West Sussex Fishing Report - 9th March 2025

Report by David Lewis

Good evening, another week has gone where the fishing is continuing to show signs of improvement with numerous decent local catch reports and there has been an increase of more species figuring in the catches, plus the weather has been pleasant, so why not get out and give it a try. 

Here are Worthing high tides times for the week ahead:

• Monday 10th March: 08:33 (4.7m), 21:16 (5.0m)
• Tuesday 11th March: 09:36 (5.1m), 22:07 (5.5m)
• Wednesday 12th March: 10:23 (5.4m), 22:48 (5.7m)
• Thursday 13th March: 11:00 (5.7m), 23:24 (5.9m)
• Friday 14th March:  11:34 (5.8m), 23:56 (6.0m)
• Saturday 15th March: 12:04 (5.9m)

The weather has remained fairly settled during the past week although towards the weekend the winds picked up slightly and as the tides were small this caused the water to colour up inshore which in turn can affect what you are likely to catch. 
At the start of last week when the water clarity was good on the big tides, the Plaice fishing was quite decent locally with plenty of sizable fish and a couple of fish nudging 2lb. Towards the weekend as the tides dropped in size the winds increased slightly enough to colour the water up enough and catches of Plaice decreased. With Plaice fishing casting at distance usually improves your chances of better results and baits to use include black lug or king rag. Venues worth trying when conditions are ideal include Shoreham especially from beach at the Burrells or Shoreham Harbour, Hove, Brighton, Seaford and Eastbourne. 

A surprise this week was a few early Sole were caught locally usually they do not show up till the summer and the ones that have been caught have been decent sized.

Although probably not specifically targeted Flounders have been caught in reasonable numbers usually taken by anglers after the Plaice. Venues worth trying for Flounders include the rivers and Kingston beach with worm baits. 

Dabs have continued to be caught at most sandy beaches through East Sussex including Seaford, Eastbourne and Pevensey to black lug baits.  

There have been plenty of small Thornback Rays caught throughout the region with some better sized fish in amongst them. Eastbourne, Hove, Pagham are venues where chances are increased of catching Thornbacks although they are showing up at other venues too where they do not usually appear so hopefully this is a sign their numbers are increasing. Undulate Rays remain scarce, and it will only be a month or so, weather dependant, that Stingrays will move in. 

The previous week saw reasonable numbers of decent sized Congers but last week not many were caught but the coming week a few may show on the evening high tides and could be a possibility at most venues fishing with big baits and suitable tackle. 

Some Dogfish have been caught in darkness or in the daytime at certain venues where the water is still heavily coloured and there is still Whiting around although not in numbers which can be present this time of year. Also a few small Smoothounds have been caught mainly from around Shoreham. 

Again, worth noting Bass are still currently catch and release only, see accompanying picture for details. It will not be too long before Bass catches increase locally and once the weather warms up and the sea clarity improves catching Bass to lures will be a possibility. Spring can see some nice Bass caught to peeler crab baits if crabs are peeling and Schoolies will be caught to worm baits. 

Other species that could feature in catches will include plenty of Rockling to small worm baits, Silver Eels from the local rivers and Pout. A couple of Mullet have been caught this weekend thanks to Robin Howard and his client, and the rivers have seen some Mullet present all winter. It will not be too long before some of the inshore boats start finding a few Black Bream.

Prime Angling 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!