South Coast Springs: Bass, Rays and Early Summer Conditions

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your South Coast fishing report. Down along the English Channel it’s been a settled, early‑summer pattern: light to moderate westerlies, a bit more breeze in the afternoon, and generally good visibility. Air temps are sitting mid‑teens to low‑20s, with only the odd shower sliding through. Sunrise is around ten past four in the morning, with sunset just before nine thirty in the evening, giving a long, fishable day with proper low‑light windows at dawn and dusk. Tides along the central South Coast are running on a decent set of springs right now, with lively flows through the main channels and around headlands. Expect strong pushes on the flood over sandbanks and into the harbours, easing back nicely towards the top. The bigger water has really kicked the inshore life into gear. Bass fishing has picked up well. Shore lads have been finding schoolies with the odd better fish off shingle marks and reefy ground, especially on the flooding tide into darkness. Small metal lures, white or sandeel‑pattern soft plastics, and surface walkers at first light are all doing damage. Where there’s bait—sandeels, sprats, or whitebait—you’re in with a shout. On the bait front, ragworm and lug tipped with a sliver of squid are working for mixed bags from the beaches: pout, dogfish, small smoothhounds and the occasional better ray. Peeler crab, if you can get it, is still the top offering for smoothhounds and a decent bass close in. After dark, whole squid or bluey on a pulley rig chucked just beyond the first gully has turned up a few thornies and small conger. From the boats, inshore wrecks and rough ground are producing codling, pollack and more bass on shads, pirks and sidewinder‑style lures worked mid‑water. Feathering for mackerel is starting to become more consistent; when you find them, you’ll often see garfish and scad mixed in, which is always a good sign for predator action. A couple of hotspots to keep an eye on: • Around the Needles and the adjacent banks: fast tide runs, plenty of structure, and good reports of bass and pollack on lures, plus rays on the sandier edges with fish baits. • The stretch from Shoreham through Brighton and on towards Peacehaven: mixed rough ground and gullies that have been turning up bass, rays, and summer species on both worm and fish baits, especially on the evening flood. Harbour mouths and channel entrances—Portsmouth, Langstone, Chichester—are also worth a go at first light with small soft plastics for schoolie bass riding the tide. Keep rigs simple, match lure size to the baitfish you’re seeing, and time your sessions around that first push of the flood or the last of the ebb. That’s when most of the better bites have been coming. Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure’s South Coast report, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next one. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn