West Sussex Catch Report - 8th March

Report by David Lewis

Good evening, the fishing during this past week has certainly been good with Plaice showing in decent numbers from the beaches, some nice Rays caught during darkness and even a couple of surprise Codling made an appearance. In the right conditions there is plenty of species worth targeting locally, both big and small although the weather is predicted to change next week so why not get the rods out and give it a try. 

Here are Worthing high tides times for the week ahead:

• Monday 9th March: 02:24 (5.6m), 14:39 (5.3m)
• Tuesday 10th March: 02:54 (5.2m), 15:14 (4.8m)
• Wednesday 11th March: 03:30 (4.7m), 16:00 (4.4m) 
• Thursday 12th March: 04:24 (4.2m), 17:17 (4.0m)
• Friday 13th March:  05:55 (3.9m), 19:06 (4.0m)
• Saturday 14th March: 07:43 (4.1m), 20:23 (4.4m)

The weather during the past week was a vast improvement with light winds and some sunshine although cloudier weather moved in over the weekend. The sea has been calm with the water slowly clearing with deeper water seeing the best clarity. Next week looks more unsettled with wind predicted midweek onwards and with the smallest tides of the year the sea it is likely to turn coloured and rough.

Big tides with light winds and calm seas has meant the water clarity has improved especially from the deeper water venues and Plaice have moved inshore in numbers with plenty of sizable fish reported from venues including Hove, Brighton and Seaford. Worm baits have accounted for majority of fish plus being able to cast long distances will likely improve your catch rate. Along with Plaice there are good numbers of Dabs from East Sussex along with a few Flounders and even a few Turbots have been reported recently. 

Dogfish continue to be caught in vast numbers and more so from venues which water still holds some colour and at night they have been caught throughout the region and seemingly hard to avoid. The occasional small Bull Huss has also appeared in amongst the Dogfish.

The calmer seas and clearing water has resulted in less Congers showing of late although darkness has still produced a few fish into double figures and they will likely return if next week’s wind prediction is correct as the sea will colour up again. 
There has been some very good catches of Thornbacks along with some Undulates and Small Eyed Rays although the fish do seem very localised and majority caught in darkness.  Venues worth targeting Rays include Hove, Seaford, Eastbourne, Bognor, Pagham and Selsey. 

 This weekend saw a couple of Codling caught locally from the beaches in the daytime. Whiting continue to be caught in relatively small numbers along with the occasional Pout. 

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. The clearer water has seen the occasional Bass caught to lures from the shore whilst vast numbers of Bass have been caught in close from boats, again to lures. 

There are plenty of other species featuring in catches including small Smoothounds, 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!