Minters

We went out from Hayling on Friday afternoon to fish the tide up. We didnt have high expectations as it was a neap tide but the wether was amazing and Ive never seen the sea so calm! After catching a few mackerel plus a bonus bass and gurnard at the drop off we headed to Boulder to make the most of any tide run. We started with whole mackerel and whole squid but had our baits ripped to bits so we rapidly changed to small strips of mackerel on size 4 barbless circle hooks and were immediately into bream from tiddlers to 1lb plus. We ended up with 20 plus bream. I out fished Gordon - the only difference in our rigs was that I was using floating luminous round bead in my set up - although who knows if that made any difference apart from increasing my confidence. As we approached slack high tide Gordon kindly kept the strap conger amused by catching a couple while I sneaked a bass of just under 4lb. Plenty of species but no dogfish - which have been noticeable by their absence in most spots we have fished this year.

I realise I said I was just south of boulder bank when I was actually just inshore of boulder bank - as i didn't fancy the tide run further out.

Sadly not. I have not seen a dolphin this year . They always brighten a day’s fishing. The weed was a real pain

Gordon and I headed out from Hayling Island about 8.30 to fish the spring tide up. We stopped off at the drop off for some mackerel but only managed a solitary scad before heading out to just south of Boulder bank. It was a spring tide with a lot of weed coming through so not particularly comfortable fishing but we started with whole mackerel in the hope of some tope. Gordon lost something good when it snagged him but that was the only action on mackerel apart from a small strap. I switched to whole squid and immediately had endless bites from small bream ( Gordon caught a couple on small strips of squid). Just as the tide eased I had a smoothie of about 7lbs and had something reasonable slip the hook at slack high tide. As the ebb tide started to run Gordon had a 6lb smoothie and I was bitten off ( whenever I fish for tope they are not there and as soon as I change gear I get bitten off!) By about 1pm the wind really got up so we headed back to Sparkes. A feature of our fishing this year has been the almost complete absence of doggies - I am not complaining!

It was a fantastic day to be on the sea today with a clear blue sky and no wind. Gordon and I reached the whiting grounds north of Nab about 10.00 to fish the tide down. Initially we fished big baits - squid or half mackerel but they were just being destroyed by small fish. After the inevitable dogfish ( despite appearances Gordon didn't break its back) we changed tactics and scaled down. We immediately started catching Whiting - no great size , but we had over 20 with about 7 of takable size. I was fishing with hokeyes tipped with mackerel which worked best for us today. We fished until about 2pm before heading back to Hayling Island. With conditions like they were today Id have been happy to have blanked!

Yep - Monday 8th. It was completely calm all morning with only a slight breeze in the afternoon. The sun shone as well for much of the time - which was not forecast. Great to have perfect fishing conditions for once.

Hi Jon We used frozen mackerel.

My mate Gordon and I went out for the first time in over a month. We fished just north of Nab Tower in lovely calm conditions with a fairly strong tide. It was just great to be out again after so long We fished the last three hours of the flood - fishing mackerel and squid. I know you guys like pictures of doggies so I dutifully caught a few and Gordon caught a pw smoothound. Gordon then helpfully kept the strap conger occupied on his side of the boat which allowed me to catch some nice whiting plus a couple of thornback rays and a small blonde ray ( all on mackerel). We had lunch whilst the tide turned and then I had a pb blonde ray of 24.5 lb on whole squid. We had hoped for a cod but its three years now since we had one in the boat - but we live in hope. We called it a day around 3pm and headed back to Hayling Island for a beer.

Due to Lockdowns, boat servicing and a very windy May I haven't been out since before Christmas so I was delighted to get out on Saturday the 29th. It was a spring tide so we kept fairly close inshore , apart from a brief , ill advised attempt to fish at Boulder where the tide was hammering through. We left Chichester Harbour just before midday in order to fish the tide down. We caught a solitary mackerel on the dropoff outside the harbour and then headed off to the east end of Bracklesham bay. I was hoping for bream so was armed with various pop up rigs and plenty of groundbait of rice, fish oil. Halibut pellets and mashed squid - how could they resist? Well resist they did - we caught plenty of dogfish and I lost what I think was a bream - but overall not a great deal to show for our efforts. In the distance we did see a steady stream of smoothounds being caught on a Charter boat. Just to complete proceedings we nearly lost our anchor , and I seem to have completely forgotten how to berth my boat - causing some amusement amongst the punters at the bar at Sparkes Marina. Still it was great to be out on such a lovely day and hopefully I will have something more interesting to report on my next trip

We have had the boat for 6 years and have a Yamaha 150hp which is perfect for us.

This is my boat - a Merry Fisher MF755 Marlin. I share it with my buddy Gordon . We really like the boat - the only downsize is that it can be tricky to berth n the wind( although that is probably as much me as the boat!)

Hi my name is Ian and I have been fishing all my life - mainly coarse and game fishing. 5 years ago I bought a Merry Fisher MF755 Marlin with my mate Gordon and we started boat fishing out of Sparkes Marina Hayling Island.It is a tremendous fishing boat although it can be entertaining trying to berth it in any wind! I rapidly discovered Im a much more successful coarse and game angler than sea fisherman - but I love being out on the boat. We don't generally venture that far - the overfalls is about as far as we will go , but mostly we tend to fish over towards Selsey , over Isle of Wight way or out in the Nab region Ironically the better we have got at sea fishing the worse the results have been - maybe reflecting the continued pressure on fish in our region. Anyway Im always happy to share my experiences and what little knowledge I have acquired.