Brighton Pier mega land based fishing thread

[GregExplores]

Anyone know if the squid are biting down there at the moment?

[croe04]

G'Day all

After hearing some pinkies were about I decided to wake up a 7:00 this morning to catch the 8:45 high tide
Left the house at 7:30 and arrived at the pier at 8:00, nearly whole place to myself which was fantastic. Brighton is awful when everyone is down there.

Chucked a midnight oil slim swim on a 1/8 jig head and got to work
Few casts in I was getting sparse bites but no hook ups, so I chucked some scent on and tried again. Next cast brought in this little ~20cm fella. A decent start but I needed something bigger.

Kept going, got a few takes but kept missing hookups. Finally hooked a fish and brought in another bang on 28cm.

A scooba diver who seemed to be inspecting the hulls of the boats came past and suddenly all the fish were gone. Started moving around trying to find the fish again, no dice.
Got to different spot and with a strong tailwind behind me I was casting miles. Fish kept biting but I couldn't get them to take, until I got a big hit and hooked a fish that had a very powerful initial run, thought I was getting dusted by a big pike or something. He mellowed out and I pulled it in.
31cm pinkie, biggest fish of the outing, surprisingly small for the effort he put in.

Hooked another tiny one who didn't put up much of a fight but made a bloody commotion while I tried to unhook him.

Two guys showed up around 9ish fishing with bait, no fish for them except one small one that they lost after it wrapped them around a rock.
Missed a few more hookups until they came off the bite and it got real windy. Headed back to original spot but no such luck. Headed home around 12:00
The fish weren't huge but best session I've had at brighton in a while. I was pleasantly surpised, didn't expect much.

cheers

[Sebb]

Well done mate. Sounds like you had a great fun.
Those pinkies are fun on plastic.
Use 1/8 jig head but smaller hook like #2 and you'll hook more. But then you'll get a lot of tiny ones.
If you're targetting bigger ones, try gulp nemesis 4in and use 1/8 jig head 1/0 or 2/0. You'll get tapped by smaller ones and wont hookup, but when you do get a hookup it'll be a big one.
There's whiting and squid on the left too, near the swimming thing. Give it a try and let us know.

[croe04]

Well done mate. Sounds like you had a great fun.
Those pinkies are fun on plastic.
Use 1/8 jig head but smaller hook like #2 and you'll hook more. But then you'll get a lot of tiny ones.
If you're targetting bigger ones, try gulp nemesis 4in and use 1/8 jig head 1/0 or 2/0. You'll get tapped by smaller ones and wont hookup, but when you do get a hookup it'll be a big one.
There's whiting and squid on the left too, near the swimming thing. Give it a try and let us know.

I threw around a 3.5 inch paddle tail around for a bit looking for bigger models for a bit but got nothing so I went back to the slim swimz which they seemed to love. I also think I was missing the hookups because I was a bit slow to it, my rod tip was also down in front of my right foot , which made a proper brisk and upwards strike more difficult.
I'll give the squid a shot next time i'm there, didn't look like good squidding conditions but doesn't matter too much as i'm crap at squid fishing anyways

[Sebb]

Well done mate. Sounds like you had a great fun.
Those pinkies are fun on plastic.
Use 1/8 jig head but smaller hook like #2 and you'll hook more. But then you'll get a lot of tiny ones.
If you're targetting bigger ones, try gulp nemesis 4in and use 1/8 jig head 1/0 or 2/0. You'll get tapped by smaller ones and wont hookup, but when you do get a hookup it'll be a big one.
There's whiting and squid on the left too, near the swimming thing. Give it a try and let us know.

I threw around a 3.5 inch paddle tail around for a bit looking for bigger models for a bit but got nothing so I went back to the slim swimz which they seemed to love. I also think I was missing the hookups because I was a bit slow to it, my rod tip was also down in front of my right foot , which made a proper brisk and upwards strike more difficult.
I'll give the squid a shot next time i'm there, didn't look like good squidding conditions but doesn't matter too much as i'm crap at squid fishing anyways

Ahaha keep trying, when aggressive they're not hard to catch, just make sure the drag isnt too tight or you'll rip their tentacles. That weedy bit right in front of the swimming box fence thing is the usual spot.

When i plastic, usually got my rod parallel to the water. Maybe slightly tip down.

[fortula999]

G'Day all

After hearing some pinkies were about at Brighton I decided to wake up a 7:00 this morning to catch the 8:45 high tide
Left the house at 7:30 and arrived at the pier at 8:00, nearly whole place to myself which was fantastic. Brighton is awful when everyone is down there.
IMG_1719.JPG
Chucked a midnight oil slim swim on a 1/8 jig head and got to work
Few casts in I was getting sparse bites but no hook ups, so I chucked some scent on and tried again. Next cast brought in this little ~20cm fella. A decent start but I needed something bigger.
IMG_1720.JPG
Kept going, got a few takes but kept missing hookups. Finally hooked a fish and brought in another bang on 28cm.
IMG_1721.JPG
A scooba diver who seemed to be inspecting the hulls of the boats came past and suddenly all the fish were gone. Started moving around trying to find the fish again, no dice.
Got to different spot and with a strong tailwind behind me I was casting miles. Fish kept biting but I couldn't get them to take, until I got a big hit and hooked a fish that had a very powerful initial run, thought I was getting dusted by a big pike or something. He mellowed out and I pulled it in.
31cm pinkie, biggest fish of the outing, surprisingly small for the effort he put in.
IMG_1724.JPG
Hooked another tiny one who didn't put up much of a fight but made a bloody commotion while I tried to unhook him.
IMG_1725.JPG

Two guys showed up around 9ish fishing with bait, no fish for them except one small one that they lost after it wrapped them around a rock.
Missed a few more hookups until they came off the bite and it got real windy. Headed back to original spot but no such luck. Headed home around 12:00
The fish weren't huge but best session I've had at brighton in a while. I was pleasantly surpised, didn't expect much.

cheers

Nice report mate, it'll probably be packed now

Did you go off that Asian bloke who posted on the Facebook page?

[Lightningx]

Well done mate. Sounds like you had a great fun.
Those pinkies are fun on plastic.
Use 1/8 jig head but smaller hook like #2 and you'll hook more. But then you'll get a lot of tiny ones.
If you're targetting bigger ones, try gulp nemesis 4in and use 1/8 jig head 1/0 or 2/0. You'll get tapped by smaller ones and wont hookup, but when you do get a hookup it'll be a big one.
There's whiting and squid on the left too, near the swimming thing. Give it a try and let us know.

I threw around a 3.5 inch paddle tail around for a bit looking for bigger models for a bit but got nothing so I went back to the slim swimz which they seemed to love. I also think I was missing the hookups because I was a bit slow to it, my rod tip was also down in front of my right foot , which made a proper brisk and upwards strike more difficult.
I'll give the squid a shot next time i'm there, didn't look like good squidding conditions but doesn't matter too much as i'm crap at squid fishing anyways

Not a bad session mate!
Those pinkies are great fun on light gear

[croe04]

Nice report mate, it'll probably be packed now

Did you go off that Asian bloke who posted on the Facebook page?

haha yep, deliberately chose to fish friday morning because i knew it'd be quiet, whenever there are any reports from brighton people flock by the masses and it becomes a nightmare
the fb post of the undersize pinkies i did see if that's the one you're referring to, but I didn't go off that. I heard from a few mates and seb that pinkies were in abundance and just decided to have a crack at my local.