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Newhaven has built up a reputation as one of the UK's main wreck fishing ports. Large numbers of wrecks, many not recorded in the official archives, litter the channel. As a result recent impressive returns of huge conger has brought many to think that a new record eel is imminent from here.
NOTED MARKS AND GROUND FEATURE
Inshore fishing does not receive much attention hereabouts with the quality of the wreck scene taking precedence. Nevertheless, there are hot spots that produce excellent catches.
The "Chicken Farm" is an area of clean ground towards the east that holds good numbers of plaice and dabs throughout the summer and autumn. Some of the reef ground towards Beachy Head holds bass willing to take redgills and also odd conger.
Inshore wrecks like the U boat UB40 which lies a couple of miles off Beachy Head also attracts shoals of bass and small pollack in summer, and whiting and codling throughout the winter. A favoured dinghy mark for bass is "The Ledge", again running out from Beachy Head. Beachy Head is about 10 miles from Newhaven. Further east towards Eastbourne lay the" Copper Shoals" and the "Light Tower". Both good marks for late winter cod.
SPECIES
January through to March sees some big cod over 30lbs landed from the offshore wrecks weather permitting. Pollack to 16lbs stay with them and some conger continue to be caught. Channel whiting upto 4lbs can show pretty well at any time.
April is possibly the slower month, though pollack, conger and odd cod continue to show. By May, the dinghies start to hit the first bass around Beachy Head along with plaice and dabs.
June sees things really hot up with the wrecks producing a stream of massive conger to 90lbs, pollack to 16lbs and cod to 20lbs. By the end of June mackerel appear in numbers bringing with them tope, though these tend to be smaller pack fish. The best of the tope and the bigger fish, some close to 50lbs, come from marks off Beachy Head. Smoothound show on the inshore reef marks, with thornbacks to 15lbs from the Light Tower area.
July, August and September see a continuation of the summer species, but by the end of September these start to thin out to be replaced by first the whiting, then the codling and cod. The wrecks retain quality conger, cod and pollack, plus those big channel whiting and odd spurdog. Big black bream also show around the wrecks at this time.
TIDES AND WEATHER
The tides really hammer through, both inshore and offshore. The English Channel is almost at it's narrowest here, the water being bottle necked.
The bigger spring tides, or "Long" tides as they are known locally are preferred by experienced dinghy anglers chasing the bass. Flatfish like something a little slower.
The wreck boats choose the smallest neap tides when anchoring for conger, but are less choosy when chasing the big cod and pollack on the drift.
TACKLE
Inshore fishing for bass and flatfish, smoothound, tope and rays is mainly with uptide tackle, though some anglers do prefer a straight 20lb class outfit when downtiding in a quick tide for tope and rays.
Reels need to be loaded with 300 yds of 18lb line
Over the wrecks, then for fishing artificial eels a 4-10oz uptider works well, though some fish with 30lb boat rods when the tide is at it's strongest and more lead is needed.
For conger, a 50lb class rod, size 4/0 to 6/0 multiplier loaded with 60lb line is the main choice. They choose 60lb line here to give them that little bit extra edge against a conger deep inside the metal wreckage.
Lead weights upto a massive 3lbs will be required at all times. Local skippers use a flat watch type lead of 3lbs for congering at anchor, and even these try to bounce around at times.
BAITS
Most of the cod and pollack are taken on pirks and redgills. Conger eat mackerel, pout, but alternatively try whole big squid or cuttlefish. The latter has an excellent record with the bigger fish.
Inshore bass and smoothound take crab baits. Black lug is good for dabs and plaice, with the tope and rays coming mostly to mackerel. Some of the bigger bass over rough ground and wrecks take a whole small joey mackerel. Reef conger will take a whole small pout.
The bigger channel whiting often take feathers being used over the wrecks for pollack. Bait these with fish strips for the best results. The bream fall to this method too.
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