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Fishing wise not much to shout about. In truth though it is more to do with the lack of activity from anglers having the will to go. Nigel Bowditch has managed a few sessions. Day time he has been trying to winkle out a Plaice or two but with no joy but on his night sessions he has managed to find a bit of success. A couple of nights ago he managed an 8lb and 4lb Bass. The week before whilst having a go for Bass he managed a couple of nice eels, 39lb and 41lb. I've managed to find a bit of time to venture out, a couple of sessions of day and night but I fell to produce. We can look forward though to the start of the boat fishing as soon as the wind drops. Looking forward to a bit of wrecking and I hear there are some good Pollack not to far away, following on from that hopefully we'll see an early run of Turbot and Brill.

Great news regards the Alderney Fishing Festival this year, go to http://www.alderneyangling.com/festival.htm and find out about the £2000 record prize amongst other additions made for the 2010 event.

Holidays, work, weather, lack of fishing activity has made this page become a bit dormant. Its to easy at the moment not to go fishing so reports are sparse let alone good reports. One local angler Mark Brayce has his eye on the ball and is finding a bit of Bass to worm baits. The fish seem to be a bit smaller now with the best of it around 4lb and most nights one would expect to reach double figures in numbers. One or two Smoothies have been caught as a by product which is rip roaring fun. Plugging hasn't really been working for the Bass but Frank Cusado (pictured below) ignored all that and landed an absolute beauty of 12lb 14oz!! Elsewhere some Sole reported in amongst the catches of small Bream, Pollack, Pout, Poor Cod and the very occasional Red Mullet. This is the time of year to bag a Small Eyed but no effort is being made to target them. Tope have been encountered but not landed from the Breakwater. Mullet conspicuous by their absence.............very strange.

Boat season is around the corner, just need some fine weather. Boat ready but am I?

Still bits and pieces coming out in the way off Bream, Bass and odds and sods. Squidding is good around the quay at the moment which draws 'proper' anglers away from their fishing marks. Our group managed 14 last night, mostly good ones around a 1lb. Yours truly took the sweepstake for the first, most and even the biggest but I did feel mine wasn't quite the biggest, took their money anyway! :-)

We've got some SLOSH30's arrived, £59.99 till end of March, the excellent Coastal Smocks are in too.

A cracking Bull Huss of 11lb 4oz for Bristol lad Marc Boyce caught on the south side of the island. Once again there's not much fishing happening but some lads staying with us had a cracking nights sport with Bass to 5lb 8oz with some 25 plus fish. Mullet have been seen jumping as well so hopefully we can encounter some of those.

Happy New Year to you all, hope all things were good for you over Christmas and the New Year. I know the weather is an absolute pain for most so lets hope it doesn't last for much longer. Our airport is shut as it has 8mm of ice on it I am told so no flights in or out. This was a shame for a group of lads due to arrive yesterday for some Mullet fishing, all day waiting for a short window to exit the UK never transpired but the Bristol lads here are lapping it up at the thought of being stranded in fishing heaven. Currently they have caught a mix of Smoothounds to 10lb 8oz, plenty of Bass to 5lb, Red Mullet, Black Bream, Dogs, Pollack, Wrasse amongst others. They're struggling for Mullet though which is bizarre as a local rod is managing up to 5 fish a session with fish topping 6lb. I did hear that over Christmas fish were jumping in various bays so they're here and around.

After a lean spell earlier in the Autumn we are now in to a good run of fish. Even some decent sized Bream have turned up with a smattering of fish close to 4lb. One or two Giltheads caught as well. This morning a 3lb 6oz Sole was brought in to the shop, plenty more where they came from! Red Mullet too still featuring and yes plenty of Bass about with bags up to 27 (twenty seven!) per angler. Mullet starting to appear too, more fish spotted jumping. Huss at night and the odd Eel too.

Looking in to Christmas we are away from 24th till the 3rd. I'll be contactable on email and the shop will be open. Tracey is covering us whilst away, it won't be open all the time so ring the number on the door when you get here and she'll appear just like magic! Live worm available from 3rd Jan if not lots of frozen bait in the freezer including some decent peelers.

Leaves me to thanks all our customers and we'll look forward to seeing you during 2010, Merry Christmas.

Lots of gear arriving all the time so I don't notify here about everything but a few of you good people have been enquiring about Torium 14's which were due in January, they're now in stock.

After a recent run of really poor weather it has finally come good this week and so has the fishing. Plenty of Bass about falling to lures and baits. Normal stuff whereby the better fish fall to squid and the smaller ones take ragworm. Best Bass was to local angler Mark Brace which dropped the scales to 10lb 12oz. He dropped another on the next cast too around the same size. Exhilarating stuff. Sole fishing has picked up somewhat from when we able to sensibly fish for them last. One rod had 4 fish but plenty more have shown. Better fish approaching 3lb and more. At the same time we are seeing enough Red Mullet too, fine eating fish they are and very welcome. A fair few Smoothounds caught as well with fish to 10lb. I'm sure if rods were fishing for Tope, Huss and Conger they'd be found. One or two Mullet have shown as well with a report of fish to 7lb. Black Bream fairly plentiful as well.

Fortunately I have been blessed with a bit of guiding this week which forced me away from the shop otherwise I'd have missed out. Our main concentrations have been for Mullet and Bass with the Bass fishing on plugs only. Pleased to report there were no blank sessions with the best Bass at over 5lb. The Mullet were smallish with the best at 3lb but just today 3 of us have been out in a NE 6 and all caught. Unfortunately young Buddy's fish never made it out of the surf and kelp but I'll count it! In the pictures you'll see Buddy Cairns, his father Glen Cairns who skippers Valkyrie out of Langstone harbour on the south coast. Glen caught his first ever Mullet whilst here on a family holiday. Simon Francis is also pictured with Bass, Mullet and Wrasse. One horror one of me, looking a bit wide eyed as it was an early morning rise and another of Bella sucking my ear!!!

Not much fishing happening, one or two Mullet coming out and also one or two Bass on the plugs. Weather still pretty poor which isn't very inspiring.

What is though is we have just taken delivery of some more SLOSH 20's and for some Christmas cheer we will be keeping them at £59.99 till March 31st!

Almost laughable the weather at the mo, still as windy. Fancy having to abort a dog walk because the dogs don't want to be out in the hail and wind, almost hilarious! They were cowering in every thistle bush we walked past this morning, bless 'em.

Alex MacDonald of Swift/Sakuma Tackle kindly sent me these pictures below of Gary Tucker with a couple of Tope they caught on their last night here earlier this week, they went 25lb and 33lb. One was a bit bloody but Alex assures me he swam off strongly. This completed a tough week for the pair of them whereby most of the time they had a constant 40mph wind with swell to contend with but still managed Black Bream, Red Mullet, Bass and Sole amongst other bits.

Gale force winds continue with wind speeds around 40mph and gusts to 60mph recorded. Bass are the dominant species with one or two rods out there having a go. Baits on the bottom still catching a few fish to make it worthwhile and one or two on lures if you can find somewhere to chuck them in the direction you want them to go in! Fie and I sneaked out Friday pm for a couple of hours when the wind was behind us and managed a few Bream on the float. The same evening a local rod managed a Sole, there's fish there it is just the weather! Below is a cracking Bass to local lad Chris Eastwood which weighed over 8lb.

Gale force winds continue which is hampering all fishing efforts. Winds from the SW squeeze around both sides of the island which make fishing marks very limited. Fish seem hard to come by but persistence pays off, several Soles have been caught with 2 of them on the 3lb mark, below Steve Ace is pictured with one of 3lb 2oz. One or two Red Mullet showing, some reasonable ones with one landing in my grill of 1lb 7oz. Tasty! Bass not showing on the plugs but are picking up the worm and squid baits with bags up to 14 fish per rod, however I must stress that there are only one or two marks able to do this. Some nice fish coming from the harbour area too. Mullet have been found which is something of a miracle given the conditions, just give us a few flat days to see some really good bags. Bream to 1lb 12oz on the float gear too.

If you watch internet weather sites like xcweather you will see that Alderney has really suffered some horrible wind speeds this week where as most of England and elsewhere have had it relatively easy. One or two windows have allowed a bit of fishing though. Some lads arrived today to stay with us and got there lines wet. Immediately a couple of Mullet and the whilst plugging a couple of Pollack before dark. Personally I have managed to get out in the kayak with John Weigold who has returned from Hungary for another taste of the Alderney medicine. Several trips afloat we have managed with Bass and Pollack the mainstay, Wrasse to 3lb 8oz too and one or two Garfish. Our best session was 18 Bass between us (15 v 3 :-), ) which was hectic, no big fish with most of it between 3-5lb. Terrific sport though.

Guernsey Sea Fisheries have introduced a ban on pair trawling inside the 3 mile limit of Guernsey, Sark and Alderney (this includes all outlying rocks like Casquets etc). Having consulted with all the Bailiwick of Guernsey commercial fisherman the decision was taken to prohibit pair trawling so as the fishery can continue to work in a profitable and sustainable way. A questionnaire was sent to all registered owners of commercial vessels, 42% responded to this and 92% were in favour of a ban within the 3 mile limit.

Gale force winds and torrential rain hampering the fishing, it has been poor but on Sunday there was a bit of a revival from the fish for the lads that just arrived with us. Several Bass on the plugs with the best fish just over 7lb. Since then the weather has made it difficult. I got afloat Saturday but not for long. Two of us managed three Bass in 40 minutes before we had an engine fire to deal with, all sorted and safe now though so the only panic was at the time. It turned out that the Rectifier Regulator had shorted out and luckily we noticed it sooner rather than later so damage was minimal. One of those Bass we caught was whilst we were awaiting assistance for a tow home so we never give up do we!

Some pictures below from the Festival, they include Alastair House with his 4lb 8oz Plaice, Gary Maurice with is Alderney record Couches, Pete Walker with his 6lb 8oz Ballan and Keith Quertier's 4lb door mat!

Delayed till now regards posting a report up with the festival results as I thought I would have some fishy news, alas not. It is pretty poor at the moment, normal stuff like Bream, Wrasse, Pollack, Gars and such being caught, one or two Bass, one Sole reported but its not very exciting, hopefully the building tides this weekend will stir some action up.

This years Festival was a really mixed bag regards the fishing. Plenty of fish caught from the start but after 24 hours very little of it had made the board. Black Bream and Mullet had dominated the fishing with many anglers opting to float fish there way to success. By midday Sunday many of the craftier anglers had got their eye in and it was all systems go. Sizeable Mullet were making the running, the first of the Black Bream made the board and a very welcome Alderney Record in the shape of a 2lb 14oz Couches Sea Bream for local builder Gary Maurice. A mega Pollack caught by Matt Smith by thinking outside the box got him away too and the first of the Huss showed. A cracking Plaice of 4lb 8oz was caught on the inside of the Breakwater and then the first of Eels. A beautiful Wrasse which angler Pete Walker managed to return alive was weighed in at 6lb 8oz, fabulous fish! Monday/Tuesday came and went with more fish added to the board including more Golden Greys, a Triggerfish just shy of 3lb and now it was starting to shape up, the weather was great too, what more could we have wished for with 4 days to go? How about for the fishing to last? No such luck, as we came off the top of the tides so the fishing ground to a halt. About as good as Royal Mail going on strike it was, nothing happening and flippin useless!! Sure there were still fish caught but most found it a struggle. Keith Quertiers Sole of 4lb plus was the stand out catch of the second half of the week but what was missing now was the quantity of fish that we experienced at the start of the event. It was ironic that how sour that it had become that Dogfish would replace the Golden Greys on the board, almost as if to enforce how bad it the fishing had turned, quality fish being beat by vermin! Ah yes, the weather too, rain and wind, of course we had to have it because after all it was the Festival!

The turn out was reasonable given the economic climate coupled with the cost to get here, a respectable 109 anglers entered which has been the norm for the last few years now. Good to see new faces entering too as we publicise the event, no doubt those folks will be back.

Next year the dates are 2^nd October till 9^th. No doubt one or two positive changes will be made to the format which will be revealed at a later date. Tides will be building through out the week and no doubt we’ll be all back keen as mustard and dreaming of the one that got away is in our net for next year!

Our thanks as always to our sponsors with out whom the Festival would struggle to run year after year. Their support is crucial and much appreciated.

Herbie Pike Memorial Trophy (Best fish as voted for by committee individually):

As the tides have dropped off so has the fishing, not so busy now but still fish being picked up for the board so not all doom and gloom, for sure it is an improvement on last year. Notable addition is the cracking 4lb Sole caught by Ketih Quertier of Guernsey, thats the biggest Sole I believe in the Festival for 7 years.

Thick Lipped Mullet (4lb 4oz): 1. 5-6-0; 2. 5-4-14; 3. 5-2-4; 4. 4-15-8; 5. 4-14-12.

Under 5lb: 1. Triggerfish 2-14-10; 2. LSD 2-1-6; 3. LSD 1-15-6; 4. Scad 1-2-2; 5. LSD 1-14-0

Mackerel/Garfish: 1. Gar 1-3-10; 2. Gar 1-3-8; 3. Gar 1-2-0; 4. Mack 1-0-6; 5. Gar 1-1-2

Here is the board latest, the qualifying weights are in brackets, quite high but reflective of the quality of the fishing here.

Thick Lipped Mullet (4lb 4oz): 1. 5-6-0; 2. 5-2-4; 3. 4-14-10; 4. 4-12-4; 5. 4-7-12.

Under 5lb: 1. Triggerfish 2-14-10; 2. LSD 2-1-6; 3. LSD 1-15-6; 4. Scad 1-2-2; 5. LSD 1-14-0

The board is starting to take shape now. Next update I'll start to list the various categories and the fish that have qualified. Best fish so far is an Alderney record Couches Sea Bream caught by local angler Gary Maurice, just over 2lb 14oz. Golden Greys over 2lb, caught, Eel of 34lb, Wrasse to 6lb 14oz, Pollack to 8lb 3oz, Trigger to 2lb 7oz, Black Bream to 3lb 7oz are all fish in my mind. great shore fishing by any standards. Plenty of Mullet to with one or two of those on the board as well.

Our annual Alderney Fishing Festival started today. Early days but its a good start as I am hearing of Couches, Black and Giltheads all being caught. Sole, Bass, Red Mullet as well. Have heard of a 4lb 8oz Plaice as well. Personally myself and my partner Robbo shared 6 Mullet and 18 Bream. I dropped a certain weigher just short of the net right on the point of exclaiming 'Its a weigher.....', ping.....no its not!! Best Bream 2lb 10oz. Settled down for some Huss and Eel which we failed out. bed now and up at 4.30am.

Two beach sessions in two nights to get me in to the swing of things for next weeks festival. Luckily I've not used any luck up :-), just a few Bream, Wrasse, Pout to talk about but I was trying different marks to the norm, you'll know where they are next week as my car won't be there! I think we're going to struggle to get any Bream on the board again, nothing much around over 3lb, Couches seem a bit sparse too but everything else appears to be on song so looking forward to some good fishing. Getting plenty of stock in, loads of stuff arriving from Shimano, Mustad and the Pure Fishing stable of ABU, Berkley, Penn and Shakespeare but not enough time and space to display it all. I've stuffed it all in to storage for now but if there is something you are after just ask. Something worth a mention that I have just unpacked is the new Shimano Saltwater Twinpower 5000's, doing those for just £349.99! Roll on next year in the bigger shop!!

Got that fishing session in, I wouldn't have bothered with a report other than in just on an hour and a half's fishing Fieona and I managed a quick fire 4 Bass, all between 4lb and 5lb. The most exciting part was I was showing Fie how to fish a surface lure and what looked like a double figure Pollack was thrashing at yet missing the lure. I handed the rod to Fie and after three attempts she nailed the biggest Bass of the session at 5lb (not the one pictured) making it 2 a piece. Cracking stuff.

New items being listed in the Mail Order section of the site for stock arriving from Shimano, particularly useful if you are coming over for the festival, look out for the Lesath Plugging rods and the Saltwater Stella's! Buy a pair here and you'll probably save the equivalent of your flight as opposed to UK prices.

I have just received this wee story from Clive Marshall from his recent visit to the island, it was prompted by our shark activity last week, this kind of stuff goes on more than you hear:

I bought a Tyrnos 12 from you early in September when I was over with Glen Cairns, Valkyrie, and it was put to good use in a tope session at a mark close to the island. I baited up with a mega mackerel which was promptly grabbed and 200 metres of line was stripped from the reel by a seriously large fish with a powerful and ponderous action. I was only using a 20/40 rod and was unable to make any impression on the beast whatsoever but the drag on that reel proved to be really smooth! The bait was then dropped and when retrieved was subject to close forensic examination by Glen who showed that the teeth marks on the bait were significantly larger than even a big tope. Incidentally I had a few tope to 40lb and the reel was superb!

Shore fishing producing plenty of Bream, some around the 3lb mark now showing. One or two Giltheads amongst them too. A couple of Bristol lads have just left us, Mark Roberts and his Uncle Mike, whom did well on their day time sessions. Plugging they found excellent with up to 11 fish to 4lb in any one session. Plenty of Bream, and a few mullet to 5lb too. Night fishing quieter though, next set of tides will produce better results, it is also the start of the annual Festival.

Peeing with rain today but hopefully I'm going to get afloat for some plugging this afternoon, cross fingers.

The weather has been superb so the week continued on from last weekend with glorious days afloat. More plugging for Bass which has resulted in exhilarating sessions amongst the rocks and kelp. One journey further offshore too which was just as exciting if not a little frustrating with our end result of what could have been, think that must be the same for all us anglers! Arriving at one of the many pinnacle marks we chucked the anchor in looking for bits and bobs which we got. Lots of Pout about which made picking up other species difficult. I decided we'd change our end tackle and one by one we changed too heavier gear for Tope or Conger and use the pout for bait. First chuck for me and I hit a savage take, the fish turned and its tail nicked my braid and it was gone. Cursing at my laziness in not tying a longer leader I proceeded to set up again with the same tackle but with a longer trace and leader. Meanwhile Johns into a fish, no he's not. As he is retrieving I am back down settling the bait on the bottom. John reels in a bitten through mono trace of 200lb, maybe it was shabby?? was our initial thoughts. Then almost instantly I get a savage 'knock', I let the fish run, try to set the hook and as the weight pulls the rod down I go slack. Not again, however I've not lost the end hear, I wind in cursing I've missed another good fish. Once I've wound in we find my 4' 150lb mono trace is now less than 18" with clear bite marks plus a serration further up by the swivel. That's not a Tope, not in a million days, out comes the shark gear but of course it is all too late. It was then barren for an hour or so till the tide started to ease a bit. Lee gets a quick three Bull Huss and John manages to hook in to a near 50lb Eel.

We've also got back in to the kayaks. Plenty of bass to the plugs with 5 or 6 fish to 6lb each session, plenty of Gars too plus a smattering of Pollack including cracker for John at 9lb 4oz!

If you are traveling to the islands, or indeed from the islands to the UK you need to be aware of the following as regards healthcare. From today the reciprocal health agreement between the UK and the Channel Islands will be dissolved, please see the following link - here This means that all visitors from the 1^st April 09 will need to be covered by travel insurance.

Send mail to chris@alderneyangling.com with questions or comments about this web site. Last modified: March 03, 2010

Send mail to chris@alderneyangling.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: March 03, 2010