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The start of July saw the Mackerel shoals turn up in force so the first few sessions of the month were focused on filling the freezer ready for the autumn and winter bait fishing. Tbh feathering for Mackerel is not my favourite kind of fishing, it’s more of a work out really but it has to be done. I have a chamber vacuum sealer which does a great job and a few sessions was enough and I even managed a club weigher of 1-1.

First proper session was a St Catherine’s session with dad trying for a Smoothound. It was really slow with no hound action but I did manage this colourful Wrasse about 3lb

Next up was a beach session with the light gear which was pretty slow with just a few small Bass so I dug the LRF gear out the van and ticked Sand Goby off for my species hunt.

Due to the fishing being so slow I had some bait left so decided to nip out for an hour the following day and what a difference a day makes. I finished with 4 Giltheads & 4 Bass before I ran out of bait, all caught on 5lb line in about 2ft of water, fantastic fun. This was the pick of them just under 6lb and all safely returned.

That just left time for 1 more session before jetting off on holiday to Madeira so I went and wasted a few more hours on the Stingers with nothing but small bream and bass for my efforts.

No fishing took place on holiday but I did try the local speciality of Limpets which were interesting. To be fair the restaurant I tried them at turned out to be the worst place we ate all week so I would try them again.

While I was away a few things happened on the local fishing scene, firstly the Sinkers Sea Fishing Club held there annual Wrasse competition. This is held over a weekend, completely catch and release with the longest fish winning. By all accounts the fishing was pretty difficult and the best fish went to Neil Muldoon at 49cm.

There was also a few Tope caught from St Catherine’s, we are seeing a few every year now but there seems to be no pattern to when they arrive so it’s a case of putting in the hours until you get the timing right. Graham Carver has put the hours in for a few years now and has been rewarded with consistent results and managed this cracker during the recent run.

Also while I was away Peter Gosselin sadly passed away. Peter had the tackle shop in the fish market for many years and I have many fond memories of being a kid going in on a Saturday morning for a coffee listening to all the fishing stories of the week.

Peter made a huge contribution to angling locally, a strong political voice for the benefit of local anglers as well as contributing time and effort to a lot of the local competitions. I personally will always be grateful to Peter for his many years of involvement with the Shore Conger Festival. Peter ran it almost single handed for many years and also made the stunning team trophy we have in memory of Colin Le Monnier. If it wasn’t for Peter I doubt the Conger Festival would have survived this long so thank you Pete and rest in peace.

On returning from holiday I was pretty keen to get out after nearly 2 weeks without wetting a line, almost unheard of for me. I should probably of tried to catch the end of the Tope run but my obsession with Stingers got the better of me which turned a lot of effort into yet another blank. If I ever do manage to find a big Stinger I will of worked for it!

I then fancied a session on the rocks so took myself off for an afternoon to see what was about. The answer was plenty of small Black Bream that seem to be everywhere these days and a Conger about 5lb which had me dreaming on an elusive Triggerfish briefly. I then got bitten through by a bigger Conger before calling it a day.

That just left time for one last session so I decided to do a trip down the harbour with dad that turned out to be a special trip. It was extremely slow until dad pulled out his Jersey Specimen Tub Gurnard of 1-2, a fish he has been after for a very long time and takes him to 34 species over Jersey Specimen weight putting us level. We have actually had 36 between us with dad having Thornback Ray & Lumpsucker that I don’t have and me having Blonde Ray & Cuckoo Wrasse that dad doesn’t have. Sometimes it’s not the biggest fish that mean the most.

All I could manage was this little Goldsinny Wrasse for me species hunt!

And just like that another month is gone. August heralds the start of the competition season, first up is a new club Thick Lipped Mullet competition followed by the Jersey Open so plenty to look forward to.

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There was really only one place I could go with this week’s TBT post. It was 31 years ago yesterday I caught my “fish of a lifetime”. I have been very lucky in my fishing life to catch some amazing fish but this one still stands head and shoulders above the rest for me. A very special day I will never forget.

It was just a couple of weeks after my 21st birthday and fishing confidence was high after a string of good Wrasse including a new PB of 6-10. It was the first year I had targeted Wrasse with the static approach of 2 rods on a tripod casting out. Like Bass anglers that see lure fishing as the purists way, for me Wrasse fishing should really be done using 1 rod touch ledgering right under your feet but the purists way isn’t always the most successful way and I’m not too stubborn to adapt.

Tackle for the day was an Abu 174c for those of you old enough to remember paired with a Daiwa sealine real which was more of a boat reel loaded with 30lb line. Rig was a simple 2 hook paternoster tied directly into the main line something I would never do today and hooks were 1/0 Partridge Jack Hilton carp hooks baited with hardback crab.

On this day dad and I decided to move slightly over from the area we had been catching and we set up probably 50 yards apart.

We started fishing about midday and first cast in, the rod doubles over and I’m into a decent Wrasse that went 4-14. A great start and a fish on the dropping tide, a good sign as most low water Wrasse marks are always better after the turn. Another Wrasse of 3-10 followed before it went a bit quiet. If I’m honest I wasn’t even watching the rod when I had the bite about half an hour after low. I turned around and the rod was bent right over. I picked it up and hit it and instantly knew it was a big fish. The ground here is really rough and you have to bully your fish at the start to try and get them up and over a reef you cast over. Twice on the way in it snagged me and twice I put the rod down and patiently waited for it to swim out. As it was luck was on my side and both times it swam out. When it surfaced I had no idea it was anywhere near that big, I was thinking 5-6lb. I waded out slightly and dragged the fish on to the dry. I grabbed the scales and quickly tied a loop in the trace to get an idea of the weight, when I lifted the scales they pulled round to 9lb 1ozs. I never for a second thought that was close to correct, I just assumed I hadn’t zeroed the scales properly or something. I took the fish off, checked the scales were zeroed and tried again. Again it went 9lb 1ozs. I then really looked at the fish and it then dawned on me it really was that big. Dad was still fishing away further over oblivious to what was going on, at this point excitement took over and I’m jumping up and down waving my arms shouting for him. He made his way over to see what was going on and I remember saying to him what’s your biggest Wrasse ever anywhere because he had previously had a Wrasse in Alderney of 8-3 which was only 3 ounces under the British record at the time. I then doubted myself and said I think I’m weighing it wrong but the scales are saying this is around 9lb. I remember his reaction when he came over and looked at it and we weighed it again to be sure. At this time the Jersey record was 7lb and drams so this really was out of the blue. The British record at the time was 8-10 from Guernsey and this fish was so fat it looked like it could drop some weight quick. We never had a bag or anything between us so I wrapped it in my t-shirt and we packed up to go and get it officially weighed. Luckily we lived next door to a club weighmaster who had tested basket scales so we went there first and prayed he would be home. Luckily he was and after a nervous wait the scales settled at 8-13-2. Wow I had just broken the British record Wrasse, what a dream come true. We took it down to show Eddie at JFS and into the fish marked to show the guys in there and took loads of photos.

I’m sure many people would frown at keeping such a magnificent fish just to claim a record and I certainly wouldn’t do it today, in fact you wouldn’t have to but it was different times back then.

I did also the usual stuff with the angling magazines of the day winning a fair haul of prizes and I even got a free Barbour jacket from the British record committee.

Of course the British record has been beaten with a fish of 9-1 from Portland, but to my amazement the Channel Island record still stands after all this time.

I have many amazing memories from fishing, many with dad but this one is still the best and I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

After 2 lovely new pb’s in April & May, June was a quieter month with less fishing time and a nice week away camping.

The month started with a St Catherine’s session with dad that was really slow. Just the ever reliable Dogfish and Small Conger, no Bream and no Tope runs.

Next I thought I would have a try for a Smooth-hound. It was a little early in the year for this mark but the tides and conditions were good so I thought it was worth a try. Again fishing was slow with just a few Dogfish but just as I was thinking of packing up the rod pulled over and I had my target species albeit only 4lb 7ozs. I decided to stay on a bit longer to see if there were anymore but only added a first for me, a Conger on hardback crab.

Next was a short Stingray session that was a complete blank before a short but hectic Wrasse session with the leftover crabs from the weekend that produced 4 Wrasse before I ran out of crabs, the best a really long fish of 4lb 11ozs.

That was the last session before we headed off to Lyons Gate Caravan Park in Dorset for a week. I didn’t take any sea gear with me but I did bring along some coarse stuff to have a go on the campsite lake where I caught Roach, Rudd, Bream and plenty of Carp to just over 16lb, great fun on a 1.5lb test curve barbel rod.

First session on the return was a Bream bash which produced plenty of fish but nothing over about a pound but it was an opportunity to get some standby Tope bait in the freezer.

Then a session in the town harbour with Dad, mainly trying for a Gurnard as this is a specimen dad hasn’t managed to tick off yet. It was absolutely dead apart from a few blennies and gobies on my lrf gear.

That just left time for a couple more sessions on the Stingray. I am constantly trying new areas for these trying to find a bigger average size of fish which inevitably leads to a lot of blank sessions. Sadly no sign of any Stingers just a mixture of small Bream, Dogfish, a little Smoothound and a surprise little Red Mullet.

July see’s me off on holiday again, this time a completely fishing free trip to Madeira, a bit of a fishing detox before the autumn.

Smooth-hounds are a really interesting species locally. Throughout the 80’s and first half of the 90’s they were never caught from the shore locally and I think the record was about 4lb. They started to appear in the late 90’s firstly from St Catherine’s Breakwater. At first there was no great numbers but there was enough to target them and slowly the record began to rise. Throughout the late 90’s the numbers and the size slowly increased and a pattern emerged of 2 notable runs, the first on the south coast which started early to mid May and ran through to around the end of June and generally produced the bigger fish. The second run was on the east coast, predominantly at St Catherine’s and was more July time and could often throw up big numbers but generally smaller fish.

I wasn’t really fishing in the late 90’s with my own business to run I just never had the time so I didn’t catch my first hound until 2000.

My first decent hound was in 2000, a fish of 10-12 which was caught during daylight on squid, at the time it seemed huge and at the end of the year when I did my diary I considered it a better fish than a 32lb Conger, a 15lb Undulate and a 6-1 Wrasse.

Gradually they got bigger in numbers and size and a couple years later I increased my pb by a couple of ounces with my first double from St Caths.

By the mid 2000’s doubles were pretty common and you could sometimes catch 3 or 4 in a session, some fantastic fishing. I had caught quite a few upto around 12lb when I had one that just dwarfed everything I had caught before and I remember being amazed by this fish of 17-12.

I would say by around 2010 the numbers had peaked and each year after there seemed slightly less but the odd fish just seemed to get bigger and in 2012 I caught my current PB, a fish that bounced the scales between 23-15 & 24-2 in my weigh sling which weighs 8ozs. It was a wet and windy night so I settled on a conservative 23-0, a fish clearly heavily in pups so a couple of quick photos before it was released. An amazing fish I still consider one of my most memorable catches.

The numbers were definitely starting to drop off now but there were still the odd really big fish each year, well worth putting in the effort for. In 2015 I had my second 20, a fish of exactly 20lb that went like a train.

The last doubles I caught was a memorable session in 2017. I arrived at the mark in daylight so decided to start with single big hard back crab to try and avoid small wrasse. I chucked 2 rods out and waited for the light to fade, dusk was always a great time for them. First cast and the first rod doubles over to what is clearly a good hound. After a cracking scrap it’s in the net and I put it in a rock pool as I went to find my scales. No sooner had I turned my back and the second rod doubled over and I was in again to another good fish. In the net it looked about the same size as the first. On the scales they went 18-7 & 17-14 now that’s a great first cast!

They turned out to be the last doubles I caught, lesson being when somethings good make the most of it because you don’t know how long it will last.

We still catch hounds and last year I had them to over 7lb, my best for a few years so maybe we will see them come back in size as well as numbers.

Who knows why we suddenly started catching them and why we stopped catching the bigger ones, the unpredictability is what keeps us fishing, you never know what might turn up next.

The first half of May was dominated by easterly winds, resulting in often cold days and flat calm crystal clear seas, not the best fishing conditions. Despite that my luck continues to be good and I have been blessed again with some nice fish including another PB, my 3rd of the year which is pretty unusual for me.

First session in anger was a mackerel bash hoping for a feed and maybe a few for the freezer. Tbh it was hard work with just 3 Mackerel, 2 Pollack and a Sandeel to show for my 2 hours hard graft but at least it was enough for dinner.

Then it was back on the Giltheads and another fairly slow session with a few small Bass and 1 small Gilt for me but dad did have a slightly better one of about 1-8.

I then did a spur of the moment session on the rocks for a Mullet. I used to fish the rocks for Mullet quite a lot years ago and had some nice fish with plenty of 4 pounders and a few 5’s but for quite a few years now the average size on the rocks has been really small and a 3 pounder is quite rare. I started ground baiting and after about 20 minutes saw what looked like a decent fish come through the chervy before disappearing. At least I knew there were fish in the area. Nothing happened for the next 40 minutes so I set the depth a little deeper and put on a fresh piece of bread flake and dropped it back in. A couple of minutes later the float dips and we’re in. The fish came straight to the surface and shook its head and I was convinced it was a decent Bass. It then plodded around deep under the rod tip for a while before screaming off out to sea and then coming round in a big ark and taking me on top of a shallow reef that was barely covered. I could now see it was in fact a Mullet and a good fish. With patience and a bit of luck I managed to keep the 5lb hook length away from the heads sticking out the water and steer it back into open water only for it to turn and go straight back onto the head. Again I got it back into open water and again it went back on to the reef, this fish wasn’t stupid. Eventually it moved back into the open water and as it tired I managed to steer it back in front of me and was relieved to finally slide it into the net. It looked pretty big to me, possibly a Pb but then a mini disaster, I went to get my bag which I keep my scales and camera in only to discover I had left it at home. Open water mullet are one of my favourite eating fish so I decided I would keep it so I could weigh it properly and get some photos. I fished on for another hour and had another Mullet, this time normal stamp for this area about 1-8 before curiosity got the better of me and I packed up and went home to weigh my prize. I was very happy when the scales settled at a PB busting 6-11. Dad popped up and we went and took a few photos. Oh and it tasted amazing!

I went back a couple of days later just incase lightning was going to strike twice and had another one of 2-12

Next was a session on the Stingray which was a blank, I have been trying lots of different areas for these over the last couple of years and have got used to many blanks but you don’t know until you try.

Next was a St Caths session on the Wrasse with dad which only produced small stuff before another session on the Sting Ray only this time I actually caught 1! It wasn’t a monster at 13-6 but was very welcome.

Then another session of the Giltheads that was really slow with just Bass upto about 2lb followed by another Mackerel bash which produced zero Mackerel but amazingly 47 Sandeels the most I have ever caught from the shore in 1 session. A mixture of Lesser, Greater & Corbins also ticked off 3 species for my species hunt.

Then it was back to St Caths for a Tope bash which again was really slow with just Dogfish and small Pouting although dad did have a nice Lobster which he kindly donated to me and Zena.

The remainder of the month consisted of 6 Stingray sessions that actually produced 7 Stingray the best being 13-0, 12-12 & 10-13 with the others being 8-0 to 9-12. Not huge fish but it’s nice to know what you are doing is working as you continue to search for some bigger ones.

June sees me away camping for a week so a little less local fishing but I will keep searching for the elusive big Stinger and probably have a try for a hound.

As always thank you for reading, if you are enjoying my blog please give it a share.

1994 was a busy year for me. It began with a new job as an apprentice print finisher after 5 years working in a fishing tackle shop, in the summer I turned 21 and in the December I bought my first house and left home.

On top of that I fished 183 days, not unusual for me in the early 90’s but the last year I fished that amount as I got married and started working for myself.

The fishing was very different then to what it is today so I thought it might be interesting to look back and show how much difference 30 years makes.

January was predominantly spent Conger fishing which produced no less than 5 eels over 20lb the best going 23-8, however it also produced a bonus Pollack of 6-14.

February was more of the same but the fishing was slower with the biggest eel going 20-4

March was also mainly Conger fishing but the fishing was a lot slower and the best eel was only 15-8.

It was quite typical to spend the beginning of the year preoccupied with the eels before the clocks change.

April was a bit of a mixed bag, eels to 18lb, as well as the first Ray of the year, an Undulate of 13-4 and a few Smalleyed’s to 6-0.

May produced more Smalleyeds to 5-12, Wrasse to 4-13, lots of Garfish as I chased a specimen, a bonus 1-12 Turbot and a short trip across to Sark provided some Thick Lipped Mullet to 5-2.

June was the beginning of an incredible run of Wrasse fishing I described in an earlier post with a lot of 3-4lb fish topped off with a 5-11.

There were also more small eyed to 6-3 as well as Wrasse to 5-0 & Thick Lipped Mullet to 4-4 from another short trip to Sark.

July was a special month, Wrasse of 8-13, 6-10 & 5-13, Smalleyed Ray of 8-8, 7-6, 6-4 & 6-2, Conger of 16-8 and Black Bream of 2-6.

August wasn’t bad either with Wrasse of 6-14, 6-0, 5-9 & 5-6 as well as a potential C.I Triggerfish record at the time of 3-8 that was returned alive.

September was more Wrasse again to 5-10, 2 eels in 2 nights both weighing 24-12, Thicklipped mullet to just under 4lb and a lovely shore Pollack of 8-6.

October was mainly spent mullet fishing when we used to get a good late run on the north coast and produced a few 4 pounders upto 4-6.

November was back on the eels and I finally got my conger club weigher for the year, a lovely solitaired fish of 38-0

And December was more of the same, plenty of eels including a 26-8 caught in horrendous weather on the back wall of St Caths and solitaired which was quite a challenge.

So how does that compare with 2025?

Lots of Conger over 20lb, plenty of Rays, lots of Wrasse and Mullet all of which are harder to catch today. On the flip side back then we could only dream of a shore caught Tope, you never saw a Gilthead and I doubt I even knew what a thin lipped was so while we’ve lost a lot we’ve gained a few as well.

Who knows what will be different in another 30 years. Fingers crossed at least one new species will turn up and I can get me specimen tally to 35!

First trip of the month was a little frustrating really. It was a Gilthead session and I had made the effort to get some fresh Razorfish but the tide was late for midweek and I found myself packing up much earlier than I would of liked to having caught a handful of Bass to about 2lb and a solitary Gilthead just over 1lb.

It made me doubly determined to get back out at the weekend and as it turned out it was worth the wait. The night started with a little Bass, I then had another bite that looked like a schoolie. Nothing much happened so I wound down to have a bait check to feel a decent resistance. At first I thought it would be a bigger Bass but as it got closer in it felt less and less like a Bass and I began to believe this could be the big Gilthead I was after. After a few nervous moments in the shallows I slid my prize up the beach and wow it was by far the biggest Bream I had ever seen. I instantly knew I wanted to put this fish back as quick as possible so out came the scales which settled at 7lb 14ozs, a few quick photos and after some recovery time in the shallows off it swam.

I fished on in that confidence buzz a decent fish brings and had 3 more Giltheads to a decent 2-12 as well as a Bass of 61cm – 4lb. 7ozs.

What a cracking session!

Next was a short exploratory daylight session of a potential new Gilthead area that produced a surprise Common Eel.

Followed by a short mullet session that was very slow.

Next was the 3rd round of the Bass on measure and I have to confess with the conditions flat calm and the sea crystal clear I decided to hedge my bets and fish for Giltheads and Stingray in the hope I might pick up a Bass along the way.

Stingray have become a bit of an obsession of mine and over the last 4 years I have spent or wasted depending on your point of view an awful lot of time for very modest results but I love a challenge and I feel there is the potential to catch more than we do. It’s just difficult trying to put any kind of pattern when you catch so few but while I may well fail I certainly won’t give up.

Anyhow the Friday night did produce quite a few Bass upto 41cm so just under the minimum as well as 2 Giltheads each for me and dad the biggest going 2lb.

Saturday night was really slow and we only managed 1 tiny Bass between us.

Another short session on the Gilts only produced 1 small one and a couple of schoolies before I decided it was time to do something different and do a night session on the rocks in the hope of a Bullhuss or Conger. Despite just the right amount of swell it was fairly quiet with just a few strap Conger before I had a lovely bonus 3 Bearded Rockling of 1-9.

A St Catherine’s session with dad followed which only produced the usual Dogfish, a few Black Bream, a Pollack of 1-12 for dad and a small eel that did a great job of impersonating a Tope to get the heart going.

Then there was just time left for the 4th round of the Bass on measure which for me consisted of 3 Stingray sessions that produced a grand total of 1 small Gilthead and 1 tiny Bass.

May is most likely going to be predominantly spent trying and failing to catch a big Stingray but you never know, as that Gilthead at the start of the month proves sometimes in fishing miracles happen.

If there is a theme to my angling life it’s my obsession with catching as many different species over the Jersey specimen weights as possible. To be honest the current Jersey specimen list is somewhat out of date with some weights pretty much impossible while other species that have improved in recent years still having relatively low specimen weights.

It’s fair to say though that it has always been the case that some are much harder than others and for me Plaice at 3lb has always been super challenging.

It’s hard to believe today but back in the late 80’s & early 90’s Plaice were one of the main target species locally but the average fish were 1lb – 1lb 8ozs with anything over 2lb a really good fish. Despite a lot of time and effort I had only managed a couple over the 2lb mark with the best just over 2-2 so well short of the required 3lb target.

It seemed to me that most of the bigger fish that came up were often caught away from the more popular flatfish marks of the north coast, in fact a lot of the biggest Plaice were caught at St Catherine’s Breakwater, so I spent a fair amount of time at less popular marks.

The day it finally happened for me was in December 1992. I dug a bucket full of redcat and went out St Aubins fort for a full day trip targeting flatfish and chucking a couple of bigger baits out. Just on dusk I reeled in to have a bait check having not seen a bite only to have a fair bit of weight on. As it got closer in it got heavier and heavier and starting diving. A big flattie actually gives a hell of a scrap. When it hit the surface I could see it was a really big flatfish. I grabbed my drop net – incidentally the same drop net I have just used to net my pb flounder some 33 years later! – and threw it out. What I didn’t realise was the weight on the bottom of the net had swung over the net meaning it had no depth and was just a flat board. I guided the fish into the net with the light fading fast and quickly pulled it up the wall. It was only when it got to the top that I realised what had happened with the net, thankfully the fish didn’t move!

When it came over the wall I couldn’t believe what I was looking at, it was a truly massive Plaice. On the scales it went 4lb 2oz 8drms, and one of the hardest specimens was crossed off.

I would say today Plaice at 3lb would be close to impossible, I doubt I have caught one over 1lb in the last 20 years but I have heard rumours of a big one recently and I know of a 3 pounder caught last year so if your out there fishing miracles can always happen.

After a great start to the year with some lovely fish in January and February, March was the reality check.

It started with a rare NFW (Non-Fishing Weekend) mainly due to the Sinkers annual dinner where I managed to pick up a few trophies.

The first fishing trip was a beach Bass session which was really quiet with just 2 Bass the biggest being this one about 3lb

Next was a rare and rather hopeful Ray session on the rocks. Sadly the Rays are very few and far between these days and all I caught was plenty of Dogfish and a small pout.

The following afternoon I tried an equally hopeful early mullet session which despite seeing a couple of fish was bite less.

Next up was a short spinning session where I had Dolphins about 15 yards in front of me before I managed my first mackerel of the year.

I then moved venue for the last half hour to see if there were any Bass around on the lures ahead of the first round of the Bass on measure, didn’t see any Bass but did have a chunky Wrasse

Then it was time for the first round of the Sinkers bass on measure comp. For anyone not familiar with the format we have 7 weekends over the year with your longest bass from each round counting towards your final score. You then drop your 2 lowest scores with your best 5 rounds making up your final tally.

Round 1 started with a beach session which only produced small Bass under the 42cm minimum for me but dad did manage to get on the scoresheet with a 46cm.

The following night was a change in venue which produced loads of Bass with quite a few over the 42cm minimum but the biggest was only 45cm. I did also manage my first Gilthead Bream of the year at 1-6.

Next was a St Caths trip which only produced the usual Dogfish, Pout, Strap Conger and a solitary Black Bream but no significant action on the big baits although I did see another angler catch a lovely Undulate Ray, first I’ve seen at St Caths in a long time.

The following evening I did a short low water beach session which produced lots of small bass up to about 2lb.

It was then time for the second round of the Bass on measure. The first night was a beach session in tough conditions with a big swell and lots of weed but perseverance found a few fish over the 42cm minimum with the biggest just making 50cm.

The second night we opted for some easier fishing out the back of the van and actually managed a few up to a slight improver of 53cm

And that was March done. Not as much fishing due to work and other commitments but looking forward to April when things really start moving.

For this #TBT post I’m going back to July 2nd 1994.

For anyone who got into shore fishing as a young kid in the Channel Islands they will most likely of grown up fishing for Wrasse. The ever obliging Wrasse that are in abundance right under your feet on almost every rockmark are the perfect fish for a kid, non stop action and no need to cast any distance.

I was no different and my love for Wrasse fishing has continued right through until today.

Back in the early 90’s Jersey was very much the poor relation of the Channel Islands when it came to big Wrasse, with Alderney, Guernsey and even Sark producing numerous 7lb + fish as well as a few 8’s whereas the Jersey record of 7lb and a few drams was huge and fish of 6lb plus were genuinely a fish of a lifetime. I can remember catching my first Wrasse over 5lb out Elizabeth Castle, a fish I was so excited about at 5lb 3ozs I took it to be officially weighed as you did back then, and then the late great Pete Double picked me up from school and took me to take photographs which made it into his weekly column in the JEP.

This fish remained a PB for me for several years before I eventually upped it to 5lb 10ozs.

On the day in question neither myself or dad who at his peak is the best Wrasse angler I have ever seen had caught a Jersey 6 pounder. Dad’s PB sat at 5-14.

The plan was for a full day on the Wrasse, fishing the morning high and moving for the afternoon low. We were fishing about 50 yards apart on the high water mark and we hadn’t been there long when I could hear dad shouting a waving his arm. No mobile phones back then! I made my way over too see an enormous Wrasse in his net and a very excited angler. This one had to be over that magic 6lb barrier and sure enough on the scales it went a massive 6lb 7ozs, just 9ozs off the Jersey record. It was a special moment for someone who had spent there whole life trying to break that barrier and despite having had a Wrasse in Alderney of 8lb 3ozs just 3ozs off the British record at the time I think this one meant almost as much.

The day carried on without anything else too exciting happening and at about 7:30pm the tide was starting to cut us off and it was time to go. Now dad and I have fishing together for a lifetime and it’s never really been competitive between us so what happened next was really out of character. We made the call to pack up and as I walked over to pick my rod up and wind in dad said “ Well I’ve beaten you today”. At that point I was just reaching down to pick up my rod and it arched over, I grab it almost in surprise and hung on as a big Wrasse dived for cover. As always with the Wrasse the fight was short and brutal and pretty quickly a big Wrasse was on the surface and in the net. Time was tight now with the tide cutting us off so out came the scales and around they went to 6lb 10ozs. You couldn’t make it up, at the time that was probably 2 Wrasse that would have been in the top 10 Wrasse caught in Jersey both caught in the same session.

Little did we know on that day that it was just the start of something special and we went on to have some phenomenal Wrasse fishing over the next few years including the previous British record of 8lb. 13ozs 2drms just a week later. Another trip later that summer in August dad had Wrasse of 6-11,6-7 & 5-11 and I had 6-14,6-0 & 5-9.

It’s a mystery as to where all these huge Wrasse suddenly came from but it’s my belief that they had all been living where the current reclamation is before it was there and when they started blasting it scared them all out and they could be caught all along the south coast for several years afterwards until they eventually died of old age. Before the reclamation was built we used to fish for Wrasse off the Cobbs which is the back of the tanker birth and we used to regularly hook big Wrasse but you could never get them out.

Some special fishing.