Brighton Inshore Fishing

Another report of hardship. with signs of recovery creeping in towards the end of the 3rd sailing. Bait fish still vanished and pretty much everything vanished with them. 1st 2 sailings producing very little. A few small bass. A wrasse. But not the standard we hunt for. 3rd sailing, I managed to postpone a father and son, as an 8 year old must catch. This left me with Aiden, never fished before, and Danielle, not fished for 3 years And finally, some shoals of Brit were mark

Two sailings today, with the wind stealing the afternoon one, but the bait fish are still missing, and the fishing has become even harder. First sailing, Richard, David, and new to BIF1 Alexa and her boyfriend (birthday boy as well) Aron. And what a shame they chose a day with such terrible fishing. Just 4 small bass in 3 hours. Not good Next up, 2 father and sons. Peter and Leo, returning for many years now, and new to BIF1 , Michael and his son...Michael. Now youngsters hav

Just the one, evening sailing, due to wind removing all the earlier ones. Joining me Richard (that Richard), and Like, returning. and Luke had dragged along a couple of associates, Mark and Lawrence. A good start, with a shoal of smalls at the mouth of the marina meaning the technique teaching was proven with some fish. But after that, not so easy All those shoals of Brit, suddenly missing. And possibly, the bass have followed it. It took almost of effort to bump the total t

JP and Billy returning, Lee and his lad Ralph new to BIF1, and off out to yet more dreamy flat seas. And immediately (and as it turned out thankfully) into a flock of seagulls. Not the rock group that came from Canvey Island, but the real deal. Feathers and everything. Why are they important? Well, there are brit shoals everywhere just now. Football field sized shoals of everything that has hatched just recently swimming around eating the decaying may bloom. It all ties in an

First sailing and a family affair. Peter and his brother David (David being new to fishing) with the whole boat for plenty of space for his tuition. Not that he needed it as he was a good listener and fairly nailed what was required pretty quickly. To the point he had 3 fish before Peter got into gear. Fish everywhere but hard to temp as they are very preoccupied with tiny stuff. Fly rod would actually be the most productive method just now. As a result just 7 landed, 2 taken

kind of similar to yesterday's first session. but with zero table fish. less gulls around meant less Brit and sandeel, but we quite quickly found (by hearing) a particularly raucous flock. Fish showing on the surface but I declined requests for surface lures due to said gulls. With me Cameron, Charlie and Ian. lots of fun, but after 35 smalls we went prospecting for something bigger. a cuttlefish went home with Cameron, plus two mackerel made the total BBQ content of first sa

A cracking first sailing. Reports from friends fishing ashore down towards Shoreham of birds everywhere, but we only got as far as the pier where Heldar, Milan, Saaron and Liam pulled the bulk of the 58 bass landed. maximum kill. For the last hour we left the shoal to vessels exiting the marina to look for a trophy fish in the rocks. More sub 3lb fish but none of the 60 pluses we were after. Still, happy faces with the fresh bass needed for afternoon BBQs in perfect weather.

First sailing, out with David, Andy and Liam, and Liam had bought along his friend and business associate David, to kill 2 birds with one stone. Mixing fishing with strategy meetings is highly recommended. Forewarned about the mass of sandeels down west, it didnt take long before the gulls pointed out where the fishes were, and they most certainly were. Mackerel in among the bass, but typical sandeel chasing shoals. Mostly sub 42cm fish, with just four out of thirty five land

Once again only the super early start surviving the weather forecast, as from mid morning, stiff SW breezes are due to ruin the day. With me Dean, Ian and Mark, all returnee's, and Cezar, come to check out the fishyrob operation for the first time. And almost yet another catastrophe as up until the last 30 minutes, the total was one small bass and a pouting. But knowing what I know about what is happening in the rocks at the moment, it wasnt good enough. For the last 30 minut

Just the one sailing this morning, due to... well, Im not sure. Weather forecast was great for all day. Fish numbers are climbing. Im guessing the general gloom and doom in the economy means people may be hanging onto their hard earned cash. I dont blame them really. And fishing is perhaps one of the easiest luxuries to be cut down upon. Although it is more a therapy for many, myself included, and happily, also for Sam, Nick, Jamie and Ted. Numbers up once again. 14 fish land

One of the many advantages of having an insomniac character inside this aged structure, is that I sail very early at this time of year. And on days such as this one, it pays off by being able to just squeeze in a sailing before a stiff SW wind arrives to take away the rest of the day. And happily, insomnia is a common disease in East Sussex, as joining me were father and son Nick and Jake, plus Dean and Ted, all returnee's. Thanks to the birds bringing us tight to the edges w

First sailing, and possibly as a result of sailings not being very good lately just two lambs for some slaughtering. Slaughtering time with boredom as bass fishing without bass is very tedious. Not quite so poor this time for John and Simon. We did encounter some shoals of small fish, with five landed but, none killed. Still hard going. Next up, Kaz, Tim and Luke. All returnee's. All met my glum looks and my customer expectations management consisted of "Well, its a nice day.

Tiny tides and absent baitfish saw an eventual 4 hour session with 4 rods return a grand total of a single cuttle, a single mackerel, a single small bass and a single bream. Hard going, continues to be the theme. Change is imminent, as I see everything dropping into place, but at the moment it is better to be the client who is happy to be out afloat and breathing sea air, than the client who's expectant family is already prepping the bbq coals....

Not so much to report really. No changes since yesterday. Still running around a lot and only finding very few small shoals of fish. A big difference to the beginning of the season. Clarity is up to 30 feet viz so cant blame it on rot. Not so much baitfish around today. Across 2 sailings, just 6 bass, plus bonus big pout. Just 2 killed. Not great. Hoping for better things tomorrow. But it is hope. Not certainty.

I always feel a bit sorry for clients booking in with me after I have been away from the bass for a while. At this time of year, so much is going on from a food related perspective that a few days with them is needed to get ahead of the game. My two weeks in Portugal left me stabbing in the dark. All I could really do with the first sailing is get around as many marks as possible and see what I could find. Except the stiff NNE wind meant that antthing more than a mile offshor

Travelled back to the UK from a fly fishing with friends / relaxing with friends fortnight in Portugal, to what on paper was ideal conditions for catching cuttlefish. A dieing tide, and forecast zero winds. Except of course for the most of it we had an unpredicted stiff NE wind, which effectively made us race along on the tide at nearly a knot. Less good for cuttle, and perhaps why we only managed six. But boy, they were, all bar one, big bad bulls. A great evening with great

The difference 22.5 degrees can make... That is, on a compass. Because the NE wind we started the day with, gave rise to a really nice session. David, Andy and John enjoying 12 bass landed. Max kill (6) and other tables released. Mackerel, and I nailed another tidy tub gurnard. Then we finished, and headed in for breakfast. 45 minutes later, Matt, Ian, Paul Steve and I emerged into a different world. White caps, and a short chop. The wind now had decided it was happier being

Another day where the forecast and the actual wind, were alien to each other. The light NNE we had all been promised, in fact remained a fairly stiff at time NNW. This made for tough going, and the seas were far less bass filled than yesterday. First trip out, Lee, Stuart, Phil and Lindsey were, I though, unlucky to get just 5 bass on board. But that was before the 2nd trip, where Tim, Jake, Nick and Andrew were truly unlucky for just a single small bass and a tidy gurnard. S

J ust 1.3 sailings today, due to an inaccurate weather forecast. Out with me for the first sailing, where the wind really did do as it was told, Matt, Peter, Charlie and Ted. This one we held on for the full 3 hours, although actually it was pretty calm for all of it, with the breeze that would later become an issue only increasing right at the end. Finding the fish was the harder thing. I took the first hour to poke around, and then settled on the fishiest area I found for

Two sailings today, and further observations of change... Out with me for first sailing, David, Ted and Matt. The change was obvious from the first moment my transponder touched the water as BIF1 backed off her dry dock. Fish food. Lots of it. Various types as well, examining the shoals in detail on the HDS7live. Things have been hatching. Lots of things. Same story as we exited the marina... Bass food... everywhere... In fact, today it was rare to look down at the sounder,