South Coast Spring Tides: Bass, Mackerel and Perfect Evening Light

Evening folks, Artificial Lure here with your South Coast fishing report. We’re on the back end of a waxing gibbous moon and the tides have been pushing hard along the Channel. Down Portsmouth and Solent way it’s been classic big spring water: proper flooding late afternoon, then a lively ebb running into the dark. Over Brighton, Shoreham and along to Newhaven, the evening high has been stacking bait tight to the beaches, especially around piers and harbour mouths. Around Poole and Christchurch Harbour, that same push has been pulling baitfish over the bars and onto the flats. Weather-wise it’s been settled but fresh, with a westerly breeze putting a gentle chop on open marks and a bit more shelter inside the harbours. Air temps are mild, sea temps running in the mid-teens, enough to keep the bass and mackerel switched on. Skies have been broken cloud with some clear spells, giving those magic low-light windows at first and last light. Sunrise has been early, with usable light in the 4-ish hour, and sunset late, keeping the evening session going well into the night. Fish activity has picked up nicely. Along the Sussex beaches there’ve been steady schoolie bass with the odd better fish nudging a few pounds, plus mixed bags of plaice, flounder and dabs for the bait anglers. Night tides have seen dogfish and the occasional small smoothhound nosing in. Off the piers, mackerel shoals have been showing in flurries rather than all-out mayhem, but when they’re in you can fill a bucket quickly on small metals or feathers. In the Solent and around Hayling and Selsey, bass have been the main talking point: plenty of fish mid-40s cm with a few proper lumps for those working artificials over rough ground and gutter lines. Wrasse have been active over the reefs and rockier marks, smashing soft plastics fished tight to structure. Poole Bay and Christchurch have produced some nice rays and smoothhounds on crab and squid cocktails, with school bass picking up smaller baits. Best lures right now: small to mid-size metal jigs and slim shore spoons for mackerel and schoolie bass; 4–5 inch paddle-tail and straight-tail soft plastics in natural baitfish colours for working surf gutters and harbour entrances; and weedless, slightly weighted soft plastics for probing rough and snaggy ground. On the bait front, ragworm and lug are still top choices for general beach work, with peeler crab, squid and mackerel strip doing the damage for rays, hounds and better bass. Couple of hotspots to keep in mind: Brighton Marina walls have been producing mackerel, garfish and bass on both bait and lures when the water colours up just right; and around Langstone and Chichester Harbour entrances, the flooding tide into dusk has been very kind to lure anglers targeting bass along the channels and sandbars. Further west, Hengistbury Head into Christchurch Bay continues to throw up mixed bags of rays, bass and flatfish for those willing to move and locate the fish. That’s your South Coast round-up from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn