Following the completion of this years JOSAF I have to confess I was pretty knackered so the first post comp session was an easy harbour trip with dad which was pretty slow, small Bream and Gurnard for dad and just a Scad for myself.
Next up was a late season session for a Stinger which turned into a really enjoyable trip. I was a bit concerned when I got there with the amount of weed on the beach, but it was a big tide and I was hoping it would all get pushed against the wall letting me fish over the top of it. About an hour before high the left hand rod ripped off and I was in. It didn’t feel like a big fish but even the small ones give a decent account of themselves, and after a couple of minutes I slipped this lovely little stinger into the net of around 5-6lb.
I fished on and just on high it kicked off. I had a slower bite on the left hand rod, after a few decent pulls I wound into a decent resistance and what felt like a much better Ray. A few seconds later the right hand rod absolutely screamed off and I had 2 stingers on at once. I concentrated on the rod I had in my hand as it felt like a pretty decent fish, a fair amount of weight and some decent runs. Gradually it came in close and I managed to slip a decent looking Ray into the net. Straight onto the second rod which by this point had being going for a good few minutes. There was a lot of weight, clearly a fair bit of weed but I could still feel the fish on. I slowly pumped the fish back in, as it got closer in I could feel the fish over the weed more. When it surfaced it was another nice fish, a little smaller than the first maybe and just like buses I had 2 stingers in the net.
Once sorted out and weighed the first one went 18-10, a new PB albeit only by a few ounces but PB’s are pretty rare for me these days so I will take it. The second one went 16-7. Now I know as far as Stingers go they are not huge but they are great sport. I even managed to capture some of it on my new GoPro which you can see on the Sakuma YouTube page.
https://youtu.be/2lgMEnMvXW8?is=KZe-S38ergrByeOB
I went back the following night with dad and typically we blanked.
Then it was a session looking for a thin lipped. Conditions weren’t great and it was a struggle. I moved a couple of times but never had any follows or saw any fish and only had a tiny Bass.
Next up was another session for a Stinger, this time a low water session at a new mark. I had one really good bite that screamed off and I missed it. In all honesty it was probably a Bass but we will never know. I am determined to eventually catch a Stingray somewhere else!
That just left time for 1 more session before heading off to Madeira for a week. I opted for a night session on the north coast to try with the big rods. There was a fair swell running but it was fishable and I fancied it for maybe a Huss. I chucked a couple of small baits out while I waited for it to get dark and had another Comber.
I then chucked the big baits out. It was really slow, just a couple of really small eels and a few whippish rattles and span up traces. I was just getting ready to call it a night when I had a much better bite. I wound into what was clearly a better eel but it had somehow got wrapped around my other rod and I was bringing in the fish and my other gear making it difficult to judge just how big it was. When I finally managed to get it on the surface it looked ok, around 20ish but it was still really wrapped around the other rod and I had no choice to drag the whole lot to where I could get to the fish. I waited for the right gap in the swell, gaffed the fish and I was just climbing back up to my gear when the eel span off the gaff, the line snapped and the eel disappeared back into the sea! Doesn’t matter how many years experience you have you still make a mess of it occasionally!
So that was the end of the month for Jersey but I had sneaked a couple of travel rods into the case in the hope of perhaps adding a few new species in the week we were away. It wasn’t a fishing holiday, I think my wife is enough of a fishing widow over here but I had her blessing to do a bit on the rocks alongside the beach and maybe an early morning trip. As it turned out I did ok in my 3 hours per morning by the beach, quite a few new species and a very hard fighting Eagle Ray. I have some footage on my GoPro so I will save the details of this trip for my mid month post in a couple of weeks to give me a chance to sort out the footage.
So this weekend is the Conger Festival, I believe the oldest running open shore competition in the Channel Islands having run since 1980. There is also the Alderney festival and the Bass festival in October so it’s going to be a busy month.
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