West Sussex Catch Report - 22nd March 2026

Report by David Lewis

Good evening, there have been plenty of fish caught recently, unfortunately a very large percentage of those have been Dogfish but despite this there are still encouraging signs of improvement with more species making an appearance plus the weather has been decent for fishing and hopefully this trend will continue so why not get the rods out and give it a try. 

Here are Worthing high tides times for the week ahead:

• Monday 23rd March: 01:38 (6.2m), 13:59 (6.0m)
• Tuesday 24th March: 02:20 (5.9m), 14:46 (5.6m)
• Wednesday 25th March: 03:08 (5.5m), 15:45 (5.1m) 
• Thursday 26th March: 04:12 (4.9m), 17:04 (4.7m)
• Friday 27th March:  05:41 (4.5m), 18:41 (4.6m)
• Saturday 28th March: 07:19 (4.5m), 20:06 (4.9m)

The weather during the past week has seen plenty of sunshine and mainly dry conditions with variable winds from the east and generally light. The water has been slowly clearing out with deeper water venues seeing the best water clarity. Next week there is some wind expected Tuesday and Wednesday which could result in the sea returning coloured. 

With the settled weather and calm and clearing seas it has been enough to encourage some of the summer species to return closer to shore although not all within casting distance yet. Bream have been landed both by inshore netters and anglers fishing within the half mile plus other species including Red Mullet. Garfish will feature in catches soon with Worthing Pier always tending to be the venue where they appear first. Some small Smoothounds have been caught within the last fortnight and last week saw a couple of better fish to double figures caught from the beaches in Hampshire.

Again, another week where Dogfish have been plentiful and have been caught in vast numbers and seemingly from most venues both during the day and at night. Many Dogfish caught lately do seem to be very small although there is a mixture of sizes of fish and there has been the occasional small Bull Huss caught from within the Dogfish shoals.  

Rays are still being caught locally with a mixture of Thornback, Small Eyed and Undulate Rays of differing sizes showing throughout the region. An Undulate Ray was caught last week during darkness on Worthing Pier in a match and Bognor, Pagham and Selsey are venues where they have also been caught lately. Venues worth targeting Rays include Selsey, Pagham, Bognor, Hove and Eastbourne with nighttime tides likely to increase your chances. 

Conditions last week improved for Plaice with calm and clearing water at venues known to produce good Plaice catches but the numbers of Plaice caught were hampered on some tides by the quantity of other species present – most notably Dogfish. Venues including Hove, Brighton and Seaford should produce Plaice in the right conditions with worm baits casted long distances likely to improve your catch rate. Flounders have been caught randomly mainly to worm baits along with Dabs and the odd Sole. 

Congers are showing mainly during darkness with fish ranging from very small to the occasional double and even one around the 25lb mark and a few more fish might appear once the sea colours up again with onshore winds. 

There are still Bass being caught although mainly Schoolies along with the odd sizable fish in amongst them. During spells when the water clarity is good lure fishing at some venues could be worthwhile. Remember for the remainder of March the Bass ban is still in place and ALL BASS must be returned alive so at present it is catch and release only for Bass. 
There are plenty of other species featuring in catches including Whiting, Pouts, chance of an odd Codling, Rockling and Silver Eels. 

Prime Angling usual opening times are 8am till 5pm Monday to Saturday and 8am till 4pm Sundays. We are located at 26 Marine Parade, Worthing, BN11 3PT, just to the east of Worthing Pier with limited customer parking available at the front of the shop. For bait availability it is advisable to phone us on 01903 821594. We also stock a large variety of frozen sea baits as well as a wide range of freshwater baits and tackle. 

Visit our online website at primeangling.co.uk with plenty of new stock regularly added so keep an eye on our Facebook page for updates. 

Please send us pictures of your recent local catches via our Facebook page messenger or email and we will aim to publish them for you in the weekly report. Please note we DO NOT claim ANY FISH used and mentioned in our reports are caught on our baits or tackle, it is a report to show what has and is likely to be caught locally. 

Good luck & Tight Lines!