October Review

October got off to a decent start with a short but hectic session on the Thin Lipped Mullet. I had a small window of an hour and a half to fish which produced 3 Mullet & 1 Bass as well as 2 lost Mullet. Nothing big with the best going 2-9 but great fun.

Then unfortunately I got Covid for the first time which wiped me out for a week although I am still feeling a bit sluggish. First session out after was a short trip on the north coast with big baits that only produced the usual small Conger. I followed that up with another Conger session that was remarkably quiet with just 1 Dogfish to show from what is usually a really productive mark.

Then it was a St Catherine’s session on the bottom wall with dad. I decided to hedge my bets a little and put 1 out for eels and 1 out for Ray. Action was constant on the bait rod which provided a steady supply of fresh pout as well as the usual dogfish.

We also had a few small eels and one slightly better one of 15-12 which fell to my Ray rod. It had been previously lost by another angler and had a conger trace in it which is probably what stopped it being able to bite through my 40lb trace.

The main objective of the session was to try and get dad a club weigher Conger. Typically at the exact point he went to the toilet I heard a noise and turned around to see his rod had been pulled over the railings and although it was tied the tip section was gone! When he returned I had to hand line the fish in. We managed to net it and retrieve the tip section of his much loved Century Slammer. We quickly returned the eel without weighing it but it probably would have made the club minimum of 12lb.

I then did another Conger session on the north coast that was non-stop with small eels, eventually running out of bait after my 8th Conger. Another St Catherine’s session with dad was next to try again for an eel. We had planned to fish the end but there were already other anglers fishing so we did the beginning of the back wall which only produced small eels and dogfish although I did have a nice bonus Lobster.

Then it was time to try for something different. I managed to dig some nice Whitecat on the bigger tides to have a go for a Red Mullet or maybe a Sole. The session started pretty slow with just a couple of small Pouting and a very small Lobster before a typical Red Mullet bite pulled the rod over followed by slack line which resulted in the first Red of the night at exactly 1lb. About half an hour later a carbon copy bite produced a slight improvement to 1-2 with a 3rd of just under 1lb towards the end of the session. I was just about out of bait so I put the last few bits of worm on the hook and chucked it back out while I went down to clean my fish. When I came back up I had a load of slack line, I wound in to feel a decent resistance and a few minutes later up came the best of the night at a chunky 1-5. Dinner well and truly sorted.

I then did a daytime harbour session with dad where we managed just 1 bite between us in two and a half hours, a screaming run that after a cracking scrap turned out to be this feisty Bass of 4lb.

That just left time for one last session, so after seeing a few reports of Ray being caught I decided to have a go for a Smalleyed. It was a slow start with just the usual strap conger and dogfish but just as I was thinking of calling it a night I had a classic Ray bite. On winding down I felt a fair weight which got heavier the closer in it got. After a great scrap close in up popped a decent looking Ray and after a couple minutes judging the swell I managed to slip it into the net. After a quick weigh at 9-8 and a couple of photos it swam off strongly.

So that was October for me.

There were a couple of other significant events during October, firstly local angler and Sinkers member Tony Richardson broke the British record White Bream with a fish 3-9-8, unfortunately I haven’t seen any photos as yet but what an outstanding fish.

Secondly the annual Alderney Angling Festival was held in what can only be described as unbelievable weather. The conditions make it even more incredible that the winning angler this year weighed in 6 fish, I believe the most ever. Here is a list of the winners.

I have only entered twice way back in 1987 & 1988 when I was still at school, the first year we camped which was grim! The second year we had a house but I never managed to weigh in. Dad has entered every year with the exception of the very first year 86 until this year. Hopefully he will be able to resume participation next year.

November sees the Jersey Bass Festival, the completion of this years BOM and is the last month of the Sinkers club year, so along with my wife being involved in the Simply Christmas markets and an extremely hectic work schedule it could be a very busy month.

Late add on – I have now been sent photo’s of Tony’s Potential British Record White Bream, what a stunning fish. Thanks for the photos Tony and good luck with the claim.