25th September

Just come in too stock are the 40 and 50 size in the new Daiwa Saltist 2 speed range to add to the 30 and 20 we already have, proving very popular reels!!

Daiwa Saltist Lever Drag 40 Two (2) Speed STTLD402SP  Our Price £194.99  RRP £299.00

Daiwa Saltist Lever Drag 50 Two (2) Speed STTLD502SP  Our Price £194.99  RRP £299.00

24th September

Some of the best boat fishing is being experienced here for a very long while at the moment. Still good numbers of Turbot around with some fish in the high teens being caught. A few Brill too, the Tope fishing is phenomenal and the Black Bream appear to have arrived in good numbers with many fish over 3lb.

Shore fishing good too with Bass on the plugs, a few Mullet and some of those Bream turning up now. Keep hearing of Plaice too..............

Bruce Hurson is a regular visitor to the island with the Smith family doing the entertaining. This week Bruce found himself this plug caught Bass of 5lb 6oz and the other Bass of 6lb 8oz caught on live eel. Chuck in a few flats as well what a great week!

19th September

Even on these small tides there are still a few Bass being caught. Pictured below is Mike Roberts with a fish of 5lb. They've been out this morning and had several more. Yesterday they had Bream on the floats with Mike again with the better fish at 3lb. 

Yesterday was an ideal day for going out in the kayak. Our target was Tope and to guarantee it involved a paddle of some distance through the tide rips and back eddies to get there. After an hour paddling we arrived at the destination on cue. No tide so we drifted to 'map' the ground out before deciding where we needed to put the pick in. On the second to last drift I had a Tope take a Mackerel flapper as I was winding a bait back, this got the optimism going! Tide was now in full flow as we crept to our chosen spot to anchor in an eddie behind a rock. Further down tide the V formed by the tidal streams joining some hundred yards past the rock, this would make its way towards us and then away again as the tidal pressure increased and decreased irregularly, it was a sign though we were safe but would be close to the action. We had a 15 minute wait for the next sign of the Tope, my bait was being pecked at by Scad or Bream when it slammed down. A Tope hit out at the live fish but picked up my dead bait, all I could do was to give it line, strike in to the fish but alas he tore off the flappers and I wound a head back. Meanwhile John was anchored level with me but dragging backwards slowly so he wanted to re-position. Unknowingly this was ideal timing. As he retrieved I was feeding line out to another Tope take, I set the hook and a ten minute ding dong ensued. The result was John photographing my first ever kayak caught Tope, this was around 25lb. John re-anchored, possibly to far up and he spent the next hour or so watching me miss fish, drop fish and I did 'land' one of around 40lb. The fight was brilliant as it pulled the yak sideways across the tide and in to the chop, nervous moments! It wasn't possible to photograph and safer for the Tope to be released at the side. I was happy in the knowledge I achieved a 40lb fish. I missed one more before I snagged the bottom and lost the gear. At this point John had dropped a fish. I decided with one bait left I would finish my session and watch John. As I retrieved my anchor he hooked in to a fish, ideal from a photo point of view. Beaming smiles he managed to get his one to the yak and we managed a photo of some sorts. Estimated at around 30lb he slipped it back. Time was now running out as tide was slackening, we needed to get back to safe waters before the tide turned, an hour and 10 minutes saw us round the Breakwater..............what a great experience and thanks to John for having someone to share it with. 

17th September

Just a quickie, lads staying with us managing Bass on the plugs with ease, several Mullet caught yesterday. Good flattie fishing still on the banks. Tomorrow I am doing my first serious session in the kayak (actually first trip out in it for weeks too) targeting Tope, lets hope they play but there is a lack of bait around.

Most important.......festival update here  http://www.alderneyangling.com/festival.htm. Not many orders in the bait book so I can only assume more folk than usual bringing there own, be quick or miss out.

15th September

Just a quickie. Sat indoors last night when a couple of the lads came back with the statement '....your not going to believe us but that's up to you but we caught a Turbot......'. They were fishing Braye bay and caught the flatty which was the size of a dinner plate on a soft lure aiming for Bass. Amazing.

14th September

Someone far cleverer than me has formatted the festival entrance form and booklet so I can put it here for you guys to download, thanks Simon!!

Alderney Festival booklet

Alderney Festival entry form

New arrivals yesterday mark and Mike got straight in to the plugging, several Bass landed but the biggest was dropped by Mike who cursed his luck. Reports still of Bream and Mullet coming in. Bream aren't big though and the Mullet to 4lb.

13th September

Plenty going on here as we approach the fabulous Autumn months. Double figure Bull Huss reported last night, Bream on the float to 2lb 10oz, Mullet caught as well when targeted. Bass on the plugs on the dawn raids. There have even been a few small Plaice reported as well..........more then 1! The odd Sole too. Red Mullet about as well.

I just had two days plugging in the boat, no big fish with the best hitting around 5lb 8oz but we had reasonable numbers, excellent fun on a spinning rod. Gars, Pollack and Wrasse all hitting the lures. 

Boat sport still the same, Turbot on the banks and Bass on the big tides. Plenty of other stuff to target, just pray the weather holds for your trip.

2nd September

Now in stock is the terrific new lure rods from Anyfish Anywhere, based and designed on the current 'rage' of Japanese lure rods these offer great value for money:

Anyfish Anywhere 7' Mk1 Lure Rod 2 piece, 5-35g 

Anyfish Anywhere 8' Mk1 Lure Rod 2 piece, 10-55g

Anyfish Anywhere 9' Mk1 Lure Rod 2 piece, 12-60g

Anyfish Anywhere 10' Mk1 Lure Rod 2 piece, 15-65g

Anyfish Anywhere 8' Mk1 Lure Rod 4 piece with hard tube piece, 10-55g

Anyfish Anywhere 9' Mk1 Lure Rod 4 piece with hard tube, 12-60g

Once I have some pictures I shall put them up but for now they're listed here:

http://www.alderneyangling.com/leeda_fenwick_others.htm

31st August

Last day of the summer season, good!! Means more fishing looming for us! Mullet and Bass from the shore along with the usual suspects of Mackerel, Gars, Pollack and Wrasse. Not much in the way of baits hitting the bottom but definitely not much Bream showing. Boat sport is far better though with loads of bits and piece caught. Still plenty of Turbot around, we managed 11 at the weekend, went of Bassing afterwards which wasn't as spectacular as it has been but we managed 14. 

Hopefully I will be able to update more regularly not just because we are in to September and it quietens down but tomorrow my first employee starts. Dave Young is coming in to the shop to join us, our growth is dictating this and in order to improve our Mail Order shopping pages I need the help to move forward. Dave is an angler and has been involved in retail for the last 6 years, you'd have seen his pictures on the site from many times he has been afloat with me. He fishes from the shore too so his knowledge will be a real bonus. Hopefully he knows how to look after the worm as well :-).

An update on the Festival page for those coming  http://www.alderneyangling.com/festival.htm

24th August

Ages since last update, sorry. Crazy busy in shop and on mail order but I have managed to find some fishing time. Boat fishing is great at the moment with lots of species to aim for. Our last trip on Sunday we managed 14 species including Tub and Red Gurnards, Cod, Tope, Congers, Blondes, Bream, Turbot and Brill amongst others I fail to remember at this juncture! The flatty fishing was great, we managed 14 in just 3 and a half hours fishing for them! My previous trip was with a couple of little friends of mine with their pictures below. Hector is seen holding (well not quite) a small Blonde, William had a small Eel and a massive Cuckoo Wrasse. Must have been near the British record of 2lb 11oz but it went back alive. They also caught Bream and other bits. The highlight of the evening trip was that in consecutive drops I managed a 50lb plus Eel and a 28lb 10oz Blonde, both fish on a 15lb Ugly Stik! thing is though I need a decent photographer as you'll see by the picture, real shame. My previous trip was a plugging trip close in but that only managed a couple of Bass and one or two Pollack. These trips kind of encapsulates what is happening at the moment without going in to details of what everyone else is catching.

Shore trips yielding the usual Pollack, Mackerel and Gars. bass seem to be thin on the ground again after the recent deluge. A few Sole reported and a Plaice caught too! Matthew Smith had a personal best Bass, a cracker at 12lb 9oz. Matthew had his first ever double fishing with me in my boat, so pleased he not only caught one from the shore but managed to beat his previous, well done Matt!! 

11th August

Further to the States of Alderney public meeting regards introducing protective legislation for fish stocks in Alderneys three mile limit they have issued online a Public Consultation document in order to attain your opinion on a Fisheries Management programme. Go to www.alderney.gov.gg/Fisheries-Consultation to download a copy. Details of where to send is all attached and deadline for reply is 31st August.

Youngster Sam Currie caught this fantastically tasty John Dory just a few days ago, it weighed 6lb 5oz and was caught on a pirk fishing from his dads boat fishing close to the island. This was amongst a catch of decent Pollack and Mackerel.

Boat fishing is pretty good at the moment with flatties still being caught on the banks. This is one of the best Turbot years for a while which followed a couple of leaner years, that's the cycle of fishing. Bass are being found on these tides, well if you have the right gear. Braid and mono makes the difference between a terrific day and a total blow out as a couple of the visiting charter boats are finding out. There's other bits around to target but the Black Bream seem hard to come by. Reports of Couches in the harbour which is good news. Pictured below is Richard Stanley from Staffordshire who is a member of Anglers-Danglers-Tanglers. He was on board Owen Malia's boat Outlaw of Dartmouth. The Turbot was 9lb 8oz and the Brill was a cracking 6lb 2 oz, both caught on sand eel.

From the shore there are plenty of Pollack, Gars and Mackerel. Wrasse are two a penny, Bass on the plugs at times spectacular.

Due in October are the new Penn 515 and the re modeled Penn 525. Our prices will be £118 and £127 respectively so place orders now to guarantee your reel. That's a huge VAT saving as well if you intend to visit the island in the coming months. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

2nd August

Its Alderney Week so all a bit manic for fishing let alone for  updates and such. Plenty of fish about, same as the last report really with Pollack, Gars and Mackerel providing the bulk of the shore sport. Still Bass around falling to plugs and lures from the ashore, no monster fish with a good fish around 4lb. 

Last Sunday week I managed to get afloat with Simon, the object of the day was a species hunt. Simon thought it would be a good idea in order to get the species quicker that on each mark he would ground bait most of the day, this was involuntary groundbaiting however. No expense spared on my part on the verbal abuse,  he did though have the last laugh by landing three species I'd not caught yet this year (Cuckoo Wrasse, Tub Gurnard and Poor Cod) and would have liked to have done so to add to my current tally for the year. Fair play to him for his recovery and persistence to conquer the Mal de Mer. In all we managed 13 species but the highlight of the day was the fishing for the Turbot and Brill. Surprisingly good with 7 flats in a couple of hours with Simon managing the best around 5 or 6lb. Hopefully we'll manage to put some pictures up later.

Other boats have managed to find some good Tope, Conger and Huss fishing around the rough stuff. On the spring tides the Bass fishing has been slipping in to gear. Lots to target as there always is this time of year.

As mentioned before it is Alderney Week, my sister Claire has arrived with Mum and the rest of the their family. Harry and George their two boys have never fished before so a quick trip down the Breakwater yesterday saw them in to fish after fish, what a baptism. A big part of the fun was watching most of the catch swim off although the Mackerel were saved for the BBQ! Pictured is Harry who is 4 with a Pollack around 2lb 8oz.

21st July

Very few, if any, charter boats over the  last 10 days. Local boats finding Turbot and Brill with Ben Barnes managing 6 in just a few hours. Gurnard and Bass caught too. I managed to get afloat twice Sunday. An early start in the kayak saw me anchored up catching Pollack to 5lb, Wrasse to 5lb, Mackerel and a Red Gurnard. . In the evening I went plugging, visited some of my favourite marks with just Pollack to show for our efforts. Strange as there has been plenty of Bass around at times with shore anglers finding a bit of fish on various marks. They're having to chase the fish though. Mullet are all round the island too, plenty of Gars, Mackerel and Pollack to be caught. A shore session last night saw Simon Francis and myself fishing the sewer pipe. Its really yuk but fish need to be guaranteed when time is limited. First chuck, sorry cast I mean, saw me drop a Mullet. Then between us we missed a succession of bites, more dropped fish before Simon thumped me with his bag of Mackerel, Wrasse and Black Bream. My solitary Black Bream was an almost embarrassing effort, well done Simon. 

10th July

Apologies for the lack of updates of late.

We're in to a good run of fish at the moment, Turbot had thinned out prior to this week but were on song again with fish to 23lb caught. That was aboard Poole boat Silver Spray which this week was skippered by Andy's son Sam Cumming. Silver Spray also had a boat record broken for an Angler Fish, Sam managed to find one of 17lb for his customers, lovely fish. Brill are building in numbers with reports of some good fish boated. Plenty of Gurnards showing too with Tubs and Reds both caught. On the rougher ground Bream to 3lb 8oz showing, they're mixed in with the Gurnards, Huss and small Eels. Tope are moving around the rough marks, one day they're there and next they're somewhere else. One or two Trigger fish reported too. 

Shore sport consisting of the usual Pollack, Wrasse, Gars and Mackerel. Bass are being caught on plugs and flies. Matthew Crampton had a blast last week on his fly gear. He had more than his fair share by catching most days, in the main they were 8oz to 12oz fish but he did manage three reasonable ones, one which approached 4lb(!).............on a fly rod!!

My own fishing has been curtailed by work but I did manage to get afloat in the kayak earlier this week. Anchoring up for Ray on a favoured mark produced Doggies and 2 Turbot!! Yep, 150lb mono biting trace attached to 80 lb trace line is the new Turbot gear!! Remember all that paddling I did last month to get a kayak caught Turbot, needn't had bothered!! Nice size fish too, one around 5lb and one of 6lb. The former I dropped at the surface initially, I lowered my bait down 'just to see' if it would take the bait. It did! Dropped the fish again, so tried to lower what was left of the bait, it success a second time, unbelievable! And all I had left on the hook was the skin of mackerel strip where I had elasticated it on. So next time I get asked what I do to catch Turbot I don't think the answer is going to be all that serious ;-).