Eastney Beach - Portsmouth by Ollie Goodwin
The Beach fishes relatively well all year round but it can be a little hit and miss at times, but when the fish are in they are in.
On the bigger tides there can be a fair bit of water flow, I like to use 7oz all round to hold bottom, but over the lows and neap tides a 4 or 5oz would be fine.
In the winter fishing focus is mainly on the Rays and Whiting, With the odd Codling coming out.
Fish will tend to feed harder at night or on overcast days in winter here. I like to fish one rod with a pulley pennel with 2/0 540 Manta Pro hooks loaded with 5cm of sardine and mackerel wrapped or sand eel and squid, in hope of a nice Ray.
The other rod a 2 or 3 hook rig with 1/0 manta for the whiting with small strips of mackerel.
Large hits of over 40 fish in an evening are possible!
This method works well for the Dab here also.
Come early spring, day fishing makes a comeback as the reports of Plaice become more frequent. My go to rig would be a 2 hook rig with size 2 540 Manta Pro hooks, loaded up with live king ragworm or fresh black lug with colourful beads and spoons on the hook trace. I've had the most luck with the Plaice either the first 2 hours after low or the 2/3 hours after high.
Come April/May the Hounds show up and all you can hear are singing reels along the beach.
Pyscho bites, long runs, you can't beat it.
Method of choice to conquer these powerful fish from the shore would be pulley rigs with 4/0 445 Circle extra hooks.
Baits of choice would be fresh live peeler crab, live hardback crabs, hermit crab, prawn, squid and ragworm.
Make sure your drags are set from the cast as these fish will pull your rod rest over no worries, even when small. During this time it's worth noting that there is a chance of a large Stingray from this beach at this time of year. Targeting the Hounds with large ragworm baits could lure a big Stinger. Not unheard of to hook a 50lb+ fish here.
Come the summer months there can be lots of action to be had. Mostly with the Black Bream as they arrive in huge numbers, swarming the sano beds and smashing absolutely anything in front of them. Baits like ragworm or lugworm, squid, mackerel, sardines and sandeel
Best way to catch these guys are multiple hook rigs with size 1 450 Chinu hooks and small Baits.
In the summer you can catch other species too using the same method like - Red Mullet, Tub Gurnard, Bass, Undulate Rays.
To target Bass specifically here I would fish close in, 15/20ft cast max with a mackerel head or mackerel chunk on a running ledger with a 4/0 manta extra. Baits like fresh limpet are effective for this too. Again make sure your drag is set from the cast cause these big Bass smash and grab and run hard.
Come late autumn the fishing starts to change again. The bream numbers go down again and finally can leave a bait in the water long enough for a nice ray to come along and find it.
Autumn at Eastney has us mostly targeting rays. You can catch Thornback, Undulate, Spotted, Small eyed and the occasional Stingray here.
My autumn rig will always be pulley pennel or up and over rig with 2/0 540 Manta Pro hooks and 2/0 470 Top Gun hooks for my pennel.
Baits like sand eel, squid, mackerel, sardine, herring and sprats are most effective kept small (5cm) and compact fishing from low tide up.
The Cod are very few and far between here but they do come out sometimes, mostly on big squid and lugworm baits, mackerel and fresh peeler crab. I would fish for them using same methods as the rays but increase the hook size to a 4/0 on the pennel.
The whole stretch of beach is extremely accessible and does offer some really good local fishing at times. I'd say anyone could fish this beach. Whether a beginner or expert. You can find the fish very close in but also with a big cast.