A trip had been arranged with Mark and Pete to take their two boats out for a days fishing offshore of Littlehampton and as the day approached the weather was looking perfect. Incredibly light winds and sunshine were to be expected and with this in mind Mark suggested we get out as far as we could to try some of the less frequently visited spots. The target species were primarily rays and bass with the outside chance of a tope or cod.
We met at the waterfront at 7.30am and were heading out of the river by 8. The first task was to try and acquire some fresh mackerel for bait which proved rather tricky as the first few stops all proved to be fruitless. On the fourth stop I was thankfully straight into the mackerel with a full house on my first drop down and it was'nt too long before we had all the bait we needed and headed out to the chosen spot.
- Kingfisher One
We steamed out to the 12 mile mark and dropped anchor on a lovely looking area that consisted of a large number of big sandbanks with a huge reef just to one side. The fishfinder was showing a series of deep troughs and banks which funnel the food and fish into condensed areas which would be the hot spots in which to drop our baits.
With baits in position as the tide reached the bottom of the ebb it was only a matter of minutes before my rod banged over and I was into the first fish of the day. This was a beautiful bass that put up a spirited fight before being quickly netted, unhooked, photographed and returned.
- Bass around 5lbs in weight
Within 10 minutes, Karl was into fish number 2 which was another shimmering bass. We were off to a good start and hoped this would be a sign of things to come as the day progressed.
- Another beautiful Bass falls to Karls rod
As the tide slackened right off we had a quiet hour with just a couple of dogfish putting in an appearance. Pete, the skipper, suggested that once the tide picked up again there was a good chance the rays would come on the feed. Like clockwork as the water started to move again, my rod nodded a few times before then bending right over as a fish tore off downtide. This felt like a ray for sure, it was making short, fast runs and using it's wings to hang in the tide. As it approached the surface it was clear to see this was a blonde ray - and a good one too! It was a first for me and a new species so I was rather chuffed.
- My first Blonde Ray
We continued to catch several more rays with Karl picking up a real beauty. By this time the breeze had dropped right off and it was like a mill pond with the surface of the sea being flat and glassy as far as the eye could see - perfect conditions for being offshore.
We fished on and had a quiet spell or two interupted with a couple of small tope coming to the boat and another bass to Karls rod. At one point there were several large splashes as big bass were taking prey on the surface which is quite amazing considering we were in over 100 feet of water. It's most unusual to find bass working on the surface in water this deep.
- Tope
We were in radio contact with Mark whose boat was around 50 metres off our starboard side and he informed us that they had boated a monster blonde ray that pulled the scales down to 26lb. What a clonker! (see below)
As the sun started to sink we then motored over a few wrecks and spent some time working jigs and lures around the structure whilst on the way back in to port. This proved totally unsuccessful for us today as the fish either were'nt on the wrecks or just not in the mood to chase the lures. It was no bother anyway as we had all got into a few good fish and returned to Littlehampton victorious and sunkissed.
