We had a busy May in Southsea Marina. The SMAC Bream Competition was actually fished on the first planned day, which is unusual because the weather is usually against us. We had a great turnout, and you can read the full report here. The following Saturday, Premier Southsea Marina hosted the SAC Meet & Fish event which attracted boats from further afield. Despite this, SMAC members carried off two of the top five prizes. You can read the report here.

As you will see from the Bream Competition report, there are plenty of bream around. Most fish west of Selsey Bill are up to the pound and a half mark, for larger fish you will need to head further east or south.

The SAC Meet & Fish event targeted tope, smoothhound, bass, bream and rays. We were very pleased to see plenty of tope around from early May and some of them very large indeed. Harry Chandler boated a tope of 62lbs fishing from Harvest Moon (British Big Game Charters – heading photo) which is a record for them, and Peter Churchill’s tope in the SAC event was the largest they have ever recorded in their competitions which they score by length, at 160cm.

There are plenty of large smoothhound around now as well. Bass are shoaling up to chase baitfish and good sport can be had with lures. In the past, these shoaling bass were just small schoolies but now there are some good fish among them which adds to the anticipation.

Sadly the plaice that were once worth a few trips from March to May have been very thin on the ground, and if they were found at all were of a very small size. Some mackerel have been caught but we are still waiting for the arrival of mackerel, garfish and scad in their usual seasonal numbers.

I expect June to be a great month, particularly if we have a good supply of mackerel for bait, BBQ and sport on light tackle.