Just the one sailing which was aimed at the tiniest of wind windows. With short tides and green seas, it was unlikely to be amazing either, but Nick, Andrew. Bob and Duncan, and me of course, were happy just to be actually going fishing. Tried a couple of spots, but it was back to the rock worm area for the first of very little action. We did get a few bangs here, and Duncan landed a very nice one to lift everyones spirits. But then a long time with just a big pouting and a few "on - off's" before we made a move and found the next bass, a small to Nick. Bob did have a very good fish on for a minute before it too bounced off. Indicative of half hearted feeding. Then the stiff SW wind, forecast to arrive an hour after we should have finished decided to arrive early. We toughed it out and tried some different spots, but it became too much to fish effectively, and we retired half an hour early.

Finally the wind dropped back enough to allow just two sailings. Although, as I have mentioned before, this year I was determined not to allow the wind to beat me, and as such I am now scheduling shore fishing, both bait and lure, all bass oriented other than mullet on fly, for those windy days. Boat will always take priority, but with sailings thus far averaging about one a month since December, bills have to be paid. All communications and reports are done from a whatsapp group I administer so if this floats your boat at all, drop me a text to 07970 112774 and I will add you to the group. Results last week were pretty good, including a new client best fish on baits, at 14.5lb (83cm of fat, roed up silver). On to today, where for first sailing it was my pleasure to welcome aboard the captor of said 14,5lb bass, Lee, plus regular Bruno, and appearing more and more often Steve. Having not sailed for an age, and with an ebbing tide and quite green water, worse in close, and factoring in that we saw a rock worm swimming last time we were out, after a brief drift without result on one spot, I headed to the rock worm area. These are an often overlooked part of a bass's life in our parts, and I can understand why. They are tiny. But those with eyes wide open will have seen them. And at this time of year, they begin to mass for spawning. Bass know this and are keen. The strategy appeared to work. Not lots of fish, but bass. And of the seven landed, four were for the table which was perfect, as Lee actually doesnt eat fish so much. Certainly not on fire, but definitely a result, as without having been out much, I am a long way from being on the pulse. Second and final sailing, it was my pleasure to welcome new to BIF1 Fergus and his son Emile (DO NOT READ THAT AS EMILY... he really didn't like that... ;) ) , a returnee escaping from a fairly new born nipper, Callum, and, amazingly, co-founder of Brighton Inshore Fishing Bruce Dickinson was in town, a long way from his residence now in the Shetland Islands, making sure nobody had nicked his latest music college, WATERBEAR. He made up the numbers. My plan was to do an hour on the plaice with the slow jig / Isome routine. This would give Fergus and Emile a chance to get their sea legs, and land a few fish, as well as get a feel for the tackle. It was a great plan, of which all of it went well. Other than the plaice. I suspect the green tumbling along the bottom may be thicker than what we see on the top. So, despite the strong flooding tide being assisted by a SW breeze, already strengthening, I headed back to the rock worm spot. Happily, we hadn't got there. "What are all those birds doing?" queried Emile. I followed his gaze to see an awesome smash up happening. Thank goodness for young eyes. I got uptide of it all, and we commenced with Mighty Minnows. Fish from the off. Brilliant fun in fact, especially for those for whom these were their first bass. We got to 19 bass landed before we lost the shoal. All returned. And then the wind, ever increasing, was putting the boat at nearly 2 knots. Too much like hard work, and with ever increasing swells, we canned the session an hour short and headed for home. So nice to be a skipper again. But, with also wanting to do more shore work, I now head not for the bath, but for the river, to show my whatsapp group what they might catch if they cross my palm with silver. This broken climate will NOT defeat me. Happy Lee...

So, here we are. Easter weekend, and Neptune decides to allow us to sail. Not all weekend. Just today. Just as a little tease. And today was dire, and today was awesome. Quite a day. But, I guess you know it is going to be an interesting day, when as you emerge from your home, the fox sitting on the neighbours roof gives you a casual glance, before returning to staring towards the direction of the soon to be rising sun. Undressing BIF1, I really noticed how little care of her cosmetically I have taken. A lot of winter algae stains, which I will go sort this coming week. But she fired up beautifully, and seemed eager to play. Max, Stuart and Scott were all waiting at the allotted time, and soon we were heading out into a slight swell, but mirror calm surface, strewn with lots of debris from this last storm. Quite soon after clearing the marina entrance, Max spotted a pair of harbour porpoise. It was nice to see, and a small consolation for the colour of the sea. Neptune was really releasing all his defences today, starting with the interesting combination of may rot and river water. Imagine tea with milk, and a dash of lime. Something like that. Viz for the first sailing was at best two feet. It was not looking good. I headed for one of my favourite early season spots over slack tide, which was really most of this session. And here, we met more defenders of the fishes. Well, not really defenders of the fishes, but fishing is rarely good when competing with two adult and two teenage bottle nosed dolphins for the fishes attention. The dolphins tend to win. At first they were at distance, but when the tide turned they came to have a look at us. I even got a downscan image of one. Amazing. As for the fishing... Max had the biggest of 2 bass, the other one of which fell to my rod, but other than that, quite predictably in the coloured water, it was whiting and pouting giving the tugs. I did bump something quite solid. Hesitant to call cod, but not impossible. However, with dogfish hitting lures and also feeling very solid these days, I leave my mind open to the possibilities. 2nd sailing, and it was my pleasure to welcome aboard Abdumalik for his first ever fishing experience, plus regulars Lee and Mike. Lee and Mike of course realised the fishing was likely to be poor, but Abdul... first time out... It could go wrong... With us heading out on the strongest part of the flood tide, and plenty of movement, I elected to try the slow jig / isome routines a try. In part, its a great way to feel things like touch down from your lure, when you havent handled a rod before. And happily, quite soon, he had his first ever fish. A whiting hitting the HTO Frolic. But the plaice that we were really hunting, simply refused to play in the mucky water. Lee did have a beautiful grey gurnard, and other tings were landed, just nothing flat. With the tide slackening off, we headed out a bit further, and found much cleaner water. Clean, but with tiny green particles clearly present. May rot commeth. Here, we were rewarded with very little at all sadly. Lee managed the first mackerel of the year aboard BIF1, but that was it really. And yet, as if to salvage the session, those dolphins returned, much closer to the boat, to give us a great little display. Pretty special. And with warmth on the skin, and still quite calm seas, the poor fishing really didn't bother the guys. There were big smiles jumping of BIF1 on her return to dock. And that's all folks, for perhaps ten days or more, with BIF1, looking at the forecasts of what is about to come upon us. I am available for shore work on baits during this time, with bass eating season starting this coming Monday. Full liability insurance (guides and ghillies policy) Criminal checks etc etc. Max 2 rods. Shore work on lures... still not on the menu at the moment. Always hunting...

That's me back from warmer climes. A very enjoyable break from UK winter, both Portugal and Fuerteventura lived up to their expectations, with challenging but incredibly enjoyable fishing, underpinned by that thing we cannot get in the Winter in the UK. Heat... If you wish to join me in Portugal 2025, I have February 5th to 28th still available. Lure fishing for bass, spotted bass, large mouthed black bass, zander, barbel, and if you enjoy flicking the fluff, carp. Plus the best gastronomy in the world and still mostly very good value indeed. Back to the UK and other than one minor issue dismissed by my engineer yesterday, BIF1 is back available for inshore lure and fly fun. Today was just a little poke about. I havent sailed since December the 6th, and as you can imagine, the fish all need finding again. Good intel from further east already sets this year out as a "normal" year. Bass are mostly offshore spawning on their favourite spawning places, and incredibly, they are spawning right now, during the actual closed season. Last year they appeared to spawn in May and June, which meant the big spawning aggregations made themselves suckers to commercial and charter anglers lines. This year, hopefully the spawn will all be planted and the fish scattered before the 1st April open season begins. Although my priority today was to check out my coddie spots, a bass did come and get caught, complete with electric blue fins, which tells me it was most likely recently spawning and now returned to the edges for a feed up. Coddies did ignore me although I did think I connected with one for a while. But instead of something pretty emerging from the depths, it was something pretty horrific. Lesser Spotted Dogfish are more and more showing an interest in the lures on our patch here. It brings the question... Is ANY port truly ok in a storm...? 4 small harbour porpoise also came to welcome BIF1 back into the water. Looking like wind messing for the next week or so. I am available for shore sessions in those winds though, so if you must have your fishy fix please do drop me a line. As always, as message to 07970 112774 gets things happening. And please do check out the availability ticker on the home page here, if you wish to book at trip before the end of March. April to December can also be booked btw. The ticker is simply about highlighting short notice availability.

A month in warmer climes... V-log style.

On learning where the commercials are finding good bass shoals, and with the results dropping down to zero bass today, I take it all back. It does rather look like bass are behaving more like five years or so ago, and have vacated the inshore region. It could still be down to rainwater, as our river shot up again to flood levels two nights ago. Or it could be the bass shoals migrating westwards, which last year did not seem to happen until the end of January. Time, as always, will tell. Fish were caught however. 7 rods across six hours of fishing made for five wrasse and double figures of small whiting. A lot of marks inaccesible due to nets today as well which didn't help. I shouldn't imagine those nets got much as I was marking very few fish anyhow, so likely they will be elsewhere when it is sailing time again. Highlight of both trips, was a pair of harbour porpoise working the herring shoals. A week off now, fishing of course. A wedding gift for a very lovely couple. They want a stingray. That should be on the first cast. Perhaps we can also squeeze in some bonito and white trevally on lures as well.

I think the thing that mostly impressed us all today, across two sailings, was the "brrr" factor. First sailing, I had bass hardcore duo (that sounds like a lure...) Scott and Stewart. Only bass would satisfy these guys. So, only one guy was satisfied after hunting my entire range. Yep, Scott had a bass, and that schoolie was the only bass of the session. Stewart did have a nice wrasse as compensation, and we all had a few small whiting. Not the best session of the year for sure. And a complete shock after recent good numbers of bass being boated. Second sailing, I welcomed aboard George, Ben, Nigel and Val. And for this sailing I was determined to see rods bending. Neptune was behind the plan. I opted for some rock in deeper water, mostly hoping for wrasse. And we did manage to land 7 wrasse, including a cracker for Val. But we also managed to boat, quite by chance, thirteen bass, although all smalls. 7 jumbo pouting made Val happy as he is a man who appreciates them for tea. And a single gurnard for a bit of variety. Had we herring feathers on board, I think we would have had 2 thousand silver darlings also on that session, with drift long shoals of fish abundant for the 2nd half. Apologies for few pictures. It was not weather for de-gloving if it could be helped. It also seems that will be the last sailings until the 16th December if wind allows, as wind looks like it has ruined this coming week, and as long as the plane is allowed to depart, I am having a weeks break in foreign climes 8th to 15th December. Fingers crossed for calm winds after that, as I still do not feel it is over. Just an off day, and we get those even in July.

You wont believe this. Two sailings today. I sh*t you not. Neptune must have been distracted. Light winds for the first sailing, pretty much zero wind for the second sailing, meant I could go wherever I felt. And I felt like going back to where all those fishes are living at the moment. First sailing, James, Max, Mark and David were on board. Quite chilly, unless there is lots of action. Happily, on the 3rd stop, there was lots of action. And the sun eventually got free of the clouds, which helped. Sizes were again on the disappointing side. And yet, the activity was frequent and fun. I would say that, despite just two being table fish, everyone enjoyed the session. One other interesting thing during these three hours. I tried a bit of ground I haven't fished for quite a while. And we picked no less than five wrasse off of it. Wrasse are bold, hard fighting and beautiful, with hardly any spikey bits. Come February, when we are pleased just to get a tap on latex, this ground will be getting further attention. Second sailing and it was my pleasure to welcome aboard Paul, Alex, Michael and Peter. Off we headed, and the fish were still there. Michael, with my permission and choreography (what he was about to do can majorly impact the other anglers on the boat due to the side slipping nature of the lure) and fishing for the pot, worked a pink jig with a set of herring feathers above. The bass tally thirty two, with three killed. It took a bit longer to get on the fish, and the fish were quite flighty, which isn't surprising I guess. But with patience and plenty of stealth going around the drift, we picked away. Michaels rig was not filling up with strings of bass, which I had quite feared. But it was bringing in what the bass were feeding on, with joey mackerel and herring to good sizes. And also what I think is a boat first. A Poor Cod. Very interesting I thought, and if we have foodies on board, I will allow limited feathering. But with a lead, to avoid the side sliding. So it would be a bit of a choice, bass or pelagics... I will leave you with that thought. Looking like a couple of days robbed by a stiff Northerly, but the weekend looking good (sold out though) as currently, does the first half of next week, which still has plenty of spaces. Check out the availability on the home page of this site. Scroll down when you get there.

Not quite the light NNW winds that we were promised, but we pushed out anyhow. On board, regulars Paul. Jon, Kas, and, brand new to fishing, Kas's friend and colleague, Mahmood. Quite chilly, as predicted and we were happy for the sun while it lasted. Fishing wise, not quite as many as last time and sizes were down, but still tugs a plenty. Final tally was thirty five bass landed, plus whiting and pouting by-catch, but just three bass killed from that tally, a reflection of the sizes available to us today. Most importantly, Mahmood caught his first ever fishes, and when asked on exiting the boat, if he had enjoyed the experience he commented "Very much, I will be back..."

Just the one sailing today, with the afternoon originally promising strong southerly winds by midday. However, that forecast has now downgraded, and it will be 1500 before the wind arrives. Another sailing lost to forecasting, although of course, it is all a part of the job. I did actually sail yesterday. The forecast had been for light Northerly winds in the afternoon. Instead we got fairly stiff WNW winds, that prevented me from getting to the only place I know where bass are in numbers just now. After an hour in the inshore rainwater, and just a couple of whiting taps to show for it, nobody was fighting me when I floated the idea of abandoning the session. Today however, we set out on flat calm seas and I knew exactly where we would be going. I did do a couple of pit stops along the way, and a couple of bass did show on each of them, which does suggest to me bass are starting to creep back to the edges with much improved water quality this morning. But the main event was even crazier than the last visit. Lee, Jude, Dave and Brunos faces were a picture, as bass after bass connected with the shad. On the top of the tide, the bass rose up in the water, and you had to feed the lure down as it WOULD be hit. The final tally was seventy four bass landed, with of course a max kill. No monsters, but lots between forty and fifty centimetres. Really good fun. Plus three cracking wrasse, and whiting and pouting by-catch. With still no wind, we decided we would add an extra hour and fish squid. That was abandoned after the first long drift. If the squid were around, we would have got them as we followed the feature perfectly. I suspect this full moon is the one that see's them leave East Sussex until around the last week of March. The wind again having robbed us of what was looking like a very promising squid season.

Wow... What a wet and windy six weeks that was. After eventually getting the hint that sailing was done for a while, I resorted to shore work, and initially found very good results. Great washes of shellfish on many local beaches made working out where the fishes were quite easy. Great, I thought. Who needs a boat? But Neptune got wind of my good fortune and sent whoever is in charge of rain in. Suddenly, about two weeks ago, even the crabs didn't want the bait, and odd fish, mostly small, made guiding a no go. Why rain? When our two local rivers get high, it increases the pressure of the outflow. All that mud running off the fields gets shot out at high speed, miles into the channel. And the lateral tides make sure we all suffer. At the height of it, the nearest clear water was twelve miles off. Which meant even on the one flat day in the last six weeks, the dog couldn't see the rabbit, and fishing was not worthwhile with latex. Just two days ago, on the beach, it was more river water than sea water. Which is why I warned my guys for this mornings sailing to expect the worse, with no penalties if they didn't want to try. But Richard, David, Armando and Max were just as desperate as me to get out and bob around for a bit. And yet, as it turned out, it was a tidy session. Visibility was erring towards poor, but erring is not poor. And the fishes responded, despite being on the last half of the ebb for the session. And as always, by-catch becomes interesting at this time of year. First drop down, a whiting. And then the first of twenty five bass. Inshore was still too poor, although even by this afternoons ebb, I expect a good improvement. But off a little way, fishes feeding quite hard. Also landed, Pouting, wrasse and gurnard. Lots of herring or sprat marking as well, so for those of you that like to feather, all is not lost. And with settled conditions looking currently viable Sunday onwards, and with no further rain, and with sea temps at 53.5 degrees Fahrenheit , I do believe the game is still afoot, with rubber, both afloat and ashore.