29th May

Brollies Species list

Brollie with schoolie

Brollie is a very busy proffesional musician. As such, he has given me a list of species he would like to catch on his occasional trips from South Wales to visit relatives in Horesham, as time is very precious to him, and maximising the time he has available for fishing makes a lot of sense. With this being our first session, I felt it was important to make a dent on the list, if only to impress Brollie. Trouble is, the fishing has taken such a down turn I was concerned!! I did know I wanted some black lug for our session, as black bream were high on our priority list, and fresh out blacks is a fine inshore bream bait. So whilst I pumped, I had Brollie fishing the non-surf. It paid off though, with two schoolies succumbing to fresh outs and the first species crossed off the list.

Black bream ------ TICK!

Bait, and species, aquired, it was off to the West arm of the marina to get a couple more ticks off the list. The black bream were in an obliging mood, and it wasnt too long before Brollie had another species ticked off

A better bass for Brollie

Crabs flicked alongside a slight drop-off were next in order, in pursuit of wrasse. But it was a scraper bass that succumbed first, returned!

A mackerel first for Brollie

We had been periodically fishing for mackerel and garfish, without success, when the guiding gods smiled and Brollie nailed his first ever mackerel when casting out his bream rig!! Another species - TICK!

Brollie n me....

There were plenty more fish, but no other species, but I was just glad to have made a start on the list, at a time when the fishing has taken a definate downturn. The reason has now manifested itself on the beaches. The dreaded may weed. A fibrous algae that suspends in the water layers, or sinks and collects in a fibrous sludge in areas with little tidal action. Fish dont like to swim in it, and it is worse this year than any previous. Hopefully it will go as quickly as it came, and let the fish return to these inshore waters. But the fishing aside, the day was a real pleasure for me, and I look forward to completing Brollies species list.