Brighton Inshore Fishing - Catch report 28th September 2025

Today's tale really begins last evening. Having confirmed to all that tomorrows (todays...) sailings were all on, based on a great forecast for both wind and swell. I then proceeded to the garden, where under the cover of darkness, I set an inferno going in my burner dustbin thing, freshly purchased for the costly sum of £18 at B&Q, and proceeded to attempt to burn off a huge pile of moss and weeds that I have accumulated in my ongoing battle to get bowling green standard lawns at my house. Slight deviation, but the weeds wouldnt burn as they had too much mud on them. Turns out, mud is almost non-combustible. Perhaps if cladding were made of clay...?...

Part of the reason, was the lack of wind to blow through the holes on the bin, that really gets a fire started. Finally, reeking of bonfire, I abandoned and retired for a last cup of tea before bed. Almost finished with tea, when my hall door rattled. It only does that if there is a stiff gust of wind. It rattled again. I stuck my head out of the front door. And instantly set my alarm for 30 minutes earlier. A fair breeze hit my face.

On the alarm waking me, I headed down for a visual, after observing that the forecast now reflected this wind, suggesting it would drop around 10 am. I messaged all the crew that we would not be doing first sailing. The visual revealed a fair swell. So... We instead tried the 1100, but with two kids on board, plus two adults, when we met the mouth of the marina, where a very deep swell was happening, one of the poor mites burst into tears, so we wheeled around and back in. My operation is about fun, not endurance.

Even the 1500 sailing, with my very good friends Tony and Steve onboard, and soon to be very good friends South African Steve and French Adrien onboard, was into a deep swell. But this was now a much longer swell, which made it a lot more palatable. The fishing however, was pretty hard. No birds or baitfish to assist, which made things difficult. Indeed, just a single bass. We tried a cod spot, and Steve happily managed to nab what is just our 3rd one so far this season. Hunting around, no signs, inevitably we went down for squid on jigs. Which quickly bought us 4 mackerel... Happily also squid, but just 4. All very quiet. Hoping for better things tomorrow, on an excellent forecast both sea state and weather.