Alderney
Angling.com
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7th August Well, I did get back there. Fieona pulled out a Turbot on a pirk and I pulled a blank!! I did take another boat round with me which was occupied by two guys from Holland on a three week sortie and they hooked up with four conger. Nothing big though but in the full bore of the tide the fish still fed. Anyway that finishes off that story for now. On a personal note I have done no more fishing other than guided trips on the shore due to how busy the shop has been which in turn is why the website has not been updated as regularly as I would have liked. For this I apologise but needs must at this time of year and hopefully I will return to normality very soon. If you require information don't hesitate to email or phone, details on the Home page. Shore fishing has been pretty good. Lots of Pollack, fish to 7lb have been caught, potentially bigger fish have been lost, one was on one of my trips whereby the angler had no control as the fish dictated the state of play and finished kamikazing himself in to the rocks and weed beneath our feet. Bass are all round the island with very few blank sessions to report. Fish in the main 2lb with the better fish again around the 7lb mark. Best times....well you know don't you....first thing in the morning before you really want to get up. Breakwater has seen plaice landed this week, sole at night, black and couches bream which have also come from the Lights. Also on the Breakwater plenty of Pollack and Gars but conspicuous by their absence is the mackerel. If you can get live sand eel or launce on to this venue then that should get you amongst the bass that keep shoaling on the end. Mullet are being easily caught, well easily for the anglers using light tackle and targeting them. Bags of 3 to 6 fish reported with top fish just short of 6lb. Doyle and Slides are where they are showing. Out in the boats, turbot and Brill are steady in numbers with the occasional catch of 10 or 12 but more like 3 to 7 fish boated. If you work hard then you should be ok for a few fish. Good quantities of gurnard showing too. Bass are increasing in numbers with fish in to double figures being reported more regularly. The usual mix of fish from the rough ground marks including increasing catches of bream and off the wrecks it is business as usual. Tope still around and now the exciting bit!! Valkyrie has landed, well not quite, got to the back of the boat two Porbeagles. One of 185lb and one of around 90lb. There were other hook ups too. Well done to Glen and his crew. Colin Johnson's Shogun managed one too. Later on this particular week Glens crew dropped another two. Now I believe as I have said before there is real potential here for some good and serious shark fishing, surely there is a group of lads out there prepared to spend a week to giving it a serious crack? That's it for now in a nutshell, plenty more is going on, if you need further detail just call or email, bear with the site though as the next few weeks will be pretty busy in the shop I hope, so getting info out quickly is not so easy. Happy hooking where ever you are. 18th August My apologies on website being out of action, have changed servers in order to acquire more memory to move forward. Fishing wise...plenty about if you are coming over. 13lb Bass landed from commercial quay last week. Boat catch of the week was from Bessie Vee of Langstone, over 30 turbot and brill....by far the best of the recent flatfish catches. Plenty of Bass showing this week in the Race. On the shore, Bream increasing in numbers as are Sole. 19th August Its been a weird morning already, only 9.30am Two reports of note, one is from Alan Cosby who trolling feathers and a large Rapala around the east end of the island got smashed up by something quick and large. Not sure what it was he put on more feathers with a Yozuri Hydro Squid and when in the Swinge got another hit which again broke free. What was it is your guess. Stuart Trought the local skipper believes it was Tope. I just feel that with 30lb mainline and on a moving boat Tope would have been landed, and do they chase lures? I'm thinking on the lines of Steve Jenkins' recent sighting of Tuna. Anyway, Alan has loaded up with more lures, will dismiss the feathers and go and have another go! The second report was from Richard Turcisz who was catching Wrasse, Gars and Pollack from the Breakwater when on two occasions he had what he described as dogfish following him in. He said they were about 8 to 9lb and grey looking with a rounded nose........small Tope I would say. Back to what we are used too. The weather isn't as bad as forecasted and those boats that run for home have missed out on some good Bass fishing in the Race. Chris Tett on Peace and Plenty has had a good couple of days with Bass to 9lb and more than normal in the way of Turbot and Brill. Catch of the week from the shore is a 13lb Bass caught on the Helen Claire while it was berthed on the inside of Commercial Quay. 10th September All the website problems now sorted so it back on with regular updates as they were before mid July. I did update at end of August but it would appear they have been lost but hey....who cares about what happened a month ago? The weather is currently curtailing the boat sport but during the calm spells the highlight has been a late run of flats. Up to 32 per boat (Bessie Vee, Spike Spears) have been reported which is by far the best with averages around 8 to 10 fish per boat of Turbot and Brill. Plenty of Bass on the Spring tides with a good average size which makes fishing eventful but these fish harder to find on the neaps. Rough ground fishing is the order of the day for Bream to 3lb, and stepping up the terminal tackle there are still some good Tope fishing to be had once a shoal has been located. Add to this Conger and Bull Huss and the species start to top up. Plenty of fish still on the wrecks 8 to 15 mile out. Back closer to the island triggers have been reported this week on Shogun. Also anchored just a couple of hundred yards offshore in shelter from the wind they found Turbot to 12lb, bream, bull huss, undulate ray, bass, wrasse and pollack. On my own boat I have concentrated on the Bass fishing which was always successful on landing between 3 and 6 fish but I seemed to manage to be able to tell the same story about the one (or ones!!) that got away! Yes your right, you've read it here as well. The best I saw was easily double figures, literally just a few feet under the boat in the crystal clear water, net in one hand rod in the other, concentration absolutely nowhere!! As I paused to assess the situation (or do I mean admire my 'capture'), he shook his head for one more time, hook hold gave out and off he glided. One advantage I have found in operating a 16 foot craft from here is I am able to tuck right in close to the rocks and sit behind the boulders in their eddies where the boat holds up nice. I cast a lure of some sort across the tide, which is sometimes up to around 11 knots as it rushes past, on fairly light gear which gives me some really good sport so even if I can't get amongst the bigger fish on a regular basis in the Race I still find I have a lot of fun in close. On the shore there are still plenty of Pollack and Gars. Mackerel are virtually absent. Bass are there for the taking. Sole are increasing in numbers. Mullet are building in numbers too, fish to around 6lb being caught. Bream too, both Couches and Black are around, mainly Blue Beach and the Slides, expect fish too 3lb. No-one fishing for the eels but no doubt they will be there if someone got a rod out for them. 15th September A few Bream reported from the shore marks and Breakwater. Loads of weed on Plattes. Bass coming out from Slides and Targets. Weather starting to abate so hopefully we will get some good sport. No visiting boats at the moment due to weather but I believe Paul Whittall on Offshore Rebel IV is on his way over. For those of you coming over for the festival there are some details on the events page. 30th September Sorry once again for lack of updates, certainly not due to lack of fish. The common theme to success this month has been spring tides and this last few days has been no exception. Turbot and Brill are having a second wind, very good reports with some boats getting to 25 flats, (one boat did 25 in two hours and then went for Bass!!), some fish reported in to double figures. Bass fishing in both the Swinge and the Race has been great after a slow start, remember though springs are best. Lots of fish reported in the 8lb to 12lb bracket. Other than that there are Tope about biting everyone off who are fishing for Bream, which in turn are increasing in numbers and weight. Also plenty of Conger and Huss on rough ground, Blonde Ray, Gurnards the norm on clean ground. From the shore plenty of gars and pollack to 5lb. Wrasse to 6lb from everywhere including the harbour. Couches and Black bream, with red mullet in beach catches. Black Bream reported from south of island included 12 fish of 3lb and the biggest of 4lb 2oz. Also Congers around mainly though to around 25lb. Bass to plugs. Grey Mullet are increasing in numbers too with fish regularly being landed. Two trips in my own boat recently. Sunday involved a short trip due to mal de mer for my good lady Fieona. Normally I am well beaten but for once I had the biggest fish of the trip, the lengths I go to!! Two and half hours fishing and we had 8 species on light pirks and feathers which included several Bass to 4lb 8oz, about 10 pollack to similar weight and a 2lb red gurnard. Because we were fishing light we did lose some good fish we weren't able to hold, had great fun. Yesterday afternoon my brother accompanied me. We started of for bass on plugs which we managed around 10 fish to 4lb and a few Pollack. Moved on to a reef mark for some mixed fishing where we caught mainly Pollack and a couple more Bass. Then we had an hour before dark where we tried to find a mark to anchor for Conger but every time we tucked in behind a rock we would swing on the anchor created by back eddies. Plan B in motion we found some sand troughs between lumps of rock which I wanted to fish for some time on the flood, however I was concerned whether or not it would be possible to anchor on a big tide. It was and the next hours all in darkness produced 2 eels in the 25 to 30lb bracket, a Blonde Ray sneaked in to double figures, we both dropped an eel and missed rattly type bites. One fish I did lose was on two small mackerel baits which peeled line of my SLOSH 30 with the drag virtually full on, bit of one hook and straightened out a 2/0 O'shaughnessy, no doubt a nice Tope. All good fun, can't wait till Sunday!! 1st October The same night I was in my boat (last report) there were reports of Tope hooked and lost from the Breakwater and the Lights whilst anglers were Bream fishing. Needless to say wire line was the top priority in the shop yesterday. This morning the same anglers were back in.........two were caught, one was 26lb the other topping out 30lb plus a big one was hooked and lost as it peeled line of the reel. Venue was the Breakwater. 2nd October Launched the boat last night, Fieona, my father and myself in my strikeliner to have a go for the Tope. Weather wasn't ideal, wet but we were provided shelter from the Force 6 wind as it was offshore. Anchoring 500 yards of Dog Rock about 6pm we didn't have to wait long before the action got away. Fieona had the first Tope run but it wasn't hooked and dropped the bait. My dad followed this up with a 30lb eel which fought all the way. Fieona then got in to a heavyweight Tope that decided he wasn't going to play ball. After 10 minutes and half a spool of braid missing the hook dropped out of his mouth. Then we had three fish on at once and darkness had fallen. Dad dropped his, I got mine in which was a small eel around 20lb and Fieona was playing a nice Tope. When alongside it was a lovely looking, fit fish around 40lb which was released at the side. Whilst this was going on the wind had picked, anchor trip had gone and with just over an hours fishing done and an increasing wind we called time. 6th October Out after work again last night. Alan Eastwood, whose boat we were on dropped two Eels and a Tope. I had the opposite luck in as much I got two Eels, 20lb and 30lb, and a 40lb Tope to the boat. Start of the session we were plagued with Black Bream but they soon disappeared once the Tope arrived. Elsewhere Plattes Saline never fished but on Doyle local expert JC managed a Couches Bream, Bass and had a Tope on that bit through his wire trace!! Chris Brown lost 3 on the Lights on Sunday night too. Bream and Mullet have shown to visiting anglers on the Breakwater. Freelining frozen Sandeel accounting for Bass to 4lb from same venue. Triggers reported from Lighthouse and south of island. For those coming over for the festival, nearly the last chance to get orders in, call 01481 824884 to do so. 8th October The Tope are still about. The Breakwater produced one landed and one lost and an eel of 27lb. Back of Raz there have been connections too, plus two youngsters fishing for Bream by the Lighthouse got hooked in too one! Couches and Black Bream showing in good numbers on differing locations. Good Pollack taken from slides. In the boats the inshore action provided by Tope. One boat managed 5 and 5 dropped in a short session. Fish were weighed in a sling between 32lb and 42lb which in the shallow water and light gear is giving excellent sport. I had a trip with Stuart Trought, who is the skipper of our local boat Alderney Felix, on his smaller vessel Q. Drifting various locations according to tide we managed 7 bass including 2 doubles. Those of you that follow this column on a regular basis will have read about the number of good fish I have dropped recently, not this time!! I had both doubles, one of 10lb 8oz and one of 11lb 8oz, the bigger giving a really unusual scrap of rolling around and vigorously shaking his body. For me, it was an awesome fish, my two best bass and again great sport. 12th October An update just so that you can see I am on the ball with my reports. Atrocious weather conditions over the last few days has seen virtually zero fishing going on so for those of you coming over for the festival there isn't much I can help you with information wise. However my approach will be as it was before the weekend...........everything that was there last Friday will still be there this Saturday!! Lets hope so anyway. 12th October If you are coming to Festival please note shop opening hours on Hours of Business page. Thanks 20th October I now wish I did daily reports for the festival, there is so many good fish being caught and I have been so busy unable to update site. So here we go.................. with out doubt the best of the fishing has been with the Tope. The Channel Island record has gone with a fish of 50lb 8oz to Steve Mullins. There have been 6 fish at this stage over forty pound and many over thirty plus a couple over 40lb caught by pleasure anglers. Some big fish have been lost through being 'spooled' out. Conger fishing has been good too, at this stage a 41lb is the top fish with 3 others over 30lb and 2 at 29lb. A further 6/7 fish over 25lb have been and quite a lot in the 15 to 25lb bracket. Wrasse-the top one is 6lb 7oz, with three others over 6lb. Top Bass is 7lb 2oz so far with two others over the qualifying weight of 6lb. Plaice and Sole categories are slow with a 3lb 7oz and 2lb 5oz Plaice, and a 2lb 7oz Sole over their qualifying weights. Black Bream, best fish 3lb 7oz, several over 3lb. Thick lipped Mullet, best 5lb 12oz, another over 5lb and 8 or so fish over 4lb. 21lb 8oz Blonde Ray came off Breakwater. Best Couches is 1lb 10oz with several others on the board, Cuckoo Wrasse to 1lb 8oz, Bull Huss to 10lb 8oz, Red Gurnards to 1lb 8oz and these fish mentioned are just the ones that have reached the high qualifying weights. Weather is just about too turn so we'll see if that changes anything. 21st October Three Bass from Braye Bay last night, 13lb 5oz and two weights too confirm but they are around 11lb and 7lb. Shared between two anglers. Plattes fished better for bits last night as no Tope showed. Couches and Black Bream, Pollack, Coalfish, Sole and several Plaice came out, one of which at 2lb 12oz went on the board. 28th October A week since my last report and to be honest not much has happened. No Tope have been caught although few rods are out fishing for them. If they have disappeared then lets hope the Bream and Mullet shoals increase. Quite a few Bass around in the 1lb 8oz to 5lb range coming out on a variety of techniques. Plenty of Pollack too. Weather has been poor so no boat reports. My thanks to those of you that came to the Festival and spent time (and money) in the shop, and thanks for the positive comments. My thanks too must go to the organisers, Jeff and Kay Ceillam, and Alison and Bernie Crawford. I'm sure you agree the organization was as good as the fishing!! On the festival still I do have a rod and reel in the shop which was handed in as a lost item. If you can tell me where it was found and the make of it to confirm it as yours then I will get it to you. For a full report and results on the festival look out for the next edition of the Alderney Journal and next months Sea Angling News which is the free publication in your local club or shop.
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