July 21st 2003 is a day I will never forget. It was my grandads funeral. If there is such a thing as funeral weather then that is what we had that day. Heavy rain, dark skies and a strong north westerly. It was one of those days when it seems dark about 2 in the afternoon.
Once the funeral and gathering after was over and we got home I just had the urge to get out in the weather and get some fresh air to clear my head. I grabbed 3 packs of baby cuttlefish out the freezer and headed for a sheltered low water mark that was easy to get to and chucked a couple of conger baits out. I had fished this mark a bit but had never had anything big, the biggest being around 21lb.
Both rods went out and I settled down with my thoughts with the rain lashing down on what was a grim night. 2nd cast and I had a bite. This is a really shallow mark and the bites were often really tentative. I gave it a bit of time to swallow the whole cuttlefish before winding down and striking into what was clearly a good fish. In the shallow water I could feel every head shake. I have done a lot of conger fishing on my own and the thing you learn quick is don’t try and gaff a fresh fish. With the mark being shallow the fish was on the surface quick and looking really lively. I took my time and let it make a few dives before gaffing it and bringing it to safety. It was clearly a decent fish, a quick photo on the deck – I hadn’t discovered self timers yet so selfies were basic in the extreme – then into the standard weigh sling of the day also known as a post office sack and the scales pulled round to 30lb 8ozs. Well chuffed with that.
Over the next couple of hours I had another 4 eels all around 15lb. I was down to my last cuttle so on it went with a ton of bait elastic to keep the hook proud and out it went, last throw of the dice. It wasn’t long before I had another enquiry, again really tentative. I gave it plenty of time as the bait was pretty big. When I finally wound down and struck into it it was not happy. It was really shaking its head and felt really heavy. Again in the shallow water it was on the surface pretty quick and still really fresh and it took all my will power to be patient and let it make a few strong dives to tire it out. I had already had a 30 and this was clearly a fair bit bigger. I managed to gaff it perfectly first time and get it to safety away from the water. Talk about last cast success. I grabbed the scales and the weigh sack and was over the moon to see them settle at 40lb 4ozs. What a session, 6 eels in 3 hours including a 30 & a 40. I was not far from home so I made the snap decision to take the fish home to get a decent photo before taking it to the local harbour to release it. I quickly packed up, chucked everything in the car and headed home. On the way home I had to drive past the care home my grandad spent the last few years of his life. I swear there was a really dense patch of fog at that exact point yet it was clear everywhere else. I arrived home a few minutes later super excited and got my somewhat less excited wife out of bed to take a photo.
There’s a funny ending to this story. Once the photos were done I drove down to the local pier to release it. When I got there, there was a police car with 2 coppers sitting in it. I got out of the car, opened the boot, dragged out a sack that clearly had something alive in it and disappeared down the stairs. The eel swam off after a few minutes to recover and the coppers never even got out of the car.
What a rollercoaster of emotions.
I have always felt my grandad was looking down on me that night. I have returned many times to that mark in very similar tides and conditions and I have caught some decent fish but I have never had a session anything like that night.
Shore Fishing Jersey 
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