have been ample opportunities to go out, but the small tides and lack of water movement have resulted in some pretty lean fishing. Everyone I speak to seems to be in the same boat. I've also  learned, that things generally slow down a bit at this time of year, though recent news from Alex may prove this to be incorrect if you know where to go.
The problem with owning the boat is however, that other fishing is not really firing me up at the moment. I had a quick mullet session yesterday but my heart wasn't really in it although Andy, fishing separately, did bag a couple of fish. I'm sure the enthusiasm for mullet will return but , at the moment, the 'novelty' of the boat doesn't appear to be waning.
I've just fitted a second battery and switch mechanism to power the live bait tank, and night electrics separately.
This will give me the confidence to use all this gear without the nagging feeling that the battery will not restart the main engine. I'd intended to complete the installation yesterday, but a faulty switch meant a return journey to Force 4 this morning, and I didn't finish wiring up until midday when I took it out to sea to test everything was working properly....which it was. The only downside being that the weight of the second leisure battery slows the boat by a knot or two....we'll see how it goes.
I had rods, bait and scram with me so decided to spend the rest of the day fishing anyway.
First stop was Half Way where three pack tope showed up on mackerel heads and squid, and small bream demolished squid baits in seconds although one nice two pounder was taken for the pot. New acquaintance Tom, in Pilot House 'Dragons' was also in the area and fared similarly.
Jan had texted me that she was out in her kayak so I decided to motor in to see her, passing Neil half a mile south of 'The Stick' on the way  for a quick chat. He was doing well with general mixed specie fishing and seemed pleased with his results, so I planned to return to the general area later on.

A couple of quick snaps of the Missus on the yak , and I headed out again to Charlie's where i was literally mullered by tiny bream.I can't say I didn't enjoy catching the little devils but a few dogfish and a nice smoothound were also very welcome.
A last move to fish into the evening was made south of the Stick to 'Neil's ground' and I contented myself once again with an endless stream of small bream until the light began to fade and I returned to the mooring at about nine p.m.............the van being the last vehicle in the marina car park.

25/7/11 Eastborough!

As the tides were very small today, I decided to travel down to the Eastborough Bank in search of tope.Mackerel are now showing everywhere and it was easy to quickly pick up enough bait but the same cannot be said for the target specie,or indeed any other specie for that matter.
Listening to the other boats, it would appear that it was the same story everywhere, although i did hear of a small boat that was anchored up taking plaice through the day.
I saw Neil drifting in the distance so decided to pop over for a chat which resulted in being invited to join him at a mark on the west edge of the bank.I did pick up a doggie here ' and appreciated the help, but it was a tough day all round.

19/7/11 Slow Fishing-Half Way

I suppose it had to happen sometime. Fishing in the new boat has, so far, been quite successful with plenty of action on each trip out, but today was a  little different.
 I took Andy out with the intention of getting him a tope from the Half Way Mark.On arrival we drifted for a mile and stocked up with some nice mackerel before returning to the mark to anchor up.
Disappointingly,the fishing was very slow .Only one small tope each was caught and ,apart from a few tentative bites, that was that.The weather again, was not quite as forecast,and initial calm conditions gave way to a building wind and some light rain.
I think I've given this mark a fair crack and it might be time to move on to other things.

17/7/11 Mulletting With Dave.

0930-1230

Got together with Dave today for a mullet session at the Tesco's stretch. I arrived just as the tide was beginning to flood and, in extremely windy conditions, It was impossible to spot any fish to target. Dave joined me and after a quick try on the lower flats we both decided to seek a bit of shelter, and fish the upper area.
We sat down , chatted and consumed a box of Bakewells whilst waiting for the tide to fill in the corner, then eventually decided to give it a go for a few minutes as the weather conditions hadn't really improved.
Dave scored the only fish- a beautifully conditioned three pounder and minutes later we'd had enough and called it a day. Nice one mate.

15/7/11 Chasing Tope...Half Way Mark...and....Happy Birthday Blog.

0900-1400  HW 1226
I'm trying hard to get another big tope at the moment and returned today to the half way mark for another go.Spur of the moment decision to go as the forecast for the next few days is not looking good so I thought I'd better make the most of it.
I wasted too much time trying to catch mackerel at three marks on the way out , as there were plenty at the final destination.Didn't get to fish much of the flood before the tide turned and faced me into an increasing wind making things more and more uncomfortable.
I did catch plenty of pack tope, a solitary bream which took a strip on the light rod, and a couple of flicks with the baitcaster loaded with a 40g Dexter produced a nice mackerel which I had for lunch.The small tope are voracious feeders and seem to be quite common on several marks at the moment.Quite how you can select the larger specimens is beyond me. I'm using a huge bait-half mackerel flapper, on a huge hook, and I'm still bringing up the little devils pretty much every drop.
Eventually the wind did get the better of me so I called it a day, though I probably left it a little too late as the trip home was quite rough.
Changing tack a little,the blog is now one year old-Happy Birthday Blog!!
Looking back over the year,I was surprised to learn that I'd actually fished on 116 days, roughly one-in -three and I'm not sure whether to feel guilty, or pleased.Guess I should just feel privileged.
As is the norm with fishing, particularly for 'wild' fish there have been many ups and downs.Sometimes the going has been tough-the long series of pike blanks immediately spring to mind, the torture that was the Broads trip,and the failure to get a river carp, but there have also been some distinctly 'above average' moments.The double figure surf bass last autumn, January's mid 'twenty' pike,and more recently ,the first 'proper' tope I've ever caught-definitely the highlight of my Inshore boat fishing thus far.

11/7/11 Small Tope and Big Rays.....Eastborough Bank, Half Way Mark.

I've been wanting to do a return visit to Eastborough bank for some time and with the tides being small, and a full day of light winds forecasted today was my chance. A smaller tide is preferable here because of the shallow 35ft of water depth over the bank. Surrounding areas go down to 50ft. A few boats were drifting in the distance, and one or two were anchored up with me on the bank but the fishing , with mackerel flappers targeting tope, was generally pretty slow. Only two pack tope showed up but I also had a 12lb undulate, and a small 5lb small eyed ray, but surprisingly no lesser species, and no nipping bites.
Alex was out too and intending to head for the half way mark as I'd given him the numbers. He called me on the phone around midday and I decided to make the five mile trek east and join him for the afternoon.
Plenty of mackerel were showing to feathers when I arrived on the drift , and also a new specie for the boat in the shape of this pretty little gurnard taken hard on the bottom on the lowest feather.
Anchoring up, things were quiet until the tide started to flood and then I had a succession of pack tope (eight), most in the 7-10lb range with maybe a couple of doubles and this little critter of about a 1lb. Even sharks can look cute.
By 5p.m I'd run out of  bait , but a big mackerel picked up my last lask on a retrieve so his front end went back down on the circle hook and produced this nice 14 1/2lb undulate, whilst the rear end was taken home to eat.
I packed up around six leaving Alex and crew still out there enjoying the evening sun whilst I headed for home. Alex later reported a similar catch to mine- a mix of tope and big undulates. As usual everything apart from the mackerel went back.
No more of the, hoped for, big tope but, this is a good mark and I will return here a few more times before the end of the season regardless of the size of the tide. The Eastborough Bank did prove a little disappointing but is worth more investigation especially as It's one of Neil's favoured areas.
Food for thought-A couple of decent conger were taken on a night trip out in a small boat to Waldrens by Andy's mate Phil on the same evening..........................

0900-1800  HW 0820 4.7m

9/7/11 Another Carp Blank.

Two days of pre-baiting with 8kg Vitalin couldn't produce a daylight run for Dave and Me on the third day on the Adur upstream of Bramber...but it was worth a try. Still at the drawing board stage with these tidal river carp.

7/7/11 Bass Popping

One of my ambitions this summer is to get a bass from the river on a surface lure. Joined Andy and his mate Phil up at Ford for a try this evening but unfortunately, no takes for me although Andy did get a two pounder at last knockings. He's been getting one or two on the method recently which is giving me the confidence to keep trying so hopefully....it won't be long.

3/7/11...A Proper Tope....Half Way Mark.

HW 1339  5.8m

Every now and again in fishing, something really special turns up.
Roger is another very friendly and helpful boat owner at the marina and it was his recommendation that I try an area which shall be known as 'Half Way' mark. Interestingly, he sold it as a hound mark but did mention that if mackerel were available, a tope or two might happen along.
No numbers were provided and it was just a case of checking the chart out at home, and getting a rough idea of where to put the boat on the plotter.
I got the fresh mackerel I needed on the way out, but it took three stops and 50ft of water to find them. Everybody seems to be in the same boat regarding catching mackerel at the moment as they're proving tricky to locate.
Tide was still pretty slack when I arrived at the mark and the sounder showed nothing of any interest just 65ft of depth and a flat, featureless sea bed so I randomly dropped the pin. Mackerel flapper barbless10/0 circle to 200lb mono trace on the heavy, and whole squid 2/0 on the light and within minutes of getting myself sorted and before I'd even had time for a coffee, off went the ratchet on the mackerel and up came a double figure tope. Good start.
Next drop the mackerel kicked off again and up came another pack tope and, just as I was unhooking the fish(in the boat this time), the squid bait tore off way up tide causing mayhem.

Once I'd sorted the third tope out I binned the second rod and stuck to the light outfit but with the mackerel rig. Three more tope came up , but with the tide increasing in strength, more lead was needed and eventually it took 10oz of lead to hold bottom and a switch to the heavy outfit. One missed take saw fit to chase the retrieved mackerel all the way up to the boat before peeling off at the last moment. I wonder if these fish can be taken on lures
Things quietened down a bit so, I occupied myself with a bit of much needed tackle tidying , general boat sorting, and relaxing enjoying the sun and just 'being out there'. There was plenty to watch however, as a procession of yachts sailed past, and an inconsiderate pillock in a dive boat ploughed right over my baits. Why do they do that!
Eventually the ratchet on the 7001 screamed into action and I tightened up, this time, to something a bit special which kept on running south even under quite heavy drag pressure. An exiting 20 minute fight ensued hampered no-end by the speed of the tide. A sailing yacht came close to get a better look at proceedings, gesturing with a questioning arm stretch to which, at that time, I had no reply as I'd not yet seen the fish.

 

 Thank goodness I only had one rod out as the tope took me all over the shop before I managed  finally to steer her alongside, get a rough measurement, and take a couple of one handed snaps.
Stupidly I hadn't previously got my gloves ready , but the trace is thick soft stuff so grabbing it with one hand, slackening off the reel drag in case the inevitable happened, I managed to cleanly T-bar the fish free in one swift movement and watch her disappear into the depths. Classic fishing moment-my first 'proper' tope to the boat and, at 150cm length ,snout to fork ,a fish of about 35lb.
To give some idea of the size of her mouth, that circle hook has a gape of about 4cm.
Another couple of pack fish came up later bringing the total to nine for the trip and no other species showing up at all.
Every fish bar one, was unhooked at the side of the boat with the big T-bar and this is how I'm going to continue to deal with these tope for the sake of their health, and mine. Of course it would be nice to accurately weigh the big ones but, It's not that important to me, and a rough idea of their length will suffice.
The circle hooks continue to work well when I remember not to strike and instead, gently tighten up. I did miss a couple of takes but I suspect that they were pack fish mouthing the bait as they didn't develop into proper runs.

2/7/11...Hounds Save The Day...Shelley,Luff Bu, Waldrens, Charlie's.

I really gave the boat the runaround today searching, sounding and trying to familiarise myself with marks that I've not yet visited in my travels. First stop was Shelley Rocks where a couple of Orkney Spinners were fishing around loads of pot markers and a small commercial. Plenty of small pollack and a few mackerel took the feathers and it was interesting to see this shallow , rugged reef on the sounder. If it hadn't have been so crowded I might have stayed but i've a feeling a revisit with either plugs, or drifted live mackerel, would be worth a go.
Eavesdropping on one of the 'spinners' in conversation, I did hear mention of a 12lb bass. Could it have come from here, I wonder.
Moving west to Luff Bu I set up the keepnet for the mackerel that I'd boxed up from Shelley. It all seemed to work quite well until the tide picked up causing the net to drag too much almost tearing it apart. The mackerel stayed healthy and it was worth a crack, but I think a tank is the only answer and I've got enough space on deck if I'm going solo. Two up might be a different matter.
Things were pretty quiet, think I had a doggie, and it was the same when I moved to Waldrens-no takers to the live mackerel.Listening to the other boats on channel 8 revealed a similar situation -nobody was getting much.
In the end I decided on a move back east to Charlie's to fish for smoothound as quite a few have been showing up locally on the beaches. Being so close to shore the weed was a real nuisance and the whole squid were being ripped apart by what I later found out were tiny bream, having tested the water with a size 4 double pat to find out who the culprits were. See the pesky critters in the picture. They're capable of destroying a whole squid in seconds.
Two good sized (double figure)hounds did prevail, and another lost, to save the day on squid, along with the Inevitable dogfish just to pass time . I love hounds, especially from the boat where, with all that free space, they fight like tigers even on the heavy outfit.

30/6/11 Bumpety Bump--East Ditch

Bit of a short report on this one as there's not really much I can say. Tried live mackerel on the ditch but without success . I did get a nice bream on a small bait, and lost a fish that could possibly have been a bass, as it felt just like Tuesday's fish, but that was that. The wind really picked up (18mph)sooner than I expected, and I had to head back home in a very lumpy sea(wind over tide).
I probably should have studied 'windguru' in a bit more detail as the strengthening winds were forecast.

29/6/11 Mullet Before Teatime.........

I was chatting to Andy the other day and he mentioned that he was feeling a bit' fished out'.
I do understand what he means. Sometimes you can just do a bit too much fishing.....................What on Earth am I talking about! 
 However, this afternoon, feeling more than a little knackered, having helped the Mrs at her new allotment, I did have to make the effort a bit and drag myself out for a short session before tea time. I'd intended to nip over to the boat to do 'stuff', and fish for mullet on the west bank but, as i drove over the bridge, I spied Drew bending over in the mud obviously doing a bit of crabbing, in the distance. A quick U turn and I was back on the east side of the river Initially just to have a chat with my buddy.
Andy has been getting more than his fair share of hounds , the past couple of nights, from our local beaches which is why he was chasing the pincered ones. A few mullet were showing in swims nearby, so I decided to grab my gear , and stay in the area.
First trot down to a group of fish produced a missed bite. 'That would have Impressed him', I thought to myself. Second trot , I didn't miss the bite and out came this little mullet of probably and pound and a half. Splendid.

After losing one a few minutes later, the tide had gone slack, we'd moved downstream chasing whelms and I was starting to get some very finicky bites which I thought were the usual tiddler mullet. Eventually the float did bury itself properly and the culprit was this little 'fatty' at 3-06.
Job done and home for tea.

28/6/11 Stormy Weather-Eastborough Bank

1000-1300  HW 0946 4.7m

Eastborough Head buoy is , I've been told, 9 miles out from L.A. I prefer to think of it as about 7 1/2 nautical miles as It doesn't sound so scary!
I whizzed out there at breakneck speed on a flat sea, stopping for some mackerel about half way and noticing a couple of charters doing some drifting over , what might possibly have been, East Ditch (mental note made).
Arriving at the mark, that eerie bell on the buoy was clanging away so I decided to anchor up on the sandbank in 35ft, far enough away to be just out of earshot. Mackerel flapper on 10/0 circle on the heavy, and fillet on 6/0 on the light.

It didn't take long for bites to materialise and start up was this ten pound small eyed ray which I had to photograph, In order to to identify, as it's a first for me.

Next up was the tope(double plus) which I successfully managed to release at the side of the boat with a simple twist of the long nosed pliers .I love  tope, and will be spending a lot more time (and money in fuel) targeting these spectacular fish.Remember so far, I've only had doubles which in the grand scheme of things are mere 'tiddlers' , but they've been tremendous fun.

A few bumps occasionally signalled something small was attacking the flapper baits but a more significant thump had me giving slack line, and eventually connecting with this nice bass of  6 1/2 lb and my first decent example on the boat.

She scared me a little when she went back as i think I shocked her a bit by managing to drop her in the sea from the weigh bag.She floated along on the tide belly up for a while but, eventually I was hugely relieved to see a  kick of her tail....and she was off.
All the above came to the flapper bait with the circle hook , and all three were cleanly hooked, and easily unhooked and released. I'm definitely going to develop my fishing with these hooks as It does make life so much easier....................................and long as I can remember not to strike!
A doggie came to the light rod but then the wind whipped up a little, and a storm complete with thunder and forked lightning looked imminent, so I chickened out, and hi-tailed it home in order to make the tide at the entrance, tucking under the cuddy to shelter from the deluge in the process.Only my back got wet.
 Ted was out over the Spur and had decided to do the same thing at the same time so we met at the river mouth and motored in together. It must have looked pretty cool- the brace of 520's
Made the bar o.k but didn't quite make the mooring and had to return later this evening to move , and spruce her up.

26/6/11 Fishing With Jack-Black Ledge, East Ditch.

0900-1630  HW  0751 4.3m

I've been waiting to take my son, Jack out for a fishing trip in my boat for a long time and as he was visiting this week-end, and the weather was perfect, It gave us an ideal opportunity.
I had taken him fishing before when he was a youngster, but he didn't really take to it although he does like to do a bit from a kayak near to his Devon home and has had some success with bass and mackerel. I think, like a lot of non anglers, he only sees a point to it if you've got a chance of taking something for the pot which is fair enough.
When we arrived at the marina it was engulfed in thick fog and, If it wasn't for the fact that a few boats were already missing from their moorings, I may have been a little bit dubious about going out in such conditions. Jack didn't seem to be bothered and, as the sea was calm, we headed off anyway thinking that the sun would soon burn off the gloom.
First stop was just east of The Winter Knoll where Jack dropped a set of feathers down for some bait and within a few minutes he'd landed more mackerel than he'd ever caught in all his combined fishing trips of the past. The shoals were clearly showing up on the sounder and, some nice joey sized ones came up too, ideal if kept alive and also perfect pike bait size.
Apparently getting mackerel hasn't been that easy of late so we were a bit fortunate to have stumbled across so many so quickly. We soon had enough so moved on to our first anchor mark at Black Ditch.
A few small bream showed up nipping at the baits with only one, of a couple of pounds, worth taking  but  I caught a thornback of around 5-6lb to add variety. Rather stupidly I poked my finger around in the Thornie's mouth a bit searching for the hook, and paid the price with quite a few nasty lacerations when it decided to clamp on. Lesson learned.

As the tide slackened things quietened down considerably, so we moved to East Ditch-in fact just off the reef proper as there were a few boats about in the still murky conditions. The tide was still slack so I decided to drop over a mackerel flapper on a 6/0.It didn't take long before another thornback came up, but a much better one of about 10lb

followed later by a rather lively tope (around 15lb) also on a flapper(luckily lip hooked), which proved to be quite a handful in the boat.

Jack picked up a doggie but I really wanted him to connect with something decent so rigged him up with a flapper on a 10/0 circle to commercial mono tope rig. This might sound like an extremely big hook but circles are sized quite differently and ,as both the rays had swallowed the 6/0 hooks, I wanted to try and avoid this happening again if possible and also, if tope were about, I didn't want any bite offs.
The flapper worked and before long a tentative bite produced this lovely 14lb undulate neatly hooked in the scissors.

A quick turn of the circle and it dropped out, a far more satisfactory outcome . I shall be using circles a lot more in the future.
The fog did finally burn off giving us a view of the coast but, the boat never quite turned in the tide, as the easterly wind was pushing the hull in the opposite direction, so we packed up and headed home around 4-30, an hour later than planned.
Terrific trip and great to finally do some 'Father and Son 'stuff with Jack who really enjoyed the fishing, and proved to be excellent crew despite having little previous experience.

24/6/11 Blank !

A short mullet session that started at the west bank, and finished down at the black boat shed and not one mullet was even spied let alone caught. It was cold and windy and my heart wasn't really in it but I gave it a go anyway.
Interestingly the following day, I took Jack up the river in the boat for a bit of an explore and the mullet, although a little thin on the ground, were to be found a ways upriver on Barnard's bend, south of Ford and a few on the sewer bend.

20/6/11 Window Of Opportunity...West Ditch

1300-1630  HW 1526  5.5
A brief respite from the recent strong winds saw me heading out to West Ditch today.
To begin with, I just drifted around studying the fish finder and playing with a set of feathers. No mackerel, but a small pollack turned up however, it was more valuable to get an idea of what the ground was like under the boat.
Eventually I anchored her up, though in the slack tide not really where I wanted her. My baits were probably on the edge of the reef.
Light rod on small pieces of cuttle and squid, heavy on whole squid.
Bites were regular throughout the session-the inevitable run of dogfish, small pout, a pollack of a couple of pounds, a couple of smallish bream(bit disappointed by their absence) but cream of the crop-three decent(double figure) smoothound all falling to the whole squid bait which was intended for bass. Even on the heavy outfit, they pulled nicely and were great sport.
A steady swell actually caused me to feel a bit 'Iffy' at one stage and by 1630 the wind picked up a little, it had started to rain, so I headed for home.
It would appear that the bream are thinning out on the reefs now. Apparently they've done their breeding and most will head off into deeper water.

19/6/11 Back For Another Go

I caught my first, and best, tidal river carp in 2006

-a superb 20lb plus common. Since then I've had occasional attempts at trying to catch a few more, usually at the beginning of the coarse fishing season, and with some limited success.
I'm not really an enthusiastic carp angler, and indeed have never pursued the still water variety, but despite not reaching really impressive sizes, river carp do hold a fascination for me.
Dave Nevatt returned to the scene of Friday's carp fest last night and scored with two fish. I could've kicked myself for not joining him but instead, decided I'd try after work this evening.
Tide was ebbing, which is how we like it, but I wasn't that confident that they'd still be around.
To my surprise I picked up a run on the first cast, hooked up, had it on for a few seconds, definitely a carp, and then she was gone. Bugger. Missed my chance again. Fished on into darkness but nothing further happened.
Back to the drawing board for this little project.

17/6/11 Tidal River Carp

 Not really ideal weather for fishing today as it pelted down all day. When I joined Dave on the Adur around lunchtime he'd already had two nice carp to 15lb at low tide from a pre-baited swim and whilst I blanked during the afternoon, he managed another two more to 12lb at the top of the tide.
Lovely, colourful, hard fighting fish and from the same swim where Dave had had similar success, in similar weather conditions some three seasons back. Good on yer mate.
Dave Nevatt joined us for some lively banter whilst we huddled under the brollies, drinking tea and scoffing sausage sandwiches, but by about 1900 we, and the dog, had had enough, were soaked through, and ended the session early.
Great crack to have a social with my mates and well done Dave , yet again, on some excellent river carping.

16/6/11 Good Move. Tesco's.

1130-1330  HW 1229 5.7
It's the start of the coarse fishing season so what do Dave and me decide to do?..................................Go mullet fishing of course.

Actually It was Dave's idea and I just came along for a couple of hours after finishing my chores. Conditions were again perfect-dull and wet with the river showing plenty of colour from the remains of the ebb. We had to score.
When I arrived Dave was on the mud flats and although a few fish were showing, there weren't enough to fire me up. I suggested a short move upstream to another intertidal mud flat where, from previous experience, I thought the blighters might be hiding.
They were indeed in attendance, in numbers, and in the mood. Dave quietly settled down on the flood defence whilst I paddled out over the sedge trying not to do an impression of a scarecrow.
 My mate got the first and experienced a challenging tussle from a nice fish at 4 3/4lb and shortly after I beached a three pounder to even things up.

Both captures seemed to kill our swims, and the incoming salt water increased visibility sufficiently to curtail any further activity, so we knocked of for lunch.
The coarse fish can wait until tomorrow.

15/6/11 Tesco's Mullet.

1030-1330  HW 1138 L.A-5.6m
Out with Dave today for a spot of HW mulleting on the Tesco's stretch. Conditions were perfect-dull, overcast and with a little drizzle.
Dave had been fishing for an hour or two before I arrived after work and had already reported fish present to me over the phone. He'd lost a fish and it was clear to me that there were plenty still about and they were in feeding mood. I started at the lower end where several fish were whelming and the bites were almost Instantaneous, though difficult to hit in the still water conditions. Eventually I connected, and bagged a two pounder which killed the swim dead.
Repositioning at the top end gave us both ,Impossible to hit bites, but Dave connected with another two pounder and reducing my bait size to a tiny morsel, I landed a huge mullet of about 12oz.I suspect that the small fish were , with their tiny mouths, the cause of all the tricky takes. I've experienced these small mullet on several occasions at slack water and they are always a challenge. Quite why they only appear at this state of the tide is a mystery .

14/6/11 Weeded. Charlie's Mark, Black Ledge.

Todays little trip really showed the advantage of having the boat on the mooring. Realistically, I only had about three hours spare from 1030-1330 .
Started off at Charlie's mark or thereabouts, with the intention of trying for some hounds, but began by feathering up a couple of fresh mackerel. Only dogfish showed and the weed was a serious issue perhaps due to the amount of pair trawler activity there is of late.
A move to deeper water was in order and ,looking on the chart plotter, Phil's Skate mark was nearest and only a ten minute run at flat out speed on the calm water.
Anchoring up, I was immediately concerned by some pair trawlers in the vicinity and decided to get out of their way. I settled at Black Ledge for the last couple of hours. It wasn't hectic but I managed bream, dogs, a small thornback and a bonus spotted ray so, all told, a very pleasant trip out in beautiful weather.