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.
30-8
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.
40-4
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.
I thought for my first TBT post I should start with the biggest shore fish I’ve caught to date. For that event I have to go way back to September 1993. In the early 90’s for a few years I went to Sark on holiday with my good mate Michael Conroy and my grandad. Back in those days inter island travel was thankfully a lot easier than it is today and there was a reliable daily boat between Jersey and Sark. There was hardly any shore fishing done in Sark and we experienced some great Wrasse and Conger fishing. On this particular day we were travelling so we were able to take bait with us as getting bait locally was really difficult. We got to the island about 10am, chucked our gear in the back of the tractor that drops it at your accommodation and got the tractor up the hill to go and get our bikes. If you’ve never been to Sark before there are no cars so as well as a climb down to your mark you also have to either walk or cycle to the mark first. Once we had bikes and some supplies from the local shop we headed to our accommodation to sort our gear out. Plan for day 1 was to go to a mark called Guillois Caves and fish for wrasse and bream during daylight hours and fish on into the night for an eel. That meant a lot of gear on the bike so a proper workout. We got there about 2pm, chucked a couple of bream rods out and started wrasse fishing. The bream rods were fairly slow but I did pick up a bonus Triggerfish. The Wrasse fishing was a bit better and I had a nice fish of 5-2 to start the trip. We had never fished this mark at night before so I was really keen to get the Conger rods out. This mark consists of a lovely big flat ledge you can fish off over the high casting to the edge of the tide that pushes through between Sark and the island of Brecqou with another flat ledge that uncovers as the tide drops about 15 feet below you. As expected it didn’t take long to get bites as these marks were just not fished with big baits. 2nd cast on a whole mackerel I had a decent bite and hooked into what was clearly a good fish. The right hand side of the lower ledge was just uncovered so Michael climbed down with the gaff while I worked the fish to the surface on the other side to try and avoid catching the lower ledge. When it hit the surface I couldn’t see it very clearly from where I was so gradually worked it towards where Michael was waiting with the gaff. Luckily it played ball and Michael did a great job of gaffing it first time. I remember him shouting up its fu**ing massive. We then had to figure out a way of getting it from the bottom ledge to the top. Somehow he managed to climb partly up and pass the gaff and for the first time I could feel how heavy the fish felt. Once he had climbed back up and we had the eel on the top ledge we could see it properly and it looked massive. Back in those days we all had Avon dial scales that topped out at 40lb. We put it in a sack but the scales bottomed out before we could get it off the ground. Luckily our accommodation was part of a farm so they had some big scales but that was the other side of the island and we were on pushbikes with all our gear! We packed up straight away and made our way back, me with a big rucksack on, a bundle of rods over my shoulder on an old titan rod strap and a big eel in the basket on the front of my bike. When we got back to the farm we headed to the barn where the scales were and it settled at 44lb 4ozs, my biggest eel and agonising short of my dream fish of 45lb for a conger club shore gold. I’ve caught a lot of big eels since that one with plenty of 30’s and another couple of 40’s but the 45 never happened for me and sadly now the big fish are gone. What a first day of the trip and one of the many great memories I have from those trips to Sark where we had some brilliant fishing.
My fishing year started with a 6am New Year’s Day start for my traditional New Year’s Day fish. Garfish was the target but I only managed 1 and a small pollack. Fortunately January improved quickly, a club weigher pouting and dogfish to get the ball rolling before a cracking session on the rocks with big baits produced conger of 20-13 & 14-8 as well as an 8lb Bullhuss.
That was followed by the Sinkers beach comp which produced some cracking Bass although the best I could manage was only 51cm. The following night I returned and managed Bass of 5-14, 5-8 & 4-6.
The rest of January was just a mix of smaller Bass, Conger and Garfish.
February for me is often the slowest month. A few trips produced Bass on the beach to around 3-8, plenty of small conger and dogfish as well as Garfish to about 1lb.
March is the start of the Sinkers Bass on measure comp, 7 rounds throughout the year with your longest Bass from each round counting. Your 2 weakest rounds are dropped with your best 5 counted for your final score. This is a really popular event locally and always fun to take part in.
The first 2 rounds were in March and were always likely to be worm baits on the beaches. Best in round 1 for me was 61cm followed up with a 57cm in round 2. A decent start.
April saw rounds 3 & 4 for the BOM, round 3 was a bit of a struggle with my best being 53cm but round 4 produced a lovely 74cm fish in pretty torrential rain which turned out to be the longest bass of the season in the BOM.
BOM longest bass of 2024 (74cm)
May started with some more beach bass to 59cm as well as a few Gilthead Bream but as usual for me I couldn’t find a decent Gilthead. I also spent a fair amount of time chasing an elusive Stingray with no success, I suspect my problem being too stubborn to move on from an area I’ve spent 3 years trying to work out for them. The undoubted highlight of May and indeed the whole year came on May 15th when I went to St Catherine Breakwater with dad to have a go for a Tope. It started with a lost fish on my bait rod which gave me confidence there was a chance. I then had what looked like a potential Tope enquiry on the big rods that didn’t develop, something I find happens from time to time. About 30 minutes later and another enquiry, this time after quite a while playing with it it finally took off and we had a Tope on. My Century T700 was doubled over and the line is peeling off the reel, there’s nothing else we can catch off the shore as exciting as a Tope it’s just a shame at the moment they are such a rare catch. After several runs it slowed down but felt very heavy. Once on the surface it looked decent but it’s always hard to judge on the backwall when you are so far from the water. After a bit of backwards and forwards it was in the drop net and dad was like “ you will have to help me pull this up the wall it’s bloody heavy”. Well the 2 of us struggled as the net on its own is heavy but eventually we lifted the net over the wall and could finally see my prize. I thought it was close to a new PB and once on the scales it added 1-4 to my PB at 40-4, a new Sinkers record and just short of the 60 year old local record. A few quick photos and it was safely released.
Amazingly I then cast out fresh baits and had another smaller Tope of 19-4 before losing another one. What a session!
The end of May was our first camping trip of the year to Forest view campsite in France. Here you can camp lakeside and do a bit of carp fishing while your there. First day, first cast and first fish is Finlay, the biggest carp in the lake at 40-8 and a new PB.
Unfortunately the rest of the holiday the weather and the fishing was terrible although I did manage a cracking 27-12 Grass Carp just before we gave up and came home early beaten by the rain.
June started with a few Bass off the beach in the low 50’s before another cracking session with Dad that saw him catch his first ever Stingray and his 33rd Jersey Specimen at 11-8, with myself catching a smaller one of 6-1. It’s fantastic to see Dad still excited about a new PB after more than 60 years of fishing.
The rest of June produced a few chunky bass as well as some jumbo mackerel.
July started with a fun session on the hounds. Sadly we don’t see the big fish of previous years any more but even these smaller ones up to 7-4 are good fun.
These were followed by another freezer filling session on the Mackerel which produced some proper jumbo’s to 1-4
As well as plenty of Black Bream to 1-10.
August is the start of the competition season, firstly the fun cancer relief competition as St Catherine’s Breakwater which is for the longest fish. In recent years the target is generally Conger with this years winner being around 10lb with this one of around 100cm coming second.
The end of August always marks the start of the Jersey Open Shore Angling Festival, a week long competition for multiple species which always begins August bank holiday weekend. This is my favourite of all the comps as the multi-species approach really suits me and it’s been my lucky comp over the years. This year for the first time in a long time I had the whole week off work so I was really looking forward to it. Day 1 I started on the Black Bream but only managed small fish so a change of tactics was called for and I moved to try for a Bass. After about 30 minutes I hooked a decent fish that felt like it might make the 60cm minimum size and after several long runs on the light braid it was in the net. Sadly it was about 59.5cm and just to small. Fortunately about another 30 minutes into the session I’m in again and when I slipped the net under this one I was confident it was bigger and I was right at 62cm and super fat at just under 6lb I had my first fish on the board.
Day 2 started with an unsuccessful bash for a mackerel before going back on the Black Bream. I was catching loads of small bream, as well as a Thicklipped Mullet just under 3lb and a scad before I hooked what felt like a much better bream. A few hairy moments trying to net it in a big swell and I knew it would be over the 1-8 minimum size. Back on the mackerel for an hour with no joy before going down to the weigh in with my bream going a decent 1-13-4
2 fish in 2 days is a great start and I was buzzing. Day 3 the plan was to spend the day trying for a Ballan Wrasse. Minimum size is 50cm, a tall order and I intended to move a few times through the day to try different marks. It didn’t really work out like that when 3rd drop at my first mark I had a fish of bang on 50cm.
With a fair bit of the day left I did an extremely hopeful trip for a white bream which was a blank followed by yet another bash for a Mackerel.
Day 4 and my targets are limited now with 3 species ticked off. I started for a snipe or a mackerel which only produced small fish before having a breather and then doing my first night session of the week for a Ray. Sadly Ray are very few and far between for us these days and I only managed a few strap conger.
Day 5 was another snipe/mackerel bash which produced loads but nothing near the 1lb required. This was followed by another Ray session that just produced pout and strap Conger.
Day 6 and after yet another go for a mackerel I decided to have a go for a Thick Lipped Mullet, not my strongest species and with a 54cm minimum size certainly not easy. I decided to stay away from the harbours that had been heavily fished all week and try on the rocks with the intention to ground bait and only fish if I saw a decent fish feeding. After about an hour steadily groundbaiting a couple of mullet turned up with one looking pretty decent. I resisted the urge to fish straight away and continued to ground bait to try and get them feeding confidently. Once they were really feeding I dropped my float in and hooked the better fish quite quickly. After some really strong runs and a cracking scrap on really light gear I netted a fish that looked possible and on the measure it went 55.5cm and was my 4th fish putting me in the lead.
Day 7 and I had little to target left in the day so I decided to have a rest and do a decent night session in the hope of a Conger or Bullhuss. I was unable to fish the final morning due to other commitments so this was going to be my last trip of the festival. It started with a couple of small Conger then I had a Bullhuss of 6-4. Not big enough for the 8lb minimum but always a nice fish to catch locally as we don’t get loads. Another eel about 10lb followed, well short of the 15lb minimum then I hooked into something that didn’t feel like an eel. It popped up on the surface and for some reason it looked like a small conger for me so I just traced it out only to see it was in fact a decent Bullhuss. On the scales it went 10-1 and was my 5th weigher of the week, a cracking result. It was enough to give me my 6th Jersey Open title as well as the overall points trophy. I finished 1st in the Black Bream, 2nd in the any other and 4th in the Bass, Ballan Wrasse and Mullet sections.
September my main target was a Thin Lipped Mullet. I have struggled with these a little but am gradually working it out and was optimistic of improving my PB if the weather played ball. I managed quite a few during the breaks in the weather topped off with a lovely PB of 5-5.
The end of September saw us back at Forest View Campsite for a week where yet again it rained pretty solid the whole time and was pretty miserable. The fishing was good with plenty of decent carp including Finlay again at 40-8 and another big grass carp I couldn’t weigh as my scales had succumbed to the rain.
The beginning of October saw the shore Conger Festival. This is a competition that has been running since 1980 with my dad being part of the original committee. I have run this comp with my dad for many years now and I always enjoy fishing it with him. As usual for us we spent both nights at St Catherines Breakwater with the contrast in the weather between the 2 nights unbelievable. The first night i had 7 eels to 8-12 in lovely conditions on what was a very packed breakwater. The second night the weather was atrocious and there were only a few of the maddest anglers braving it but the fishing was better and I had 9 eels to 13-1 big enough for runners up place in the St Catherines section. The Conger fishing has changed beyond recognition over the last decade locally and years ago you would need a 20+ to get amongst the prizes.
October also saw the next round of the BOM for me having missed the previous round on holiday. Having 4 fish from the early rounds the priority was to get a 5th fish but what I was really after was something big enough to take me over the 300cm mark. I decided to concentrate on bait and give the lure fishing a miss and was rewarded with a nice fish of 64cm.
The rest of October only produced bits and pieces, Black Bream to 1-7, Red Mullet to just under a pound and a Baillons Wrasse
November started with a couple of sessions for Red Mullet & Small Eyed Ray but both seem to of not turned up this year so it was just the usual Pout, small Conger , Dogfish and Black Bream.
Then it was time for the Bass festival which also happens to be the last round of the BOM. I started on the Friday night with a late night bait session which only produced small fish upto 52cm, big enough to weigh in but nothing to improve my BOM score with my smallest of 5 being 53cm and nothing likely to trouble the bass festival prize list. Saturday day time and I decided to switch to the lures which turned out to be a good move. First fish of the session was a nice 54cm which was then followed by a hard fighting 59.5cm fish and just before packing up a lovely 62cm fish. Great fun on lure gear in super shallow water. The final day I went back on the bait but only managed fish to 51cm. At the final weight in it was clear there was an awful lot of fish but I just managed to sneak into 4th place in the lure section and finished the BOM on a 5 fish total of 318cm, an average of 63.6cm and enough for first place.
November still had one last surprise to show up, on a rough night on the north coast I managed a new PB Bullhuss of 11-13, my 3rd PB of the year after not having caught one for quite a while.
The end of November weekend was also the inter club challenge match. Dad and I fished St Catherine’s Breakwater for wrasse on the Saturday and dad managed a 48cm Ballan which is just on the minimum size and was enough for 3rd place individually but more importantly contributed to another Sinkers win.
December is always a busy time at work for me which inevitably impacts how much fishing time I have but a session on the big baits hoping for a Huss produced several Conger with the best going 19-4
A few sessions trying for a Unicorn aka flounder just resulted in school Bass. Not much fishing over the Christmas break, just a nice chilled out break. Looking forward to 2025, hoping it’s as kind to me as 2024 has been.
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Welcome to WordPress! This is a sample post. Edit or delete it to take the first step in your blogging journey. To add more content here, click the small plus icon at the top left corner. There, you will find an existing selection of WordPress blocks and patterns, something to suit your every need for content creation. And don’t forget to check out the List View: click the icon a few spots to the right of the plus icon and you’ll get a tidy, easy-to-view list of the blocks and patterns in your post.
Welcome to WordPress! This is a sample post. Edit or delete it to take the first step in your blogging journey. To add more content here, click the small plus icon at the top left corner. There, you will find an existing selection of WordPress blocks and patterns, something to suit your every need for content creation. And don’t forget to check out the List View: click the icon a few spots to the right of the plus icon and you’ll get a tidy, easy-to-view list of the blocks and patterns in your post.
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Shore Fishing Jersey 