7th June

Marina - Struggling again!!

Catherine's first fish!! A nice Ballan wrasse.

I met up with Dulcie and Catherine, and headed out to the East arm, to be greeted by a horrible sight. More may rot, swept from the reefs all the way to Newhaven, and compressed in a tea cloud along the inshore of the arm. The session was an introduction to fishing, so I was keen to find a few wrasse and blennies inshore, whilst working the float in pursuit of pelagics. But the may rot made the inshore a barren area, devoid even of Tompots and corkwings...!! It was apparent we needed to make a move, so we headed out along the arm to find a clear area. There wasnt really one, but with the tide ebbing the cleaner water from the marina made the rocks at the end a little less rotten!! And there we found a few bites. Well, Catherine did. Her first ever fish above!!

Then a scorpion fish

It did seem the area had become a respite for the beleagured reef fish, as the next fish up was a very pretty scorpion fish, again to Catherine.

Another nice Wrasse for Catherine

It was a bit of a one sided show. Despite swapping between the rods and tactics, we just couldnt get Dulcie a fish. Catherine then went on to lose a decent fish, possibly a big wrasse, when the fleurocarbon cut off on contact with the barnacle ridden sea defence blocks.

A jet black Tompot Blenny for Catherine

Another species came along in the form of a Tompot blenny, virtually black as a result of living in the dark crevaces amongst the kelp fronds.

A star-fish next for Catherine

And then another species, although, despite having fish in the name, not really a fish at all, when this starfish became attached to her bait.

A shoal of golden grey mullet

We had fished hard, but despite trying every trick in the book Dulcie had not caught a fish. I was happy to stay on and keep trying, but the weather took a hand in the form of a nasty ridge of dark cloud, and with rain on the wind we made the decision to pack up and leg it for the car. Did manage time to take a few shots of an enormous shoal of mullet that were cruising along the mud on the inside of the marina. Golden Greys I think. Must have been in excess of 500 fish in the shoal.