I would like to escape down to the area around hurst castle in the next week, so have any of you lot fished there? what is the beach like, and what are the most likely species to be caught?

i would be grateful for some help, you can e-mail me or post back.

thanks in advance

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Hi Jonn

Hurst can be quite good fishing if you fancy a go. There are basically two places to fish.
The first is at the very end, which is a bloody long walk, or a short ferry ride. This is a known bass spot, but be warned, the entire solent water passes this point and the tide race has to be seen to be believed. The second spot is at the beach end of the bank, basically park up at the beach, plenty of spaces, and then walk over the bank to the other side (west side) and you can go anywhere in that area. At the beach end expect to catch Smooth hounds, ray, dogfish, pout, sole, silver snotties and if the sun is shining the odd garfish and mackerel.
Tight Lines
Mike

I used to fish from Hurst a lot, before I bought a boat. It was worth the walk to the end by the castle, because deep water is close in and I'm a useless caster! The tide REALLY rips past when it runs, so avoid the peak times. Check out the Admiralty Tidal Atlas, and you can see the slower currents are two hours before until high water (Portsmouth), then again four hours after until six hours after. Even in the fast tides when the bait was swung right back along the beach, the bank was so steep I was still fishing in deepish water (so don't fall in!). I used to catch loads of small pout, which if I had had enough sense at the time I would have used for bait for bass. Its a great location, with plenty to watch if the fish are not co-operating. Its fun to see a "yottie" sailing up the Solent and running smack into the tidal overfalls. Watch that mast swing! Imagine those guts heaving! The most magical moment I ever experienced there did not involve fish - I was untangling my regular birds nest one calm summer night when I looked up to see the QE2 glide past with all her party lights on, en route to somewhere exotic. So, take the walk and enjoy! (and don't leave something vital in your car!!)