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23rd September

I managed a trip a float in my boat yesterday. My best buddy Lee was over for the weekend and when ever he arrives the fish always seem to play ball. We started off plugging, which Lee needed some guidance on, he listened very well and managed a 6lb Bass second cast and on the first drift. Chuffed to bits with a good start we anticipated what the rest of the day would be like and of course I was getting the normal stick ....... first fish and all that. Before we could settle and still on the same drift, bang I hit a good Bass which went around 7lb, instinct told me there were more fish and getting my lure back in the water as quickly as possible even I couldn't believe what would happen  next. I had already warned Lee that the plugs we were using tangle on the front hook when casting, thus they wouldn't dive and be rendered useless. Just wind them in across the top as quickly as you can for the next cast was my advice. This is exactly what happened on my next cast, it tangled, winding it in as quick as I could, because the drift was coming to an end, I saw a swirl behind the plug, then I got hit and then 5 seconds later it all went weird, line rubbing, dead weight, a bit of thrashing.........strange. Getting the 'fish' to the surface it turned out I only had a double shot on a tangled plug!! Never happened before. Anyway, Lee was absolutely stunned because his day had gone from perfection of having a fish and dishing stick to being 3 - 1 down in less than 10 minutes of his glory. Another 20 minutes passed and he was 5 -1 down. I had to give up on the verbals at this stage as it was all little one sided and embarrassing ;-) 

After that we did persevere, we had clearly spooked the Bass so we moved off to target a Turbot or two. We would have been better to go for something else as there is plenty of bits here but as Lee had come all this way it only seemed fair to get him something he wouldn't normally catch...............and he still can't. I managed one of 9lb 4oz, dropped one and missed another. The afternoon was just glorious weather wise and a pleasure to be out with great company after so much slogging at work but hopefully now this is the start of regular days out, lets wait and see!

21st September

Here are some more pictures from angling journalist Des Westmore from a recent trip aboard Greg Woodford's Southern Star. Left to right is Milo Pragnell, Greg himself with a 5lb Brill and Chester Benson.

19th September

Mum and son Woodnutt have been amongst the fishes. Tess is proudly displaying (not line caught though, simply picked up for a photo and returned safely) a fine Sunfish from her floating sofa, oh no.....its a RIB and Jake is proudly displaying his best Bass to date of 9lb 7oz caught on a plug. For those shore anglers weighing up the venue for the forthcoming Festival it is time to disappoint, it wasn't caught on the slipway I am afraid but afloat.........that's what I am telling you anyway ;-)

18th September

Boat sport as it was, pretty good with a lot of species, flatfish on the increase. Pictured below is Des Westmore with a 11lb Turbot caught aboard Greg Woodford on Southern Star. Thanks to Des for the picture.

11th September

Longer than I thought since the last update. Shore sport is really hot with plenty of Black bream to light gear, bags of 20 fish reported with fish to 3lb 6oz but nothing over 4lb recently. It's the same with the Thick Lipped Mullet, plenty around but no big fish amongst them but its terrific sport for both species using light lines and rods. Good Bass reported to the anglers plugging and spinning, some fish falling to worm and squid baits intended for Bream. 

Boat sport brilliant at times, and only good at other times! There's no bad fishing at the moment. Plenty of Bream, Bass (spring tides) and Tope. In with these species Trigger Fish, Rays, Bull Huss, Gurnards (Tubs and Reds) are being picked up which makes the fishing even more interesting. One or two flatfish, that's Turbots and Brills being caught now. Not huge numbers but some quality with what is being landed. 

Festival coming up now, could be an interesting one with the amount of species around. Lots of reports of Conger Eels close to shore being caught daylight so I anticipate that we could see plenty of those. It starts on 6th October, if you are thinking of coming over then get your bait order in now on 01481 824884.

3rd September

On one of my teach in sessions this afternoon with the kids on the Breakwater Dominic Bowles caught a 4lb 4oz Bass. It capped off a lovely session which also saw two Ballan Wrasse over 3lb, a 2lb Pollack and the other normal bits and pieces.

Picture below took a while to come of my camera but it is Roy Repton with a 3lb 5oz Bream which was reported further down the page. This Bream was amongst a catch of 6 Bream and 25 Mullet!

Taken even longer to come off the camera (hardly surprising) is a couple of pics of my boat which broke loose from its moorings during the last lot of NE gales. My thanks to Dean Geran, Stuart Trought and Matt Bohan who were first on the scene to drag her up the beach, also thanks to the harbour boys and Breakwater lads who helped out. The first picture shows a rough line of travel, damage was minimal...........lucky boy or what! If it wasn't for Dean, Stu and Matt it would have been markedly worse!

Nice Cuckoo Wrasse taken on a float!

Boat sport seeing the usual bits that I have been reporting, also now though we have one or two flatfish starting to show. Lots of Bass on last set of Spring tides, they're popping up everywhere.

27th August

All the species seem to be here, Triggers, Red Mullet, Red Gurnard all amongst the usual stuff. One angler over from the UK managed lots of Mullet to 4lb on Saturday, around 25 all together. Also half a dozen Black Bream to 3lb 3oz. On Sunday similar results with around 10 Mullet and more Bream to 3lb 5oz.

Boat Sport over the weekend and last week consisting of a lot of Bream on all marks. Plenty of Bass too, particularly on the bigger tides. The very odd Turbot or Brill. Lots of Tope and Bull Huss. Last week Valkyrie had to resort to fishing close to the island and managed Ray, Tope, Bass, plenty of Bream and Red Gurnards.

20th August

Not a lot of fishing going on, we're getting a fair bit of poor weather again! However results against effort has been pretty good. What bait is going on the bottom is catching Black Bream, Red Mullet, Red Gurnard, Trigger Fish amongst the normal Wrasse, Pollack and Bass. The odd Sole caught as well. Plenty of Mullet around, not saying they're easy to catch but two youngsters managed two fish on crab lines of the pontoon!

Boat sport........no idea, no-one has been over since my past report. However got a picture of a lovely Wrasse caught aboard Tiger Lily.

10th August

Not a chance to update the site this week due to 'Alderney Week'. It is a fun week of traditional activities which attract a lot of people to the island so needless to say we have been flat out in the shop ................. thankfully!

Fish wise, from the shore it is the normal bits giving us plenty of sport, Pollack, Gars, Mackerel, Wrasse and the odd Bass. We have had though other species hit the baits. On one of my teach-in sessions with the kids we managed to land a Sea Trout, not massive but about 1lb 6oz and the first time I have been involved with a fish like that. There have been Red Mullet, Triggers and Black Bream to 3lb 10oz, all these are in the harbour so I can't wait to get some of you regular shore anglers over here to see what else is about. Some big Bass have come out from the harbour too by one or two of the local experts .

Boat sport, well it would appear Brill are making more of a showing, half a dozen fish reported this week to 9lb 8oz, odd Turbot too, so maybe the next set of spring tides will see an influx of fish...............don't hold me to it though! Plenty of Bass, Bream and Tope about. We have had a couple of boats up from Littlehampton, a private one and charter boat Spirit of Arun skippered by Neil French. Neil was pretty intent on catching a Turbot which was achieved but the little ray of sunshine was from the other boat skippered by Danny ? . Shark sessions was on the agenda and although they didn't land any, one was hooked and lost, and they did get the Porgies in the chum trail so next trip lads the homework is done. Hopefully this trip will lead to future success. I totally believe that the sharking here is there to be tapped in to, unfortunately the flatfish takes up every anglers priorities and the potential sport from the sharks goes virtually unchecked despite the number of hook-ups and sightings we get here. That said a 290lb Porbeagle was landed aboard a 17' Nab Dory just a mile of Guernsey on Friday evening. This should be confirmed as a local record and just goes to show what is there.

During Alderney Week, mentioned above, one event that is relevant to this site is the Junior Fishing Competition. Split in to three age group categories with rods, reels and tackle vouchers for prizes it is free for them to enter. Anyway, fish wise it was slow with the last half an hour producing the most spcimens. Best fish fell to Guernsey lad Jordan Palmeri with a 3lb 5oz Ballan Wrasse, Laura Blondin led the way for the young ladies with a very green Ballan of 2lb 2oz. Six species of fish were landed, Ballan Wrasse, Corkwing Wrasse, Cuckoo Wrasse, Rock Goby (9oz!), Blenny and Black Bream.

Jordan Palmeri 3lb 5oz winning Wrasse    Laura Blondin 2lb 2oz Wrasse         Alderney Week Junior Winners

3rd August

Just thought I'd mention a Trigger fish caught from the Breakwater yesterday afternoon, not a big fish about 1lb, maybe a bit more. Ragworm was the bait caught on the bottom to a young lad with a spinning rod.

1st August

Not a bad weeks fishing shaping up and guess what? We have got summer days here, flat calm, blue skies and light winds making life a lot more pleasant. Plenty of Tope to a good size which provide a huge amount of fun in these 'tropical' conditions. Spring tides have seen an increase in Bass numbers with fish well in to double figures. Black Bream have moved closer up to the island. East of Sark there has been confirmation of a Tuna landed commercially and apparently there is plenty of the French coast 120 miles down so maybe we will see some of these being caught if any one is brave enough to tempt them. My thinking is if there is one caught there must more in the area especially with all the mackerel around at the moment.

Shore sport is very consistent with Pollack to 5lb, Wrasse to the same size and Gars and mackerel. A few Bass to plugs but its not hot. Bream starting to show on the bottom baits around the harbour of the wall. Plenty of Mullet to go for too.

26th July

With 30 to 36mph winds forecasted today and pouring rain a few of the visiting boats opted to have a competition today within the confines of the harbour. Alderney Felix, Smuggler V, Offshore Rebel, Tiger Lily and Silver Spray all took part and the anglers competed with great spirit given the disappointment that this atrocious 'summer' weather has brought them. Fishing with mainly fish and squid baits due to the lack of worm we had for them, and given the wind and rain already mentioned fishing was going to be hard. However with 5 hours of competition anything could happen. £2 entry went in to a 100% payout for the top three points scored based on number of species and numbers caught, we supplied a Shimano Torium 16 for the Best Specimen fish and the skippers (including Ian Goff from Shande) donated in to a prize fund. We also did a bottle of alcoholic fizzy stuff for the top Skipper. 

Winner of the Best Specimen was Steve Fowler fishing aboard Alderney Felix whom caught a cracking 1lb 9oz Cuckoo Wrasse. The top three with points for numbers of species/fish were Alan Champion (pictured) (Offshore Rebel), Anthony Wilson (Offshore Rebel) and third was Jim Stone (Tiger Lily). Top skipper was Stuart Trought, Alderney Felix (I guess the local boat should be;-)).  One rule which kept numbers of fish down reported, was a maximum of 3 of any one species to be recorded, so far more fish were caught but all species recorded as below.

Species caught with numbers off were: Conger Eel (1), Garfish(8), Mackerel (36), Pollack (32), Scad (17), Ballan Wrasse (30), Cuckoo Wrasse (14), Black Bream (13), Pouting (4), Coalfish (1), Red Gurnard (2). 

25th July

Back to smelly fisherman and boys I am afraid! I don't normally post these trips, of which I do a couple each day of 2 hour sessions, but today we turned up something special. The lads had between them around 20 Wrasse to 2lb, got to double figures in Pollack to around 3lb, a solitary Garfish and a rarity in the shape of a Coalfish.

               Toby with his Coalfish                          Freddy with a 3lb plus Pollack

The boats over this week are doing ok for fish, but not flatfish. Hopefully the second run will start as normal towards the end of August, maybe before as the main run finished earlier. However one or two boats have managed a few Bass to 8lb, more fish around on the bigger tides. Tope fishing has been good with a good run of plus 40lb fish. The wrecks producing good Pollack considering we are well in to the summer and there are still a few Cod around. Other than that the weather is dictating where the boats fish and as you know that doesn't make things easy but Conger Eels, Bull Huss, Blonde Ray, Black Bream, Couches Bream are all being caught plus I have heard over the last few weeks of around 20 or so Codling caught close to the island so we must be having a little Codling run going on. Some strange things happening out there!

21st July

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN.........AND GO FISHING!!

Had a great session on Thursday with these lovely girls. Far better than smelly fishermen and little boys picking their noses (of course I'm joking). The girls went about their task admirably and were a real pleasure. They all caught fish even if Sophie 1 waited till the last cast!

On Saturday we found a whole load of Mackerel, Gars and Pollack over the two sessions we did. At times too busy to get pictures but I did snap one of Ronan Gillingham with this fine Pollack.

19th July

I managed to sneak out yesterday afternoon, I know I shouldn't have done but what the hell, I'll pay the price later. It was too nice too miss out on especially as Sunday is forecasted 5/6. We only did a bit of Bassing, nothing too heavy and taxing, just drifting the banks. Between us we managed 14, Steve Dean is a friend from Norway who is used to dragging up massive Halibut from the bottom, he struggled and only found two with the rest of the catch split between JC and myself. Anyway, having justified that trip to myself with the forecast for Sunday imagine my surprise this morning when I've looked at xcweather for an update..........1-3! I feel another trip needs to be planned.

16th July

With a windy forecast for early Sunday morning from the East I opted to do something a little different from usual, and normal! I decided to have a go for a Porbeagle Shark from our Breakwater. Now this sounds absolutely crazy but the terrain is right, there is plenty of food and there has been plenty of evidence that they are about. (Certain parts of the country have just lost faith in me!!). Anyway first task was to get the Mackerel to chum, this was easily achieved in the boat on the Saturday, along with Pollack, Poor cod, Scad and a solitary Herring. On the morning I loaded all the necessary gear on to the end of Breakwater. During the course of the day there would two tidal flows which I felt would produce so I chummed up and waited. It was very much a sit and wait game and I have to say nothing was left to chance and nothing never actually went wrong where I could blame this or that for not catching.  The outcome was no sightings, no runs and no sharks, however not disturbed or disappointed by this I will be giving it another go, probably in the Autumn. I did though catch a very black Conger Eel which to my mind proved that my chum was good, probably the only Conger to be caught whilst shark fishing with balloons!

Elsewhere from the shore it is the usual of Garfish, Pollack, Wrasse and plenty of Mackerel. Bass have been caught too on plugs, spinners and floats. Boat sport has improved with more Bass, plenty of Bream and the odd flatfish appearing.

11th July

Here is that picture of the baby Thresher caught behind the island last weekend, to see more detail of capture read further down. I have had a couple of Thresher experts in touch desperate to find out more as surprisingly so little is known about them. They confirm it is very likely that is was only a matter of days old and speaking to Chris Tett who photographed it from his boat Peace and Plenty he reminded me that only a few days before on a previous trip Tim,  his crew man, had a run that emptied his reel, was it Mummy? Who knows??

Here is that photo of Blake Jackson (he has his favourite hat on!), photograph courtesy of Chris Tett.

Out in the boats.............you're not bothered now are you after that! Out in the boats they have been catching Bream, a few Bass but very little else. One or two Turbot and Brill showing but not many, hopefully they'll put in a second appearance as they do, it shows we got spoilt last year. 

8th July

It has been a while since the last update, this has been due to some of the awful weather we have been having, what a Summer eh?

Weekend was kinder to us though. There were a few flatfish around, one of the visiting charter boats managed half a dozen reasonable sized ones including a totally white one! A few Bass as well were managed on the same trip, as well as some Pollack and Cod on the way over. 

One of local boats has just reported to me that they had a day of Mackerel, Pollack, Bass and a summer Codling on Pirk and feathers just half a mile from the island. Another boat went out wrecking further out and found Pollack on the wrecks.

We had a play day yesterday, early start up at 5am so we could take advantage of the weather and the tide, after all it has been three weeks since we'd been out and I really wanted to make the most of it. First target was a Turbot or a Brill, a few drifts on the Schole Bank proved fruitless except for a Tub Gurnard and a little stock up on our bait with Launce and Mackerel. Off we went to some craggy ground where we intended to anchor. On arrival a few drifts with paternoster rigs and we found Black Bream before we put the pick down. This produced a mixture of Eels, Huss, more Bream, Gurnards, Cod (these were poor ones, did I raise the pulse then!!) and Dogfish. Once we had our fill it was time to go and concentrate for a flatfish again. This we managed, a respectable fish of around 6lb, a proper one too.........brown on the top and white underneath! Then we were off again to get some livebait to go in search of Bass, success on the live bait, failure with the Bass. With declining weather and only 2 Bass in 7 drifts enough was enough and we bounced our way home. All in all 11 species and plenty of fish knocking the rods all day long.

Dave with a 10lb Huss, myself with a Tub Gurnard and Jamie with one of the many Bream we caught, best Bream went about 2lb 8oz.

Dave with a beautiful Red Gurnard and myself with a double figure Huss.

Whilst we out yesterday we had news of a baby Thresher Shark landed. It was tangled in mackerel feathers fished with a pirk on the bottom. It took the angler some 15 minutes to land. The nearby charter boat mentioned earlier, Peace and Plenty from Weymouth, managed to help to identify and weigh it. It swam off ok which was great news, but digging deeper and reading up on the species this shark could have only been a matter of days old. It was approx 1.5m long and weighed 9lb. Hopefully if you're reading this and have knowledge on this species of shark then maybe a quick call/email and you could put us right. I'll put a picture up very shortly when it arrives.

Send mail to chris@alderneyangling.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: October 27, 2007