Fishing out of Brighton - July 2017

Best Bass of the morning for Paul

With the wonderful weather we've been having recently there have been some good opportunities to get afloat....sadly I've been far too busy at work to take advantage of it! All except for one occasion that is, when my buddy Paul rang me and asked if i'd like to join him on his boat for a mornings fishing. With a promising forecast and the chance of a bass or a plaice to motivate me, I managed to get my work schedule reorganised.

I'm glad I did too. It was a stunning morning as we crept out of Brighton Marina in Paul's inshore skiff with just a gentle breeze rippling the surface. We headed East with 'Bass' on our minds as I rigged up the lure rods. With several marks in mind that have produced for us in the past, we set about fishing them in rotation. With shallow, snaggy ground we favour the Fiish black minnows. The fish adore these lures and it's very rare that they get hung up on the rock.

Hooked up to a Bass

Casting away from the boat and jigging the lures back along the bottom seems to be far more successful than just a straight retrieve and this morning was no different. We managed 3 or 4 bass between us with the best falling to Paul's rod.....not a monster but great fun on the light lure tackle. Just as it should be!

As the sun climbed higher, the bass backed off and it went very quiet over the reefs. This signalled for a change of tactics and I suggested we head back along the coast to the sandbanks and mussel beds to drift for the Plaice. There are good numbers off of Brighton these days and they're a pleasure to fish for.

My best Plaice of the morning

I keep it real simple when fishing for plaice. I like to use a running ledger with a 3 foot trace of 10lb fluorocarbon, a few colourful beads to grab their attention and a size 1/0 aberdeen hook baited with either lug or rag. Then just let the boat do the work, sit back and relax.....

There wasn't much relaxing though. With a dozen or more plaice each over a couple of hours we were busy. There must have been stacks of them down on the sea bed, it's great to see the species doing so well these days. Long may it continue.

Tight lines!