Back on the bream
A first trip since the lockdown is a real treat, at one of the UK’s most iconic boat marks – Kingmere Rocks
Kingmere Rocks have long been known as probably the best mark for catching black bream from mainland UK. Located between three and six miles off the West Sussex coast, it is a designated Marine Conservation Zone, primarily because it is one of the best-known spawning sites for the species.
Naturally, Kingmere is popular with sea anglers. Over the years I have enjoyed several sessions here, trips during which I have always appreciated the short run out from Littlehampton to the iconic hotspot, which results in a lot of time actually fishing.
Last winter I received an email from Clive Mills inviting me for a day session off Littlehampton, during which we would mostly be fishing Kingmere. Clive is a lifelong fisherman who owns two charter boats, Jenifer’s Pride II and Starfish. This is rather appropriate as one of my earliest trips out of Littlehampton had been aboard the original Jenifer’s Pride. The dates Clive had offered coincided with peak bream season in late spring, but in recent years they have caught them more or less year-round.
I was eagerly looking forward to the trip, and then along came Covid-19 and lockdown. Naturally, the trip was put on hold, but one morning another email pinged into my inbox. Once again it was from Clive, who had confirmation that, as a commercial fisherman, he could now operate as a charter for one person. Would I like to be that person?
LOCKDOWN RELEASE
A few days later as we steamed down the River Arun from Littlehampton Marina, I sat back and absorbed the moment. Here I was in the warm morning sunshine with the first of many cups of tea, aboard a fine charter boat that I had all to myself. It was also a little daunting as catching fish would be mostly down to me, and I was keen to repay Clive’s generosity.
As Jenifer’s Pride II slipped out of the narrow estuary and over the bar into the English Channel, we were greeted by a slick calm sea, only ruffled by an occasional disturbance from small fish skittering about beneath the surface film.
Beneath the clearest of clear blue skies looking towards a hazy horizon I could make out the recently installed offshore windfarm and dozens of small private boats. These boats were anchored over Kingmere, their owners finally released from months of lockdown and getting the taste of salty air. I really can’t put into words just how good it was to finally get back to sea.
Midway on our run out to Kingmere, Clive suddenly threw the helm over to starboard and Jenifer’s Pride swung her bow to face into the south west. Keen to see what was happening, I looked around the side of the wheelhouse where I could see we were now heading directly towards a harbour-bound crabber. “Skipper’s a good friend of mine, he’s got some fresh
cuttlefish for us,” Clive shouted, as we eased alongside the now stationary boat, her aft deck piled high with pots.
After the inevitable banter that passes as a warm welcome among commercial fishermen, Clive reached across with a landing net, into which a crewman dropped two huge, fresh cuttle. After a final exchange of ‘greetings’ we continued on our way to Kingmere.
There must have been 50 boats fishing the area, but Clive had no difficulty finding plenty of space on the eastern edge of the reef, which was exactly where he wanted to be. As the anchor clattered over the bow and took hold, Starfish caught up with us, once again fishing with a crew of two, and anchored alongside us.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Like most aspects of boat angling, fishing for black bream is as simple or as complicated as you wish to make it. I’ve always found simple works best, and it is why I chose a basic running leger. Hook choice, though, is important because you need to ensure they are needle sharp and strong enough to handle any bonus fish you might hook.
You might be seeking bream, which hereabouts have an average size of less than 3lb, but there is a chance of hooking something else, and no angler wants to live with the image of a decent bass straightening the hook out a few yards away from a waiting landing net.
My chosen hook for bream fishing is the excellent Sakuma 410 range, with size 2 perfect. This was baited with a long, thin sliver of white cuttle meat.
Comfortably seated in the starboard quarter, I lowered my baited rig down to the bottom, slowly to ensure the bait didn’t spin upwards and tangle the trace, which is invariably the case if you allow the rig to drop too quickly.
As I savoured another mug of tea, the now hot morning sunshine reminding me I needed to apply suncream. Just days before I had been wondering when or even if I’d get afloat this year, yet here I was, a boat to myself and fishing one of the UK’s great venues. Just as I was thinking life couldn’t possibly get any better, a savage rattle on the rod tip snapped me back to reality.
From the first hard tugs I was convinced it was a bream bite and, as I ever so gently tightened the line, the rod tipped bent over and started lunging to the rhythm of a hooked fish. Minutes later I was admiring bream number one, fins erect as it glistened in the morning sunshine. A tad too small to keep, that first fish was quickly released, but during the day I boated at least a dozen more, from which I harvested a legal limit of four. It’s good to see prolific areas such as Kingmere being protected from overfishing with sensible bag limits, which I hear are actively enforced by local fisheries protection.
Variety came in the form of a similar number of pouting, plus a couple of ballan wrasse and the inevitable dogfish. Then I set the hook on what clearly was a more substantial fish, which responded by immediately swimming uptide. Conscious of the fact I was using a small hook tied to a 20lb mono hooklength, I played the fish cautiously. I surmised it must either be a bass or one of the many smoothhounds that Clive had already informed were feeding well throughout the area.
By the time Clive was standing ready with the landing net, I was convinced I had hooked a bass, and so it proved to be. I called it a fivepounder, Clive’s digital set of scales argued it was a couple of ounces lighter. It was a lovely
fish which joined the four bream in the cool box. Rarely do I take any fish home to eat, but such has life been in recent months, the prospects of a couple of wild fish dinners were simply too much to resist. I make no apologies for my decision to keep a few fish on this occasion.
ON THE MOVE
I’d have happily sat over the Kingmere playing with the bream and whatever else came my way all day, but with low water approaching, the fish went off the feed as the run of tide eased to a trickle. Clive was keen to show me what else the immediate vicinity could produce, so he fired up the engine and started to haul the anchor.
The next mark was a patch of generally flat ground roughly halfway between where we had been fishing and the adjacent shoreline. Clive was confident that we’d see a ray or two, along with some smoothhounds, and sure enough within half an hour he was displaying a beautifully marked undulate ray in front of my camera.
Crab is the bait of choice for smoothhounds, squid being a close second, neither of which we had. We did have frozen prawns though, and I knew that these were also a very effective bait for hounds. Just about every fish that swims will also eat prawns, as proved the case, with my baits almost immediately producing more dogfish, pouting and bream. When the flood tide started to push, we tried drifting for plaice.
Chatting on the radio with friends also fishing throughout the area, Clive discovered that while there were not a lot of plaice around, a few to 3lb 8oz had been caught. I’d have loved to have added a plaice to my homeward-bound catch, but it was not to be.
The time really had flown by and before I knew it Clive was coaxing Jenifer’s Pride back over the shallow bar at the mouth of harbour and running us back upriver to Littlehampton Marina. ■