Seeker Sportfishing

29/05/2026

A Beautiful 58cm sight fished one was the fish of the day for return angler, Lawrence.

Lawrence booked in for the first time with me in May of this year with a group of 2 of his friends. We had a blast on the trip but I think he could tell that if you get me alone then your individual chances and the focus is dialled in, plus the depth of what can be taught and learnt changes slightly.
So he booked in again (geared up even better in new waders) for just 3 weeks later - and it was a pleasure to welcome him back!

I can honestly say, I know he would’ve been totally content today if the topwater bite he witnessed was all we got.
An initially lunge that missed, backed up with a hit that totally engulfed the lure!! What a bite 🤩
Zero blood or damage, and a healthy release of a beautiful fish.

However, it was the sight fishing that sealed the deal for him. After carefully explaining and quickly demonstrating the required approach, Lawrence performed a textbook bit of angling and hooked up to a large, dark bronze fish. Heartbreakingly, the fish won its freedom squarely, as it did its best to shake the hook straight from the hookup.
With Lawrence’s confidence in the method now proven, it was only 15mins or so later that he expertly put the small 2gm weighted creature bait infront of another, and then patiently waited for the pick up….⚡️✔️
This time hitting it a little harder and penetrating a solid hook hold (later, Lawrence praised the 8’8” Labrax for how it handled that bite and fight). All the rods attributes and anglers skills were needed in equal mix, as this fish powered off in seriously shallow water barely deep enough to cover it.
A really lovely bit of fishing to witness and carefully guide through as it goes down, one that I know absolutely hit the mark and left today’s angler pretty blown-away. Arguably there’s no finer way to catch a trophy fish like this!

Sight, bite, fight, admire, release! 🤯❤️

27/05/2026

24/05/2026

🔥 It may be hot but so is the fishing 🔥

Here’s one from today for new client, Stuart.
Pretty new to bass lure fishing from the shore, having been a salmon angler all his life.

We worked from the ground up to get a tasty looking topwater retrieve. The fish confirming that things all clicked nicely, although nothing but small bass connected ✔️

We sight fished successfully, getting a decent size bass to spot and eagerly eat our creature bait offering, unfortunately the hooks pulled on it but I’m seeing this fairly regularly recently with these static pickups and fish then barely moving off. Leaving the angler with quite a job to strike a purely visual, static bite that’s barely perceivable through any rod.
Mega visual, lots of stalking, and lots of learning how to approach and get these fish to eat ✔️

And, we had this lovely mid to high 50’s (unmeasured and quickly returned) on a little 3gm, size 1 jighead, paired with a 2” paddletail, tied direct. Finesse stuff with big results. ✔️

I’m already looking forward to guiding Stuart’s 2nd date in the middle of June. He’ll have his new Daiwa UK Labrax 8’8” 3-19gm and Certate 3000XD by the next trip (his rod had arrived in time for this trip but he used my various setups for today while the reel arrives). To say he loves the rod he’s already purchased is an understatement, great to see!!

It’ll be interesting to see how the fishing goes after all this heat, it should be cranking!! 🔥🔥🔥

Back at it tomorrow to complete this block of 5 days guiding, little rest and admin for a few days, and then it gets as busy as I can possibly manage throughout June and July. Bring it on!!

18/05/2026

Fantastic day guiding 3 anglers.

As always, the pics only tell a fraction of the story but those big smiles say a lot.

Variation was the order of the day -

✔️ Lots of plastic work in various scenarios - different profiles, length/sizes, weights, rigging and rod work.
✔️ Plenty of honing in topwater techniques
✔️Creature bait and sight fishing, down to 1” stuff for those Gammarus eating, early season, fussy ones
✔️Coast, Harbour, Urban, tight zones, big chanels, low and high tide, and odd places with big fish in previously unthought of spots.
- We did a bit 😉

We fished a few marks where sight fishing with creature baits was the way to go - watching a big 60cm+ size bass hoovering it up but then spit it out with a load of w**d before my angler hit the bite was pretty heart stopping stuff. 👀
One of about 8-9 totally separate fish spotted and targeted. 4 of which had lures in their mouths and ate perfectly but not a single one was properly connected to, that’s sometimes just how it goes when sight fishing in the manner and zones that we were. Still, tough break!
I’m sure some of the lessons will inevitably produce fish for these anglers if they take it home and continue with targetting bass in this way.

Favourite moment today was hearing one anglers high-pitched request for immediate advice as a very chunky rolling bow wave followed in his Patch 125 to the rod tip. Typical big fish looking stuff, it sized us up and chose not to commit despite a great action and retrieve on the lure.
That, and hearing today’s biggest fish was the anglers 2nd ever bass and his new personal best 💪🏼

This coming week looks like
- Tuesday - Postponed due to weather
- Wednesdays trips moved to Thursday (weather)
- Guiding Fri, Sat, Sun, all being well 🤞🏻

Weather gods have said it’s an Admin day Tomorrow and Wednesday, by the looks of it. ✍🏻📞
I’ll be answering all the message enquiries and any email enquiries, a fair amount have come in while I’ve been guiding or fishing recently. I have a bit to get on top of in order to feel like no one’s waiting on me, and to ensure the busiest season I can have. Speak tomorrow if that’s you, and i’m sorry for any delay in getting my response. I do genuinely massively appreciate every enquiry and angler that I get to guide.

Tight lines all,
Marcus

17/05/2026

Pretty epic topwater bite off this one on daybreak today 💥 Going fully airborne straight after the hookup!

The best part about this morning was the exploration in to new zones, I don’t think many shore anglers have fished where this one came from.
Sometimes finding these new ‘high potential’ areas is better than catching, and it keeps me mega excited for the season ahead.

15/05/2026

Two from today, sight fishing small creature baits.

Watching these fish eat in the gin-clear shallows and responding to a visual bite is one of my favourite ways to catch them. Absolute perfection 🤩

That, and seeing them monster a topwater!! 💥❤️

Or, when they absolutely hammer a big plastic in thick current!!

The list goes on and on with this versatile predator.

I think what I’m trying to say is ‘Bass are amazing!!’

15/05/2026

I got cancelled on today so there was no guiding, despite the great weather and perfect tides. Very disappointing to be honest!!

Please don’t do this to me if you have a booking!! I’ve had 3 people muck about with their upcoming dates so what was a very full block over these May Spring tides is now looking slighter quieter.

Please try to understand that if you request to move your booking less than 7 days out then it puts me in a situation where I’m very likely to lose that days work. If that continues to happen regularly enough then I go under financially, it’s as simple as that.

On the other hand - It was great to get out fishing over lunch after doing some admin.
I only took 2 casts today (true story) and that resulted in two beautiful Bass. First and last cast result, both fish being a respectable size (certainly in the 50’s but unmeasured). Funnily enough, The 2nd fish was spotted while chatting to another angler I’ve not met before - he’s booked with me for end of June. That salvaged the day very nicely!! Things have a funny way of turning out.

Easy pickings if you know where, when and how 😉

Out tomorrow at 04:00 with a keen group of 2 anglers, a returning angler and his friend. Looking forward to hitting it really hard 💪🏼

13/05/2026

A short video from yesterday morning, before this storm hit.

Graham is my longest return client, having been coming out with me since 2020 and each year booking at least 6 days - sometimes 8, and sometimes we complete 4 with weather and postponements. Always done in 2 day consecutive blocks with accommodation.
That’s a fair few trips done together!

We’ve seen a lot throughout each year, choosing the seasons and tides carefully for variation every trip.
I’m proud to say that on nearly every single trip I’ve managed to show him somewhere entirely new, a new approach, or sometimes it’s just a big twist on a previously visited area. He’s pushed me at times to improve and search in ways only a return client like this would - I love that!!

Every time I get to guide Graham it’s with such an honor that I have clients (friends, really) like this. With his background in the Royal Marine Special Forces we don’t half push hard and get up to some wild things at times!! I assure you Graham has stood and seen marks throughout these harbours that no other angler has ever stepped foot before.

2 more 2 day blocks this year with this legend. PB year for sure 🤞🏻

FYI - one of Grahams blocks this year was booked for the very best October tides (Mon 12th + Tue 13th) but we’ve had to cancel that booking - thats up for grabs if anyone wants it.

29/04/2026

If I don’t get some Giant Snakehead content out soon then I’ll probably never do it.
With over 500gb of footage from my recent trip targeting them in Thailand it’s hard to know where to even begin, so he’s a short edit from what’s left on my phone.

The plan is to get a full length video up on YouTube as this was an incredible search and journey. It’ll be my first ever YouTube vid, about bloody time!! Lots of explosive bites on GoPro footage that make some good viewing.

🚨Warning - Do not fish for Snakehead unless you want all other fish to pale in comparison. The missed bites and aggression on these things will stick your heart in your mouth!!

Bass on a buzzbait is now going to have to be done, just for fun 😂😎

28/04/2026

Processing yesterday’s catch seems a good time to delve in to a contentious topic - Harvesting Bass

Is every Bass the same? - No!
Should you kill Bass that you find inshore? - No, not really.

So what’s that mean? Seems stupid to answer ‘not really’.
….
Let me elaborate - Firstly, it’s totally up to you isn’t it, at the end of the day, but please just know that all Bass are not equal!
Nor is the role they play in our stocks or the species genetics and behaviour (that alone is another post entirely). I believe an uninformed angler (or even worse, the ill-informed angler) is pretty dangerous to inshore stocks and other anglers sportfishing.

I can’t count the amount of people that have told me with authority that ‘seabass’ come in from the sea on the tide and go back out on the tide.
That’s a lethal lack of knowledge and very different to how inshore Bass should be understood.

I’d happily argue that as an inshore lure angler, you’d be very very wise and doing the ‘correct’ thing to not harvest the fish you encounter.
Especially if found anywhere other than open beaches. Killing a habitual resident Estuary or Harbour fish is simply not the same as killing an offshore Bass that’s hunting in a huge school.

There’s your coastal migratory/almost semi-pelagic population and then there’s a very distinct inshore Bass population. Sure, there’s plenty of crossover in the warmer months but in general it’s best to try and distinguish between the two. There’s also some big ol’ reef residents offshore that need to go back.

So does that mean I never take a shore caught Bass - No! I’m pragmatic, if I’m out on the open coast and there’s Bass blitzing proper baitballs within range then I’ll whip one out of there totally guilt free. We sometimes encounter schools of 200 or more Bass between 42-50cm if we get super lucky on the coast, and if we stumble on this then why not? Zero harm done. But thats about the only time. Very very selective harvesting based on knowledge. Some years never getting the right moment to take one and then even when presented with the opportunity, I simply would rather not.

This week I’ve found a filleted 70cm+ fish right at the top of our harbour system. Likely a 9lb+ fish and very close to being a trophy double. I can’t help but feel very different to whoever must’ve done that despite having Bass for dinner tonight myself. I’d like to think we’re not the same.

When I do take a Bass then my respect for it is still there. Shown throughout, from the dispatching and maximising eating quality, to full utilisation of the fish, zero waste. Frames, wings and head always used. Honouring and acknowledging that this creature was fairly old, even just on the legal size of 42cm, and there was really zero great reason I can give you to dispatch it for food. After-all, in this day and age you don’t need to ever kill these fish.

All I can really suggest is that you just ask yourself a few important questions before you kill any creature for food, if you’ve waded round the topic carefully in your head and still choose to do so then - enjoy your dinner.

So, where do you stand?

What would you like to see happen to conserve our inshore stocks? Slot limit? No take areas?