July Review

Well I have to be honest, I am finding the fishing really hard at the moment, plenty of effort but very little in the way of quality to show for it.

After catching that lovely PB Thick Lipped Mullet last year I have spent some time this month exploring some of my old north coast Mullet marks but they seem devoid of Mullet, maybe with the hot weather they are all on the beaches and in the shallows.

My fishing month actually started ok, a short Mackerel session to get a feed and I managed 8, enough for us and dad and my first of the year.

Then it was a Mullet session on the rocks. The start of the session was ambushed by a shoal of Black Bream, catching one after the other about 3 feet deep on Bread which was good fun but not the target species. They were a decent average size with the best just shy of a club weigher at 1-7. Eventually they moved off and it went quiet before I finally found the intended target although not a monster at 2-13.

Then it was the same attack at a different mark that I had ground baited for a couple of days and then fished for best part of 3 hours without seeing a single fish or having a bite before finally accepting defeat and float fishing in one of the rock pools where I had seen some Giant Gobies for my species hunt. Desperate times indeed!

I then decided on a change in approach and had a go on a beach for a Mullet instead, not something I have done much of. I managed to get quite a few small fish feeding but with the wind was struggling to present a bait and only managed a few missed bites. Perhaps next time I will take the ledger rod instead.

It was then time to get dad out for a session so we hit the town harbour to try for either a Gurnard or a Common Eel. First cast I had a classic Common Eel bite and when it slowly moved off I hit it and all hell broke loose. This was clearly the mother of all Common Eels and on braid was going mental. After a few minutes struggle I started to think maybe this wasn’t a Common Eel after all and sure enough a Conger of about 5lb finally surfaced after giving me a hell of a run around. Not expected in the harbour on a bright hot sunny day but as it turned out we went on to lose several more.

Next it was another of my old north coast haunts to try for a Mullet, another session that was ambushed by Black Bream only this time I did manage a club weigher of 1-8.

I had so much fun I went back the next day but as often happens when you do that it’s never as good and after an early flurry of Bream it went quiet before I finally had a Mullet albeit only about a pound.

Then a bit of Déjà vu another rockmark for Mullet with the same result, Black Bream on bread and no mullet.

It was then time for the Sinkers Wrasse comp. Frustratingly I didn’t have much time over the weekend – I had a 90th birthday party & a 40th wedding anniversary party proof I’m getting old! – but I did squeeze in a few short sessions.

Friday night I managed a couple hours at the start at a low water mark that was unbelievably quiet and I couldn’t quite believe I blanked.

Saturday I only had a few hours in the afternoon so I went to St Catherine’s with dad where we had a few small fish but nothing over the 40cm minimum.

That just left one last opportunity on Sunday morning so I picked a rock mark I’ve not been to for a few years that was always good for a few bites if not quality fish. It was a bit of a climb down with no path which filled me with hope as it didn’t look like it had been fished in a while. I finally got down, put my rod down, turned around and there was a bloody great seal right where I fish! Needless to say I couldn’t get a bite before eventually moving a little further over and catching a few small fish.

In all seriousness we are seeing more and more seals inshore and they can do some serious damage especially to a slow growing species like Wrasse. I have a few marks I used to fish that are now devoid of Wrasse after a seal moved in.

There were some decent fish caught over the weekend with Adam Loxton taking the honours with a chunky 50cm fish of 5lb.

I then did a couple more beach sessions on worm hoping for a Bass or maybe a Golden Grey Mullet. First session the weather was a lot windier than I expected which coloured the water resulting in loads of small Bass & Giltheads. The second session the weather improved but despite moving a couple of times I only managed small Bass again.

Next up was a bait collecting mission after reports of a few more Mackerel showing. They weren’t exactly in their hundreds but I did manage 21 for the freezer in a couple of hours with a chunky one of 1lb amongst them for another club weigher.

Then it was time for the next club competition, this time the Mullet competition. Apart from helping my wife set up and pack up at the craft market on Saturday I had a relatively free weekend so was looking forward to having a go even if I struggle with Mullet at the best of times and lately haven’t been able to catch one of any size.

Friday I continued the theme of doing a rock mark, this time a 3 hour session without a bite. I did see a couple of mullet but they were tiny.

Saturday while the craft market was going on I was off to another rock mark and again no sign of any mullet despite me having chervied this one for a few days before. I did have a few Black Bream but never saw a Mullet and I think I have to concede it’s not going to happen on the rocks while the weather is so warm and I’m going to have to fish in the shallows.

With that in mind I was up super early on Sunday to fish the tide up from low to high. The session started slow and took a turn for the worse when I got my Costa sunglasses out to find they had somehow got broken in the case. I then had a few fish feeding, signs of life at last and was almost in shock when I actually hooked one, but that elation turned to despair when it came off. I persisted and eventually started to get the measure of it and managed a couple of nice fish, the biggest going 53cm just a little bigger than the next at 52cm.

At the weigh-in it was just big enough for a surprise 2nd place, some distance behind the winning fish of 57cm for Sam Bennie.

The end of August sees the annual Jersey Open Shore Angling Festival (JOSAF) so hopefully I can improve my results a bit by then. It’s a week long festival that will run into September so the August review post will follow the end of the comp.

If you’re taking part good luck, it’s my favourite comp of the year because it includes all species but it’s always super tough.