27th August - East Sussex Beaches

Steve and 6lb 6oz spikey

Once again with a day free from work commitments, and a burning desire to work out where the fish were at, I was keen to get back on the open beach to see if this was where they were hiding. I had originally planned to go out the evening before with Steve C, but had managed to totally sleep through the alarm, plus his six or seven wake up calls. He was awake however, when I finally arose at 02:00 and texted him to see if he was still up for it. Everything happens for a reason in my world, so I wasnt so suprised to see a text come through from a sleepless Steve S, seeing if I fancied popping up the river. Well, to be honest, I was so fired up for the beach mark I managed to inflect my enthusiasm, and so it was with a brace of Steves I stepped foot onto the shingle, with dawn breaking all around us, and a SE breeze making for a short swell, putting a lovely band of clour just on the target zone. It all looked good. I mentioned to Steve S that this beach had a reputation for fish a couple of hours down the tide. We fished for an hour and a half, with annoying weed the only thing finding itself attached to the line. In my head, I was already planning our departure, and where to fish next, when I noticed Steve walking a fish along, rod buckling, always the sign of a worthwhile spikey. Very worthwhile, as 6lb 6oz of perfect bass slid up the shingle.

Long and lean. 4lb 2oz prime silver bass,

This rather enthused everyone, and my rod thumped next, as a head stealer did its thing. Not so lucky on the next cast though, as a 4lb 2oz fish gave a spirited account of itself. It was looking like a good session!

Steve again, and 2.5lb fish

Next away was Steve S again. Not quite as good as the first one, but a prime fighting spikey nonetheless, at 2.5lb

Steve C and 2.5lb spikey

Through all of this, I could see from his face that Steve C was beggining to think it was going to be another one of those sessions. Steve has been amazingly unlucky on a fair few of our sorays after bass, watching others take fish whilst his own rod remains motionless. But he neednt have worried. Neptune had it covered, and the next bite was to Steve, a slack liner leading to this 2lb 12oz fish. The fish were still feeding, but as the water got shallower, so the weed issues intensified. Added to the tiredness, and the feelings of elation of a very good session, we ended it there. I think if we had pushed on, there would have been more fish, but sleep called, and we left the shingle.