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Question?

Beach

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I usually fish the Sussex coast from the beach around 3hrs before and a couple of hours after. Is it worth trying near the ebb (low water)? Just to say the ground I fish over is normally sand.
 
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I would say try 3 hours before and after low would be a good time
 
Yes worth experimenting with your venue , as just after low iv had nice fish when the place would only be fished for high normally ...
Take a walk down there at low if you haven't seen it already...sometimes you can be chasing yourself back with the tide more than fishing lol
 
I would say 3 hours either side of high,& 2 hours either side of low tide nate
 
I usually fish the Sussex coast from the beach around 3hrs before and a couple of hours after. Is it worth trying near the ebb (low water)? Just to say the ground I fish over is normally sand.
How long is a piece of string?

Generally I find the ebb here fishes poorly but that’s not the same for every mark, they all vary.
Quite often two hours of ebb then it dies off seems to be the norm here, but we have a big tidal range. There are a couple of marks that do produce on the back tide.

Does the tide move much in Sussex? On my local surf beaches you can’t really fish the main ebb as you’re chasing it down so much - literally by the time you’ve baited and cast one rod, then done the other, the first one is practically dry.
Not to mention how quickly you have to chase after it, it just becomes impractical.

But if Sussex is like chesil where it just about manages to move three metres in three hours, that aspect won’t be an issue.

As already said, try different tide states and see if it works.
 
How long is a piece of string?

Generally I find the ebb here fishes poorly but that’s not the same for every mark, they all vary.
Quite often two hours of ebb then it dies off seems to be the norm here, but we have a big tidal range. There are a couple of marks that do produce on the back tide.

Does the tide move much in Sussex? On my local surf beaches you can’t really fish the main ebb as you’re chasing it down so much - literally by the time you’ve baited and cast one rod, then done the other, the first one is practically dry.
Not to mention how quickly you have to chase after it, it just becomes impractical.

But if Sussex is like chesil where it just about manages to move three metres in three hours, that aspect won’t be an issue.

As already said, try different tide states and see if it works.
The tide current doesn't move that much unless you fish on Seaford beach then you need a gripper weight to stop it going from west to east. Think I will try on the flood to see how it goes, some parts in my area the ebb goes out about a quarter of a mile so I don't tend to fish there.
Our tides vary from 4 to 6 metres depending on the moon cycle etc.
My piece of string varies from arms length to 1000 metres ;)
Thanks for the info, appreciated (y)
 
When I used to fish the South Kent coast, usually Hythe, I always found the half hour either side of low was good for sole, especially if that time coincided with darkness falling.
About 10 feet out, no more.
Light rod and small hooks make for a good scrap with a decent sole.
Then the fishing would die off until 3 hours before high when the doggies arrived.

I'm going to try the same tactic at Fort Victoria IOW when the opportunity arises.
 
Got to agree with Mr fish, every venue is different.
Try fishing different states of tide til you find out what's best, but that can vary between species as much as the venue.
I have two marks on Anglesey that fish totally opposite to each other so fish the tide down on one, pack up, drive 30 mins then fish the tide up on the other, it means I can fish as much as I like and very rarely blank on either, but it has taken me a few years to work them out and plenty of helpful advice from locals.
 
I know some marks that fish well on the ebb including some quite shallow ones but it is an effort chasing the tide out. If you plan using two rods I find two sand spikes easier than a rod rest but it involves a lot of leg work. Some times it is just better to fish one rod properly than trying to fish two
 
Iv fished king alfred at low water and was very surprised on the bites I was getting
 
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