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February has been a very quiet month on the fishing front by my standards with only a handful of sessions. Seemingly endless rain and constant swells has seen most sessions more about where you can fish rather than where you want to fish.

With big tides at the start of the month I concentrated on bait collection rather than fishing so it wasn’t until the end of the first week that I finally managed to get the rods out.

A session on the big baits was in order but where to go to get out of the swell and find somewhere fishable. I opted for a mark I haven’t fished for a long time, awkward to get too and even more awkward to fish as it’s super tight for space and the little ledge you fish from slopes steeply towards the water. It’s a one man one rod kind of mark but I had caught some decent fish there previously so thought it was worth a bash. The session pretty much went as expected, I fished for 3 hours and had a bite every single cast finishing with 9 or 10 eels with the best estimated at around 13-14lb.

Next up was something different and a bash for a Rockling. I used to enjoy fishing for these in the winter when it’s a bit quiet but since the explosion of tiny eels they have become much more difficult to catch. As it happens I only had small eels before eventually switching to a bigger bait for the last cast and catching an eel around 10lb.

Then it was a switch back to the big baits for the next session but I decided to hedge my bets a little and fish 1 rod for Conger, with my second rod scaled back a bit to target a Huss. The night started with a tiny dogfish followed by strap eels before a better bite and a nice slow pull down. When I wound into the fish I thought it was just a small eel at first but as it started coming it didn’t feel like an eel and I thought it would perhaps be a decent Huss. As it got closer in it got heavier and heavier which made sense when a nice Undulate Ray surfaced, not what I was expecting but certainly welcome. I managed to slide it up the rocks on a swell, and when I picked it up it felt quite decent. On the scales it went 14-5, my first Undulate in 3 years certainly put a smile on my face.

I fished on and after more small eels I had another bite that looked like a little eel but when I wound into it, it felt a lot better. I grabbed the gaff and made my way to the water and after a cracking scrap an eel that looked around 20ish made the surface. It didn’t half go well for the size of it, I was expecting it to be a bit bigger if I’m honest. Anyway I landed it quickly before weighing it at 18-14 and slipping it back.

A cracking session for February and it wasn’t quite over yet as I managed a couple more smaller eels and a bonus Lobster to round a fun 3 hour session off.

I then did a super quick 1 hour session trying for a sardine for my species hunt but they were not there and I only managed a little pollack.

Then time for something different and a session on the beach for a Bass. Conditions were challenging with a big swell and a fair bit of weed. Bites were fairly slow, possibly due to the huge amount of fresh water running onto the beach but I persevered and managed a couple of Bass around the 2lb mark

And that just left time for one last session on the big baits. It turned into a bit of a saga, my first choice mark was way to rough so plan B was called for which turned into a long trudge across muddy fields and cliff paths before finally getting down to the rocks to fish. Sadly the fishing was pretty poor with just small eels.

The last week of the month I never managed to get out with the rods at all. The annual Sinkers Club dinner was held on the last night of the month, always a good night and I managed to come home with a fair haul of trophies.

There have been some nice fish caught by other anglers over the last month, Finlay Paton has continued his good form with a couple of cracking fish, firstly this cracker of a Garfish of 1-9

But my personal favourite has to be this superb 3 bearded Rockling of 2-4, what makes this even more impressive is it was targeted.

March sees the start of the Sinkers club Bass on measure competition which had become really popular and always throws up some quality fish.

Look out for my mid month post in a couple of weeks, it’s one of my favourites to date.

Finally for those of you asking, dad has finally had his first knee replacement and is currently living with us and doing well. he is about to start physio to get back out fishing as soon as possible.

For this TBT post I’m going back to my first year of keeping a fishing diary 1989.

At the start of the year I was 15 years old, doing my GCSE’s and not massively into my fishing. I left school in June when I went to work with Eddie at JFS Sport. June was also significant for the fact that I got transport when I got my 50cc Honda MB50 on a provisional license – No CBT back then you could just go straight on the road – I did many trips on that bike loaded up with rods, rucksacks and all sorts of other stuff pottering around at about 25mph!

The start of the year was really slow with not much fishing. I was doing a bit of coarse fishing back then and this entry from January 4th made me chuckle

“ Fished Milbrook reservoir, Peg 1 with Maggot bait. Tried float and ledger. Bad day, snapped my Boron Match and one of my wand tips. Thermal Suit blew in, lost about 20 hooks, had about 10 tangles got soaked and caught nothing”

February saw a fish that at the time really got me back into my fishing, this Undulate Ray on the back-wall of St Catherine’s Breakwater of 14lb 15ozs.

It’s amazing the difference a fish can make, before this I’d hardly fished all year, after this it was every other day. February also saw a load of Coalfish turn up, we were catching loads in the town harbour with the best I managed 1-6 but there were loads over 1lb. They were great sport, strange how they were only really there of that size for 1 winter.

Back then I was a member of the now defunct Jersey Light Tackle Group and March saw me catch a club record Dogfish of 2-8-5 along with another one of 2-6-14 in the same session as well as a PB Coalfish of 1-7 from St Catherine’s.

Highlights of April were just a Conger of 15lb and May was also pretty quiet although it did produce a PB Bass at the time of 4-2 caught on 5lb line and a tiny Yann.

June was spent doing a fair amount of Coarse fishing but I did have a Wrasse of 4-8.

July was better with a then PB Plaice of 2-2-12 as well as another of 1-6.

August saw a few club weighers, a then PB Black Bream of 2-11-10, Common Eel of 2-0-1, Red Mullet of 1-0-8 & a Mackerel of 1-0-5.

September and another PB Bass of 5-3 from St Catherine’s – It was a lot easier to catch a PB back then – as well as a PB ThickLipped Mullet of 2-13.

October was pretty uneventful but November made up for it with a stunning PB Bass from St Catherine’s on Ray gear that just missed out on a double at 9-14-4, a New Jersey PB Conger of 24-0 also from St Catherine’s just missing out on the conger club medal weight, another Bass of 6-0, a record rattling Pouting of 2-12-5 and a Flounder of 1-14-8.

And December produced another Eel, this one 21lb as well as my first ever Smalleyed Ray.

Very different times where every club fish had to be weighed on the club scales. It’s quite scary when I think this is now 37 years ago.

It’s fair to say we’ve had plenty of weather in January! From a freezing cold start to named storms bringing 90mph+ gusts, huge swells and at times torrential rain, the fishing has been tough at times.

My year started with the traditional New Year’s Day fish. I didn’t have a lot of time so it was a short dusk session on the lures. 3 small bass in 3 consecutive casts with the best just making 44cm avoided a first day blank.

Next was a worm session in the hope of Red Mullet or maybe a Sole but it was absolutely freezing and super quiet with just a couple of small pouting for my efforts.

Then a session on the beach for Bass or maybe a Gilthead Bream. Unfortunately I got plagued by small Bass, even catching them on whole squid at times with the best just 48cm.

It was then time to get dad out for his first session of the year so we hit one of the north coast piers to see what we could find. It was the usual Dogfish fest until out of the blue came this cracking (by Jersey standards) Whiting of 14ozs.

Then finally a lull of sorts in the swell and a chance to get the big rods out to try for an Eel. It was a pretty poor session with just small eels but I did have one interesting event. I had what felt like a slightly better eel on, maybe 8-10lb so I started making my way down to the water as it was going to be too heavy to wind up. It then made an incredible dive or so I thought before starting to come in easy again. A bit further in the same thing again only this time it didn’t stop, literally dragging me down the rocks before snapping me off. I can only presume a seal had taking a fancy to my eel on the way in!

Then it was a St Catherine’s session with dad which was pretty poor again with just Pouting, Dogfish & small Conger.

Then another slight lull in the weather so another North coast session on the eels. I arrived in daylight to try and catch some fresh bait managing a single Pouting on dusk before putting the Conger baits out. First up were small fish before a more positive bite that felt half decent when I lifted into it. Sod’s Law at the point it hit the surface a series of massive swells came through making it difficult to see the fish but it looked 20ish. I was just trying to wait for a gap in the swell to try and land it when a big wave washed it into the pool behind me making my job a lot easier. As it happens it wasn’t quite a 20 but at 19-3 not bad. I finished the session on 10 eels, quite a few over or around double figures with the next biggest 16-4, encouraging after so many poor years on the eels

Then it was a short harbour session to try for some Garfish. It was actually really slow, clearly not as many in the town harbours yet as the north coast piers but eventually we managed a couple with one making 1lb

It was then time for the Sinkers beach comp. It looked a bit touch and go with the forecast but fortunately the wind eased just in time to allow it to be fished across St Aubins Bay from West Park to Bel Croute. It was still pretty rough with a fair sea and for the last hour or so torrential rain. I decided to start at St Aubins on the beach. After a couple of hours and just a few schoolie bites I wasn’t feeling it and felt it was too sheltered, so made the decision to move for the last hour. I headed to the other end of the beach where the sea was a lot rougher and looked more like it to me. I had a few schoolie bites before very last cast I had the first proper bite of the night and managed a weigher albeit only 47cm. At the weigh in of the 38 anglers who took part just 6 managed a fish over the 42cm minimum meaning I just snuck on to the end of the prize money. The 2 best fish were 67cm & 66.5cm, the winner also caught right at the end of the comp, a lovely fish and new PB for James Bertram weighing 7-1.

Then it was back down the harbour with dad for another bash at the Garfish. This time there was a lot more despite the seal in the chervy doing its best to ruin the fishing. They were a decent average size with quite a few around the pound mark with dad finding the best at 1-2.

That just left time for one last session, a short daytime low water wading session that produced a few Bass, nothing big with the best around 48cm.

There have been some cracking fish caught locally by other anglers this month. Neil Muldoon caught this lovely Conger of 30-8 at St Catherine’s. An excellent eel by today’s standards and Neil’s qualifier for full membership of the British Conger Club. Well done Neil!

Finlay Paton has also been putting in the hours and has been rewarded with some cracking fish including an excellent solitaired Conger of just under 23lb and a good session on the Giltheads with fish to just over 3lb.

Having spent a fair amount of time over the Christmas holidays inputting the last few years of points history onto the new Sinkers website I thought it might be interesting to look back to my best year in the club, the 2014/15 season.

It’s the only season I can say I concentrated on the club league from the start of the season, the objective being to weigh in as many species as possible as opposed to trying to build a big points total. Kind of a species hunt on Sinkers weights. At this time I had never won the club points league and the bar was really high with most years winners having over 20 fish and over 1000 points.

First session of the season was on the 4th December and produced the first 2 weighers, a 2-1 dogfish and a 9-2 Smalleyed Ray. I also had a couple of Pollack to 2-9 but they had to be 3lb to weigh in back then. Next fish on the board was on December 10th, a pouting of 1-1 from St Caths. Next was an improved dogfish of 2-5 before a session at St Caths produced another 2, an Undulate of 10-8 and a bonus Cod of 2-8. The Christmas break saw me trying to tick off a Flounder and I eventually managed it on December 30th with a nice fish of 2-3 to leave me on 6 fish at the end of the first month.

First new fish of 2015 was a Whiting of 13ozs on January 2nd followed by a shore Rockling of 13ozs on January 12th and then a small improver and PB Cod of 2-11.

February was a tough month and I only managed to add 1 more fish, a Conger of 16-12 to take me to 9 fish at the quarter way point.

Things improved quickly in March, a 3 bearded Rockling of 12ozs before an incredible session at St Catherine’s that produced a rare hatrick of Rays, a PB 10-12 Smalleyed, a 12-6 Blonde and an 8-10 Undulate, only 1 improver and 1 new species but a great night.

Only 1 more addition in March, an improver Undulate of 13-5 to finish March on 11 fish.

April started with a small improver shore Rockling of 15ozs followed by Garfish of 1lb, Mackerel of 1-2, Black Bream of 1-10 and Ballan Wrasse of 3-1 to finish April on 15.

At this point it starts to get tougher as a fair few have been ticked off. 2 more were weighed in during May, a Thick Lipped Mullet of 2-12 & a Starry Smoothound of 8-8 to finish the month on 17.

June started with a PB common eel of 3-10.

Followed by an improver Ballan of 4-3. Then one of the highlights of the year, an improved Starry Smoothound of 20-0

That just left time for another improver Ballan of 5-3 to finish June on 18.

July saw me away on holiday for 2 weeks so just 1 new fish added on my return, a Common Smoothound of 6-4 for fish no 19.

August started with another bonus fish a Twaite Shad of 1-6, what a way to get to 20.

Then a Gilthead bream of just 6ozs, there was no weight for Gilts back then as they were still a new arrival for us. Then the first day of that years JOSAF I had an improver Black Bream of 1-13 as well as a White Bream of 1-12 and a Bass of 4-6 to finish August on 23 and now it’s getting much harder.

September I finally managed to tick off Golden Grey Mullet with a fish of 2-0, it was 1-12 to weigh in back then and I had several near misses before eventually ticking that one off. Then added Scad another one that took a while at 13ozs before an improver Thick Lipped of 3-0 and an improver 3 bearded Rockling of 1-6 to finish on 25 with 2 months to go.

October I fished really hard for flatfish and red mullet but despite catching all 3 species none were big enough to add to the tally. I did add a Tub Gurnard of 11ozs to take me to 26.

November and the final straight started with a Sole of 14ozs, not quite big enough. I really wanted one more as I believe 26 was the most ever weighed in for one season. After quite a few near misses I finally got over the line with a Red Mullet of 1-1 for a final season tally of 27.

I think it’s a lot harder now, species like Rockling, Pouting and Dogfish you could tick off easily back then would be quite time consuming today.

I’ve often wondered if you had enough time would 30 in a season be possible. That year I never had Bullhuss, Tope, Thin Lipped Mullet, Plaice or Sole but I did have Cod, Twaite Shad, White Bream and Blonde Ray all of which would be super tough if not impossible now.

These days I want to spend too much time on certain species to really try this again, the hardest thing I found with this was having to move on once a target was achieved. My obsession with finding a big Stingray would get in the way!

If I could sum up December in one word it would be swell, especially during the first half when there were dark nights with no moon. We had a good 3 weeks of continuous big swells wiping out most of the rock marks.

My first session of the month was a St Catherine’s session with dad on the bottom wall. Dad fished for Conger while I opted to chuck out a couple of Ray rods. It was a really quiet night on the big baits, just plenty of Pout & Dogfish on the bait rod as well as another surprise Bass around 2lb and this cracking big Lobster that was full of eggs and was carefully returned.

The first weekend of the month was due to be the inter club challenge match but it was postponed until the new year due to the huge swells and strong winds. That left a free weekend and with big tides I opted to use the time for bait collection. Believe it or not I did my first ever squid fishing session after watching a few of Sam’s videos on his Beneath the waves YouTube channel and in just an hours fishing I had 4 squid for the freezer.

Definitely something I need to spend more time doing, trouble is when the squid are around so is everything else and I’m always reluctant to sacrifice a bait session to go and fish for squid. The rest of the weekend was spent digging Rockworm which seems to get harder and harder.

I then did a session on the north coast with the big rods. The swell was still massive but I managed to find somewhere tucked in just about fishable although I still had to pack up about 2 hours before high when it started getting silly. Action was non stop with Conger, no monsters but a couple over the 12lb club minimum for my first weigher of the new season.

The Christmas markets were still going on so I was fitting in short sessions as and when I could. We then had a break in the weather, the swell was still bad but it was a bright sunny day and surprisingly warm so I decided to try for a late season mullet. Water visibility was pretty much nothing so i was cycling through the depths to try and find any fish that might be feeding. I shallowed right up to about 2 foot, dropped the float back in and it shot down like a rocket. When I struck the water erupted as an angry fish went mad on the surface. At first I thought it was a Bass but once it calmed down and swam off I could see it was a nice Mullet. After a short tussle I slipped it into the net and a nice solid fish of 4-3 was my second club weigher.

As is often the case late season that was the only fish although I did miss a couple of bites right at the end of the session. That evening after dinner I opted for another short session after a Smalleyed managing 1 small ray that was foul hooked first cast before a couple of strap conger and a Pouting.

Then it was back to St Catherine’s as again the swell was too bad for the rocks. Another pretty quiet session with a few Pouting & Dogfish and some small Conger, this one the biggest just about making double figures.

That just left time for one last session before Christmas. The swell had finally eased a little and I decided to risk a north coast session. I decided to target a Huss and use heavy leaders and traces so I could hand line or drag up in the swell a Huss and if I hooked a decent Eel then it would probably bite through the trace line. When I arrived at the mark it was the worst kind of swell, calm for a few minutes before a set of 2 or 3 massive waves rolled in, not fun in the dark when you can’t see them coming. I nearly abandoned it but decided to give it an hour and see if I could hold bottom enough to fish. A dogfish first cast followed by non stop action from small Conger, so much so that I couldn’t keep 2 rods in the water. The high tide passed and thankfully the swell dropped out making it a little more comfortable. Just as I was thinking of calling it a night after my 11th Conger I finally found my target species, this nice Huss of 8-4 and another club fish ticked off. Oh and it was caught on my Jersey caught squid!

Christmas saw a change in the weather with the wind swinging east and the swell finally dropping but so did the temperature. I don’t generally fish much between Christmas and New Year, it’s a break from work and I normally just have a lazy week. I did one short rather hopeful mullet session that was freezing and unsurprisingly a complete blank before one last night session on the rocks. It was a clear, cold night with a fair moon so I chucked one rod out with worm and the other with ray baits. Nothing too exciting happened but I did manage a couple more club fish with a 2lb dogfish and this chunky Pouting of 1-5.

So that rounds off 2025 and what an incredible year it has been for me on the fishing front. I certainly picked a good year to start a blog and I must point out what I have caught this year is not a normal year for me and would certainly rank as one of my best years with 3 new PB’s and plenty of other nice fish along the way. I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my blog and for all the positive messages and feedback I have received. I’ve really enjoyed doing it and if I have inspired just 1 person to go fishing then it has been well worth it. Hopefully the fishing gods will continue to smile on me in 2026 and I might even find that elusive big Stinger that I dream about. Here are my 2025 Highlights. Tight lines and best wishes to everyone for 2026.

Following on from my post last month about my unfulfilled quest for a British Conger Club shore gold medal a few people mentioned how it would be good to see dad’s equivalent so here it is.

Dad qualified as a full member of the BCC way back in 1975 with a St Caths eel of exactly 25lb. He didn’t have long to wait for a first medal with a silver medal fish of 35-9 caught straight off the end of St Caths in 1976.

1977 was another St Cath’s fish, this time a bronze medal for an eel of 32lb. There was no medal fish in 1978 before bouncing back in 1979 with his first of 3 Jersey 40’s with a St Cath’s backwall eel of 41-8.

In 1980 it got even better, another silver with a Jersey P.B, again from the backwall of St Cath’s at 43-13.

And to add to that he also had the first ever winner of the shore conger festival with his best jersey eel from the rocks at 38-4

There was then a 10 year drought of medals mainly down to bringing up myself and my brother before getting back on the medal trail in 1990 with an another St Caths eel of 30-8.

1991 was bronze again, yet again a St Caths eel of 30-0.

1992 was bronze again, this time a rare Jersey medal off the rocks with this one of 30-14.

1993 heralded the start of a run of big fish from the other Channel Islands starting with a silver medal fish of 36-15 from the aptly named Congriere in Sark.

1994 and another Silver, this time from Alderney with an eel of 39-0

1995 and silver again from Alderney, this time 35-4, a night that saw Paul Bisson also land an eel of 34-8.

1996 and another Alderney fish but this time it’s gold. Amazingly this eel of 46-0 was caught during the Alderney angling festival and was only big enough to finish second in the conger section, an insight in to just how good the conger fishing in Alderney was at this point.

1997 and after a run of silvers it’s back to bronze with another Alderney fish of 30-0 but it was just a dip because 1998 was back to Gold with a PB and 50+ tie winning Alderney eel of 53-12 caught in a big swell and expertly gaffed by Paul Bisson. I will always remember getting the phone call just before Christmas from dad saying he had just caught a massive eel and for anyone, but particularly dad a shore 50 truly was a dream fish of a lifetime.

1999 was back to earth with a bump with an Alderney bronze medal fish of 28-5.

There was then a gap of 2 years with no medal before bouncing back with a Jersey PB from the rocks of. 41-2. I remember this night well. It was February and the weather was awful so we had found somewhere to tuck in. The swell had got really nasty even on this sheltered mark so dad moved further into the bay where he was getting pestered by dogfish. Pretty fed up he left his gear out before a proper bite. It was super shallow so when the eel surfaced it was really fresh and looked massive. I was a little weary of gaffing such a fresh fish but there were no real dramas and dad had his 3rd Jersey 40.

2003 was another bronze, this time a Sark fish of 33-8, 2004 another bronze for a Jersey fish of 28-12 which was caught in the Conger festival and was the winner, a 3rd success for dad.

2005 was another Sark fish, this time a bronze of 32-0 before a medal less year in 2006. 2007 & 2008 saw back to back Jersey silvers with eels of 37-0 & 37-4 both rock caught eels actually caught within a couple months of each other.

2009 was medal less again before a Jersey bronze of 25-0 in 2010 actually caught during the bass festival, 2011 another Jersey bronze of 30-4, this one again caught during the Conger festival but not big enough to win on this occasion.

2012 was another Jersey shore bronze, this time 33-8 which was the last medal dad won.

So a 13 year gap since a medal, when you look at dad’s Congering history that shows the decline over the last decade or so although there are signs of a little recovery fingers crossed. Dad actually goes for his first knee op next week so hopefully once they are both done he can get back out and add to his impressive medal collection.

Well what a mad crazy busy month November was. Between fishing, work and helping my wife with the Christmas market I’ve barely had time to take breath.

Fishing wise the month actually started pretty slowly. The opening weekend I had commitments in the evening so was restricted to a couple of short daytime sessions in what was pretty grim weather, strong winds, big swell and really cold. I opted for a couple of short mullet sessions around the harbour that only produced a few small thick lips and a solitary snipe.

Next was a session on the north coast with the big rods. The swell was still really big so choice of venue was extremely limited. I managed to find somewhere I could tuck in that was just about fishable and had plenty of action from the off from Conger with a couple of slightly better ones amongst the usual straps both landed single handed with a landing net which was entertaining in the swell. These the best of them at 15-8 & 18lb.

Then it was time for the annual Bass festival which also serves as the penultimate round of the Bass on measure. I started on the Friday night with a session on the lures. At the 5pm start it was still a little on the shallow side where I was so instead of starting on the soft plastics I opted for a hard lure – an IMA Hound 125F Glide in silver scales for those interested. 2nd cast in I had a hit but failed to hook up, promising. Next cast and I’m hit again, this time connecting with a fairly small fish. After a spirited scrap I had the first fish of the session at 48cm, not a monster but at least it was a fish to register for the BOM.

It then went quiet so I moved along to the next point and 2nd cast again I got hit by what felt like a much better fish. It made a couple of really strong runs before it was close enough to see, I turned on my headlamp and was a little surprised it wasn’t a big bigger. I managed to slip it in the next In between the swells, a slight improver of 53cm.

I then had 3 small fish in quick succession as well as a few other hits before it went quiet and it was time to move along again. Next stop and 2 more small fish straight away before it went quiet again. One last move to an area I don’t normally fish but the tide was so high by this point there was enough water to have a go and second cast again I got hit. This fish was much slower just a few head shakes, no real runs and I was a little surprised to see the best fish of the night when I turned on my headlamp. A quick scramble down the rocks with the net and a long lean fish just under 61cm, a possible contender for a prize.

What a cracking session, 8 bass, 7 on the hard lure and just 1 on a sidewinder skerries.

Next was a stupid o’clock bait session that turned into a complete dogfish fest, so much so that I gave up early and was back in bed by 4am.

I then opted to give the remainder of my bait to dad to have a go on the beach while I returned to have another session on the lures. It’s rare for me to go back to the same mark in 2 consecutive days but they were there on the Friday so I felt it was worth another bash. Sadly I should have listened to myself because I never had a touch. Amazing the difference from one night to the next. That was the end of my Bass festival weekend, I had a family meal to go to on the Sunday evening so didn’t expect to be able to make the weigh in. That was however cancelled at the last minute so I made it down to see what had been caught. To my surprise I had the biggest lure fish so won the lure section as well as coming equal first in this round of the BOM.

Here are the full results from the Bass Festival.

Next session was another session on the rocks with the big baits which turned out to be quite a session. It started how these sessions often do with plenty of small eels before a much more positive bite which resulted in me lifting into what felt like a much better eel. I was fishing fairly light as was mainly targeting a Huss so took it easy. It was quite difficult to judge how big it was going to be because there was a really big swell still running and I was playing the swell as well as the fish. When I eventually managed to get it to the surface I couldn’t see it clearly in the swell but I thought it was around 20-25lb, a good eel these days. I started to make my way down towards the water, or as close as I could get in the swell and grabbed my gaff only for it to get tangled in my landing net which was laying alongside it! I’ve got the rod in one hand, the gaff in the other and I’m somehow trying to untangle the net. The eel then made a couple of strong dives taking a fair bit of line while I’m still trying to free my gaff! Eventually I get the gaff free from the net but now I have the challenge of landing the eel. The swell is coming around the corner washing the eel about 15 yards away from me, then I’m winding like mad to keep in contact as the backwash then drags it about 15 yards the other way. I know if I’m patient and lucky I might get one chance at this. I must of had the fish in the swell a good 10 minutes before a tiny window of opportunity and I didn’t miss my chance. As soon as I felt the weight on the gaff I thought it might be a bit bigger than I was expecting. It’s a long time since I’ve seen a big eel but I fancied it had to be close to 30. Well I wasn’t dissatisfied when the scales settled at 38-0, my best eel for many years and my first Conger club medal for quite a while. Amazingly this was the day after a wrote my previous post about trying for a conger club gold. It may only be another silver medal fish but I certainly wasn’t complaining.

I put the rods back out while I enjoyed that big fish buzz that doesn’t happen very often and marvelled at how lucky I had been to land it singled handed in those conditions. Next bite and it was the target species Bullhuss albeit only a small one but another species ticked off for my species hunt.

Rods back out and it’s not long before I’m in again and this one feels a little different. On the surface I spot the telltale reflection of the eyes from a better Huss, I decided not to chance my luck with the swell again and dragged it up with a big wave holding my breath it didn’t spit the hook as they so often do. This one was a better fish of 8-15 and my 20th club weigher of the year for the Sinkers, always a nice target to reach.

Rods back out again, the left hand one goes but it snags me and I snap out. I decide with the way the swell now is it’s time to reluctantly call it a night. While I’m sorting my gear out the second rod goes and I’m in again! This feels heavier and on the surface I can see it’s a bigger Huss, looks a good double. I wait for the right swell but my luck runs out and the trace parts as I’m dragging it up in the swell. I had rode my luck all night so couldn’t really complain and amazingly all this happened and I was back home by 8.30pm, what an amazing few hours fishing.

Following on from that lovely eel I had to get out and have another go but this session reverted to type with tiny strap eels and dogfish plaguing the baits.

I then had a small window on a Sunday afternoon and as the wind had swung east and the swell had finally dropped I decided to try for a late season mullet on the north coast. I had my first bite which I missed after about 40 minutes of chervying but next cast I hooked the first fish of the session, this spirited thick lipped just over 2lb.

I thought that might be it as you often get 1 fish on the rocks and that’s it, but 20 minutes later the float goes down again and I had a slightly better one of 3-4.

I then hooked one that put up a really weird scrap which made sense when I netted it and saw it was foul hooked. I then had another about 2lb before this one of 3-5

By this point I was running out of daylight fast, I had one more drop right under my feet where I could just about see my float, and down it went again. After a cracking scrap I slipped the best one of the session into the net at 3-13.

I did think about slipping the float off and fishing straight up and down as they were clearly there but I was already running late so decided to call it a day. 6 fish in a little over 2 hours was great sport. Oddly in the past where I have fished the north coast at this time of year for mullet you catch very few fish but they are generally good fish. So unusual to catch so many. oh and I even had a black bream.

Next was a session at St Catherine’s Breakwater with dad as he was keen to try and get a club weigher Conger for the year which needs to be over 12lb. It was just like old times, a horrible night with strong winds and heavy rain and dad and I the only two idiots stupid enough to be down there. I opted to fish for Ray, just catching the usual Pout & Dogfish as well as a few Black Bream and a surprise Bass about 2lb. I lost a couple of eels on the Ray gear that bit through the trace. Just when I was thinking of calling it a night I hear a shout from dad and he has an eel that looks like it might just make it. After a bit of a dance it was in the net and it felt like it had a bit of weight. Sure enough it was mission accomplished with this one of 12-15.

Then it was time for the last round of this years Bass on measure. I had only weighed in 4 rounds so was keen to at least try and get a 5th fish as only your best 5 rounds count. I was too distracted by Stingray in the early rounds to be competitive but a decent fish could still see me finish with a respectable total. This round also coincided with the first weekend of the Christmas market so time was going to be squeezed. I started on the Friday on the lures, I figured I had 1 hour and 10 minutes before I had to make a dash up the cliff to pick my wife up. I had a small fish of 40cm, not big enough almost straight away so was optimistic of a weigher but that was the only action of the session. I decided to go back early morning, personally I always prefer the morning tides but it was just a single fish session again, this one an angry fish that wouldn’t relax on the ruler but just scraped the 42cm minimum. It always amazes me when I catch a 42cm fish how small the minimum landing size is, it really is a small fish.

I then decided on a daytime low water session on the beach. It turned into a proper gruelling session. Firstly I really struggled to dig bait and managed just 60 small lugworm. When I arrived at the mark the weather was nothing short of atrocious. It was so windy I could barely open the van door and the rain was torrential. To make matters worse it was freezing. I decided on taking absolute minimum amount of gear, no tripod just a rod, a few bits of tackle, a ruler and my bait clipped to my waders. It has to be amongst the worst conditions I can ever remember fishing in. My hands were so cold I could barely bait up. Every time I reeled in my bait was gone and the trace wasn’t crab chewed so I felt I was getting bites I just couldn’t tell in the wind. I stuck it out probably as much because I couldn’t face the walk back up the beach as much as anything but I did feel my best chance of a fish would be just after the turn. Sure enough just after the low I had my first definite bite, when I wound down there was a fair bit of weight but I wasn’t sure if it was a fish or weed. About half way in I felt a kick and knew at least some of the weight was a fish. As it got closer in I got a bit more control in the wind and it began to actually feel like a reasonable fish. It then kited straight past me and looked pretty decent, I slid it on to the beach, a really solid fish in great condition. I didn’t have any scales but at 63cm in great condition it must of been pushing 6lb. A quick measure and back it went while I headed home for a hot shower and a coffee, frozen solid and soaked to the skin. Why do we do it!

I was unable to make it to the weigh in as I had to pack my wife’s stall at the Christmas market up but when the results went up I was equal first for the round and a late rally over the last 3 rounds had seen me finish with a respectable final score of 279cm.

Sadly work then totally took over and I only managed one very short session on the lures during the remainder of the month which was a blank.

December looks like continuing to be very busy with both work and two more weekends of the Christmas markets so fishing time could be a bit limited. It is however the start of a new club year on 1st December and next weekend is the inter club challenge match so plenty to look forward to.

I have always set myself targets in my fishing and although some have taken many years to achieve I have normally got there in the end. The one that has escaped me and was always one of my biggest dreams was a shore gold medal for the British Conger Club preferably from Jersey.

I have been a life member of the BCC since the late 80’s. To be a full member you have to catch a qualifying eel which from the shore is 25lb. I caught my qualifier way back in 1985 aged just 11 with this fish caught in Alderney of 27lb.

You don’t get a medal for your qualifier but once a member your biggest eel of the year will win a medal with the medal weights 25lb for a bronze, 35lb for a silver and a challenging 45lb for a gold.

Conger has always been my favourite species and I can’t imagine how many hours I spend chasing that 45lb gold but despite a total of 57 over the bronze medal weight of 25lb of which 25 were over 30lb and 16 of which were over the silver medal weight of 35lb the 45 has never happened and while the recent mini revival in eels has given me a glimmer of hope it seems unlikely to happen now.

It actually took me until 1990 to win my first medal, I started with a fish bang on 25lb which I upped about a month later to 26lb before smashing my PB with what is still my Jersey PB of 41-8. I remember that fish well, it was the first time I had ever used mono for conger traces after years of using wire. I was fishing with my mate Michael who had never gaffed an eel before. He managed to nick it and somehow it stayed on the gaff. We only had weighmaster scales with us that only went up to 30lb and we had no sack to retain the eel. I took my oilskin waterproof coat off, tied the ends of the arms up and we zipped it into the coat and carried it up the cliff between us. I was on my 50cc motorbike so we had to persuade his mum to take it to be weighed for us, special memories.

1991 I made silver again with 2 over 35lb, the first on Conger gear of 35-4 and the second the 39-4 caught on bass gear described in a previous post.

1992 and it was silver again, this time a St Catherine’s Breakwater fish caught on the back wall by the rings at 35-6, this was back before the boulders had been dropped on the end and you could fish the rings on a dead nip tide before the high and just about hold bottom. Check out the length of the trace used!

1993 and my biggest from Jersey was 27-8 caught from Greve pier so my medal fish was a Sark fish and my closest to a gold yet at 44-4.

1994 and it was silver yet again with a solitaired eel which put up a really memorable battle of 38-0

I then had a gap in my fishing, busy getting married and working so I never managed a medal in 95,96 or 97 before getting back into the swing of things with a bronze medal 25-0 eel in 1998.

1999 and it was silver again, this was again a St Catherine’s Breakwater fish, this time from the last bench on the backwall at 36-4.

2000 and it was back to bronze with this one of 32-0

2001 and my medal fish came from the main harbour in Sark, caught on a fillet of wrasse on a tide so big dad managed to gaff it from the top, this one another silver at 38-8

2002 and back to Jersey and back to bronze with an early January fish of 31-8.

2003 and back to silver with my second Jersey 40 as described in a previous post in a session that also produced a 30-8.

2004 and a couple of 25’s from Jersey but my medal fish was again a Sark fish and again Silver at 36-8 from an appropriately named rockmark called Congriere.

2005 was back to Jersey and back to bronze with a 26-0, 2006 also a bronze at 27-4.

2007 and it was back to silver with a nice eel of 35-8.

2008 and I had a great autumn run of eels with fish of 28-12, 31-12, 32-12, 33-12 & this one for another silver of 37-0.

2009 and it was silver again this time with an eel of 35-0

2010 and it was back to bronze with a fish of 27-8, 2011 started with a 31-12 but ended with another silver fish of 38-8, a memorable catch as I was fishing at Sorel Point straight off the front by the life ring on my own and somehow climbed down, gaffed the eel and climbed back up. Crazy really.

At this point you were really starting to notice a change in the catches, there were still the odd big fish if you put the time in but there were nowhere near as many fish in the 15-25lb bracket.

2012 started with a 25 pounder in the Conger Festival that came second but my medal fish was yet another silver at 37-0, again solitaired in a big swell.

2013 was back to bronze, this time with a 28-12

2014 and Bronze again this time at 32-0, a fish I traced out without gaffing and is actually the last 30+ I have caught.

Then in 2015 my medal run came to an end with my best eel of the year just 18-4.

I did have a bronze in 2016 for an eel of 25-8 but my best in 2017 was only 21-12 before this one in 2018 from Bouley Bay Pier of 27-8 was my last medal fish

So 8 years without a medal, a few 20’s over that time but none over the 25lb minimum and the chance of that elusive gold seems to be gone but there are definitely signs of improvement and I have seen more eels in the 15-20lb bracket this year that there has been for some time and the conger festival results certainly offer some hope for the future. I certainly hope it comes back, for me there’s nothing like a night congering on the rocks.

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.

What an absolute pleasure it was to spend an afternoon in the company of Colin Shales, probably the first person to target specimen fish from the shore in Jersey. I took dad with me and listening to the two of them talking about their memories of fishing St Catherine’s during the 60’s, 70’s & 80’s and the characters of the day was just wonderful.

Colin was born in Jersey in 1934 and was evacuated to the UK with all his family in 1939 returning back to the island after the war in 1945. It wasn’t until Colin was in his early 20’s that he started fishing, so the mid 50’s. In those days most people simply fished for the table catching Pollack, Wrasse and Mackerel. Colin told me when he first started targeting bigger fish it was Conger at St Catherine’s using hand lines with bricks for weights. Back in those days there were no railings on the breakwater.

It wasn’t look before Colin progressed to cane rods and reels made by Intrepid and Mitchell and started targeting bigger Conger and Undulate Rays. Colin soon became the master of the Undulates and caught many cracking Rays before breaking the British Record in 1978 with a fish of 15-12-9 which broke the existing record by 5lb. For this incredible achievement Colin won the Anglers Mail best overall performer award, and Colin and his wife were flown to London for 3 days where at a luncheon he was presented with a gold Abu Ambassadeur reel which sits proudly in his living room.

Colins family are no strangers to British records, as well as Colins British record Undulate, Colins son Martin held the British record for Marbled Electric Ray and even Colins late wife got in on the act with a British record Rockcook Wrasse, a species I have never seen caught locally.

As extraordinary as Colin’s record Ray was it was beaten by another true character of St Catherine’s and today’s record holder Ken Skinner with this fish of 17-8

Colin did go on to catch many other Undulates including a lovely personal best of 16-15-5, a massive fish by anyone’s Standards

It wasn’t just Ray that Colin could catch, he also caught plenty of big Conger, Bass, Wrasse as well as many other species. Dad often talks about a massive Conger Colin lost on the end one night, 3 times they had it in the net and 3 times it rolled out. This was Colin’s biggest eel of 35lb.

Apart from catching many incredible fish and laying the foundations for specimen hunting that we all follow Colin has also made a huge contribution to angling in Jersey and indeed to Jersey life. A member of the Jersey Sea Fishing Club and the St Catherine’s Angling Association, Colin was also one of the organisers of the Jersey Junior Sea Angling Festival more commonly known as “The Smiths.” Most of my generation and the generation after me will have fond memories of The Smiths. Colin was on the committee for the full 30 years that it ran for, some years attracting an incredible 300 kids. I remember it being packed solid, you would have a midday break where every kid was given an ice cream, a bottle of drink and a packet of crisps all sponsored by Smiths Soft Drinks hence the name. You would have Bel Royal Radio who would rig up a tannoy system along the entire length of the breakwater, St John’s ambulance in attendance and the lifeboat on patrol. It was a massive undertaking for the organisers who did a fantastic job.

Colin and his late wife Lilian are also well known for their fundraising for the RNLI. Originally Lilian would knit soft toys which they would sell on their charity stall in the car park at St Catherine’s. After Lilian passed away Colin who by his own admission can’t knit decided to continue selling shells and to date they have raised an incredible £55,000.

Here are a few more old photos to enjoy.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and these wonderful old photos as much as I enjoyed chatting with Colin. For most of us fishing today we have had people willing to show us the ropes. I was fortunate enough to have an angling mad dad who was happy to give up his time to take me. When I talk to dad about who had the time to show him it’s always Colin’s name that comes first. When I asked Colin there was no one before him targeting specimen size fish, he really was the first and for that we are all following in his footsteps.