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Well the bank holiday weekend arrived and the planned trip to the south coast was upon us. The FPO wanted to visit her folks in Portsmouth so with the opportunity for a days fishing in prime Black Bream season not to be missed I agreed to make the 340 mile drive on condition I could take the gear.
Watching the weather forecast the week ahead did not fill me with confidence - things were all over the place and driving down through storms and torrential rain didn't help matters. After arriving in time for last orders and a couple of swift ones in my old local it was off to bed looking forward to a Saturday on the shingle.
Picked up my bait from Lock Stock and Tackle on Elm Grove, Southsea (£12 per lb for rag, an eyewatering £1.10 for crab
) and headed the 20 miles into East Sussex and my chosen mark at Selsey East beach. This is a well known Bream mark and I've had plenty of fish to almost 3lb here before so despite the crap weather hopes were fairly high. I arrived just before low water to find a stiff SE blowing and the beach to myself:
Unfortunately as the tide turned the wind picked up as did a hefty southerly chop. The water was the colour of milky coffee and despite my best efforts all that fell to my ragworm baits was a solitary dogfish:
After four hours and one fish things went from bad to worse as a steady drizzle started to fall. Everything that could be wrong for Bream fishing was wrong: overcast, dirty sea, southerly chop, so I decided to sack Selsey and try another venue. Made the 8 mile drive round the coast to Pagham, a noted early Smoothhound mark that can also throw out a few Bream and the odd decent Bass. Got there about 90 minutes before HT, thankfully the drizzle had stopped and the mark was a bit more sheltered from the wind:
However the water was still way too coloured and all I managed was a procession of snotty Eels; again conditions just weren't right for either Bream or indeed hounds
Ultimately a long way to drive for a woofer and a few Eels but you can't plan for the weather. The FPO was happy to catch up with her family and I had a good evening out on Albert Road in the sun on Sunday, catching up with old friends and visiting old haunts. Hopefully the weather will behave itself for a potential return trip in August when the Hounds will still be around along with plenty of small Bream and the chance of Sole and Bass...
Watching the weather forecast the week ahead did not fill me with confidence - things were all over the place and driving down through storms and torrential rain didn't help matters. After arriving in time for last orders and a couple of swift ones in my old local it was off to bed looking forward to a Saturday on the shingle.
Picked up my bait from Lock Stock and Tackle on Elm Grove, Southsea (£12 per lb for rag, an eyewatering £1.10 for crab
) and headed the 20 miles into East Sussex and my chosen mark at Selsey East beach. This is a well known Bream mark and I've had plenty of fish to almost 3lb here before so despite the crap weather hopes were fairly high. I arrived just before low water to find a stiff SE blowing and the beach to myself:
Unfortunately as the tide turned the wind picked up as did a hefty southerly chop. The water was the colour of milky coffee and despite my best efforts all that fell to my ragworm baits was a solitary dogfish:
After four hours and one fish things went from bad to worse as a steady drizzle started to fall. Everything that could be wrong for Bream fishing was wrong: overcast, dirty sea, southerly chop, so I decided to sack Selsey and try another venue. Made the 8 mile drive round the coast to Pagham, a noted early Smoothhound mark that can also throw out a few Bream and the odd decent Bass. Got there about 90 minutes before HT, thankfully the drizzle had stopped and the mark was a bit more sheltered from the wind:
However the water was still way too coloured and all I managed was a procession of snotty Eels; again conditions just weren't right for either Bream or indeed hounds
Ultimately a long way to drive for a woofer and a few Eels but you can't plan for the weather. The FPO was happy to catch up with her family and I had a good evening out on Albert Road in the sun on Sunday, catching up with old friends and visiting old haunts. Hopefully the weather will behave itself for a potential return trip in August when the Hounds will still be around along with plenty of small Bream and the chance of Sole and Bass...
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