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May started how every month should start with a bank holiday weekend which provided some great fishing.

I started on the Friday evening with a trip for a Stingray. I had a small Gilthead Bream first cast before a better bite produced a much better Gilthead of 4-1, by far the biggest I have caught from this area and a lovely start to the weekend.

The session finished with a small Smoothound, no sign of a Stingray but a great session all the same.

Saturday and the weather had changed with cloud and rain so I decided against another trip for a Stingray and went and had a go for a Tope instead. The session started pretty well with a couple of decent size Black Bream and a Pouting to give me some fresh bait. After that it was pretty quiet with just the odd strap Conger and Dogfish. I got down to my last 2 fresh baits so put both rods out for one last cast. 5 minutes before reel in time the left hand rod pulled over and the reel started running. I picked the rod up and let it run for a bit before putting my thumb on the spool and lifting in to it.

I have fished the rocks at night for big fish on my own for years and always have a plan in place for landing a fish if necessary. This was the same but the fish hadn’t read the script and ran the complete opposite direction to what I was expecting, taking me away from my net and where I had planned to land it. It took a while but I gradually managed to coax it back where I wanted it, scrambled down the rocks to see it was a decent fish. I was a bit worried it wouldn’t fit in the net but I really don’t want to gaff a Tope so I got the head in, dropped the rod and lifted both sides of the net and it was mine.

It was definitely bigger than I was expecting and after climbing back up for the sling and scales it weighed 35-2. A couple of quick photos and back it went, with me packing up a happy man. Finally a Tope off the rocks.

I have learnt with the Tope that when you get one it’s worth another session as there’s often a few in the area so the next day I went off in the morning and caught enough Bream to go back in the evening. That night I was back again but unfortunately I couldn’t do it again and only had a few strap Conger.

Bank holiday Monday was just another short trip in the evening for a Stingray, it started with a school Bass before a proper Ray bite pulled the rod over. I left it for a bit and nothing else happened, it was either on and just sitting still or it had dropped the bait. I wound down and felt a decent bit of weight and enough movement to know it was a Ray and not weed. As it got closer in it starting kiting all over the place before I managed to slip it in the net, not a monster at 13-10 but nice to catch one.

After the excitement of the weekend the fishing for me went downhill pretty quick.

The following weekend the weather was not nice and I only managed a short Mullet session which was a blank.

Then it was time to get dad out for his first session in 3 months following a knee replacement. We fished the bottom wall of St Caths each with a Tope rod and a bait rod. There was a fair amount of Dogfish and Spider Crabs to contend with but I did manage a couple of Black Bream for bait. I shared them with Dad and he had a strange episode on his Tope rod. He had a typical Dogfish bite and picked the rod up to check the bait. He wound in to what felt like a Doggy until it was right under the wall when a big Tope appeared instead of a Dogfish, shook its head and let go of the bait. It must of picked the bait up and swam the whole way in and then let it go. We were both gutted, what a comeback session that would have been.

Then it was back on the Stingers but again frustratingly the tides were good but the weather wasn’t and I even had a hail shower, not typical Stingray weather and an unsurprising blank.

It was then time for the challenge match, this is a 24 hour event where the 2 local clubs fish against each other. I decided to fish it with dad at St Caths with it being Tope or bust really. I went off in the morning to catch some fresh bait which turned out to be a lot harder than expected with just 3 Bream in with the Dogfish & even a strap Conger. The Tope session at St Catherine’s was completely dead with just a couple of Dogfish and a lot of spider crab trouble for our 4 hours effort.

At the weigh in there was only 3 ThickLipped Mullet to just under 4lb for the specimen hunters and 3 Giltheads to just over 3lb for the Sinkers meaning the specimen hunters took the trophy. This was actually the 2025 event due to a postponement so we will have a chance to win it back later in the year.

Then it was yet another session for a Stingray, I am doing really short sessions for these this year, normally 2 hours at the peak tide times as I’ve rarely not caught in the first couple of hours and then had one. This trip produced a nice Bass of 54cm first cast which was deep hooked so came home for dinner but there was no further action.

The next day I had a spare hour in the afternoon so decided to go and try for a Mackerel for tea. As soon as I got out the van I was greeted by white water as there was an unexpected huge swell running. I nearly didn’t bother but decided to try anyway giving up after 20 minutes as it was clearly a waste of time.

It was then the second bank holiday weekend of the month and this time it coincided with a heat wave and scorching hot conditions. I didn’t fish so much over this weekend, my wife had a craft market on the Saturday I needed to help set up and pack up so in the middle time I went and caught a few Black Bream before trying for a Tope in the evening that turned into one of those sessions where everything goes wrong. Firstly when I arrived at the mark there were lobster pots right in the way that must of had an enormous amount of rope on them as they must have moved a good 300 yards in either direction throughout the session causing a lot of lost gear. Then I noticed the top ring on one of my rods was damaged but still usable. I then noticed some damaged line on my other rod and on closer inspection found a crack in one of the eyes that was fraying the line. it wasn’t going well and I ended up fishing super short range to avoid the pots and only managed a small strap conger.

I didn’t fish the Sunday but decided to try for a Stingray on the Monday for a couple of hours. It wasn’t the best tide but it was super hot so decided to try anyway but to no avail.

The next day it was back to work but I nipped out after work for a couple of hours to try for a mullet. There was still a big swell making it challenging fishing, nothing had happened when I saw a solitary fish take a bit of crust, I shallowed right up and cast to it and a couple of minutes later the float slid away and after a cracking scrap for the size of it I slid a mullet of 3-6 into the net, the only action of the session.

Then it was back on the Stingers for the final weekend of the month. I decided to do a couple of short sessions on the evening tides, the first producing one small ray of 8-7,

The second night the conditions were a little better and produced a small Bass, a nice Gilthead of 1lb + and another stinger which I didn’t weigh of similar size that absolutely tore off like a Tope.

As much as I’m enjoying catching these Stingers fairly regularly I feel it’s now time to move on from the usual area and try and find somewhere new. It’s likely to mean a lot of blanks but hopefully it will eventually lead to finding a bigger one.

With that in mind I did one last session today with the rest of my bait in a new area for me. No Stingray’s but I did manage a few Bass with this the best of them all quickly returned.

And that’s another month over.

I am off on holiday in a few days for a little over 2 weeks camping in Dorset so there won’t be much sea fishing for me in June. There are a few lakes on the campsite so I will have a bit of fun with the carp, no monsters but good fun on the right gear.

One final note for this month, our local fisheries department and conducting a survey of recreational fisherman. I personally believe it’s really important as many people as possible fill this in. I know there is some scepticism about their motives but it’s really about trying to factually show the positive benefits recreational anglers bring to the island both in terms of the economy but also the physical and mental health of people who fish. The more we can show we are contributing the bigger our political voice will be when future policies are decided. If you don’t want to complete the section on the areas you fish that’s fine but please take the time to complete the rest of the survey which can be found here. https://survey.gov.je/s/JRFS2026/

Following on from Leigh Mullins superb 13-8 Bass last month I thought I would dig back through my diaries to find the entry where I just about managed my own “teenager Bass”.

It was way back in August 1991, just the 35 years ago! I would have been 18 at the time and working in Eddie’s at JFS Sport. I was really into my Bass fishing at the time and was involved in a local tagging campaign in which I actually managed to re-catch one of my own tagged fish. When the set of spring tides would come around I would fish every morning before work, often starting at 2am then dig rockworm in my lunch hour, a lot of effort but the fishing was exceptional.

On this particular set of tides I had a Bass of 6-9 on the first morning.

The next morning I had only been fishing about 30 minutes, it was just starting to get light and the bite time of the tide was just arriving when the rod pulled over and the fish moved off every so slowly, not the screaming run you might expect. This was light fishing in the shallows, tackle was a 10ft ugly stick spinning rod paired with an Abu 6000 loaded with 12lb line. A super long running ledger with a 2oz lead and a 3/0 Mustad Viking baited with fresh rockworm.

I struck into it and it just carried on as if it had no it was hooked. It ran left and must of taken 60 yards before I stopped it. It then turned and started heading back towards me in a huge loop. As it passed in front of me I remember clearly even today I could see the dorsal fin and the top of the tail fin breaking the mirror calm surface and the gap between them looked huge.

It then continued to the right and must of taken another 50 yards in that direction. I had caught some good Bass but I had never hooked anything that had fought anything like this, it wasn’t quick but the power was incredible.

Eventually I got it back in front of me, I don’t know how long it had been on but it was a really long scrap. At this point the fish had gone down deeper and was hugging the rocks in front of me. I was slowly pumping it back to the surface and the weight came out of the water right in front of me and the long trace slowly came up in the water and suddenly there was this enormous Bass lying on the surface in front of my totally exhausted.

I reached down and slid my hand into the gills and lifted it out. What a battle.

As you did back in those days you wanted an official weight on a big fish. I didn’t have a car in those days, was fishing on a motorbike back then. As most fish went back I had nothing to put the fish in only having a small bag for the few bits of tackle I had. I had to zip it on the inside of my coat to ride home with the head under my chin and the tail resting on my knee!

My neighbour back then worked at weights and measures and I managed to get home before they left for work. Greg took it to work and weighed it for me, a new PB and a teenager just at 13lbs 8drms.

This was a long lean summer Bass, in those days we measured fork length so to the centre of the tale and it was 33 inches, around 84cm so I would imagine full length of around 86-87cm and a girth of 16.25 inches. As I was tagging Bass at the time I sent some scales away for aging and it came back as a 73 year class, it was the same age as me.

Obviously today it would have gone back but it was different times that we have fortunately moved on from.

My tally for August that year was 10 Bass with the biggest 3 being 13-0-8, 9-11 & 9-7, fantastic fishing.

I occasionally go back to the area I was fishing just in case and I very rarely catch a Bass proving nothing lasts forever and you have to make the most of it when the fishings this good.

Just another fantastic memory from a lifetime of fishing.

April started for me with round 3 of the BOM, an extended 4 nighter over the Easter weekend. Thursday night was a beach session with worm to try and get a qualifier early on. It was a pretty quiet session with only 2 Bass caught, the biggest just scraping the 42cm minimum.

I didn’t have too much time over the weekend so Friday was a short daytime session over the low. A quick pit stop to dig a few lugworm before a couple of hours wading over the low. It was windy with a fair swell so it was going to be one of those sessions where you have to have all your gear and bait strapped to you and hold the rod. Not easy fishing. First cast I had a decent bite and connected with what felt like a reasonable fish. You always get a great fight in such shallow water, it’s a lovely way to fish. It turned out to be a 54cm fish which was badly hooked so I decided to keep it for dinner since the ban was now over. I put it in the bottom of my landing net with a bungee to keep it safe, clipped the net back on my dry bag and cast back out.

I then had what started as a schoolie rattle before a nice slow pull down and I was in again. This felt a lot heavier and was quite slow moving. At first I thought it was a smaller fish and a lump of weed, but then it surfaced about 30 years away and I could see it was a good fish. As I got it close in I could see the hook right on the edge of the lip and I had to somehow get my net unclipped and net it with the other fish already in the net. Luckily the hook held and I managed to net what looked a really nice fish. A quick walk back to dry land to measure and photograph my fish, a solid 70cm weighing 8lb exactly, a nice surprise for the middle of the day.

After a few minutes to recover off she swam.

I carried on fishing but in the time I’d spent sorting out the fish they had passed through and I only managed one little schoolie before it was time to pack up.

I was unable to fish on Saturday and opted for a Tope session at St Catherine’s on Sunday night which started well with a couple of decent sized Black Bream for fresh bait but only managed a couple of Dogfish. TBH our Tope fishing sessions are still very much done in hope rather than expectation but you have to keep trying.

I didn’t fish on the Monday but did manage to make it down to the weigh in where there were 3 fish over 70cm with the best this fish by James Bertram of 72cm to take the round win.

Then it was time to start my annual hunt for a decent Stingray, first bash was unsuccessful with the exception of this nice 5lb Bass that was safely returned.

Then it was time for something a little different. A friend had some relatives coming over from Australia and the teenage lad was a keen angler and wanted to try and add a few new species. It’s a tall order to make daytime fishing in April look exciting compared to Australia but I did my best. The weather didn’t help and the first date pencilled in came with force 5-6 westerly winds. St Catherine’s was the venue of choice and Cam fished well and managed 5 species, Ballan Wrasse, Corkwing Wrasse, Pouting, Dogfish and Conger.

Cam was telling me about the trouble they get with huge Stingray and how they desperately try to avoid them, which I seem to find pretty easy lol. He was then telling me how some guys catch the smaller ones for bait and use steaks of them for Tiger sharks which they Kayak their baits out for. What a different world.

Cam then fancied a bit of lure fishing which on a dead nip in the middle of the day was likely to be pretty slow. We started on the Bass with no sign of life before trying for a few Wrasse managing just one about 2lb.

Then it was already time for the 4th round of the BOM, the last before the summer break. I have to confess I couldn’t resist trying for the Stingray in the warm conditions on the off chance of a bycatch Bass. First night was slow with just little Bass but the second night I had a classic slow pull down followed by loads of slack line and when I caught up with it I was in to my first Stinger of the year, albeit only a small one at a touch under 9lb but at least it’s a start.

The weigh in for the BOM was again impressive with 8 Bass over 60cm, the biggest this one of 68cm for current champion Daniel Bryant. It’s been a fantastic start to the BOM this year and it’s looking like something like a 65cm average will be needed this year.

Next was a short session for a Gilthead which was really quiet followed by an experimental Stingray session in a new area that was a total blank.

That just left time for one last session so I decided to try for a Mullet for a change. After a slow start I finally had a proper bite and was in to a really hard fighting average size fish of 2-10. I fished on for quite a while without any further sign of life. I put my rod down to grab a drink and sure enough the float disappeared, I grabbed the rod and was surprised to manage to hook the fish and it went off like a train. After what felt like an epic battle I slipped a fish just over 4lb into the net hooked in the chin explaining the fight and the fact I managed to hook it.

April has seen some truly exceptional fish caught by other Anglers. For me top of the pile is this incredible new Jersey record Stingray of 42lb caught by Sam from the Beneath The Waves YouTube channel breaking Jersey’s longest standing shore record which has stood for an amazing 71 years. I think we were all expecting it to go at some point as they become more numerous and it will be interesting to see just how big they get.

Not far behind has to be a massive shore Bass for Leigh Mullins of 13-8, a double is a dream fish for most anglers but a “Teenager” is a truly special fish, and a well deserved one for a top Bass angler who puts the hours in.

And if that isn’t enough Leigh’s dad and local legend Steve managed a new PB Stingray of 32lb another well deserved fish.

For those that have asked, dad is doing well after his knee replacement and in the last couple of days has gone back home and started driving, I don’t think it will be too long before he has the rods out.

Throughout my fishing life I have always liked to set myself targets. I always find I’m more motivated when I’m going for something, I wouldn’t say I’m competitive but I like to challenge myself.

The main one for me has always been the Jersey Specimen list which I have talked about before but I feel I have exhausted my options with that with the only realistic way of adding to my tally a fluke fish like a Sea Trout or a Lumpsucker or a new species turning up like a Couches Bream or maybe one of the smaller Tuna species.

That has led to me looking for new targets, one of which was to catch 10 species from the shore of Jersey over 10lb.

Perhaps surprisingly my first double figure fish wasn’t a Conger but was a 15-4 Undulate Ray rather ironically caught trying to catch my first Dogfish way back in 1984 when I was aged 11.

That was followed a year later by the Conger at 23-12 in 1985.

There was then a gap of 5 years till 1990 when I added 2 more double figure species, firstly a Blonde Ray of 17-13-6

Followed by my first double figure Bass at the end of the year at 11-1-5 to take me up to 4.

There was then a decade wait to add to the tally when the Smoothounds arrived and grew a bit, my first double being a starry of 10-12 in 2000

It took me a further 7 years to finally crack the double for a common but when I did it was a cracker at 17-12.

Still only on 6 so 4 more to find. Next one wasn’t added until 2015 and a fish I had chased for many years catching loads over 9lb before finally catching a double figure Smalleyed Ray with this one of 10-12.

Next was another dream fish to catch from the shore, my first shore Tope in 2019. It wasn’t a big fish at 19-8 but boy was I pleased with it.

8 down and 2 to go, the obvious next target being a BullHuss, another fish that had eluded my over 10lb. This one came in 2020 around Covid time. I had gone to a mark to try for a Huss but there was already other anglers fishing so I took a punt and went somewhere completely new to me and it paid off with a Huss of 11-2. Funnily enough I went back the next day on the low to have a look and I was fishing right over the top of a massive head, not sure how I managed to land it.

So just one more to go and it’s also a target I need for my Jersey Specimen list a double figure Stingray.

I had already spent a lot of hours trying for this one and with it now ticking off 2 boxes for me I became a little obsessed. The day it finally happened in 2022 the weather was actually horrible. I had picked up a lot of surface weed on my line so waded out to clear it before winding in to pack up. When I got back to the rod and wound down it was on and took off like a train. When it got close in I could tell it was a double but I was probably 200 yards from dry land with no net so a very slow walk back to the beach. Then to add to the drama when I went to unhook it the tale whipped round and stung me in the leg through my heavy Guy Cotten chest waders and my jeans and it hurt like hell. I got a weight of 18-5 and a few quick photos before slipping it back and hobbling the long trek back up the beach and home before getting told to go to A & E to get it checked out. It was a great feeling to get the 10th species but it didn’t half turn into a drama.

So that was the 10 x 10 completed and half of them coming from St Catherine’s, a mark I tend to avoid despite it producing many of my best fish.

Well March has been a bit of a strange month. Dad has been living with us while he recovers from knee replacement surgery and it’s not been all plain sailing although thankfully he is making good progress now and gradually getting more mobile.

As a result fishing trips have been a little more opportunistic than usual, I have still fished a fair bit but it’s been more about getting out when the opportunity arises. Unfortunately, it was more about the one that got away than the one I caught this month.

In fact the first round of the BOM was my first trip in two weeks almost unheard of for me. Time over the weekend was limited but I did have the Friday night to fish so decided on a beach trip with worm to just try and get a qualifying fish over 42cm to get the ball rolling. Well it didn’t exactly go to plan, best part of 4 hours in near perfect conditions and I blanked. I only had time for a couple of short daytime sessions over the rest of the weekend so it wasn’t going to be easy to get a fish.

Fortunately there was a fair bit of fog around keeping light levels low giving me a little bit of hope.

Saturday I only had about an hour and a half over the low water so I grabbed the lure rod and went for a wonder . It didn’t start well when I realised I had left my lure box on the bench in my shed. Luckily I had chucked a packet of Sidewinder Skerries in my bag so could still fish. About 30 minutes into the session I was hit and although it was only 45cm it was a welcome catch.

Sunday I had a couple of hours, this time over the high so I again reached for the lure gear making sure I had my lure box with me this time! It turned out to be a fun short session, 4 Bass landed, 1 hotdog, 47cm, 50cm and the best of the trip 52cm to finish off my weekend.

Unsurprisingly there were plenty of Bass caught over the weekend with 22 of the 40 entrants managing a qualifying fish, the best 2 both being cracking fish of 74cm for current BOM champion Daniel Bryant and local legend Steve Mullins. They were a fair bit bigger than the next biggest fish of 59cm.

Next up for me was another short beach session, this time hoping for a Gilthead. Mission was accomplished first cast with my first Gilt of the season of 1-7 which was followed up by several school Bass.

Then it was time to get out for a session with the big baits. There was a fair swell running so I decided to target Huss with the theory being if it was too bad to net a fish I could hand line it on the leader and hope it didn’t cough the bait up as they so often do.

Second cast in I had a decent bite and when I wound into it there was a bit of weight but it didn’t feel like an eel. After a decent scrap I could see the telltale reflection of the eyes of a Huss in my headlamp. I made my way down to the water to try and net it and after a couple of near misses and a boot full of water I decided to trace it out and fortunately it stayed on. It wasn’t quite a double but at 9-12 I wasn’t complaining.

Next cast I had another good bite but before I could pick the rod up everything went slack and I reeled in to find my leader had parted which seemed really strange to me as if it was damaged I would have expected it to part on the cast.

When the same thing happened the following cast I had another idea what the culprit might be. I didn’t have any Tope gear with me but I did have some Conger traces so I put one of them on and banged it back out. Sure enough the rod went again and as I wound into it, it took off like a train undoubtedly a Tope. Sadly the hook pulled and my chance was gone. I was gutted having not yet had a Tope off the rocks. To be fair it would have been a challenge to land it and I would have been pretty reluctant to use a gaff so maybe it was for the best. At least it gives me a bit of confidence to try again for them on the rocks.

I did return a couple of days later but the tide and conditions were very different and I only had the usual straps and dogs.

Then it was time for the 2nd round of the BOM. Again I opted for a beach session on the Friday night with worm and had a 45cm second cast. That was followed by quite a few over the 42cm minimum with the biggest just going 50cm.

I did however have a lovely bonus Gilthead of 2-8.

Saturday night I opted to go back on the lures for a couple of hours, a Pollack first cast and 1 Bass of 49cm being all I managed.

Sunday I only had the opportunity to fish daylight hours and being fairly bright i decided to try for an early season Mullet instead of a Bass. The theory was in the unlikely event I caught one it might be a decent fish. Well I proved the theory wrong as I did catch one and it was only 2-10.

Again it was a very good weigh in with 6 fish over 60cm with the biggest 68cm for Mark Le Moignan.

That just left time for an early season session for a Black Bream that only produced Dogfish and strap congers (They are even a nuisance in the day) before another bash for a Tope that you guessed it, produced Dogfish and strap conger.

I recently spent a fantastic afternoon in the wonderful company of Roy Newton. I took dad along with me and spent a few hours listening to Roy talking about his fishing life, life in general and the pair of them reminiscing about fishing in the 70’s and 80’s and all the characters of the day.

I’m sure Roy won’t mind me sharing with you he is now 86 years old and while he no longer fishes he honestly looks fitter than I am although he did share with me he had recently had a little fall after going up a step ladder to see to the bird feeders!

Roy had a pretty difficult start in life, born in 1939 he was sent by the Germans to a camp in Bad Wurzach in Germany from 1942 not returning to the island until 1946. It’s an amazing story for another post in the future.

He was quite a late starter to fishing, in his mid 20’s he was getting up to no good when a mate Chalky White suggested he go fishing. They went float fishing and second cast Roy managed to wrap the float around Chalky’s neck! He then went on to catch a snipe and from that point he was hooked.

As he started getting more into his fishing he started to target specimen fish and has caught some fantastic fish over the years including quite a few records along the way. In the early 70’s there was a regular crowd of anglers targeting the Undulate Rays and Conger at St Catherine’s Breakwater, along with my dad, Colin Shales and characters like Bert the Bike they would spend one weekend at St Catherine’s and often the following weekend out Elizabeth Castle fishing for Pollack. I could still hear the excitement in Roy’s voice as he described driving down St Catherine’s Hill on a Friday night seeing all the Tilley Lamps lighting up the breakwater. They had a 40 Gallon drum and would take a bag of coke and a load of Chicken legs and pork chops and spend the night down there. In Roy’s words it was like a family. When it came time to pack up normally around 5am there was no one complaining of tiredness, they would be discussing what time to go back down for the next night. Proper hardcore anglers.

Roy didn’t mess about when it came to the Undulates. His first one ever was a lifetime PB of 16-7, an incredible fish for 1975! It was just one of a number of incredible fish Roy caught including a Channel Island Record Flounder of 2-5-12 caught in 1974 from Rozel Pier, a 2-10 sole caught from the back wall of the Victoria Pier before the La Collette Marina had been built, A Jersey record shore caught Cod of 21-0 in 1983, shore caught Triggerfish record of 3-1-3 in 1991 and even the shore Black Bream record of 4-0-11 from 1975. Probably one of Roy’s most amazing catches was one of his smallest fish. In 1974 he caught a shore caught Megrim of just 2ozs 12drms, a deep water flatfish that just shows you never know what can turn up. It was identified back in the day by Ted Lawrence who used to have a fishmongers in the parade and was the local id expert of the time.

But for all these amazing fish it was Wrasse that was Roy’s true passion. I said to Roy when I went to speak with Colin Shales I always associated Colin with Undulate Ray but when I think of Roy I associate him with Wrasse. His face lit up as he described how he loved his Wrasse fishing. Roy looked like a kid again as he described to me how he can remember arriving at a mark with a bucket of hardback crab and shaking with excitement as he started fishing. It did of course help that Roy was an exceptional Wrasse angler with an impressive string of big Wrasse to his name from both Jersey and Alderney. Twice the winner of the Wrasse section in J.O.S.A.F with fish well over 6lb including a Jersey PB of 6-15 as well as a 6-6 that beat me by drams on the last morning of the comp but there’s no shame in being beaten at Wrasse by Roy. He also had a fantastic record in the Alderney Angling Festival with the Wrasse, a regular on the board for many years including his PB of 8-1, a truly immense Wrasse which incredibly came 2nd! Just shows how good Alderney really was, you catch an 8lb Wrasse and still don’t win.

Before I add some old photos Roy shared with me together with some specimen and record fish certificates I will share with you my favourite story of the afternoon. There were 4 of them that had gone out Elizabeth Castle for the night to fish for Pollack and Conger. Roy, Dad, Irish Billy Dunne & Chick Channing. This is back in the day when there was no railings on the castle. They were float fishing on the end when it got really nasty and the waves started coming over. Realising they were in trouble they hatched a plan to all hold on to the big drop net and try and make it to the bunker at the beginning of the breakwater where they would be safe until the tide dropped and they could get off. Slowly they made their way along the breakwater and eventually got into the bunker and managed to close the door where they sat and waited. A couple hours in, freezing cold Chick starts trying to sell his gear to dad, Roy & Billy as he doesn’t seem so keen on fishing any longer. He then starts trying to burn some of his clothes to generate some heat! After a while they decide to open the door and see how it’s looking, just as they do, a big wave comes over bringing with it a stone that smashes the Tilley lamp plunging them into darkness. It must have been pretty scary at the time but it was hilarious listening to dad and Roy remembering it.

I have known Roy pretty much my whole life, in fact he gave my dad my first ever push bike that had solid wheels and the first time I used it I slammed the front brakes on and went straight over the handlebars smashing my face up. I was probably about 5 years old. He is an absolute Gentleman, a fantastic angler but more importantly a fantastic bloke, so thank you Roy for a wonderful afternoon.

At a later date I hope to do another non fishing post with Roy about his time in Germany and the subsequent visits back as an adult. In the meantime here are a few old photos and certificates Roy shared with me. Enjoy.

February has been a very quiet month on the fishing front by my standards with only a handful of sessions. Seemingly endless rain and constant swells has seen most sessions more about where you can fish rather than where you want to fish.

With big tides at the start of the month I concentrated on bait collection rather than fishing so it wasn’t until the end of the first week that I finally managed to get the rods out.

A session on the big baits was in order but where to go to get out of the swell and find somewhere fishable. I opted for a mark I haven’t fished for a long time, awkward to get too and even more awkward to fish as it’s super tight for space and the little ledge you fish from slopes steeply towards the water. It’s a one man one rod kind of mark but I had caught some decent fish there previously so thought it was worth a bash. The session pretty much went as expected, I fished for 3 hours and had a bite every single cast finishing with 9 or 10 eels with the best estimated at around 13-14lb.

Next up was something different and a bash for a Rockling. I used to enjoy fishing for these in the winter when it’s a bit quiet but since the explosion of tiny eels they have become much more difficult to catch. As it happens I only had small eels before eventually switching to a bigger bait for the last cast and catching an eel around 10lb.

Then it was a switch back to the big baits for the next session but I decided to hedge my bets a little and fish 1 rod for Conger, with my second rod scaled back a bit to target a Huss. The night started with a tiny dogfish followed by strap eels before a better bite and a nice slow pull down. When I wound into the fish I thought it was just a small eel at first but as it started coming it didn’t feel like an eel and I thought it would perhaps be a decent Huss. As it got closer in it got heavier and heavier which made sense when a nice Undulate Ray surfaced, not what I was expecting but certainly welcome. I managed to slide it up the rocks on a swell, and when I picked it up it felt quite decent. On the scales it went 14-5, my first Undulate in 3 years certainly put a smile on my face.

I fished on and after more small eels I had another bite that looked like a little eel but when I wound into it, it felt a lot better. I grabbed the gaff and made my way to the water and after a cracking scrap an eel that looked around 20ish made the surface. It didn’t half go well for the size of it, I was expecting it to be a bit bigger if I’m honest. Anyway I landed it quickly before weighing it at 18-14 and slipping it back.

A cracking session for February and it wasn’t quite over yet as I managed a couple more smaller eels and a bonus Lobster to round a fun 3 hour session off.

I then did a super quick 1 hour session trying for a sardine for my species hunt but they were not there and I only managed a little pollack.

Then time for something different and a session on the beach for a Bass. Conditions were challenging with a big swell and a fair bit of weed. Bites were fairly slow, possibly due to the huge amount of fresh water running onto the beach but I persevered and managed a couple of Bass around the 2lb mark

And that just left time for one last session on the big baits. It turned into a bit of a saga, my first choice mark was way to rough so plan B was called for which turned into a long trudge across muddy fields and cliff paths before finally getting down to the rocks to fish. Sadly the fishing was pretty poor with just small eels.

The last week of the month I never managed to get out with the rods at all. The annual Sinkers Club dinner was held on the last night of the month, always a good night and I managed to come home with a fair haul of trophies.

There have been some nice fish caught by other anglers over the last month, Finlay Paton has continued his good form with a couple of cracking fish, firstly this cracker of a Garfish of 1-9

But my personal favourite has to be this superb 3 bearded Rockling of 2-4, what makes this even more impressive is it was targeted.

March sees the start of the Sinkers club Bass on measure competition which had become really popular and always throws up some quality fish.

Look out for my mid month post in a couple of weeks, it’s one of my favourites to date.

Finally for those of you asking, dad has finally had his first knee replacement and is currently living with us and doing well. he is about to start physio to get back out fishing as soon as possible.

For this TBT post I’m going back to my first year of keeping a fishing diary 1989.

At the start of the year I was 15 years old, doing my GCSE’s and not massively into my fishing. I left school in June when I went to work with Eddie at JFS Sport. June was also significant for the fact that I got transport when I got my 50cc Honda MB50 on a provisional license – No CBT back then you could just go straight on the road – I did many trips on that bike loaded up with rods, rucksacks and all sorts of other stuff pottering around at about 25mph!

The start of the year was really slow with not much fishing. I was doing a bit of coarse fishing back then and this entry from January 4th made me chuckle

“ Fished Milbrook reservoir, Peg 1 with Maggot bait. Tried float and ledger. Bad day, snapped my Boron Match and one of my wand tips. Thermal Suit blew in, lost about 20 hooks, had about 10 tangles got soaked and caught nothing”

February saw a fish that at the time really got me back into my fishing, this Undulate Ray on the back-wall of St Catherine’s Breakwater of 14lb 15ozs.

It’s amazing the difference a fish can make, before this I’d hardly fished all year, after this it was every other day. February also saw a load of Coalfish turn up, we were catching loads in the town harbour with the best I managed 1-6 but there were loads over 1lb. They were great sport, strange how they were only really there of that size for 1 winter.

Back then I was a member of the now defunct Jersey Light Tackle Group and March saw me catch a club record Dogfish of 2-8-5 along with another one of 2-6-14 in the same session as well as a PB Coalfish of 1-7 from St Catherine’s.

Highlights of April were just a Conger of 15lb and May was also pretty quiet although it did produce a PB Bass at the time of 4-2 caught on 5lb line and a tiny Yann.

June was spent doing a fair amount of Coarse fishing but I did have a Wrasse of 4-8.

July was better with a then PB Plaice of 2-2-12 as well as another of 1-6.

August saw a few club weighers, a then PB Black Bream of 2-11-10, Common Eel of 2-0-1, Red Mullet of 1-0-8 & a Mackerel of 1-0-5.

September and another PB Bass of 5-3 from St Catherine’s – It was a lot easier to catch a PB back then – as well as a PB ThickLipped Mullet of 2-13.

October was pretty uneventful but November made up for it with a stunning PB Bass from St Catherine’s on Ray gear that just missed out on a double at 9-14-4, a New Jersey PB Conger of 24-0 also from St Catherine’s just missing out on the conger club medal weight, another Bass of 6-0, a record rattling Pouting of 2-12-5 and a Flounder of 1-14-8.

And December produced another Eel, this one 21lb as well as my first ever Smalleyed Ray.

Very different times where every club fish had to be weighed on the club scales. It’s quite scary when I think this is now 37 years ago.

It’s fair to say we’ve had plenty of weather in January! From a freezing cold start to named storms bringing 90mph+ gusts, huge swells and at times torrential rain, the fishing has been tough at times.

My year started with the traditional New Year’s Day fish. I didn’t have a lot of time so it was a short dusk session on the lures. 3 small bass in 3 consecutive casts with the best just making 44cm avoided a first day blank.

Next was a worm session in the hope of Red Mullet or maybe a Sole but it was absolutely freezing and super quiet with just a couple of small pouting for my efforts.

Then a session on the beach for Bass or maybe a Gilthead Bream. Unfortunately I got plagued by small Bass, even catching them on whole squid at times with the best just 48cm.

It was then time to get dad out for his first session of the year so we hit one of the north coast piers to see what we could find. It was the usual Dogfish fest until out of the blue came this cracking (by Jersey standards) Whiting of 14ozs.

Then finally a lull of sorts in the swell and a chance to get the big rods out to try for an Eel. It was a pretty poor session with just small eels but I did have one interesting event. I had what felt like a slightly better eel on, maybe 8-10lb so I started making my way down to the water as it was going to be too heavy to wind up. It then made an incredible dive or so I thought before starting to come in easy again. A bit further in the same thing again only this time it didn’t stop, literally dragging me down the rocks before snapping me off. I can only presume a seal had taking a fancy to my eel on the way in!

Then it was a St Catherine’s session with dad which was pretty poor again with just Pouting, Dogfish & small Conger.

Then another slight lull in the weather so another North coast session on the eels. I arrived in daylight to try and catch some fresh bait managing a single Pouting on dusk before putting the Conger baits out. First up were small fish before a more positive bite that felt half decent when I lifted into it. Sod’s Law at the point it hit the surface a series of massive swells came through making it difficult to see the fish but it looked 20ish. I was just trying to wait for a gap in the swell to try and land it when a big wave washed it into the pool behind me making my job a lot easier. As it happens it wasn’t quite a 20 but at 19-3 not bad. I finished the session on 10 eels, quite a few over or around double figures with the next biggest 16-4, encouraging after so many poor years on the eels

Then it was a short harbour session to try for some Garfish. It was actually really slow, clearly not as many in the town harbours yet as the north coast piers but eventually we managed a couple with one making 1lb

It was then time for the Sinkers beach comp. It looked a bit touch and go with the forecast but fortunately the wind eased just in time to allow it to be fished across St Aubins Bay from West Park to Bel Croute. It was still pretty rough with a fair sea and for the last hour or so torrential rain. I decided to start at St Aubins on the beach. After a couple of hours and just a few schoolie bites I wasn’t feeling it and felt it was too sheltered, so made the decision to move for the last hour. I headed to the other end of the beach where the sea was a lot rougher and looked more like it to me. I had a few schoolie bites before very last cast I had the first proper bite of the night and managed a weigher albeit only 47cm. At the weigh in of the 38 anglers who took part just 6 managed a fish over the 42cm minimum meaning I just snuck on to the end of the prize money. The 2 best fish were 67cm & 66.5cm, the winner also caught right at the end of the comp, a lovely fish and new PB for James Bertram weighing 7-1.

Then it was back down the harbour with dad for another bash at the Garfish. This time there was a lot more despite the seal in the chervy doing its best to ruin the fishing. They were a decent average size with quite a few around the pound mark with dad finding the best at 1-2.

That just left time for one last session, a short daytime low water wading session that produced a few Bass, nothing big with the best around 48cm.

There have been some cracking fish caught locally by other anglers this month. Neil Muldoon caught this lovely Conger of 30-8 at St Catherine’s. An excellent eel by today’s standards and Neil’s qualifier for full membership of the British Conger Club. Well done Neil!

Finlay Paton has also been putting in the hours and has been rewarded with some cracking fish including an excellent solitaired Conger of just under 23lb and a good session on the Giltheads with fish to just over 3lb.

Having spent a fair amount of time over the Christmas holidays inputting the last few years of points history onto the new Sinkers website I thought it might be interesting to look back to my best year in the club, the 2014/15 season.

It’s the only season I can say I concentrated on the club league from the start of the season, the objective being to weigh in as many species as possible as opposed to trying to build a big points total. Kind of a species hunt on Sinkers weights. At this time I had never won the club points league and the bar was really high with most years winners having over 20 fish and over 1000 points.

First session of the season was on the 4th December and produced the first 2 weighers, a 2-1 dogfish and a 9-2 Smalleyed Ray. I also had a couple of Pollack to 2-9 but they had to be 3lb to weigh in back then. Next fish on the board was on December 10th, a pouting of 1-1 from St Caths. Next was an improved dogfish of 2-5 before a session at St Caths produced another 2, an Undulate of 10-8 and a bonus Cod of 2-8. The Christmas break saw me trying to tick off a Flounder and I eventually managed it on December 30th with a nice fish of 2-3 to leave me on 6 fish at the end of the first month.

First new fish of 2015 was a Whiting of 13ozs on January 2nd followed by a shore Rockling of 13ozs on January 12th and then a small improver and PB Cod of 2-11.

February was a tough month and I only managed to add 1 more fish, a Conger of 16-12 to take me to 9 fish at the quarter way point.

Things improved quickly in March, a 3 bearded Rockling of 12ozs before an incredible session at St Catherine’s that produced a rare hatrick of Rays, a PB 10-12 Smalleyed, a 12-6 Blonde and an 8-10 Undulate, only 1 improver and 1 new species but a great night.

Only 1 more addition in March, an improver Undulate of 13-5 to finish March on 11 fish.

April started with a small improver shore Rockling of 15ozs followed by Garfish of 1lb, Mackerel of 1-2, Black Bream of 1-10 and Ballan Wrasse of 3-1 to finish April on 15.

At this point it starts to get tougher as a fair few have been ticked off. 2 more were weighed in during May, a Thick Lipped Mullet of 2-12 & a Starry Smoothound of 8-8 to finish the month on 17.

June started with a PB common eel of 3-10.

Followed by an improver Ballan of 4-3. Then one of the highlights of the year, an improved Starry Smoothound of 20-0

That just left time for another improver Ballan of 5-3 to finish June on 18.

July saw me away on holiday for 2 weeks so just 1 new fish added on my return, a Common Smoothound of 6-4 for fish no 19.

August started with another bonus fish a Twaite Shad of 1-6, what a way to get to 20.

Then a Gilthead bream of just 6ozs, there was no weight for Gilts back then as they were still a new arrival for us. Then the first day of that years JOSAF I had an improver Black Bream of 1-13 as well as a White Bream of 1-12 and a Bass of 4-6 to finish August on 23 and now it’s getting much harder.

September I finally managed to tick off Golden Grey Mullet with a fish of 2-0, it was 1-12 to weigh in back then and I had several near misses before eventually ticking that one off. Then added Scad another one that took a while at 13ozs before an improver Thick Lipped of 3-0 and an improver 3 bearded Rockling of 1-6 to finish on 25 with 2 months to go.

October I fished really hard for flatfish and red mullet but despite catching all 3 species none were big enough to add to the tally. I did add a Tub Gurnard of 11ozs to take me to 26.

November and the final straight started with a Sole of 14ozs, not quite big enough. I really wanted one more as I believe 26 was the most ever weighed in for one season. After quite a few near misses I finally got over the line with a Red Mullet of 1-1 for a final season tally of 27.

I think it’s a lot harder now, species like Rockling, Pouting and Dogfish you could tick off easily back then would be quite time consuming today.

I’ve often wondered if you had enough time would 30 in a season be possible. That year I never had Bullhuss, Tope, Thin Lipped Mullet, Plaice or Sole but I did have Cod, Twaite Shad, White Bream and Blonde Ray all of which would be super tough if not impossible now.

These days I want to spend too much time on certain species to really try this again, the hardest thing I found with this was having to move on once a target was achieved. My obsession with finding a big Stingray would get in the way!