Best fish of very few on the day...

We promised you transparency through the catch reports on this blog. Today is a day I would prefer not to be writing about, from a results point of view. Not from a customer point of view though, as I had some of my favourites on board...

So, where did it all go wrong... My over enthusiasm for the first session... On Friday night I noticed the first shore caught codling from local beaches on Facebook. Sussex inshore coddies never did read the "Encyclopedia of Angling in the British Isles" (collins - 1982 I think) and so do not realise that they should not arrive until the depths of November. Instead they usually show in the last week of August. That one took advantage of the heavy weather to really scrape the edges, suggests to me there might already be some out on the reefs. That was plan A today, for the first three hour session, for which Steve and Stuart joined me.

Snag is, the fish werent as enthusiastic as the skipper. Fairly barren rocks out there at the moment, with very few fish marks. We did three of the bigger reef systems, for the grand total of two school bass, a scad and a mackerel. And then we were back in for the second session of the day (after a coffee and a stretch on dry land, obviously). At this point, Stuart left us, and was replaced by Ian.

Heading out, the forecast increase in wind was clearly happening. A few white horses were appearing. We fished West side of the marina, for perhaps an hour. PLenty of marks showing, many looking like bass (although sometimes the shoal habits of scad and bass can be quite indistinguishable). Zero takes. A quick pop East side, revelaed far less fish biomass, so we returned West side, with an ever building sea. Here, Ian finally managed a decent bass, perhaps around 3lb. Three other schoolies joined it. Another mackerel. But the wind continued to increase, and the waves built with the ebb now pushing against the Westerly air flow. We agreed to cut the session, after just two hours, and return to port.

Outlook for the rest of the week is actually very good indeed. Kind winds, good sized tides. I will focus on the bass tomorrow... First job, two very good fly anglers so I am quite excited to see what happens there.. watch this space...

FOOTNOTE - Boating is a seriously dangerous thing. Last night, there was a collision between two vessels just out from Shoreham. Four people in the water. One found alive, clinging to a buoy. One lifted from the water dead, which we witnessed from half a mile away. And two people still missing. Terrible times. But for those not in peril, it was reassuring to see the rescue effect. As well as coastguard helicopter, and several RNLI vessels, all of the transfer vessels from the windfarm came to help. Plus commercial fishermen from Shoreham. The coastguard at Solent had them all tracking up and down the channel in an extremely efficient manner. All flotsam found was picked out, and the location recorded to aid the search patterns. It doesnt seem there is much hope of finding the remaining two people, perhaps gone down with their vessel. I hope the outcome is more positive. I would like to say though, big respect to all the commercial fishermen, and skippers out there today putting in huge effect. Very comforting.