West Sussex Catch Report - 9th August 2026

Report by David Lewis

Good evening, the fishing lately is producing some good reports of fish most notably Bass, Bream and Mullet and with the prolonged spell of hot weather, calm seas, often scaling down and fishing different baits such as Red Rag and small hooks can be the difference between catching and not catching but there are still plenty of other species worth targeting too so why not get out and give it a go. 

Here are Worthing high tides times for the week ahead:

• Monday 10th August: 09:49 (5.2m), 22:13 (5.4m)
• Tuesday 11th August: 10:54 (5.7m), 23:12 (5.8m)
• Wednesday 12th August: 11:52 (6.0m) 
• Thursday 13th August: 00:08 (6.1m), 12:44 (6.3m)
• Friday 14th August:  00:58 (6.2m), 13:30 (6.4m)
• Saturday 15th August: 01:42 (6.2m), 14:11 (6.4m)

Still no change in the weather with yet more dry, sunny and hot conditions and very little change is expected for next week with light winds and big tides for the coming week. The sea is still very clear after being calm most days. 
More good catches of Bass during the past week with fish up to 7lb caught locally with good numbers of sizable fish showing both to lure and bait anglers. Lure fishing at dawn or dusk coinciding with either low or high tide can offer good results with some venues more likely to produce fish over high water whereas some venues fish better at low water wading out into the shallows. Variety of baits are catching at present with some venues seeing better catches to certain baits over others, so success is using the right bait at a given venue. 

This year’s weather and sea conditions have meant there seems to be a lot more Mullet around than previous years and a local beach match fished between 5 anglers this weekend produced 54 Mullet with the winner having a superb total of 19 Mullet with red rag the bait to use. Venues worth trying includes Lancing, Shoreham and Tide Mills at Newhaven and the local rivers all hold Thin and Thick Lipped Mullet. 
 
Brighton Marina has again been the venue where Scads seem plentiful and caught in darkness along with occasional daytime catches of Mackerel. Inshore boats are finding a few shoals of Mackerel so hopefully a few may appear closer to the shore on the bigger tides this week but as reported Mackerel numbers are drastically down on previous years.

A few flatfish have been caught with Plaice, Flounders and Sole all possible catches mainly between Shoreham and Brighton with the Marina probably the most reliable venue to target them in terms of numbers and quality of fish with worm baits best baits to use. 

Black Bream continue to be prolific throughout the region with a mixture of size fish although the majority are small, but some venues have thrown up better sized fish at times which can be caught in numbers both during the day or at night. Noted venues worth targeting them include Brighton Marina, Shoreham Harbour or beaches including Widewater and Selsey. Chichester Harbour holds good numbers of Gilt Head Breams of a decent size whereas the occasional smaller ones get caught from the beaches as well as a few from Brighton Marina. 

Best chance of catching some of the bigger species such as Smoothounds and Congers will be fishing at night although most Congers now are very small straps but there is always the possibility of a bigger fish in amongst them. Ray fishing locally is slow with the odd Undulate and Thornback occasionally being caught. 

Other occasional species caught locally are likely to include Smelt, Red Mullet, Gurnards and Wrasse. Again, as its August it would not be unusual to see a Codling turn up soon. 

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 which will include plenty of new items from Japan. 

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!