Alderney
Angling.com
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27th March Golly gosh I wish I had more to tell you. Weather is glorious and ideal for getting afloat. Next week is the first visit of the UK anglers as they take their annual fishing holidays, so we should see some news to wet our lips and tempt us in to dusting our gear down, mine needs a dust for sure! Shore fishing there are a few schoolies being taken on silver lures, not a lot has fallen to plugs. Keep watching my mail order pages, being updated fairly regularly. Bed and Breakfast is coming along, still looking like a bomb has hit it though. 14th March I think now we start looking ahead to the forthcoming boat season, we have had a few cracking days here in Alderney. Beautiful sunshine, glassy seas, high water temperature and you just feel there is a few fish out there. I have heard of some reports from Guernsey that there have been a few Turbot caught so hopefully we'll have a quicker start to the season than last year. If you fancy a trip over from the UK then Colin Dukes on Smuggler V (featured on the charter pages of this site) has a couple of places left to make up a party from April9th to 13th. Could be worth a phone call to find out more, Colin's number is 07974437740.
Sport from the shore is hard to guage, I have heard of Mullet being caught in better numbers but not big fish, best 3lb 12oz. Other than that very few rod hours have happened and when they have the anglers have been specific in what they target and if the quarry is missed then it results in a blankety blank session. There are though Bream and Garfish in reasonable numbers, odd Red Mullet and still a few Bass there. 3rd March Old news is better than no news. Pictured below is Bristol angler Dale Britton with a 5lb 7oz Bass which was caught on a trip over towards the end of January. Second half of the week saw the better of the action with Bass on Plugs and other lures, best Bass encountered was caught by Pep Granato, it scaled 8lb 13oz. Another good session Marc reported (thanks for the pics Marc) was on Platte Saline with a mixed bag of Red Mullet, Bream and several Bass.
Currently though it is poor. There are no visiting anglers, a couple of local rods have been out in the week to little avail and every morning I am looking for Mullet when walking the dogs and I have seen very little activity, just the odd fish seen. Once spotted I stand and watch what else is going on and then realise that the Mullet are just not there in the vast numbers we are used too. I also checked the sea temperature the night before, 10.1 C, this time last year 6.8C!! Maybe that is the difference. 26th February The weather put paid to the weekends fishing, well we can blame the weather as it did put the dampers on it a bit but I also think the high water temperature isn't helping as it isn't fishing as it should be. The competition is based around three factors, Best Conger, Best Mullet and Best Specimen. Only one Conger was caught during the weekend, that went 25lb 8oz and how many Mullet would you expect? How about none. I'm not doing the tourist industry any good here am I? The Best Specimen was a 6lb 14oz Smoothound. Other fish caught were Bream (which there still seems to be plenty of at times), Bass, Plaice, a lot of Garfish, Wrasse, Pollack and Red Mullet. More Smoothounds were caught as well. There's still time for the Mullet to arrive, lets hope they do. 22nd February It has been a bit better, two good nights from the last three. Reports of one session with two rods accounting for 12 Bass, 1 Red Mullet and some Bream. A couple of local rods had plenty of Bream, not big stuff but plenty of rod tip action. Bonus' for them were Bass and Red Mullet. Night time Congering appears to be a waste of time. Day time Mulleting the same, just a few fish I'm afraid. However this weekend we have a Jersey v Alderney competition so with 16 Jersey boys on their way up and a dozen or so Alderney rods there will be enough bait going in to the water daytime and night time to see what really is happening. 19th February Not a great deal to report. The fish everyone is waiting for is the Thick Lipped Mullet, well it simply isn't happening in the way we are used too. There are a few being hooked, a 6lb 3oz fish was caught just this morning and this seems the norm. A few fish have been seen slopping about but again no real signs that any amount of fish are there. Bass have been caught with a little regularity, two were caught last sight along with 4 Red Mullet in a two hour session by a local rod. Other Bass have fallen to plugs and lures. There have been a few Small Eyeds caught too, odd Sole. Going back to the early part of last week there were no rods out so this report is made up of fishing done since Friday. I've started to update my Mail Order pages again. All Daiwa stuff that I have in stock has gone on, with pictures (I'm getting more advanced and catching up with the real world!!) and a link for Bayzand Sportfishing which I am now supplying due to Rogers retirement. Roger is somewhere hot and sunny right now.............. 12th February Apologies for the length of time that there hasn't been any updates for, I have been off island since 23rd January and forgot to leave a message here saying so. We went back to the UK to catch up with family and friends and at the same time filled a container up with furniture etc for the new bed and breakfast venture. Whilst I was away we probably had the best weather so far this winter, cold, clear days and frosty nights with very little wind. This enabled anglers to concentrate their efforts far better than they had been able too. From what I can make out the fishing hasn't been that great (I might be wrong though) but there has been some good Mullet caught, the best was over 10lb and for the purists out there it was caught on a float and not on heavy bottom gear. There has been others caught as well but they still aren't around in great numbers. Bass fishing has been good though with trips around the rocks proving worthwhile with fish to 6lb and more falling to toby lures and plugs. As I find out more I will post it on here. Below is a couple of pictures of Mark Bryce, Plymouth, with a Mullet of 9lb 9oz and 6 drams. He said not mention the 6 drams as he wasn't bothered but I though t I would! Mark delayed his trip over till the weather was good which has paid dividends, a fine fish. He hooked it in daylight and as you can see never managed to land it till it was dark.
You may well be interested to know I have received my first Daiwa order and over the next 10 days or so it should find its way on to the mail order pages which will be updated from the end of the week till beginning of April with new stock and prices. The Shimano order should be here end of the month. 19th January Needless to say the fishing activity has been minimal. Earlier in the week no-one was here and then as some anglers arrived so did the horrendous windy weather again. The sea of the western end of the island was nothing short of spectacular and the Breakwater was totally awash with water. Mullet have featured in the lads catches, when they can get shelter in the bays activity with the smaller fish is ok but not fantastic. Night sessions have yielded the normal bits and pieces that I have reported recently although in addition we have the first of the seasons coalfish and a cracking Black Bream was lost due to the rubbing leader doing too much rubbing! 12th January I thought we'd do a spot the Mullet competition, x marks the spot or something like that! I got these shots yesterday and apparently I missed the worst of it! I was stood towards the base of the Breakwater and you could feel a shudder as each swell crashed the wall. I don't know what is more phenomenal, the wave action or the fact that the Breakwater is still standing!
Below is the new shop as complete as it is going to be for now. Fishing gear is at the back and plenty of it. I did do some photo's but they weren't that good and didn't do it justice. I couldn't resist putting the dogs in as well, I know some of you wonder how they both get on and these pictures capture it. Bella is 5 months old now and really settled in, she is giving Benji and run for his money for sure and they love the space in the shop.
11th January The wind has approached 60 knots at times today with a constant 40 to 45 knots battering the island, chuck in a 'touch' of rain and it hasn't been too pleasant here. So the fish reports goes like this................................... No, that was the fish report! Here are some photos though of some real quality fish caught over Christmas when the wind did drop.
Tim Bird and John Deam with two fine flatfish, a 2lb 1oz Sole, one of several caught in daylight and John with a massive 4lb 8oz Plaice. And on the right is Roy Repton with a fine Mullet of 6lb 9oz.
John does it night and day! This fish went over 3lb and Roy Repton with a cracking Red Mullet of 2lb 7oz. 9th January Mullet to 7lb 2oz on the float, a few more being caught. As the week has progressed there has been more sightings of Mullet as they shoal up. Loads (not my quote, one of the anglers stood in the shop!!) of Red Mullet, Black Bream and bits being caught when the wind allows although given the forecast this week these opportunities are going to be few and far between. Small Eyeds have featured in catches too with two double figure Ray and several smaller ones being caught.
6th January We've had a little respite in the weather, wind died back nicely last night which made conditions a lot more bearable. One of the main beaches here produced Mullet to 8lb, Black Bream, Red Mullet, Bass and a few other bits. I might add to this as the day goes on as anglers appear through the shop. Elsewhere during the day the Mullet anglers saw fish to 5lb with one angler managing to locate a couple of Golden Greys as well. I'm not sure if this is an indicator of how far the fish are behind with there normal cycles, I will find out, but if it is then obviously the main run of Mullet is yet to happen. One or two more Smoothounds reported too. 3rd January Windy conditions making it difficult to find fish. Big swells running over the Breakwater and some of the rock marks. At times some of it is spectacular but not much fun for fishing. A variety of species being caught but not much quality to them. One angler managed a small Conger, a Smoothound and a Bass from one of the cleaner venues before getting weeded out, missed some bites too. Red Mullet, Grey Mullet, Bass, Pout (spoilt it now as regards a fishing report!!), Dogfish are the main species. Rafts of Mullet being spotted but they're too far out to sea to fish for properly, also frustrating watching the Seals dine out on them. One of the lads saw a stonker of a Mullet being carried in the jaws of one this morning. Plenty of squid about too I keep hearing. |
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These are festival fish caught in October, both lads are from Southampton.
Graham Hazell with a Conger Eel and Matt Pitter with a Bull Huss and a 9lb 15oz
Small Eyed.