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.

10/6/11 Splendid Isolation..........East Ditch

0900-1400   HW 0630 4.9m
A small window of opportunity in the weather saw me heading out today solo to the East Ditch where Alex had reported some good fishing  earlier in the week.
Although I do enjoy fishing with other people and Indeed have a really good group of close  buddies,  I still prefer to go it alone sometimes. I enjoy my own company and the freedom to make my own choices and try my own experiments.There's also something quite exiting about being four miles out,on an open sea, in a small boat, all on 'yer todd'
I wasn't entirely alone on East Ditch.When I arrived Ted was already in position in his 520 albeit , a quarter of a mile away from my chosen mark. We had a chat on channel 8, and I continued to monitor other boats on this wavelength which proved to be very useful and somewhat entertaining due to the lively banter.
Nobody was catching that much on this small tide and Indeed my own mark was proving to be a bit slow . A few small bream and dozens of nuisance pout, one of which was tried as a livebait, showed early on and over the slack water period very little happened at all. I decided that, as everyone else seemed to be in the same boat, I'd be patient stick to the mark and see what developed. This paid off as eventually a wave of really good sized (2-3lb) bream came through and I managed to bag a couple before the wind kicked up (18mph) and I was forced to return home.I'd managed to dodge some pretty hairy weather all morning.
Met up with a few new faces in the marina Including 'Pinchers' and Les(who worryingly recognised me from a pike pic on the net) and neighbouring owner Brian who'd actually had some really good bream and a double figure bass on the Kingmere. Most boats however,returned pretty average catches so I wasn't too disappointed with my own results.

9/6/11 Another Quickie.

A Similar sort of post work session to yesterday, in similarly windy, bright conditions, although I did spend a bit more time trying to unsuccessfully locate some fish today in the murky water. In the end I settled for fishing blind in yesterday's swim but to no avail.A short move upstream to another promontory produced a bite and a dropped fish just as I was ready to call it quits.
Of course I had to hang on a little longer, despite the advancing flood, and yet another tentative bite produced this sparkling three pounder which initially surprised me with a powerful mid river run.I must be out of practice with these mullet to allow such relatively average fish take command but, after turning her head, she glided in to the bank quite easily.Job done.

8/6/11 A Beautiful Brace...............West Bank.

With my recent enthusiasm for Inshore boat fishing, I've rather neglected the mullet fishing on the river so far this summer.Today however, with winds reaching 30 mph on the anemometer, and some pretty spectacular seas out back, there was absolutely no chance of playing Captain Pugwash so, I decided to nip up the river for a bank session, having finished my extra work around lunch time.( I've now got to find the money for the mooring fees)
The tide was bottoming out, and the water was showing quite a thick 'mustardy' colour with low visibility which is just how I like it. Parking up at the marina (goes with the mooring) I walked up the west bank which was quite sheltered from the strong south westerly wind. Peering into the murky water , I just managed to glimpse one fish in the shallows.
That was enough evidence for me. They were there and I'd been given the mark.
Within minutes of the mash working it's magic, I'd hooked a small mullet which was on for just a few seconds leaving a  scale on the otherwise bare hook.I hadn't disturbed the swim, so in with a spoonful of mash which was immediately followed by a sizable whelm indicating that they were still around.
Ten minutes later ,after a positive bite, I was in again and this one was not going to break free.The mullet put a nice bend in the 'Preston' and quickly took me out to the centre of the river, but as the tide was only just beginning to flood and there was barely any noticable flow , this wasn't too much of a problem and I soon gained control and beached a nice fish at 4-06.
I'm finding beaching  far less dicey than netting, and am doing it a lot with recent mullet.As long as the margins are relatively snag free, and there is a comfortable surface on which to drag the fish it beats messing around with a landing net which is only really needed to weigh the fish.
As time was limited ,and once again the fish was played away from the take zone, I decided to stick it out in the same spot. This was to pay off in twenty minutes or so but the next bite was hardly a bite at all.The float barely moved, and then stayed partially submerged for a few seconds before I decide to strike and hit home run.
Another spirited fight ensued but it was obvious that this was a slightly more powerful mullet. It came in at 5-02 and rounded off the session nicely.Another beautiful fish  in pristine, scale perfect condition as can be seen if you open up the pic.
 The flood proper kicked in , I was hungry so called it a day.I'd only been fishing for an hour.Wouldn't it be nice If mulleting was always like this.

2/6/11 Scooby's Got a New Home.....Charlie's Mark

Trailering the Orkney and launching it from the slipway in Littlehampton hasn't proved to be too much of a problem but, it does involve  having someone else along to help out which isn't always possible. Also, it's quite a time consuming operation and requires me to run a 4WD vehicle, essential if I'm to get the boat in and out at any time of tide.
I thought about it for about five minutes....and then dived straight in.Rent a hole in the water at Littlehampton Marina....and flog the Pajero.The cost of running the truck won't cover the cost of an annual mooring, but it'll go some way ,especially as I've chosen the cheaper option of a restricted mooring which dries at low water.
I'll need to be a little more mindful of timing my trips but, the boat should get a lot more use and I'll be able to go out on my own on short little outings when the conditions are favourable.When I do need to get her out for cleaning, which will be a regular occurance until I anti-foul her, with careful timing, I can use the camper which also has a tow hitch.
I dropped the boat in on Tuesday,parted with my 'hard earned',was shown to my mooring and the smallest boat in the marina was ready to go. Today Thursday,I had a couple of spare hours so I tested her out on a short solo trip just a mile or two offshore, trying firstly to find the Frode wreck(unsuccessfully),feather up a couple of mackerel, and then fished at anchor for 45 minutes near Charlie's mark, which gave a me a doggie and a nice scraper double smoothound on squid.Solo photography is not going to be easy!
The boat really flew on the flat water with just me on board(17kts ground speed recorded), helped no doubt by leaving the second engine behind as well.The engine is faulty at the moment but will be returned to the transom when fixed and will probably help with weight distribution when I'm running solo as it lives on the port side, and the helm is on the starboard .
Popped back in with three hours left until LW but , could have left it a bit longer if necessary but i'm still learning.A six hour trip is about optimum.
Had a quick word with Ted who was on his Orkney at the Arun View on the way in and it was nice to thank him in person, and from my boat, for the help he's given me.The whole operation was very easy and convenient so we'll have to see how things pan out and how often the boat get's used.

1/6/11 A Day Out On the Fairy.

Had a long day out today on Rusty's boat -The Sea Fairy.
We started on a reef mark which fished a bit slow in general.However, a few bream, doggies, hounds, wrasse, pout came up to the boat before we decided on a move away out west to a sand bank.Drifting with mackerel lasks intended for turbot produced this fluke bass for me, plus small tope and a thornback for the skipper , but still it was hard fishing.
Third location was a very shallow reef clearly marked by turbulent over falls. Russ lost a really nice bass here on a pirk, and apart from a pollack-nothing else showed its face.A few mackerel sprinkled in for good measure gave us ten species for the day but, the wind really ground us down and I think we were both relieved to get in after being out for a whole tide cycle.
A day of experimentation and lots learned.

20/5/11 West Ditch, Smoothound Bank.

0600-1230  HW 1415 5.8
First mark fished today was just off to the east side of the West Ditch reef mark.WE certainly caught plenty here including bream, dogs pout and very pretty looking cuckoo wrasse, but everything was a bit on the small size, so a decision was made to move a 100yds or so and anchor up on the reef proper.
At first the fishing was slow, but I suggested  setting up a ground bait sack-something I've been meaning to do for a while.We loaded the sack with chopped mackerel, and the messy bits of a filleted cuttlefish and using cuttle as bait on the hooks-the results were quite amazing.
Immediately things improved and a long run of really good bream came up with both Andy and myself getting p.b's mine a 3-12, Drew's a stunning 4-07.By 1100 a planned move was in order some 2NMs west to Smoothound Bank and the furthest point from L.A harbour that I've taken the boat yet.
When we arrived and set the bruce anchor the wind was already picking up to 13-14mph....half an hour later it had reached 18mph and I called it.In the meantime however, Andy pulled up a couple of upper single figure  hounds on crab, whilst I managed a baby hound and a doggie on squid.A revisit here is essential.
The 40 minute journey back with a following sea was quite exiting to say the least, but with quite a bit of concentration required to keep the boat on track see below-the pic doesn't do justice to the size of the waves, It all went well and we arrived safely back in port at 1230 with a nice bag of bream to take home and lots learned.

16/5/11 Another lost fish.

Short low water session yesterday afternoon/evening just downstream from Ford, and my only chance was a lost fish at distance which slipped the hook. Andy carried on after I'd left and winkled one out from upstream of the upper sluice on the Ford straight. It's still early doors yet.
Today, the 17th, I called off a boat trip due to westerlies around 15mph. Looking out back at HW, It was a wise decision as there are plenty of 'white tops' showing.

15/5/11 Two Trips in One. East Ditch/Tortington

One of the beauties of living In Rustington ,Is the ease of accessibility to different types of fishing.I'm only a five minute drive from the river where I can both launch my boat to get out to sea, and chase mullet if I choose to.
I took Dave out today for his first go in the boat,to target black bream, despite the weather conditions looking decidedly 'iffy'.
We set of from the slip at about 6-00 a.m following a charter which literally crawled over the bar at the river entrance. It was useful  to follow his course, despite the fact that my little boat only draws a few inches and could have 'sailed' through, we waited and watched as he negotiated the shallows keeping close to the West Works, as he exited the river 'proper'.Not surprising really, as the sounder dropped down to 4ft  in places, despite being the regulation 'two hours after low....and you can go'.
The wind was already building as we headed out to East Ditch, and by the time we arrived, it had reached well into Force 4 on the anemometer.
East Ditch is approximately 4 nautical miles from Littlehampton. A true reef mark, It Is actually part of the reef system that begins with Bognor rocks in the west, and ends with the famous Kingmere rocks in the east.This can clearly be seen on the Admiralty chart for the area.
After the success of our last bream visit to the mark, I decided to drop the pick in the same spot just off the main reef, which has tackle munching 10ft pinacles in places-easier said than done.Despite the bumpiness, the boat sat well, and Dave hit a nice bream of about 2lb on his first drop, which in effect, was mission accomplished for me.
We continued to catch relatively steadily until a change of tactics to paternoster rig at slack tide, brought in a couple of double shots for me. Obviously having the baits just slightly up in the water made a difference as the bream tend to leave the bottom at slack tide.
On the flood the wind had been going with the tide, but as the slack set in the conditions had deteriorated (18 mph gusts), and become uncomfortable enough for me to decide to call it a day and head ashore at about 9-00a.m.
The boat could handle it but Dave admitted to me later that he was starting to 'feel it' a bit and I really didn't want to put my mate off coming out again.We'd caught about 12-15 bream, with a couple of 2lb bracket 'clonkers' and a solitary minuscule pouting.Interestingly, we counted about 13 vessels on the distant Black Ledge but, as we later found out, a good number of those boats were the L.A boat fishing club out on a 'jolly'.
The journey back was 'interesting' , max speed about 9kts and spray flying everywhere- I loved it.. and the boat didn't seem to mind.Back home for a cuppa and a sarnie until 1300 ,by which time the wind had dropped off nicely (law of the sod) then it was time for the back up plan.A trip up the river for that first mullet, this time with feet firmly on terra firma....well, mud actually.
I'd been disappointed to lose that first mullet last week although, Andy had returned to 'The Wall' on the following tide and scored his first of the year.Now it was my turn.
Tortington was the choice, but despite seeing numbers of mullet last week, few were showing on our arrival, and the tide hadn't really ebbed enough for my liking.We did manage to scramble down the bank and find a tiny section of mud on which to park ourselves and trot in the pacey flow. I did spot a couple of fish close in, though at that time, well downstream.
The mashed bread must have reached them however, because ten minutes after starting, my float buried , and I'd soon landed my first mullet of the year- a modest specimen of 2-12.
Nothing else showed so we relocated to a 'banker' back eddy at 'Tesco's'. I didn't fish but instead, kept Dave's swim, and a couple of mullet, supplied with mash, but despite one obvious bite, we couldn't level the score for my mate.
Back home around 1700,  feeling somewhat 'knackered' by the day's events.

9/5/11 First Mullet Session...........I lost!

I hate loosing fish especially if the line breaks.....but that is exactly what happened today on my first attempt of the year to get a mullet.

'The Wall was the chosen venue and I arrived at about 3hrs before high on a 5.1 tide. A little bigger than i'd prefer for this venue but fish able for a couple of hours nonetheless.

As i arrived the clear demarcation between the flooding sea water, and the brown river water,(we've had rain recently) could clearly be seen moving slowly upstream.Fishing a rod length out the take was unmissable and for a moment I'd thought the fish had gone, but it had merely run towards me momentarily causing slack line. It surfaced just on the main flow crease, looking like a fair fish.....and then the line went slack....and it was gone.

I was totally gutted, even more so when I found out that the line had parted.I was certain that I hadn't turned on the pressure too much, but i was using a different line to my normal choice- Daiwa Sensor. I refuse to believe that the line is faulty but I did make some rather unkind comments about Daiwa gear in the blog in a previous entry, so perhaps the ' Daiwa'  god is getting his own back.lol

 

Moved up to Tortington shortly afterwards but although seeing fish, we didn't get a take.

29/4/11 Breaming. Frode,East Ditch,Phil's Skate Mark.

  0930-1715  HW 0955 4.7m
Due to the changing northerly winds this trip was a bit of a last minute decision .Windguru seems to be all over the place with it's forecasts so I relied on what I could see at the back of the house to make my decision.
We started by heading to the Frode, and once again attempt to locate what, I think , is it's boiler, which we found on a previous trip.Several passes were made of both the wreck and 'boiler' numbers, but to no avail.We tried drifting with lures and a bold mackerel took my 'norden' so It was on with a set of feathers and In no time at all I had half a dozen or so of the critters on board.
With nothing further showing, we decided to relocate to a new mark -East Ditch. On arriving an Orkney Day Angler was drifting the mark,fishing float fished live mackerel and spinning. I called 'Laure Anne' up on the radio and skipper Clive, who was extremely friendly,came over for a chat and gave us a couple of pointers.
50yds north of us were some big pinnacles which fished well for bream on the bigger tides, and 'our spot' , on a down ward slope, was a good smoothound mark.
It took a while for things to get moving but when it did, we were into some excellent bream fishing. I'm not quite sure how many we landed-possibly 40 odd, and we had some really good sized fish among them .Plenty in the two pound bracket and topped by a 'three' for Andy, all on squid baits.
The bream seemed to dominate the show and, apart from a couple of pout and dogs to Andy, a dog and a garfish for me, no other species showed up.The wind backed right off  and it got very warm in the middle of the day but it wouldn't last.
As the tide turned we decided on a move but not before we had a difficult time retrieving the grapnel. The boat wouldn't shift it and eventually we both had to haul it up by hand.It had become snagged in , what looked like, an old gill net  complete with a tangled mess of rope which weighed a ton.I did eventually manage to free it hanging precariously over the bow and the great 'lump' fell from sight , returning to the depths.
Our last mark was 'Phil's Skate Mark' and by then the wind had picked up to a Force 4, with white tops showing.I was a little apprehensive continually monitoring the wind's strength on my anemometer. The boat, however, took it all in it's stride and not once did we feel threatened. A few more bream showed Immediately and then, just by way of a change, I landed a nice little spotted ray to finish off the day.
We upped anchor, without a problem this time, at 1715 and bumped our way in at 9-10 knots with the cuddy fending off the worst of the spray.An exhilarating ride home but, It was a pleasant feeling to be motoring on the flat calm water once we'd finally reached the river mouth.

21/4/11 Undulation.....The Edge, Kingmere Spur Wreck.

Back out again today in the unseasonably fine weather and headed Immediately for the Edge where we soon picked up a few small hounds and bream and Andy added a couple of dogs, which I cleverly avoided, to the tally.
In general a few more fish came to the boat than yesterday but,highlight was me finally getting a double figure Undulate which I've managed to find for my crew on recent trips but have been unlucky enough not to connect with myself.Got it on the light rod with a size 4 bream hook but it gave no real trouble although it wasn't the prettiest Undulate that's been aboard.Andy added a dab and garfish for variety but meanwhile over on black ledge, Rusty was doing a little better with the bream.
The tide still gave us a bit of trouble as It increased in strength, although a few bream were still showing up,but we decided to relocate to the Kingmere Spur and drift with gills.Nothing really happened until we closed in on the wreck when we both seized a pollack each, and I managed to add a codling and mackerel both of which were previously spotted on the sounder.
No calamities today although I did manage to 'litter' the 'spur' with a home made dan buoy that simply didn't work and sunk never to be seen again-maybe it'll turn up-back to the drawing board on this one.

1100-1730  HW 1429 -6.0

20/4/11 BIG tide. Edge,Kingmere

HW- 1344 6.1m  fishing time   1130-1700

Took Rusty out with me today for his first outing on my boat and learnt a little about big tides.Forgive the pun.
WE started the day drifting on Nordens down at the spur wreck where I nicked a nice 3lb pollack which I wished I'd taken a pic of as It's colours were outstanding.Nothing much more happened so we relocated at the edge where I had sport with bream and rusty picked up small hounds and dogs.The big tide proved to be too much of a handful and we found it difficult to keep our baits down on the bottom and get any sort of bites.
After a while we decided to have another go at drifting and selected the mid reef near some pots- an area showing some big pinnacles, but apart from another pollack to my rod on a white sidewinder little else showed.
We finished up back at the Edge which produced another couple of bream to my rod including a 2 pounder taken for tea(see before and after pics), and a fine double figure Undulate to my crew.
A little less fish, and a bit more difficult than recent trips but still-good fishing.

15/4/11 Hectic Fishing..Frode, The Edge.

Favourable weather conditions allowed Andy and me another chance to get out in the boat today and we'd planned an early start at the slipway for just after 7-00am.Unfortunately,after launching, I struggled to start the engine and when it did eventually run, proceeded to cut out just as we were leaving the harbour entrance-not the best place to have a problem with your boat as expressed by the look on Andy's face when the motor died (priceless).
I did manage to get her running again but, decided to recover the boat , and return home to fix the problem with a full tool kit, which I assumed to be a blocked fuel line. Imagine my embarrassment when, on arriving back at the house, I found that I'd connected the fuel line the wrong way round after recently refuelling the tank. (What a Pillock!)Still, I won't be doing that again in a hurry so, lesson learnt.Drew put it down to a senior moment now that I've entered the 'saga' zone.........cheeky pup!
Anyway, back to the slip and we were on our way out again by 9-00 and heading to the Frode in an attempt to firstly, find the wreck, and drift over it with gills and jigs.I managed to catch a couple of garfish here, one actually taking the jig, but no bass,our target,were forthcoming.
We did however,stumble across a prominent feature, probably the wreck's boiler , but difficult to say as there is debris scattered over a wide area of the sea bed.The sounder showed a lot of fish on it's lee side but, although marking it as a waypoint on the gps(001), despite several attempts, we failed to find it a second time. It would be worth returning to this mark in the future with a dan buoy.
Next step in the plan was to head for the Kingmere and do a spot of bream fishing at anchor.So many boats, ten in total, were concentrated on the west of the reef, that it proved too much of a temptation not to join them,however as it was the first time I'd ever anchored with the grapnel,I was concerned about getting too cosy so we decided to keep to our own space and fish an area that appeared to be just off the reef on rough ground.I'm not sure where this 'tip' came from but, it would prove to be a wise move.
I needn't have worried about the grapnel as, having paid out the correct amount of line, she held fast in the now strongly ebbing tide.Bait was squid, in various portion sizes and,I opted to use a double pat rig with size 4 hooks on the 12/20 for the bream,a larger single hook running rig on the 20/30, and was soon into the bites......and the fish.What followed was some of the most hectic fishing I've ever experienced and some superb fish came to the boat.
I did well hitting the bream bites taking a good bag of fish including a couple of  two pounders and a pb of 2-14 and the odd mackerel and garfish also hit the rig on the way down. I also hit smoothounds to about 7lb, plenty of dogs, and tiny thornback and an equally tiny plaice.
Andy was 'king of the rays' taking two 11lb undulates(beautifully marked rays), nice thornback and I believe his first ever spotted ray.He also did well with the dogs and hounds with a highlight of a double figure hound on his spinning rod giving him a tremendous battle.
As the tide slackened the fishing slowed a little and I chose to feather up a few more mackerel for bait and food purposes. Back on the baits once the flood kicked in, and the bream seemed to be less common(possibly different ground make up) but sport continued with the dogs and hounds.
At times it was difficult looking after two rods each,and we rarely had a quiet moment for a coffee and a sarnie so by 5-30 , both of us being fair knackered(charter skippers must sleep well), we called a halt to proceedings and headed ashore with some of the 'fleet' as the tide gave enough depth at the river entrance for safe passage.It was very interesting to watch 'spirit' crawl slowly through the river mouth at a snail's pace, but the sounder revealed the reason why-only 4 to 5ft showing in places.
 I chose not to use the Alderney ring with the grapnel beacause of possible snagging but, it proved to be an easy weight to haul and not too difficult to dislodge. Depth of water ranged from 40-50ft.
We had prepared for quite low temperatures but in the afternoon the sun broke through and it actually became quite warm-enough to give us both quite a tan on our mugs.Sea state was 'mill pond ' calm, ruffling up a bit with a slight afternoon breeze.
We must have had a hundred fish to the boat and  nine different species and it was particularly interesting to see the division of species between us. I hammered the bream but fared less well on the rays which Andy's baits excelled at attracting.At the end of the day it's what comes to the boat that counts and I was extremely pleased with the results.
So a truly fantastic day's fishing, the best in fact that either of us had experienced on an Inshore boat and a nice contrast,species and methods wise, to last week's outing.Two very good trips and this little boat is proving to be a lot of fun.
Naturally the mark was noted on the plotter for a future visit and shall henceforth be known as 'The Edge'

HW 0942   5.2m

7/4/11 Drifting ...............Kingmere East

A few days ago Andy and me had a fruitless attempt to catch a bass from, quite nice surf, at the river mouth . To be fair, it's still a little early for this sort of caper.
The surf is no more, and warm calm days have been the nature of recent weather so it was time to get out in the boat and hunt bass.Apart from a couple of winter launches where, to be honest, I was just messing around learning to handle the boat and it's associated kit, this is the first 'proper' sea fishing trip that I've done having now had the tub parked on my drive for over six months. Hopefully, I'll build up my confidence over the summer and be able to extend my  'sea' season well into the winter months this year.
With a high water at 1400, we launched from the slip at about 1030 and headed out to the Kingmere reef, and in particular the 'bass drift' mark.Several boats were present when we arrived Including three rod and line commercials, and 'Spirit of Arun' all fishing artificials , and not an anchor rope in sight.
I was reluctant to get too close to the fleet, so we  decided to sit back and watch and choose our own spot.Heading for a group of 'working ' birds and starting on a 60g Norden pirk converted with a circle hook, I soon had a thump and the first bass to the boat- the tiddler of about a pound in the picture.Three more quickly followed to 3lb, plus a bonus pollack, and Andy's shad also produced a nice fish of around the same size.
As the tide slowed we decided to move to the 'Spur wreck' where we picked up a handful of pollack to three pounds, and a tiny,  but feisty codling all on white 115 redgills.
We finished the day joining up with the commercials,and taking our turn in a very organised and well mannered short drift taking a few more small bass.Moving a short distance away to do our own thing,a huge shoal of larger fish suddenly appeared at the surface and Andy watched one take his white gill right in front of our eyes. A really good fish of between 6-7lb (he actually forgot to weigh it)that gave him an epic scrap on his light spinning rod and new £13 'lidl reel' (bargain)and allowed me the chance to christen my new boat net.By the time we'd dealt with that bass the shoal had completely disappeared.
We called it a day shortly after at about 4-30 having had a terrific sun soaked session and taking a small bass each, from the dozen or so caught, for the pot.Had mine for tea baked with a knob of butter.
I couldn't help failing to notice that, both the commercials, and Spirit's crew, were kitted out with multi gill rigs probably weighted with a pirk, and were sometimes bagging up.It was interesting to see how the boats shadowed Spirit, and that when a shoal was located, how tightly packed both the fish and boats were.In the end we took advantage of this ourselves.
I enjoyed the drifting Immensely, and the GPS wasn't that difficult to get to grips enabling us to  accurately repeat drifts, even when we were on our own.So, a few more trips out like this wouldn't go amiss.
HW 1411  5.5m