Boat angling catch reports are always a challenge in winter because the number of fishable days are limited by the weather and sometimes we can go for weeks without getting out at all. January was even more challenging this year because the cill (lock gate) at Southsea Marina was due for extensive maintenance, so most boats were locked into the marina for the last ten days of January.
Despite that, we got out for a few sessions and the results were fairly typical for January. Boats that went out to the reefs and wrecks found some good bass and pollack, with a bonus John Dory. Nearer home, the cod have all but disappeared, or were they even here? In the last two winters we have had much smaller whiting catches compared to previous years. On the other hand, conger are far more plentiful and bass that were once seasonal are around all year. We have already seen mullet back in the marina which is exceptionally early. Spurdog appear around this time for a few weeks, and these have been caught but not in great numbers. Catches have been boosted by the usual local species of rays, dogfish and pout.
I don’t expect much to change in February but anglers will be out looking for early plaice and if the seasonal changes carry on at the present pace we will probably see bream arriving too.