June provide plenty of fishing opportunities and the summer species have been very obliging. Highlight of the month was the national Sea Angling Classic competition based from Portsmouth. Please see our separate report here. The catches were very representative of what has been around this month: a lot of hard fighting smoothhound, big tope, plenty of bream, rays and bass. There were fewer big bass boated during the competition than you would expect at this time of year but that was because the best bass marks were beyond the limits of the competition grounds.
From personal experience, this year has shown a significant improvement in bream catches both in number and size. Hopefully this is linked to the conservation efforts over the breeding grounds of Kingmere Reef in West Sussex, and improvements will continue.
We had a flurry of early mackerel, then they became rather difficult to locate reliably. As the summer progresses they should shoal up again. There are plenty of baitfish in the water to attract them in.
Some very good pollack came from the more distant wrecks – see gallery.
Mullet are well established in the harbours and give good sport when conditions are unfavourable outside.
Future dates to be aware of:
Sunday 31st July – SMAC Open Species Competition with a great prize table
Monday 8th August – Southsea Marina Fuel Bay out of action for maintenance work
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