Littlehampton 28/6/03
Map Ref:
Tide: HT: 11.20 LW: 5.30pm
Weather Forecast: Sunny with Southerly wind force 2 to 3

I have to say that what follows is my version of events, so if I happen to have got peoples names wrong, missed out your catch of the day, or got any other details wrong, I’m very sorry, you’ll just have to put it down to me focusing more on my own fishing than writing everything down in my notebook!!!!… but I’m more than happy to amend the details if you let me know…..

Another National Mullet Club fish-in (http://www.go-fishing.co.uk/mullet.htm), and another new venue for yours truly…….
I’d already spoken with Russell Brown the previous weekend at Beaulieu, about the venue, and he’d indicated that due to the very fast flowing nature of the river during many parts of the tide, that the preferred method for fishing for the mullet was by means of bottom fishing with swim feeders, although he had assured me, that float fishing would still be possible, if not somewhat restricted in the number of swims that it could be carried out in…..

So another 3.30am start for me and the cat (--- nothing wakes Karen at that time in the morning), and by the time I’d sorted out some food and a flask of coffee etc etc, I managed to set-off around 4.45am…..
55miles and an hour later I arrived at the West Beach car park .. which sort of starts just being a few parking bays here and there along the road, and finally ends in a larger cul-de-sack with parking, loos and a refreshments hut…….

I looked around, and realised no-one else was here yet (apart from the litter attendant, a lone jogger, and a chap on the far side plugging for bass), but as I was over an hour early, I decided to have a cup of coffee, and look over the railings, and see, what I could see, in the main channel…….
In a word -- MULLET…… about half a dozen of them in the 2 to 4lb range, lazily swimming close to the wooden pilings close to the retaining wall, and in so doing, taking shelter from the tidal flow ……

I gulped my coffee down, and grabbed my camera from the car, and remembered a programme on TV a couple of days before, telling how to use ones Polaroid glasses to take pictures of fish and the like in water …… so I played around and you can see the results above…..

There were also mullet passing by, heading up stream, in one’s, two’s and three’s, swimming up the main channel, and against the tidal flow……. I was very tempted to try for the mullet against the retaining wall, but two things stopped me ….. first was the problem of the number of wooden stumps and pilings that would all too easily snag the gear, difficult but not impossible to fish, and secondly, and far more off putting, was there seemed no way of landing a fish except without the use of a drop-net ….. again difficult , but almost impossible alone with the very strong tidal flow, coupled with the fact that I’d forgotten to bring the net weights with me!!!!!

So I settled for watching them, and tried to entice them to rise and feed on the freshly crumbed bread, that I was dropping down and allowing the flow to take to them …… but mostly they ignored my offerings, and preferred to chase each other, or role, and fade away into the depths …. apart from the odd obliging one, that kept me interested, and thus I kept trying to tempt / feed them…… but with the turning tide, the fish seemed to melt away, with only the odd fish here and there to be seen, now and then……

6.40am ….. suddenly out of nowhere, a real lunker of a mullet rose out of the depths …….. mouthed at my floating bread offerings, and cruised off down stream, and across the channel, towards the chap plugging….. I’d guess it was something in the order of 6 to 7lb may be more, who can tell….. I was starting to wonder about my decision not to fish … if anyone else had been there as a potential drop-net operator, I’d have been tackled up like a shot, but as it was, I still couldn’t see a practical way of landing a fish unaided …. Assuming of course I managed to hook a fish in the first place!!!!!!!

Towards 7am ( the allotted time for the fish-in) there was still no one about, and I started to worry if I’d misunderstood the instructions I’d been given, or if people were meeting further up river out of my line of sight…… I was just thinking about trying some mobiles, when a figure appeared from around the bend, shoulders bent with ruck-sack and rods on his back, walking along the estuary bank, looking into the water every so often …. This had to be someone from the NMC ….. and so it proved to be……

Turned out to be Chris Barnard, who seemed to have yompt his way down, in order to look over the various swims, between the campsite and the carpark ……. A truly dedicated fish-in organiser…… :-)
Whilst we chatted, Simon York-Johnson arrived, and very shortly after Russell Brown ….. I told them what I’d seen earlier in the morning, and joked with Russell that this had a rather familiar feel to it…. rather like Beaulieu the weekend before!!!!!!!!

Chris was keen to get started, and based on the fact that people could turn-up at anytime during the day, it seemed very sensible to get started, move slightly up stream where we could all fish, and be in plain sight for late arrivals……. And so Chris went off back up the river, whilst Russell, Simon, and myself relocated the cars, having first bought car parking tickets …… caused a bit of a problem when first we realised we may not have enough change … but we managed that … five quid for the day per car …… but then when Russell tried to purchase his ticket (after Simon and myself), the machine robbed him.. took his money, but gave him no ticket!!!!!!! Russell wrote a windscreen note and hoped for the best……

Having moved the cars, and starting to unload the gear, Gary Brooker arrived with his mate (and lapsed NMC member) Viv Bradbury, and very shortly after Chris Phipps ……. I decided to move down onto the shore, find where Chris Barnard was, and set-up and start fishing, whilst the others sorted themselves out….

I walked through the bushes and came out onto a shingle stretch behind the retaining wall, and to my left, the channel opened up into a small bay and Marina area ….. Chris B, had set-up on the corner of the main channel and the sheltered bay, and was ledgering into the middle of the river….. I decided to move into the sheltered area from the tidal flow, offered by the fact that the wall curved around into the bay, and slowly diminished and disappeared about 15 meters or so into the sheltered bay…….

With the slack water offered by the curving wall, I decided to set-up a self hooking rig, set straight down the wall, on the shorter rod, and float fish into the slack water / tidal flow boundary ahead of me with the match rod … I decided that as others would be fishing in close proximity to me, that I’d probably have to fish a little way out, and that the distance required, coupled with my style of casting with the centre-pin resulted in me electing to go with the fixed-spool reel ……… I decided to go Jersey style … 3swann white waggler, 20 odd inches from the size 10 painted Kamazan, and flicking out the pre-soaked bread every now and then, in the general area, or slightly up stream of where I was fishing…… if I’d been on my own, I could easily have seen myself setting up a breadbag, and fishing up against the wall, although the curve in wall, would have made this some what awkward, but something to think about for future reference…..

Anyway, by the time I was already and set to go, it was 8.00am ……. But the encouraging thing was that fish were hitting the surface every now and then, and we could see the disturbance on the water surface ….. the others had arrived by this time as well, and had set-up, and were starting to fish ….. half with float gear, half with swim-feeders….. Russell also had good news, in that when the others had purchased car parking tickets, his missing one was also dispensed at the same time …. Something to remember in future!!!!!!

9.00am ……. Suddenly I caught a commotion from the corner of my eye, and turned to see Chris B, stuck into a fish… that stayed close to the surface, and made a lot of splash, as it fought desperately to get off, but Chris was having none of it, and very soon the fish was netted ……. A small fish of around 1.1/2lb or so, that Chris then slipped very carefully back, further upstream into the bay…..

9.15am ….. I was just wondering to myself, if the splasher that Chris had just landed, had spooked any of the other fish that may have been potentially around…… I didn’t have to worry as the waggler suddenly started to twitch, and then shot straight under with no messing….. I struck, the fish pulled away, and I started to wonder about the wisdom of using the fixed spool, as the clutch seemed to either slip too easily, with the combined efforts of the fish and tidal flow, or was too strong, and I was in danger of loosing the fish, should it suddenly decide to surge off…… but I managed some deft manipulation at critical times, and soon the fish was netted for me……. Not a big fish, but a fish none the less …… measured 17” and took a photo ….. Chris Phipps wanted to know how much it weighed, so I duly obliged …. 2lb.5oz ….. picked the fish up, and slipped it back, making sure it was OK before letting go……. Phew, well at least I wasn’t going to blank……..

9.20…… Chris B got stuck into another fish … this time a 2lb’er

9.25 ….. Chris B pulls up a fish of 1 to 2lb this time…..

9.35….. Chris B again…….. and another fish of 2lb or less …….. there were mutterings in the ranks, and Chris said something about fishing in a hole, that he thought was collecting the groundbait…….

9.40am …… yup, Chris B just for a change, with yet another fish … but I think it was a small bass this time rather than a mullet, but I could be wrong as I was trying to focus on my float……

9.50am …. Over the previous half hour I’d missed probably about half a dozen good solid bites, but failed to connect with them….. when I saw Chris B with his small school bass, I assumed that they were possibly responsible for my frustration….. suddenly my float shot under, and as it did so I struck upwards and hard, and was rewarded with a fish on the end….. but it wasn’t a bass as I first thought, but a small mullet of 15”, so I guess less than 2lb in weight …. Landed it again, with a little difficulty due to the easily slipping clutch on the fixed spool …. Took a picture, and then slipped it back…….

The tide was rising, and I managed to grab my bread before it was carried away, and put most of my gear, including the self hooking rig and rod up on a concrete platform behind us, and just focused on the float fishing…… I’m not sure, but I think Chris B had yet another small mullet, whilst I was unhooking / returning my fish, moving my gear around….

Chris Phipps who was float fishing next to me, had also hooked and lost two fish during this two hour period….. trying to backwind, rather than use his drag on the fixed spool……. And felt that perhaps when he’d slackened off, the barbless hooks he was using were being dislodged somehow …… so I gave him one of my painted kamasans …. I’m not sure if really the barbed or barbless hooks had that much to do with it, but it seemed to restore his confidence, which has an awful lot to do with fishing, and especially for the mullet it would seem……..

10.00am …… Viv who was float fishing next to me with Gary managed to catch a small mullet …… again 2lb or so, but I can’t be sure……

10.15am …… one of those slack periods, and I stopped to watch what Chris Barnard was doing, and really to see how he was registering bites …… his rod was set at 90 degees to where he’d cast, and was half crouching to look down the length of the rod….. suddenly the rod tip showed a couple of tugs, before all hell broke loose, and the rod tip was yanked right around…… guess that would be a bite then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ……..

Chris grabbed the rod like lightning and struck home hard ….. it was obvious to all that this was a larger fish than we’d had seen so far, although Chris guessed that it was probably still only small …… five minutes later, and some quick net work, and the fish was beached …… on the scales, Chris and Russell gave it as 3lb.01oz, before Chris returned the fish……

10.30am ……. Again over the preceding half an hour or so, myself along with others had bites, but failed to connect……. But not Chris B …….. this time he really had a fight on …… I took the opportunity to move my gear out of harms way, and took some pictures…..

the fish came in on the scales at 4lb.02oz …. The biggest mullet caught so far……… and to the man who’d caught the most as well!!!!!! A stunning display, that put the rest of us to shame…

With the rising tide, Chris Phipps, Gary and Viv, were forced off the wall, that was by now partially submerged, and flooded behind, and moved further round into the bay, to fish off the beach there…..

I decided to nip off to the loo, and on my way back stopped off at the car (ala fish-mobile), and changed into my chest waders, with the idea that I could then stand behind the flooded wall and continue to fish from the corner…… standing in the water would also helped to cool me down with the sun beating down……

11.15am …. Russell, Chris B, and Chris Phipps decided to move further up stream to Ford where it had been previously agreed that late comers would meet in the afternoon, and would also be more fishable during the ebbing tide…… I decided to stay, and see what happened, and as they were planning on returning around 3pm, would see them later anyway….

11.30am ….. standing on the wall, I’d missed a couple of bites over a period of five minutes or so, and told Simon who was ledgering behind me…… suddenly the waggler shot under the water and disappeared from view ….. I struck, and something took exception ….. the reel screamed and the rod bent……. This was a powerful fish, and in a different class to the previous ones I’d landed earlier…… it also made my life very awkward with respect to the drag on the fixed spool, but I managed to just about keep control … the fish dived off on a number of runs, and Simon gave some words of encouragement, whilst Gary and Viv wanted to know from their distant position if it was the fish or current that was bending the rod ….. as the fish was in the slack water, and not in the main current, I relayed my thoughts on the matter, mind you the state I was in, I could have said anything ….. suddenly the fish decided to move in close and too my left … right up against the submerged retaining wall ….. I could see my line pulling on the seaweed that was attached to it …. I desperately tried to steer the fish away, but the slipping clutch let me down… the fish surged against the wall, and the hook length parted ………. I gave a moaning cry of disappointment, echoed by the others…. I was gutted, in fact to say I was gutted would be a very large understatement…… I could only swear at my own stupidity for not changing over to the centre-pin when I had the opportunity, and had realised the problem with the other two smaller fish …. Stupid, stupid, stupid …… or just plain lazy….aaaaaaaaarrrr…..

Well I didn’t need to be told what to do … furious at myself, I took off the fixed spool, and put on the Seajecta Centrepin … re-strung up, and started again …. But with a very, very heavy heart!!!!!

12.10pm …. I was still muttering to myself and Simon about my loss …. I think the others thought I’d gone mad ….. when the float shot under again ….. I struck home, and felt a fish on the end …. But it was a small fish, and nothing like the one I’d lost .. a short scrap, and now with the joy of using the centre-pin, Simon very kindly netted the mullet, and gave me some words of consolation ….. the fish turned out to be 15” in length, and about 1.1/2 to 2lb in weight…. I really didn’t feel like weighing it!!!!! I took a picture, and then carefully returned it to the water…….

Soon after, the tide turned, and the water started to flow back towards the sea …. And with it, the bites dropped dramatically off……
Jeff and Jan Smith arrived, and pulled up on the bay beach in their dingy, and talked to Gary and Viv, before shoving off up stream, I guess to find the others….
Not long after Gary came over and joined Simon and myself, whilst Viv took 40 winks on the beach…..

I had a couple of bites that I missed, but otherwise it went very quiet……..

Just after 1pm, the river really became unfishable, with large amounts of weed floating down, coupled with the very fast flow of the ebbing tide, that either gave one false bites, a washing line of seaweed, or simply making it impossible to hold bottom for those that were ledgering…..

I phoned Russell, just to see how things were going up stream ….. he said that four more people had arrived, and that there were a few fish about….. it was still his intention to come back down to us around 3.30pm or so…..

We all tried to fish on and off, and dodge the rafts of weed, with minimal success …… there was a small patch of slower flowing water out in the bay close to the nearest boat that Gary found …. But it was hard going, as it was very shallow, and if you let the rod tip down the line between you and the float would be pulled away, if not coated in drifting weed!!!!!! Spent sometime watching the swans!!!!

True to their word, Russell and the two Chris’s returned around 3.30pm or so, and were a little disappointed at the state of the tide, and felt they had come down a little too early….. but it did give us a chance to talk and swap tales …… I asked Chris B, about the specific ledgering rig he was using …. turned out to be a Wessex ledger with size 6 hooks …. By his own admission larger hooks than he’d normally use (size 10’s) but he’d been advised (I’ve forgotten by whom) that he needed to use big baits and big hooks at this mark ….. with the further 4 fish he had taken up-stream, bringing his tally thus far to 11 mullet, who could possibly argue against the logic!!!!!!!!!!

I was also really pleased to find out that Chris Phipps had also managed to land his first fish of the day……..
Dave Rigden and Mark Stinton had caught a number of fish, with the largest to Mark being 3lb.10oz …..

Leon had managed a tiddler nr Shoreham earlier in the day.... all of 8oz!!!!!

....and that Jeff Smith had managed a 4lb.06oz monster from the boat (as you can see from the picture above)…… but did that count!!!!! LOL

Russell told me later, that Phil Hazell who'd been fishing further up at Arundel had bagged four fish, and his friend one.....

By 4pm, the weed problem was slacking off, and people were able to start fishing again ….. I have to confess that my heart really wasn’t in it, and all I could think of was what I could have done to have avoided loosing my monster fish earlier in the day … those sorts of opportunities come very infrequently….. and I’d blown it, for the sake of not sitting down for 5 minutes and changing the reel!!!!!! Consequently I walked around and chatted to people, and decided to watch carefully what they were doing … especially those that were ledgering, as I’ve never done so before, and wanted to learn as much as I could ……. Especially having witnessed the results from Chris Barnard who obviously had the knack with this technique…..
It also seemed that I’d won “Who’s wearing the Silly Hat Comp” ….. too which all I could reply was it did the job … looking at a sea of lobster burnt grinning faces!!!!

4.35pm…… Gary managed his first fish of the day, having missed a number of bites previously….. nice fish of 2.1/2lb …. And signalled the return of the mullet……

However I couldn’t raise myself out of my malaise, something Russell noted, and commented upon …. But with the state of the flowing tide, it would have proved very difficult to float fish, and indeed everyone was ledgering…… so I continued to walkabout and talk with people, as something interesting arose……

6.00pm …. The tide had dropped so that Chris B, and myself could actually walk down to the main channel, via the bay, and start fishing at the water level…. I moved slightly up stream to the first beached boat (blue and white), so I could trot the float down stream almost to where Chris was ledger fishing at the curve in the retaining wall, below where the others were…..

6.05pm…… a shout went up ….. Gary was in …. But with a much better fish ….. after a struggle, and with the help of Chris picking his way along the base of the wall, with a landing net…. They eventually managed to get it netted…… came in at 4lb.04oz …. Nice fish .. couldn’t take any pictures as I was down on the river trying to catch my own!!!!

6.25pm ….. I’d had a series of missed bites, almost from the moment I’d started fishing down on the river….. the float dipped under once again .. I struck, and this time I hit lucky, and felt a fish tugging on the end .. not a very big fish…. Chris netted it for me ….. turned out to be a 13” bass .. took a picture, and then popped it back……

6.30pm … no sooner had I slipped the bass back, than Chris B, was in again …. I asked Russell to pass down my long handled landing net, and then positioned myself as instructed by Chris, and waited to net the fish for him…… after a number of runs, he guided the fish into the net, and I passed the fish over for him to unhook and weigh … came in at 3lb.08oz…..

6.35pm …. Russell gave a shout … but managed to pull up a small bass for his efforts…..

6.50pm …… Viv managed a mullet of 3lb.14oz …. Although it took them a while to land, having turned down Chris B’s and my offers to help net the fish, they resorted to Gary hanging over the wall side, waving his long handled landing net around like a butterfly net!!!! ….. all very funny from where we were stood below…… but at least they managed it in the end…..

The tide was rising fairly fast .. and I retreated onto wheel rim / drum, that was almost in front of the blue boat (you can just see it on the photo above), in order to keep my bucket of mashed bread, and bread for the hook safe …. And although I had on the chest waders, felt that Chris and myself probably only had 20minutes to half an hour tops left on this spot….

7.00pm….. I was trotting the float across a deeper and slower flowing pool in front of me, about 15ft away, when suddenly, I noticed a large mullet swimming down, and was almost under my feet .. when it got to me, it went off at 45 degrees ….. straight towards my float ……
I watched in disbelief as the fish started to sink out of the visible depth, but still on towards my float…. I held my breath (I seem to do a lot of that these days --- since taking up mullet fishing!!!!) and prayed (seem to be doing a lot of that as well!!!!!)…….. the float quivered a couple of times, and shot under the water….. struck home, and the rod bent ….. I gave a shout that I was in, and let the fish run, applying a degree of pressure to the centre-pin rim, to make the fish work for every yard it took…….
The fish dived deep into the central channel, but luckily decided not to go far down stream, and make my life harder …… during the next five minutes or so, I managed to get Russell to pass down the landing net again, and then Chris B, very kindly set up station to net the fish ….. which I think we both thought at first was going to come easily ….. WRONG

Everytime it came into the shallow water (Chris had boots not waders), and saw the net it tore off ….. I’m not sure if Chris thought I was messing around .. he did turn a couple of times to look at the rod bend, and I did apologize for overplaying the fish …. truth was I simply couldn’t hold the fish on the sudden very powerful short runs, that it was now engaging upon ….. I even commented to Chris about the fact that it was starting to wake up, as it dived off deeper, with more power than it had shown previously, just to make the point to both of us, or so it seemed…….

I gave Chris the option of standing to, if he so wished until I played the fish out, but he very kindly refused and stayed in his crouching position with the net under the water and at a low angle, and simply waited …. I’m sure it must have been killing his back …. Anyway, after a number of similar abortive attempts, a fair bit of surface slashing, and a reasonable chat with Chris about hating it when they splash about, but even more when they start the dreaded head shaking thing that they so often do …. the fish glided over the net rim, and Chris did the honours and then passed the netted fish over to me….. phew….

I walked back up across the mud, and up to the top section where the others were, along with my weighing sling and scales …… by the time I’d got there., I was starting to shake and have that light headed feeling from the rush of adrenaline…… Russell made some quip about needing a bigger net…. LOL

Chris Phipps came over and kindly helped me …. Think he must have thought I was mad … I had to do everything in a particular order … I find if I don’t, then the adrenaline rush means I miss things out ….. so I measured the fish … 22.1/2” from nose to tail fork … took some Pix … and Chris took a couple with me and the fish …. Set the scales to the sling weight, and transferred the mullet ……. Looked at the scale ….. 5lb … but I was shaking….. so I passed it over to Chris ….. he registered 5lb on the nose as well……. Joint PB with the one from Sun Pier….

Grabbed the sling and mullet, and got back down to the waters edge as fast as I could ….. held the fish for a short time, before it recovered its strength, and pushed off into the deeper waters of the channel ……..

Picked up the bucket, and the plastic bag with my hook bread in it, that was now starting to float in the rising tide, and walked back up top……

Well to say I had the face of The Cat that Got The Cream, would be a considerable under statement ……. Which wasn’t lost on Russell, when I made comment about it sort of making up for the one I’d lost earlier, although my gut feeling was that the one that got away had been a better fish… isn’t that always the way!!!!! LOL

7.20pm …. The river had gone very still with no tidal flow, and very little wind….. ideal for float fishing, so I moved slightly further down from the others and fished off the wall into the main channel …….. I’m not sure my mind was fully on what I was doing, as I was still reliving the previous 20 minutes or so, over and over again in my head…….

7.30pm ……. Gary suddenly struck, his rod arched right over.. and his reel screamed …. and I mean screamed ….. everyone stopped and turned to watch ….. the fish tore off line …… but just as everyone was thinking ooooooh …… the fish snapped the line ….. Gary looked shaken, and very pissed-off ……. As well he might …… from the way the fish bent his rod, and tore line from his reel, I’d say it was probably the best fish we’d encountered all day!!!!!!

Very soon after, Russell and the two Chris’s packed up, and were heading for the Pub …. I had to decline the offer to join them, as I suddenly started to feel very tired, and took the opportunity to start packing away…. If I’d been able, I think I WOULD HAVE CONTINUED FISHING …. The tide and conditions just seemed to scream fish … but like me, Simon, Gary and Viv, also had to go, and so we all packed away, and left the mullet to another day……… from my point of view, a fabulous days fishing with the NMC .. may there be many more……

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