The fishing mark on Hayling Island at the south eastern end is a beach leading to a deep tidal channel. Through here the vastness of Chichester Harbour is filled and emptied daily. It is really only fishable from low water up. When the tide ebbs away, the water rips through.

I had done a couple of sessions here in May already, after a spring bass. It seems it is still a little early. Currently the sea bed is carpeted with dog fish. On both sessions I caught one almost every cast. The doggies greedily snaffling squid and mackerel baits with gusto. No sooner did the bait settle on the sea bed and the dogs were on it.

My favourite rig for this mark is a two hook flapper with size 3/0 octopus hooks tied to fairly short snoods. These hooks are a good size to fit a nice sized bait on and seem to hook fairly consistently in the corner of the fish’s mouth.

This session was no different and I was up to 7 dogfish and counting. I wearily cast out again, set the drag and awaited the next dog fish. After about 10 minutes the rod tip twitched and then pulled down far more vigorously than previously. Could it be? I picked up the rod and slowly tightened the line. The rod tip bounced back and forth and I connected with the fish. The rod slammed right over and the fish took line. This was no dog fish! A lively tussle ensued and I loosened the drag a little to make it easier for the fish to take line. It put a fair bend in the rod as we fought back and forth. This was more like it! I slowly got her in and beached the fine lady.

What a fantastic catch! The biggest smooth hound I have caught from the shore. I didn’t weigh her, just unhook, quick photo then sent her on his way. Easily a double figure fish. Sometimes you have to go the the dogs and just fish through them.

After some recent fruitless sessions in locations that produced the goods last year I was left unfulfilled. Was the water temperature still too low, was the bait selection correct, were the tides optimal, did the air pressure matter? Whatever the answer was, the fish were simply not there taking the bait. Its never been simply the case of turning up at the waters edge, casting a line and then pulling fish after fish in, not in this current climate of over fishing our dwindling resources. So we use our knowledge and experience to try and gain a measure of success. To stack the cards in our favour.

I choose a local fishing mark inside Langstone Harbour. The harbour consists of mud flats and weed covered stones, perfect habitat for crabs. As the tide covers the crabs habitat, the bass follow, hunting these tasty treats. The mark I choose starts to get covered three hours after low water and the best fishing is during the hour or two afterwards. Any longer than this and the fish have moved on elsewhere.

Only light tackle is required using 3 oz weight and a simple running ledger. I have found success with both rag worm and lug worm baits. I don’t bother with peeler crab as it is often difficult to come by. Four or five worms lightly hooked through the head seems to do the trick.

A short cast of twenty to thirty yards into water between waist and knee deep and then wait. The fish make themselves apparent with their swirls and wakes as they cruise around rooting out the crabs. Its only a matter of time when one finds the juicy bunch of rag worm sat waiting to be eaten.

About 4 hours after low water, a bass found my bait, took it and the rod bent savagely. I sprang from my perch and tightened the line into the fish. It swam towards me at first, then when its nose got into the shallows turned about and swam away rapidly. I kept a fairly tight drag, it wasn’t a big fish by any means and the fight was over rather quickly.

50cm and my first of 2021.

I fished on for another hour and caught 3 tiny bass that replace the decent fish that have moved on. When this occurs, its time to go home. Its a good start and I am sure better fish will follow.

Spring is in the air.

At this time of year Black Bream head inshore to spawn. A great chance to catch some decent sized specimens before their smaller brethren reach plague proportions as the summer develops.

I took a trip out of Selsea aboard the Emma Jayne, crewed by Colin and Becky. Joining us were some other lads in the area on holiday. A 30 minute steam took us to the grounds and down the anchor went.

The action was slow at first, my first catch was a dogfish. The tide was running well and about twenty minutes later the action began with a nice bream.

Tactics were a 3 hook flapper and size 2 hooks, loaded with small strips of squid. The weight being occasionally bounced off the bottom to give some movement to the baits seemed to be a winning tactic. A steady stream of fish started to come aboard. Some congers also joined us, everyone got into the fish.

What a great session. I caught 14, kept a couple for eating and returned the rest. Now its about time to make an effort with some shore fishing. The bass are there for the taking and I’ve still yet to get a double figure fish.

In the last week of September, I watched the weather closely. Decent tide times (towards the start and the end of the day) were coinciding with some lovely low air pressures. The bass were certain to be feeding and I had the bait to oblige them.

Frozen or fresh mackerel chunk on a circle hook was doing the business. I had some earlier success with squid at this mark but found that the squid attracted lots of smaller fishes attention.

The first high tide was on Wednesday afternoon around 430pm. You can fish the last hour of the flood and the first two hours of the ebb. After that the current is too strong to hold bottom mid-channel and your tackle usually gets washed into snags. The sea was quite rough and turbulent and things were looking promising.

I set two rods up baited as per the picture above on running ledger rigs with 4oz weights. Its a waiting and guessing game once the baits hit the water on how long to leave the baits out. This depends on if the crabs find them and if they also get ripped apart by smaller fish. I found that 30-40 mins usually is the max. Its usually a clean hook after that amount of time. About an hour into the ebb, my rod tip twitched and at first it looked like a small nuisance fish was attacking the bait. Then the tip bent over and line was pulled from the spool, fish on! With circle hooks, the fish almost always hook themselves. I reeled in the slack and began a tussle with what felt like a decent fish. It ran a bit so I gave it line, then applied the pressure and got it into the net. A lovely six and half pounder. My biggest this year and the biggest from this mark. Very happy indeed!

No more fish on that day and I packed up, ready to hit the mark again tomorrow.

The next day high water was around 530pm. The air pressure had dropped some more and rain showers came and went. The sea wasn’t quite as rough but it still had some nice movement to it. I set up exactly as the day before and sent the baits out and waited for the action. Around high water I had a terrific pull down on one of the rods, fish certainly on! As I was reeling this one in, I noticed my other rod bend also and line was being pulled from the spool. Checking there was no danger of the rod being pulled in, I got the first fish ashore.

A nice four pounder.

With that dealt with, I reeled in the line that had paid out and made contact with the second fish. This put up a spirited fight as it made it’s way into the net.

A nice 3 pounder.

There must have been a shoal swimming by. Things went quiet for a bit then I got a lively take. Once I started reeling in I could feel it was a smaller fish, but welcome nonetheless.

About 30cm and it looked like the bait would be a bit of a mouthful for this chap!

It was a great fishing session. Especially as it would be the last one for a few weeks due to work commitments. I’m hoping there will still be some fish around when I get back.

Early in the morning I took a trip to Chesil beach.  This was to check it out in advance of a proper fishing session. I chose Abbotsbury for my recce and fished sun-up until 10am.

Some good lessons learned (distance casting & streamlining baits practice required) and a couple of fish caught including a small codling.  The weather was calm but getting windier as the day wore on.

Late afternoon back home, the wind increased and there was a perceptible drop in air pressure.  I immediately gathered my gear and some bait from the freezer then headed down to Old Portsmouth.  High water coincided with dusk and it just felt like now was the time to fish.

I set up two rods, one with a running ledger and the other a pulley rig, both armed with 5/0 circle hooks.  4oz weights were enough to hold the baits in place, with a little rolling around to cover some ground.  The last of the flood was when most action occurred.

First fish was the biggest,  58cm, falling to a mackerel chunk.

Next was an 80cm conger eel quickly followed by a 30cm bass, again on mackerel chunk. It seemed as soon as I cast out a bait, a fish found it pretty soon after. No long periods of inactivity that has become the norm lately.  Next was another spritely 30cm fish this time on squid. Then a 40cm fish to finish, again on squid.

It was a hectic, short and highly enjoyable session.  The  weather made all the difference.

With mackerel in abundance off Portsmouth and Hayling Island these past few days, I went for a dawn high water session down in Portsmouth. First order of business was to catch some mackerel. After lots of fruitless trips to Hayling Island in June, catching the odd one, this was a real treat. At times it was fish a cast as soon as the feathers hit the water. I caught enough for the bait freezer and then set about seeing if there were any bass about.

Using a pulley rig and a 5/0 circle hook, I used smaller sized mackerel as live bait, catching to order really, whenever I needed to change the bait. About an hour into the ebb, the rod sat there, the rod tip motionless. I continued feathering to get a few more for the freezer and a couple I promised to the neighbours. Suddenly the rod tip bent over and line started being taken from the reel, fish on! Quite a savage take.

I grabbed the rod, tightened the drag and reeled into the fish. It thumped away and felt not massive, but decent enough. A lad near me offered to help with the net and I gingerly got the fish ashore. Into the net he went.

My first bass on a live bait, it weighed 4lbs.  Once I got home I knocked on my neighbour’s door and gave them a couple of fresh mackerel.  Kevin’s face said it all, very happy.  I got a couple of nice fillets off the bass.

Then decided on how to cook it.  I’ve tried baking, frying, steaming etc.  This time I went for something quick and very tasty. I cut the fish into chunks and fried them in batter.  I added some potatoes from my garden to compliment. Very nice and thanks to the fish gods for providing.

The quest for the double figure bass continues…..

We arrived one hour into the flood. 500m offshore, a vast shoal of mackerel kept the sea gulls entertained, whilst staying annoyingly out of casting range. I willed them to come closer but they would not oblige.

I started with a 3 hook flapper armed with small hooks on one rod, using squid strips as bait. It was a bit of a scratching rig. On the other rod I cast out a bigger bait, alternating between mackerel and bluey. Something was nibbling at the squid strips but not getting hooked. So I changed up the rig for one with bigger hooks and added bigger squid chunks.. The bluey/mackerel baits were coming back unmolested.

We both settled into an uneventful, though pleasant fishing session as the sun went down, with a nice view of the eastern Solent in front of us. Eventually the mackerel shoals dispersed and the wind dropped off. Haslar wall is a comfortable mark to fish from, even though the days of fishing out of your car are no longer possible.

I’d just poured some tea from my flask when I noticed the flapper rod twitch suddenly and then bend right over, fish on! I reeled up the slack and something thumped back on the end. It felt quite decent. I called for Nige to get the net then walked down the wall, reeling up as I went. It felt heavy and thumped a bit, so I initially thought it was a bass. It went on a couple of short runs as I bought it into the wall. The fish came into view and it was a smooth hound tangled up in my trace. No wonder it didn’t go off on any scorching runs. Nige prematurely announced that I had foul hooked it, but I could see it had taken the top hook and then wrapped itself in the remaining two. The tide hadn’t quite reached the top of the ledge at the bottom of the wall, so I timed a wave when the water breached the ledge and got the fish over it. As it was flapping about, my braid parted so I quickly grabbed it and got it away from the water.

After being untangled it swam off strongly. Later as the darkness enveloped us, we both had some bites but no more fish. Something chomped on a mackerel chunk, but this time the circle hook didn’t do its job. You win some, you lose some.

 

This morning high water slack coincided with sunrise, so it was a good reason to get up early. I rummaged around my freezer at 4am and fished out a ropey frozen mackerel I caught a year ago and also grabbed a couple of small blueys and made the drive into Portsmouth.

I’ve found that if the fish are there, they aren’t too fussy on bait quality and presentation. I cut a chunk out of the mackerel, fitted it to a 5/0 circle hook on a running ledger rig and cast it out about 40 yards. Whilst it settled on the seabed and started defrosting, I set up another rod with some feathers to see if there were any mackerel or scad about and on the second cast, the bait rod tip nodded twice then started being pulled seawards.

Quickly placing down the now cast out feathers rod, I grabbed the bait rod and wound into the fish. It kicked back nicely and a modest fight began. As the fish approached me I saw that it was barely hooked and gingerly got it ashore. a nice flash of silver and white confirmed it was a chunky looking bass and a big smile broke on my face. Not a big fish by any means, 3lbs but on the first cast and with the old mackerel chunk, the gods were smiling on me.

I carried on fishing for another hour and caught a bonus dog fish, they never disappoint, and then drove home. I am happy that the end of lock down fishing opportunities have gotten off to a good start.

First session since the lock down saw me dusting off my rods and heading down to Hayling for a quick session. I decided to have a go with feathers in the channel between Hayling and Eastney, as a few days earlier I saw a lot of birds diving and small fish activity on the surface mid channel.

Nothing showing today but I managed to avoid the inaugural blank by foul hooking a small mullet! Hardly sporting but it fought well for its size and I thought I had a mackerel or two on for a second!

Nice to get things started!

It’s been a while since I had any time or enthusiasm for fishing. After the trip to Norway in May, coming back to the UK and reading about the huge commercial trawlers hoovering up the fish stocks made me question what was the point anymore? But I always kept the spark alive, seeing others getting out and having good catches or simply reporting blanks but still having a go, motivated me.

So last week I hit a Langstone Harbour mark and went back to basics. Starting from low water I fished the slowly flooding weed laced mud flats with big bunches of ragworm on a 4/0 hook. At times this tactic can work for decent bass in the 3 to 6lb range if the smaller schoolies aren’t around and stripping the baits. They were none to be seen this time and it seemed even the crabs were having a day off. Things were looking promising. About an hour into the flood my line went slack. I slowly reeled in and could feel something thumping on the other end. As I reeled in it fought back then dropped the bait. I wasn’t too disappointed, it was early days and there were some decent fish about.

The tide forced me to move to another spot and I waited again for a passing fish. This particular mark has opportunities for the first 3 hours of the flood then it is unlikely to catch anything as the fish have moved on somewhere else in the harbour. At the two and a half hour point my rod tip bent right over and was almost pulled out of its rest. I wound into the fish and it was hooked alright. It didn’t feel massive and I carefully played it in. It was a nice plump 3 pounder.

All those doom and gloom feelings and the memories of disappointing blanks simply vanished and it brought a huge smile to my face. I needed that. Now to get out more, make more of an effort, those fish aren’t going to catch themselves!