A shot from Brighton marina in 2006... sadly, I rarely hear of pollack tides just eleven years later...

Part of the reason I was so excited by Brighton when I first took a trip down, hoping to re-locate to a commuter friendly home, that wasn't alongside the Thames estuary, was the variety of fish that people were catching from the marina walls. And the marina was the first place I focused on when I took the plunge and moved. Something I discovered very quickly, was the best variety, and quite often the best sizes and numbers, was to be found in the first ten bays. And yet, everybody headed past these spots. Beyond the first ten bays, was clean ground. People did not wish to lose tackle. And so, they kept on moving.

Not unusual in 2005.... Again, rarely hear of them this size now from the marina, although it could be due to not so many people fishing float an prawn

By fishing in ways that meant the rough ground did not bite back, namely float and prawn, I had some amazing action. Something you dont see so much of now, is a pollack tide. Some days, you simply could not catch anything but small pollack. Other tides, there would be none, but good numbers and often good sized bass would be feeding. And as the tide slackened right back, the odd tidy wrasse would come out to play. It imprinted on me heavily the value of chalk ridges as a fish holding feature.

That undulate...

So, no real suprise when I began to poke around the inshore marks of Brighton from a floaty thing, when I found a similar relationship. Out on the clean ground, there were fish to be had. Certainly for plaice and turbot, the best of the fishing. But on the rocky heavy stuff, here were the predators. Bass and wrasse and pollack, just like on the marina. And also frequent migratory visitors. Shad are no stranger to our lures. Last year I had an undulate ray on an HTO Arctic eel. The mark I had that from is very typical of many of the marks we fish. A small underwater cliff with fissures. Fairly flat on the top, and scrubby rock on the deep (inshore) edge.

That Turbot...

This creates an amazing place for fish life. I also had a turbot last year, on a shad, as with the ray from the flat top of the rock. But as your lure trundles across the top, if fished well, you will be ready for when it then tumbles off the abyss. Well, up to ten feet of cliff face... As it tumbles down, here is when you might feel a couple of sharp taps followed by an often unstoppable screaming run... a grand daddy wrasse has intercepted your shad... From late August all the way through to the end of our season on January 31st, if the shad has avoided the bass and wrasse, then there is every possibility it will be intercepted by a coddie as you hop it through the scrub.

Cod are not infrequent visitors on our patch...

The cliff faces are on our further marks. But do not be suprised if we bring you out of the marina, and less than sixty seconds later you find yourself casting at the breaking surf of the beach. Rods are readied according to the previous trips findings before we head out, and often the bait and the bass are right up the edges. Sitting the boat in six feet of water, and casting inshore to cover four feet of water are not uncommon practices to get the best of the fishing.,And when in close, it is often fishing on surface lures. Some of the most exciting times you can have with a rod and reel.

We go where the fish are. Sometimes, that is very close indeed...

Every day is different. But with the experience of the last three years, we know what to look for to put you on the action. If we need to steam around for an hour before being confident enough to let you drop your lines, then that is what we will do. But you will still get the actual fishing time you booked for, with our unique system for providing you a transparent "actual fishing time" product. We hope this will appeal. I would point out it is more likely minutes before the fish are located. Brighton rock fishing, well, it rocks...

Sunset action on the fly... another not uncommon event...