Summer has arrived…

Getting up this morning and looking out of the window I was puzzled by the weather. There was very little wind and the sun was out. Excited by this rare occurrence I decided to visit a couple of local spots today armed with a few ragworm. First up was Newhaven Harbour.

Blue skies? Calm conditions? Oh my god!

Not sure how long the freak weather would last, I decided just to fish the last two hours of the ebbing tide at the mouth of the harbour, dropping small pieces of ragworm tight down the sides of the walls. Things were pretty slow, but eventually a few fish started having a go at my bait and I caught some cool mini species. 

Ragworm. Yummy!

My first viviparous blenny of the year. 

My fourth butterfish this week! This one did a spot of breakdancing as I tried to get a hold of it to remove the hook. 

Eventually it tired itself out!

As low water arrived, the bites dried up so I decided to head to the exposed boulders opposite the entrance to Leith Docks. Not much to report from there apart from a few tiny whiting. I tied on a 7g metal jig and had a few casts with that to see if there were any mackerel around, but if they were around they weren’t impressed by my efforts! 

Probably the smallest whiting I’ve ever caught!

Before leaving, I dropped my ragworm section down into some holes in the boulders I was standing on. This surprisingly didn’t produce any fish. Something did grab my bait though, and it felt quite strong, violently pulling my rod tip down a few times. Initially I thought it was a small cod or a wrasse thumping away, but it turned out to be a tiny lobster, using its tail to try and make its escape. 

Lobster are such strange creatures. Their bulky, powerful claws look ridiculous when compared to their thin, spindly legs. 

Their colours are amazing too. 

I persisted for a while, but with no fish biting I called it a day and headed home. A short, fun session and for some reason my head has gone a little bit red. I’ll be heading out again to Newhaven Harbour tomorrow evening to fish the last few hours of the flooding tide. I wonder if it’ll still be summer? Who knows, I might have to put some factor on!

Tight lines, Scott.