Over the last month, things have been gradually easy back to a new sort of normal. Marinas are open for business, shops are selling bait and fish are still there to be caught. While we were otherwise occupied, Spring happened so it feels a bit odd to go fishing and find that Summer is in full swing. Mackerel have arrived and are as usual, frustrating. When you need to rely on them for bait, you can’t find them. When you are out walking the dog, huge shoals are boiling close to shore. I guess that’s why we go fishing.

This month has followed the usual pattern for the time of year. The large tope like Peter Bird’s pictured here have started to move away, leaving numbers of smaller pack tope which are still good sport on light tackle – like the one with Scott Gardner. The larger breeding bream are moving offshore again, probably back to the channel wrecks and reefs, leaving hoards of bait-robbing small bream behind. We have a healthy population of bass now, and every year we see more of the larger fish. The Bass Nursery Areas and the recent bass fishing restrictions will have played a part in helping the recovery of stocks. Heber Crawford and Oliver Aubray-Thomas show the stamp of fish that can be caught.

Our resident population of rays can be relied on for a bit of action, and a large ray in a strong tide can be an exhausting battle of strength. We have a selection pictured, from Peter Churchill, Pete Brown, Peter Higgins, Tim Andrews, Tony Myatt and Steve Latham. Smoothhound are more acrobatic and will do a good impression of a mini submarine with a drunken skipper as they zoom around, creating new and interesting knots around any lines unwisely left in the water while the fight is on. Given that they eat crabs, squid and worms it is surprising that evolution equipped them for a hard chase, but we’re not complaining. Kev Lee is happy with his personal best smoothhound of 16lb.

When boat fishing isn’t possible due to weather, family or time constraints, mullet fishing in the harbours produces some good fish. Freelined bread is still the preferred option for fish used to feeding on scraps – Heber Crawford shows a good fish caught with this method.

Sea trout are far less common but they are around and reward an angler prepared to put in the hours to research methods and locate them. Heber Crawford is one of those anglers and he has shown that his catches of sea trout are not flukes by catching more each year. From measurements, this one was estimated to be in double figures but was released without the additional stress of weighing.

Turbot are an attractive quarry but few are found near the Harbour. Boats targeting turbot have to travel some distance but with perseverance they can be found as Tim Andrews demonstrates.

The seabed is this area is very varied, hence the wide range of species caught. Old wartime structures, wrecks and reefs hold some big wrasse which put up a good fight for their size. They have a varied diet with jaws capable of crunching shellfish and an aggressive turn of speed which means they will take small lures and live prawn. Heber Crawford shows a nice ballan wrasse caught on prawn bait.

August can be a slower month compared to earlier in the year but there will still be plenty of fish to be caught and we hope good weather to catch them in too. See you next month.

Read the full issue online here

Neville Merritt

Southsea Marina Angling Club

After all those weeks of lockdown with calm sunny days, the inevitable happened. We were allowed back onto our boats and the wind got up and the rain started to fall. Actually it wasn’t that bad, we have had plenty of fishable days and for those on a more “flexible” working arrangement there have been enough fishable days to give us a great gallery of catch photos this month. The socially distanced queue for bait at our local tackle shop was a sign that things are kind of getting back to normal.

May to June are excellent months in the Eastern Solent calendar. The bream are still here, smoothhounds have arrived, large tope are here to breed and there are plenty of mackerel for bait and the BBQ. All these in addition to our residents of rays, bass and lesser species keep the rod tips active.

Calmer days allow boats to push well offshore to the channel wrecks. Kev Johnson shows the quality of pollack available if you find the right wreck. If you scale the tackle down you can catch some exceptional bream on the wrecks, best on that trip was 3lb 13oz. As Arron Shons demonstrates, you can also find some lunker wrasse with pollack lures. There are some cod on the wrecks too. One of the dangers of prolonged inactivity is that boat engines can suffer, and it pays to check them over carefully and run them up before heading out. There has been a record number of callouts to Sea Start, our local “AA” for boats. Kev Johnson towed a boat back from his wrecking trip – broken down, no VHF and no lifejackets. They were lucky he was passing.

We are fortunate to have eminent marine biologist Bill Arnold as a member of SMAC, and he is a goldmine of information about fish species. I learned something new from Bill – he sent me pictures of two cuckoo wrasse he caught – male and female. Apparently they are all female at birth and change if they feel the need later in their lives (so that’s not a new thing). As you can see the male is much brighter and his job is to lure predators away from the nest where the female protects the young. Sounds like a dangerous existence. Thanks Bill for the biology lesson!

On to larger species, the tope fishing has been excellent and we have some great catches shown by Dave Jordisan, Dean Lodge, Josh Carter, Pete Brown and a personal best for Tony Myatt. There were also some good rays boated – Bill Arnold again with a blonde ray of 17.5lb; Kris Scott topped it with a 21lb blonde and a good undulate ray. Scott Gardner fishing off Selsey shows a good thornback ray and an excellent smoothhound of 19lb. Tim Andrews has one of our less common catches, a turbot.

Meanwhile the SMAC Ladies competitions standings were overturned with a nice bream from Hayley Ellis and she now also leads the Ladies Species Table.

We are hoping for more great fishing in the coming month before the tope and bream move off. August can be quiet but that is still plenty of fishing weeks away. See you next month.

Neville Merritt

Southsea Marina Angling Club

Here’s a nice photo to share, a cracking bass caught by Oliver Aubrey-Thomas from a mark south of Bracklesham Bay, West Sussex. It was tempted by a bait of fresh squid, fished on the bottom.

After weeks of lockdown watching day after day of perfect fishing weather pass us by, we could hardly believe our luck when restrictions on fishing and private boating were eventually eased and we were blessed by a few days of calm and sunshine.

Most people with boats on moorings and in marinas hadn’t even been able to visit them to make sure all was well, although it was nice that the marina staff at Southsea Marina kept an eye on the boats and even sent us a phot if we wished. It wasn’t the same though, and when we got the green light there was a rush to get boats in the water, checked over and out to sea.

Social distancing still applies so it was “families only” for boat-owners, and single occupancy for charter vessels. I think most people were just happy to get a line in the water and the sun on their faces, and it certainly made a welcome change from Zoom meetings, queueing down the street to buy a carton of milk or wearing a groove in the same old park walk.

Even though we have only had a week or so of actual fishing to report on this month, the results have been surprisingly good. You may recall from the Local Guide we published in the previous issue of SAN, in May we can expect seasonal visitors of some big tope, bream over the rocky marks, smoothhound, plaice, the first mackerel and of course all the residence species.

Team Crawford (Heber, Heber Junior and Archie) found quality tope south of the Island and an epic trip included a personal best for Heber with a tope of 60lb plus.

Bream are plentiful if you get the tide and location right. My daughter Aedy and I fished a popular bream mark and only managed to land one. When we returned to the marina we found that another boat which had been on the same mark at 5am caught 60 (only keeping a few for the table). On another day, Arron Shons located some very good specimens and also boated the spectacular cuckoo wrasse which in those colours and weather conditions looks like it belongs in the tropics.

One of the problems of “social distance fishing” is that there is nobody to take your photo so unless you have a family member present or are proficient with the self-timer, you don’t get the fish and the angler in the same frame. Nevertheless Tim Andrews reported this nice blonde ray and a brill.

The combination of warmer winters and bass conservation measures has meant that bass are now much more plentiful, and the sizes are increasing steadily too. We can now keep two bass per angler per day over the MLS of 42cm. Drifting over the banks south of the Nab Tower and southeast of Selsey produce good catches, and boats reported plenty over 4lbs in size.

It seems to be a human trait to respond to adverse situations like the current crisis with humour. Thanks to Bill Arnold for his bream complying with precautionary measures, and the social comment from the fish point of view!

Let’s hope that all the efforts we are making to control this virus remain effective so we can progressively return to normal, including more charter trips and catch reports.

Neville Merritt

Southsea Marina Angling Club

Read the full issue of SAN here

Langstone Harbour Local Report – there was no fishing due to lockdown restrictions, so instead we published a guide to fishing in the area. This was published in the online edition – there was no print edition this month.

Firstly, I hope all our SAN readers are able to stay safe and well – and a big Thank You to all the frustrated anglers who are supporting the NHS by staying locked down at home watching some perfect fishing days pass us by. It will end, and to help visiting anglers plan future boat trips this special edition of the Langstone Harbour report is a fishing guide rather than our usual report on recent catches.

Area covered

For sea anglers, the coastline covered by our regular reports is one of the most varied and interesting in the country. It includes the busy but sheltered eastern half of the Solent; the Eastern Approaches which covers the area from Portsmouth to Hayling Island and along the east coast of the Isle of Wight; and the part of the Sussex coast from the entrance to Chichester Harbour to Selsey Bill. There are good fishing marks from close inshore all the way out to the reefs and wrecks in the English Channel.

Own boat or charter?

We are spoilt for choice – if you own a small fishing boat there are 29 launch sites listed on www.boatlaunch.co.uk between Lee-on-the-Solent and Selsey. Some are only suitable for beach launching but many have concrete ramps accessible at most states of tide. The website gives details of parking and charges. There are also many clubs and marinas where boats can be stored – Southsea Marina and SMAC, Eastney Cruising Association, Langstone Harbour Fishermen’s Association and Southsea Sea Angling club are all local to east Portsmouth.

There is also a good choice of charter boats operating out of Portsmouth, Gosport, Southsea Marina, Langstone Harbour, Chichester Harbour and Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. Some advertise in SAN, others you can track down with a web search for charter boats operating out of the ports listed.

What you can expect to catch

Being located in the middle of the South Coast, we get the benefit of warm-water species migrating north in summer, and cold-water species migrating south in winter. As a result we have a huge variety of fishing available to us and club members entering annual Species Competitions regularly list 40-50 species caught. Ray, conger, pout and dogfish are with us all year. Bass are also around all year now, but are more likely to be targeted by anglers from Spring to Autumn. In the Spring we have a run of plaice which breed inshore but stay around into the Autumn on particular marks. These are followed by bream, smoothhound, mullet and garfish in late Spring then the tope, scad and mackerel arrive, usually in good numbers. Some anglers target shark south of the Island and every year some more exotic species are reported. Stingray are caught in summer close to Solent shores, along with sole at night. In the autumn trigger fish put in a brief, localised appearance then we may get an autumn run of codling before the whiting arrive in force. We always hope for cod in the winter months but lately catches have been very disappointing. These are the main targets but there are plenty of other species that will be caught. Small pollack can be caught inshore in summer, but offshore much bigger specimens are caught over channel wrecks and reefs most of the year.

Popular fishing marks

The best marks are the ones you find yourself! Every bump or hollow will fish differently according to season, tide and weather so this guide is only intended to describe what can be expected in the general areas shown on the accompanying chart. If you go out on good fishing days you will see clusters of angling boats in many of these locations. To help you anchor:  a flooding tide will run from west to east, and an ebb tide will run from east to west. The turning point is about an hour before the actual high and low water times. Please refer to the chart for the following marks.

1. “Gilkicker” – a steep drop into the shipping channel where the water runs fast and deep. Popular in summer for mackerel and winter for cod. Most other species are also caught but floating weed is a problem in summer.
2. “The Blocks” – an area east of the submarine barrier which is a regular spring plaice mark.
3. “Princessa” – a rocky ledge with several wrecks nearby. The tide runs hard here but you can expect cod and whiting in winter and most seasonal species in summer. There are more sheltered marks in nearby Sandown Bay and Whitecliff Bay.
4. Bracklesham Bay – there is a line of rocky outcrops running west from The Hounds which gives sheltered marks holding bream in late spring. Summer plaice can also be caught drifting the flat sandy areas.
5. The West slope of Boulder Bank is another good bream mark in Spring but the tide can run hard here over the shallow bank.
6. “Pullar” is a good area to locate bass and tope – look for holes and gullies.
7. New Grounds is an area of flat hard rock which is almost devoid of features but seems to hold fish. It is good for summer drifting for rays and bass.
8. “Dean Tail” has several marks. The wreck of the Flag Theofano is conspicuously marked and many anglers stop here to feather mackerel for bait. Nearby there are other bumps and hollows which hold fish in all seasons.
9. Bullock Patch is a rocky outcrop famed for producing large bream in the Spring. It is also worth seeking out marks along the edge of the shipping channel which have produced good cod in previous years.
10. “The Fingers” is a popular cod mark in winter, named after the fingers of banks visible on the chart. This general area of banks is also good for rays in summer. South of this mark is an area of deep water locally called “Utopia” and is one of the best tope marks, but it can be very challenging when the tide runs hard.

Bait and tackle

The increase of on-line shopping has taken a heavy toll from our local shops and we now only have one tackle shop in Portsmouth; Lock Stock and Tackle. It is best to order bait ahead, or have it delivered from the local bait supplier Baits’r’Us. Southsea Marina office stocks frozen baits for berth holders and visitors.

In summer there is no doubt that freshly feathered mackerel is the best all-round bait when you can get it. Frozen squid will catch almost anything and is a great stand-by. Ragworm is the popular flatfish bait but frozen black lug is easier to get and in my opinion just as good. Peeler crab and hermit crab were once thought of as essential baits for smoothhound but good catches are made using ragworm and squid. We also used to think that live sandeel were essential bass baits but the development of artificial lures has shown that in the right hands they can be just as effective.

Special safety considerations

This area is exceptionally busy for shipping and this makes it very interesting but also potentially dangerous. We have cruise liners, container vessels, bulk transporters and car carriers going into Southampton; tankers going to Fawley oil refinery and naval vessels and ferries going into Portsmouth. Add to that the Isle of Wight fast ferries, vehicle ferries and hovercraft, plus dredgers, fishing boats, special purpose vessels and literally thousands of yachts and motorboats. This means that when navigating anywhere, and particularly in shipping lanes and harbour entrances you must be aware of other vessels approaching. Take care where you anchor and always hoist an anchor ball to warn passing yachts that you are not moving.

This area has always been busy for shipping, particularly during recent wars and the seabed is littered with obstructions ranging from pipes and cables to wrecks of ships, aircraft and even tanks. Always buoy your anchor or rig it to trip so you don’t lose it.

The entrance to Portsmouth Harbour has special rules for small boats and is controlled by QHM Portsmouth. Langstone Harbour has a very fast tidal run and Chichester Harbour has a nasty offshore bar so always check your charts, weather and tides for your trip.

Having said that, there is plenty of room for everyone to fish even on the busiest days and we are extremely fortunate to have such varied fishing in such an interesting area. There are Spitfires based at local airfields and if you hear the deep rumble of a Merlin engine you may look up and see them looping over the Solent Forts to add to your enjoyment of the day.

Neville Merritt

SMAC

Read the full issue of SAN here

The highlight of this month’s report was Southsea Marina Angling Club’s Awards Night which we combined with Southsea Marina Disabled Angling Club. More by good luck than anything, we held it just days before the progressive shut-down of social activities which will also stop our monthly club meetings and SMDAC boat trips for a while.

Rupert Bremer, manager of Southsea Marina was our first VIP guest and presented the prizes to SMDAC winners. Club champion was John Wearn who also won Best Cod, Hambrook cup, SMAC Bream Cup and was SMAC Champion Runner-up. Runner-up to SMDAC Champion was George Dominy who should really be called George InDominitable because despite being well into his eighties George is a regular fisher. He won the Pier and Beach cup and was placed highly in the Lakes competitions. Jon Leythorne collected four prizes including Best Specimen with a spurdog of 21lb.

We then welcomed our second VIP guest, Nick Wallis who as manager of Allan’s Marine has been supporting our clubs for many years. Sadly the shop is now closed but we made sure Nick will still be associated with us by forcing him to accept a lifetime membership of SMAC (and a nice goblet) as a token of our sincere appreciation. Nick and Rupert presented a further 19 awards and as space here is limited I can only include a few. Ray Plomer is Club Champion and also won the Plaice Cop. Tim Andrews our Club Commodore won the Bass Cup plus the Pairs Cup with Mark Banks. Kris Scott won the Cod Cup and John Jones the Pollack Cup.

Ladies were represented too: Natalie Arnold won the Ladies Cup and Kelly Rowen the Ladies Species Cup. Jake Kelly won the Junior Cup and Junior Species Cup and he must have been taught well because his dad Steve Kelly won Best Specimen Cup with a sole of 2lb 9oz.

One of the novel attractions of the evening was a large display board made up by Bill Arnold, illustrating all the successes by club members that were featured in Sea Angling News.

“In other news”….there is almost no other news. For the fist time I can remember, the weather has been so consistently bad for an entire month that not a single fish was entered for the SMAC Fish of the Month medal. Fortunately one or two boats have managed to nip out between blows and found that fish are still there to be caught.

Dean Gibbs shows a bass of 8lb caught on a live whiting – returned because the catch limits didn’t come in until 1st March. You might think that bass looks smaller than it is but in fact it’s Dean that is dwarfing the fish, he’s 6’8”! His father Robin Gibbs shows one of many congers caught, this one was 40lb. As the sea temperatures start to rise the conger will return to their lairs and won’t be roaming the open marks in such numbers.

There were a few spurdog still around but they will probably have gone by April. Those boats that managed to get as far as the offshore wrecks had some excellent sport with some very good pollack such as this beauty from Heber Crawford.

More recently, plaice have begun to appear and the early ones will be very skinny after spawning. John Evans started the new SMAC competition year off with a plaice of 2lb 2oz.

These are very challenging times for many of us. Some charter skippers are no longer taking groups, others are carrying on as long as possible taking great care with hygiene. Those with their own boats can create a social distance of several miles which is probably as low-risk as you can get at the moment!

(edited – going out in your boat is banned due to the current Coronavirus lockdown)

To read the full magazine online click here