Alderney
Angling.com
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6th January Happy New Year to you all. I arrived back on the island on the 4th to reports of some really good fishing. The Mullet, although tailed off a little at the moment, has been really good with plenty of fish but not the high quality associated with Alderney at this time of year. Maybe with them arriving late in the first instance it is something that is still yet to happen. 4-6lb is in the main the size of the fish with 7lb and 8lb fish common enough, the best recently is 9lb 8oz. Best bag is 14 between 2 anglers. Plenty of Bream in the right places, best fish 4lb 3oz with one angler last night bagging 27. Good quantities of Red mullet, best fish 1lb 9oz and there also seems to be plenty of Bass, although schoolie size around 2lb, but when you have sessions where there are between 4 and 13 fish it is good fun. Tope have been encountered several times when Bream fishing, that's as far as that has gone. I have heard of 7 bite offs! Chuck in a rare plaice of 2lb and some Sole it has been pretty good. The Plaice has a funny story attached to it as much when the angler reeled in weed and a Pout on a long trace beneath the weed, the Plaice chased the Pout in! It settled under the angler at the base of the Breakwater and next 'cast' the angler caught it!! The weather hasn't been kind so the anglers have worked hard for the fish but with just 13 anglers on the island the rewards look worthwhile. 7th January Good fishing again last night. From Plattes there were Red Mullet, Bream, Pollack and Grey Mullet. Greys were around 4-6lb with two 7lb fish and best one went 8lb 6oz. Breakwater produced lots of Bream with reports of anglers catching 8, 17 and three lads got 50. Back of the island saw a nice Undulate Ray of 15lb plus which wasn't weighed. 9th January Last night produced 3 Small Eyed Rays of the Breakwater, another load of Bream and down on Plattes Saline there were a few Mullet, Red Mullet, Pollack and Shoal Bass. Night before there were the same plus a Sole. Best Mullet went up just over 10lb. During the day elsewhere there were more Mullet with the best fish scaling 9lb 9oz. The lads over the last week have worked really hard for their fish but have done extremely well and shown what Alderney has to offer. My trip in the boat added to my learning curve. I am struggling to exploit the potential of what is available here. There simply are no other boats here to help and you can't pool together your resources and knowledge. I have found the winter has gone so quick 'fishing trip' wise due to inclement weather and of course taking my own breaks, which when we do then it makes work busy before we go and when we come back thus reducing the time that there is to got to sea...............that's the big build up up to our meagre offerings of yesterday!! We managed (2 of us) 5 Bream, best 3lb and 2 rays. I had my first Undulate which went 11lb 12oz and a Blonde as well. I gained more knowledge but it is going to be years before I have anything worth while to show for it over the winter. And of course, time wise just what do you target. Yesterday we could have gone for Mullet, Tope, Smoothhounds, Porbeagle (genuine chance of these in winter) or out on the wrecks which are so close here. This too is frustrating knowing what to do and when to do it?! 13th January An island empty of anglers till yesterday. Three lads from Southampton arrived and got straight in to the Mullet, best fish around 6lb. Then an evening on the Breakwater which wasn't productive saw an early night in the pub. Photo's updated on the Gallery page of recent catches. 17th January Fishing not so good now. Lots of Mullet jumping but the shoal/shoals of fish keep moving due to a rather active Seal bulking himself out when he feels like it! Best fish caught in the last few days has been 6lb 10oz with up to 4 fish a session. Night sessions quiet but with stiffish southerly winds it has made fishing rock marks difficult due to the swell. Even the Breakwater is breaching in relatively calm weather. Platte saline is swamped out with weed as well so venues really are reduced. For their efforts the lads are though getting a few Bream. 18th January Confirmation of the annual Jersey v Alderney match. It will be held over the weekend of March 4th/5th. 20th January Very quiet on the island without any visiting anglers. One rod last night had a 2lb Bass first cast last night, next cast he got hit by something a bit better but lost it. There after the moon was out and no more bites. This was on Plattes Saline. It looks as if the seal has gone now and the Mullet remain in the normal places. Walking the dog I have seen shoals of fish and fish jumping around Crabby, Dog Rock, Doyle, Longis Bay and Targets. On Wednesday afternoon I had another go in my boat for them. Found the fish but couldn't get them feeding before I lost the light, disappointing but with a good forecast for the weekend (kiss of death!) I shall go and find some rough ground to anchor and have a last go before the boat comes out of the water. 23rd January A few fish came out over the weekend. Friday night we had a couple of hours on Plattes Saline and managed a Red Mullet, a couple of Pollack and a rarity in a 5 Bearded Rockling. Saturday night for three rods produced some Bream, Codling and Sole. Two Sole were around the 3lb mark. Flat calm seas saw myself get afloat and have some fun. In the morning we went to a wreck in the Deeps and had around 10 Pollack, best fish went 18lb. Then we anchored some rough ground for the afternoon and had plenty of rod action. Although we lost a lot of fish we still managed 8 Huss, a Smoothound, a nice Tope and Wrasse. Now to get the boat out for some much needed tender love and care!! 30th January Gosh, this is depressing. We've been stuck in strong North Easterly winds between a Force 6 and 8 at times for just short of a week now. Its freezing cold and generally horrible. No-ones fishing so there is nothing to report unfortunately, I'm not even tempted myself even though there is a fridge full of live bait on the turn. The promise though is that there is some really settled weather coming up, spring tides and no moon so cross fingers there could be some good things to report. 2nd February Wind has really settled now, flippin lovely! I took the boat out last night for maintenance, already can't wait to get all the little jobs done and get her back in. Fishing wise there is a little bit to report. Night before on the south side of the island a couple of rods managed 5 Bass around 2lb, some missed bites and one good run. Last night one rod on the Breakwater got one solitary dogfish. Didn't appear to be any Bream about. 3rd February Definitely no Bream about it seems but four visiting anglers fished the Breakwater last night for three hours. They had Small Eyed Ray, Bass to 4lb 8oz, Sole, and Steve Ace broke the Guernsey Shore Record for Smoothound with a beauty of 14lb 9oz 2dr. It certainly looks like a Common Smut but the identity needs to be confirmed. If it is the previous record stood at 6lb 5oz, if it proves to be a Starry then the previous record stood at 10lb 4oz. The lads also mentioned other species which I fail to remember at this point, had missed fish and got bitten off by Tope. Photo of Steve's Hound has gone on the Gallery page. The latest news is that although it looks like a Common the analysis being done indicates it is in fact a Starry. If it is a Starry then it will be a Channel Island Record not just the Bailiwick. Records for the whole of the Channel Islands currently stand at 15lb odd for the Common and 12lb 9(ish) for the Starry. Thanks to Dick Smith for the info. 4th February Small shoals of Mullet getting spotted around the island and a few fish to 6lb being landed. Four Smoothounds to 6lb were landed on the Breakwater last night.............oh for some peeler crab!! There are probably loads out there. A couple of Sole around 1lb 8oz came from the inside. Fieona and I had a dabble on Plattes Saline last night. Only one fish caught, a Pollack which fell to Fieona. We both missed bites though which we suspect were Mullet but of course you can never tell. Didn't fish long, only two and a half hours before we realised we were wasting our time. The other lads had a few bits but nothing to shout about, they headed off to the Breakwater. We could have gone there too but we had to pass the warmth of home on the way! 7th February The weekends action consisted of Sole, Doggies, Bass and Pout it seems. There were a few small Bass on the south side of the island falling to worm and squid baits. Dogfish were both sides of the island and Sole, which went 3lb 8oz, was from the Breakwater. The Record Smoothound landed by Steve Ace last week has been confirmed as a Starry so that makes it a Channel Island Record. 14th February I'm only putting this on so you know that something has been updated!! Truthfully there isn't enough going on. A couple of lads over didn't really get going and had a few bits and bobs. A couple of local rods have drowned some worms but not much happened. There are plenty of Mullet about, Plattes Saline and Clonque I have seen them jumping since last Thursday. Reports of a lot of Bass around the island. The amount of Gannets sat on the water seem to prove that theory, also a pod of Dolphins have arrived for an easy meal. One of the local boats found plenty of Pollack on a wreck close to the island but lost every fish!!! Then proceeded to lose very bit of wrecking gear they took with them!!!!!!! (can't wait till he reads this :-) ) Despite the frustration of no fish he seemed quite excited by the amount of hook ups he had. 24th February No news is bad news. I can't tell what is out there fish wise because no-one has been fishing to my knowledge (testimony to this is the 10lb of worm that has just croaked!). The only report I have had in 10 days is that two anglers have been across Mullet fishing. One of the juniors saw them catch one Mullet on a Mepps spoon trailing a small ragworm. The fish was about a 1lb 8oz and my guess is it would be either a thin lipped or a golden grey, even though it seems strange this time of year. I never got to speak to them as I never saw them fishing and they never entered the sweet shop (sorry tackle shop!). Weather has been appalling with stiff to gale force winds with some sort of Easterly direction to it making going outdoors not a lot of fun. Even the dog beats me home after his walk! 2nd March An improvement in the weather enabled a couple of rods to try the Breakwater earlier this week. No fish landed but a fish lost each with the belief that they were Eels that snaffled the baits. Other than those lads giving it a go no one else has attempted to go. Hopefully this weekend will see some fish caught during the Alderney versus Jersey match. I am away from today till the 14th so the site won't be updated for that period of time. Any emails won't be responded too till then but the shop is open in the mornings and most of the two Saturdays that I am away. |
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