Alderney
Angling.com
|
|
|
| RECEIVE 2 FREE PLUGS WHEN YOU SPEND OVER £40 FROM OUR MAIL ORDER PAGES TO ENLARGE PICTURES CLICK MOUSE ON PICTURE SHIMANO BUTTERFLY JIGS IN STOCK FROM £10.49. PHONE 01481 824884 OR EMAIL mark@alderneyangling.com FOR DETAILS.
2nd July Perfect weather yesterday evening so I couldn't avoid getting the Yak out again. I did the easy thing by launching it off the slipway and fished alongside the Breakwater aiming to get amongst the different species. I only managed the three, Mackerel, Ballans and Dogfish. Missed the Bream bites that were there and never found a Garfish which disillusioned me so packed up early at 9.30pm. Wish I hadn't as the boats on the moorings did ok for Bass and Pollack on livebaits during the evening. Further afloat there is a good bit of Tope about with some Bullies. Bream on the same ground as well. On the sandbanks there were Turbot to 12lb and a fair bit of Brill with one boat doing rather well but I can't give too much away on here! Some of the boats found a bit of Bass too. 30th June Beautiful weather yet again here, really sets the island off and it is a pleasure to be here. It certainly distracts from the fishing if it isn't too good but having said that its not too bad. Its not all doom and gloom as one or two are portraying but you do have to fish for what is there and at times it doesn't run kindly for anglers. Still a major problem but improving is the coloured water, this gave me problems last week when I was guiding. The first session last Monday I was teaching Peter Latham to plug for Bass and Pollack and to Mullet fish. The Mullet we spotted ok and got them feeding, had a few missed bites before they moved away so we went back to the plugging which previously we didn't do very well at. The second time we approached it we had phenomenal fun with Pollack and the odd Bass showing more than an interest. The Wednesday saw water conditions less tolerant and despite searching out half a dozen or more marks for Neil Heyer we couldn't get away from the chocolate coloured water. Sighting fish was very difficult and all we had to show for our efforts was a Gar and a Ballan (to plugs!) for our efforts. The good news is that Neil did land half a dozen different species through the week topped out by a Bass of 7lb caught on floated sandeel. Other shore sport has consisted of Garfish, Mackerel, Black Bream amongst others.
Boat fishing is where you hit a sticky wicket. If you hit a cloudy bit it will effect your results without doubt. Arthur Savage, Private Venture, gave his crew a better than normal day last week with more than the normal showing on the Brill and Turbot with some better numbers. Best fish I have heard reported were fish on True Blue and Tiger Lily who had fish in the mid-teens. Bass starting to show in numbers with Spring tides better than Neaps. The best Tope reported is this beauty of 52lb caught by Paul Watson aboard Tiger Lily.
One boat reported having Blue Shark around the boat and they weren't too far away from the island neither. Also there was something else playing havoc with the Pollack as they were coming aboard, a likely Porbeagle. Needs investigating! Black Bream are showing in better numbers, more Tope around the rock marks where you will pick up Bull Huss and Conger Eel. At the weekend the forecast was a force 4 so I opted out of going offshore in my boat. I instead went out in my Kayak! For those of you with good memories you will remember that I bought a Hobie Outback Kayak about 18 months ago, at a time when we had just moved the shop and house! My train of thought was that I wouldn't have time to go in the Raider but that I would find time to launch the Kayak for a dabble or two. How wrong was I! Anyway, now time is more available I had my first real test in it on Sunday. The Hobies have two ways of moving, with paddles or you can pedal them. The pedals drive fins that are supposedly shaped like Penguins wings/fins, (are they fins or wings, they can't fly with them can they so they can't be wings..........or can they be?). I found this aid fantastic as I was able to stem the tide with the pedals to keep bait in the same place, I was also able to recover potentially lost tackle by 'pedaling' back uptide to recover gear from a snag. It will prove to be invaluable when Mulleting and Bassing if you need to hang of the fish but keep hold of the rod. Another advantage is that I am pretty unfit now so four limbs are better than two! I did start rather cautiously. Nervously clambering in I was thinking 'Boy what have I done'. My first impressions were that its not as stable as my Raider and has 30" less freeboard! Once I gathered myself together I pushed away from land 400 odd yards or so and set about putting some baits on the bottom. One of the plus points is that I managed to organize all my gear in such a manner that I could get to it with ease, I felt that the last thing I needed to be doing was leaving my seated position in ANY direction until I had less than two feet of water underneath me. After a fruitless hour of dragging baits on the bottom I went for the easy option. Yep......out came the feathers and pirk and I pushed out to the edge of the tide for some Mackerel. One solitary fish came aboard which got thrown in to my 'fish box' which was the fresh sea water that comes up at the base of the pedals. Not having a priest I couldn't dispatch him and fed up with the constant throbbing I proceeded to put him out of his misery with a couple of bashes on the side of the boat...............then one more for luck.............and he slipped out my grasp over the side! A new priest went on my list of things required!! Feathers back down and he was soon replaced with a few more. Enough for a feed and with the tide slackening I moved out a bit further where Ben Barnes was fishing. Ben guided me to a bit of hard ground whereby I added a Pollack, then jealously watched him catch a Cod and a Red Gurnard. I stuck with it till the tide turned and then hey presto had two Red Gurnards of my own. Chuffed to nuts with those I then noticed the Gurnards were the same colour as my legs..............it was time to halt proceedings. I also added to the list more sun tan lotion!! I opted to paddle in rather than use the pedals. I guess this Yak is slower than most other Kayaks but I found the pedal system really useful. I was paddling at ease at around 2.5/3 knots but with the pedals I could do 4 knots easily. I did get it to 6 knots at one point which you could hold for a while but with no meat on my legs I couldn't hold out for long. I think at 7 knots she'll plane!! The stability feels good to. A local trawler came past me, big steel thing which created a bit of wash, I turned the nose towards it and went in holding my breath but everything was fine, no problem. I never took my chances side on as it wasn't necessary but she feels good. I did cast from it and on one time I got it totally wrong, some how the buoyancy caught the motion of my body leaning over and kept me up..................................on this occasion!! Lots of storage on her with moulded recesses for your bits. The down side, which will become an issue, is the lack of space to mount a fishfinder and/or plotter plus rod holder (to fish from, not for traveling, it does have the holes in to stick your rod butts in) due to the space in front of you taken up by the pedal system. Like all small boats though I guess you trade one of for another. Hooked now so I will be doing plenty more.
24th June Last year my mate Terry had four cancelled trips to Alderney due too weather. Having never done the 'Alderney thing' before it looked as though that run of luck was to continue this year as his first trip blew out, but then at the beginning of the month he made it in his 33' Aquabelle Searcher. With his crew of four it was very much a 'reccie' trip to survey for future trips to Alderney. Terry being a good listener and a very keen angler quickly grasped what was required and had a good trip. Determined to put this experience to good use he bought his son and two other mates back last weekend and between them managed 15 Brill and a Turbot. He also put another private boat on to some fish and they finished a poor week with a dozen of so fish on their last day.
Terry's son Carl and with a fine Brill, just over 6lb. Just to prove that I'm not the only tackle dealer that can catch fish, Lock, Stock and Tackle owner Justin Roulland with a Brill and Turbot brace. Love the facial expression of disbelief!
Shore sport much the same, even another decent sized Sole caught in daylight. this time just over 2lb!
19th June
John Mazey from Oxford with his 19.5lb Turbot. The fish was caught on a Launce strip on a 5ft 25lb trace and John used his 12/20 Kenzaki rod combined with an Abu 7000 to tame the beast! 18th June Its been a very long time since my last update and to those of you that log on frequently to read I do apologise. Quite simply we have been incredibly busy business and pleasure wise, and quite a lot of work has built up. I have to say a lot of the 'being busy' is fishing related all starting with a weekend visit by some mates of mine, Tim 'Big' Bird and John Deam from Teignemouth. They arrived for five days fishing fresh to the challenge of targeting some flatfish. Turbot and Brill haven't been abundant so my train of thought was to give them the first day on the sandbanks, let them suffer and then do what I wanted to do which was to fish for Bass and get on the wrecks as they had just started to come on! Unfortunately they never arrived on time due to fog so we only had a few hours afloat which they duly showed me that there were flatties about. This of course led to them being quite euphoric and wanting to spend the WHOLE following day doing the same thing. Owing them big time for some previous favours I obliged but not without plenty of grumbles. So off we scooted down to the Schole bank and on the Mackerel we blagged, and with them having never done this sort of fishing before, I had another lesson in the art of drifting for Turbot and Brill. Not many, but they had half a dozen fish to 6lb, I blanked...........totally............ for the second day! John managed the Alderney Slam as well, a Brill, a Turbot and a Bass in one day. Tim had tried to make the same claim but he did his in a 12 hour period split by the night! Day three I fancied wrecking, they fancied going for Tope. So of we went for Tope, we had a good feel for it as my last trip there was a bit manic to say the least. Unfortunately and despite the build up I gave Tim and John we never saw a run let alone a fish. The Tope had moved away, as they tend to do this time of year from where we aimed to fish for them, but it did seem unbelievable they would all move so soon. A complete change of plan saw us run back to harbour to pick up our live eels so we could go Bassing. Disaster when we arrived as the courge had broken away, so the only thing left open to us was to go Pollacking or on the banks for a flatfish. We had a mix of fish on the sandbanks, I managed to score as well but no flats. The last day we boat fished we decided to go for the Bass as the tides had got bigger, we quickly feathered in 50 odd eels and off to the banks we went. In deteriorating weather we managed half a dozen or so fish before calling it an early day.
The next day John and Tim finished with a shore session and during daylight managed a Bass which was probably just short of 3lb and Wrasse to 3lb. As they left journalist Simon Everett arrived for three days fishing. The purpose of the visit was to see how feasible Alderney would be as a fly fishing destination and to do a Flattie feature. It would be unfair to divulge everything here but to say I am more convinced about fly fishing than before would be a fair statement. Obviously a lot of fun when you hook up but the thinking that goes in to it is far greater than any other shore fishing aspect you can do. It is very adaptable too if you know your stuff and Simon certainly did. The boat article went well too. Features will appear before the year is out in Boat Fishing Monthly and Total Sea Fishing. Then from my point of view it was catch up at work which still hasn't happened as I muddle from day to day. Two other trips we have done though, one was wrecking where we had four Cod from 10lb to 25lb and a couple of boxes of Pollack. We took another local boat with us and they did fantastically well, having not fished a wreck before Alan and Jake Woodnutt out fished us Cod wise by boating 7 in that same weight bracket before steaming back home by lunch time.
The other trip was an attempt to find some Porgies on the bottom. Other than one Tope it was fruitless which was a shame but targeting the Porbeagles is something I had promised myself we would do on several occasions. Last year there was plenty of activity, unfortunately this year not so but I am sure through the Summer and then Autumn we will have more opportunities. Boat fishing for others has been hit and miss. Turbot haven't been prolific but one or two cracking fish still showing. Tiger Lily this week had one of 19lb 8oz. Catches and results have varied with boats on occasions getting to double figures. Two private boats over last weekend found a bit of Brill which seem to be showing in better numbers. One day Drifter managed 12 and Searcher managed 16 in three days, 7 off those in a purple patch of just a couple of hours. Bass are about in fairly good numbers on the Spring Tides, Tope have been doing some sort of magic act, here one day gone the next. Plenty of Bull Huss and Conger, Black Bream starting to show again. The first of the Couches have arrived as well, Ben Barnes had a cracking fish from his own boat Catch 22 of 4lb 4oz. One or two Ray have shown too. One last thing on the boat scene, I mentioned the Alderney slam earlier, well there is a tarts one now which was achieved by a visiting angler ....................................................................... a Brill, a Turbot and a Salmon! Now that's a proper one.
On the shore there has been a few bits happening. Not a lot is done at this time of year in the way of targeting Conger Eels, they tend not to move around too much until the Autumn but two local lads had a session one weekend and managed four from the Breakwater. They also had Doggies, Pollack and some other bits I have now forgotten. Last weekend there was a 3lb Sole caught in daylight! Bass to 4lb and Wrasse to 5lb plus have been falling to plugs. Bass have also come on the bottom to worm baits. Plenty of Gars, a few Mackerel and Pollack on float and spinning gear. A few Mullet about too, these are resident fish to around 4lb although I did see one shoal which looked as if it contained bigger fish.
10th June SHIMANO BUTTERFLY JIGS IN STOCK FROM £10.49. PHONE 01481 824884 OR EMAIL mark@alderneyangling.com FOR DETAILS. Long time since last report, extremely busy (mainly fishing!!), I'll update very soon! 28th May Just a quick update on the latest fishing, shore sport is good with plenty going on for the float angler. If Garfish is your game there has been some cracking fish up to 1lb 8oz. Caught on light tackle they can provide some excellent sport and contrary to many people beliefs excellent eating too. Plenty of Mackerel too and more Pollack are putting in a welcome appearance. For the plugger or spinner there is Bass to aim for with fish in the 1lb to 4lb bracket. Night tides have been producing yet more Bass, Pollack, Bream and even Red Mullet. Out in the boats plenty of fish showing on the wrecks on the way across, Pollack and Cod seem fairly easy to get, with Ling if you put a bait down at slack tide. On the banks Bass showing better on Spring tides as opposed to the neaps, more Brill than Turbot showing with fish in to double figures. As I've said before still enough around for them to be fished for. Tope action at times phenomenal, Bull Huss there ready to snaffle the baits if you don't put a big enough bait on. I never made the Kayak last weekend, I know full of promises! Weather wasn't as good as forecasted so I opted to save it for another day. Friends over for this weekend and of course they want to go fishing, cracking forecast so we will have bash at one or two things over the four days. 22nd May I think I've paid the price for gloating on here the other day about Pompey's win on Saturday. Our guests this week are from Southampton and one of them has been leaving his Southampton FC wash bag in prominent places.............the audacity of him. He is probably just thankful though that they'll be seeing some sort of kick and rush football next year after their scrape with relegation this year. I've got my fishing head back on now. Looking forward to the weekend as I will be trying out my Kayak at long last. I've done a paddle in it but not fished yet so we'll see how that goes, or not......... Boat sport comprising of a mix of species. This week there has been Bass to 10lb, best fish caught aboard Arthur Savages Private Venture. There has been Turbot and Brill showing too, not easy at the moment but still possible to fish for them. Plenty of Tope, Huss and Bream which provide an excellent back up for sport. Other species caught include Conger, Smuts, Gurnards and such. Plenty of fish on the wrecks too, Pollack the mainstay with Cod showing well in certain areas. Ling to 27lb too. From the shore it is Bass on the plugs providing great fun. Plenty of Mackerel over the high on the Breakwater, Wrasse, Pollack, Gars make up the rest of it.
|
|
Send mail to
chris@alderneyangling.com with
questions or comments about this web site.
|
.JPG)
