The Kraken is a fast and safe boat that can take you quickly to the varied fishing grounds off the Sussex Coast. We are lucky to have such a variety of fish and can offer trips to suit you and cater for both novice and experienced anglers. Our trips can be 3, 4, 6 or 8 hours depending on your requirement and the type of fishing we do. Take a look at what is on offer.
For the inexperienced anglers or those who like great tasty fish to take home and eat.
Both of these fish are fantastic to eat and can provide trips to target either or at certain times of the year both.
About the fish:
Mackerel is a very important fish to anglers as both a sport fish and as a bait. They are migratory and come to the UK in spring and early summer, when they will feed actively and then migrate to warmer seas in the autumn months to spawn, during which time they will feed little. When mackerel are they move in vast shoals, hunting small fish or sand eels. A large shoal of mackerel can force smaller fish such as sandeel, herring and sprats to the surface of the sea. One of the fastest if not the fastest fish in our UK waters once hooked pound for pound they fight as good as anything.
Mackerel are a fast predatory fish, closely related to tuna. They have no swim bladder which means they can change depth rapidly and must keep moving all of the time. Mackerel are the fastest swimming fish in UK waters, able to swim around fifty metres in ten seconds. Even a small mackerel puts up a great fight once hooked.
We use Mackerel Feathers which imitate the bait fish that they hunt. These are connected to your main line with a weight at the bottom. Simply lower your weight to the sea bed and slowly lift your rod tip and down to give movement to the feathers. After a few times simply wind the reel once or twice to try a different depths as they are often at different depth and can be as shallow as 15ft. You can do this until the feathers are back at the surface and then go down again if you haven’t already found the fish.
This trip is a great way to have a relaxing day trying to catch what are prolific fish in our waters. Great to eat and fun to catch on light tackle:
Plaice are most commonly caught between March and September as they spend the colder winter months in deeper water far out at sea where they spawn. When the sea temperature begins to warm up in the spring plaice move into shallower inshore water and within range of the shore angler. The first plaice to arrive are often skinny and undernourished, having spent the winter in cold, deep water where they have fed little. These early season fish can be keen to take a bait and will feed at all times on a wide variety of food sources. As the summer goes on plaice will fatten up and become more selective about the sources of food they take. Eventually, once the autumn begins plaice will make their way back to offshore waters and prepare to spawn over the winter, repeating the migratory process. During the spring and summer months plaice are often found in estuaries and can survive quite a low salinity content of water, although not to the same extent as flounder and they will not travel up rivers in the same way that flounder do.
Being a flatfish plaice prefer sandy or muddy seabeds, but they can also be found in small sandy patches between mixed and rocky ground.
We are very lucky to have a variety of grounds off of the Sussex coast and a mix ground trip can be great fun with so many species that could take your bait!
Some of the species will be dependent on the time of year but there are plenty around at different times to provide some good sport.
As well as Mackerel, Bream and occasional Bass you could also hook into some of these creatures, Conger eels, Rays, Pollock, Gurnard, Wrasse, Smooth hound, Tope, Bull Huss, Dog Fish, Scad (Horsemackerel), Pouting and other less common species.
These are amazing looking creatures and good fun to catch and are tasty to eat. Nothing better than fresh squid cooked correctly.
Squid are found in the waters surrounding the UK in waters down to several hundred metres deep. They are far more common in the warmer waters around the south and south west of England and parts of Wales and Ireland where they are mostly present in shallow inshore waters from the early summer to early winter.
We use light rods with 2 or more squid jigs with a lead weight at the bottom. Sink the weight until you hit the bottom then slowly move your rod tip from the sea to the sky and repeat. You will feel pressure once the squids on so get the pressure but don’t strike or reel too fast, a nice and slow wind up will work best.
You may also get cuttlefish with the same technique. They have a slightly more aggressive feel but again treat them the same. If they come off mid wind drop your line 10 ft and wait it is not uncommon for them to come back.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/ search?q=squid
Bass are a highly sought after fish, and bass angling attracts some of Britain’s most committed anglers due to the fighting qualities and high reputation of this striking looking fish. A bass of 10lb or more would be a landmark catch for most anglers, although fish much smaller than this still provide plenty of sport. Smaller bass (those under 2lb) are known as school bass and stay in shoals in and around estuaries, while larger bass live in deeper water and become solitary hunters.
Up until to several years ago numbers were on the decline however, restrictions brought in in 2016 have seen a recovery is numbers. Recent years have seen bass numbers decline significantly. There have been a number of different restrictions placed on both anglers and commercial fishermen in an attempt to halt the decline. Since 2016 the UK government enforces a minimum legal landing size of 42cm for sea bass caught by recreation anglers. From 1st December through to the end of February, all bass fishing is catch and release. “From 1 March to 30 November, not more than two seabass may be retained per fisherman per day”.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/ collection/sea-bass-recipes
