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Writer's pictureRobin Howard

Brighton Inshore Fishing - Catch report 1st December 2022



Another two sailing, full boat day. Much needed after such a long wind interruption. So rude that wind. And very expensive this year. First sailing, Mark, David, Sam and Pat were first up, and into a very chilly breeze as well, I must say. I had one spot in mind, and it wasn't very pleasant as it was a little offshore. Nothing especially big about the sea, just very cold indeed.



Lure control was quite straightforward, and some nice keepers were among the dozen fish boated. Got ya... Of course, no bass were killed, as today is the first day of the closed season for anglers. No more killing of bass until 1st March. So of course, they were released. For the conditions, and on a short tide, I wasn't unhappy with that. A bounce through for a cod came up blank, other than whiting.



2nd sailing, Mark remained, and Nick, Martin and Phil made up the remainder of the crew. Nick and his guys that are regular out with me have suffered more than most this year, also falling foul of my fuel pump problem earlier in the season, as well as many, many wind cancelled bookings. And finally, we were out. "Something will break" someone quipped. "Nope. We've sailed once already. Boat is running lovely" I replied.



Except... I couldn't get my C-Maps reveal maps to load. And I suddenly realised just how much I had come to rely on the relief shading. I felt lost. I had to mentally flip back to working from contour lines and reading the sounder for the bottom consistencies. I realised also how much I had lost the required skills. And then, a shoal of bass appeared on the screen...



The first shoal we encountered Nick scored just one. But at least we were off the mark. Then I tried to position the boat on one of my regular spots. It seemed to work. The screen lit up with bait being chased by bass. The first two drifts on this spot were great, with the tally up to 18 bass boated, plus some whiting which were clearly on the menu here. Yet, the maps were bugging me. It occurred to me to try swapping the micro sd slot. BANG. Nope, it didn't blow up. Instead the relief shading loaded as if there were never any issues.



Happy for that. except... We were nowhere near where I had intended. We had really hit lucky, as I would usually have not set up to drift that area. Thats changing from now on for sure. Especially as when I fished the area I usually fish, it was barren. Onwards. One more from the next reef to bring the count to nineteen, when I floated the idea of squid and cod. Four out of four said yes, and the last 30 minutes was on a cod drift.



No squid, although my friend Ben had one yesterday, and conditions remain not good for them at all the squid marks from a viz and possibly freshwater perspective. And no cod either, as the alarm sounded end of session. Yet, we had not made the end of the drift, and we carried on for another ten minutes. During which time both Martin and myself found one apiece. Nice chunky ones, those sub 2lb fish are already 3lb in the three months they have been hanging out with us. Amazing. Still scope for recovery.



Yesterday, I predicted today would be 100 percent better again. 31 bass inshore, in December shows how it goes. four rods, six hours of fishing. And today, I noticed the bait balls scooting around looking for each other. If it wasn't for the wind ruining it for the next seven days or so, the fishing would just get better and better. Lets see what we actually get. However, the direction of the wind, and the behaviour of said bait balls in that wind direction, suggests to me that all of you shore lure anglers that have oiled each lure, and packed the reels away in a cozy bed fully service, may have jumped the gun a bit. With building tides, there is some potential for some stunning shingle session yet.


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