September was a very wet month although that shouldn’t matter on the sea which is already wet. However, wet weather is usually accompanied by windy weather which does matter because that’s what stops us going out fishing. You can tell when a lot of boat anglers are frustrated by the weather by the number of political memes circulating on our chat forums instead of fish pictures.

That sounds gloomy but there were fishable days and fish were caught. September is a strange month because the warm days feel like an extension of summer: plaice, mackerel and bream are still around whereas the colder days warn of the switch to winter species with the arrival of squid and a few early codling.

As a result, catch reports were a real mixed bag with the regulars of rays, bass and bull huss plus some plaice, gilthead bream, brill and even red mullet. Stray codling were reported as early as late August.

By October the mackerel will be heading off although some are usually still around until November. Towards the end of the month we should see some whiting although in recent years they have been arriving well into November. We have a good stock of bass which will still be active and shoaling around the baitfish over banks and harbour entrances. We usually have a visit from trigger fish which are always good for the species count. In fact, for the next month or two almost anything can turn up so have a go, and do share your catch reports here!