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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.

It was a pretty slow start to February with a couple of beach bass sessions, the first a total blank and the second only producing 1 Bass about 2lb. That was despite having fresh rock work, perfect tides and near perfect conditions. I’m not sure if it was due to the huge amount of rain we’d had causing a lot of fresh water to run onto the beach or the fact it coincided with the bass ban starting so the beaches had been heavily netted the week before but for whatever reason they weren’t there.

Next up was a short and very hectic Garfish session in the town harbour. It was a fish a cast from the off and I had 25 in 2 hours although the only decent one I hooked came off! Dad did manage his first club weigher of the year though.

Next was a scratching session for Rockling, I used to like fishing for these in the quieter winter months but in recent years they seem to of more or less disappeared completely and I only had the usual strap conger and small pouting.

Then it was back on the beach looking for a Bass. This session also started slow with just a few little schoolies in the first couple of hours but then I had a more positive looking bite. I picked the rod up and felt a nice slow pull which I struck into and felt a decent resistance. After a decent scrap I managed to coax it onto the beach, a nice solid looking fish. After a quick photo (hence the poor focus) and weigh at 7lb 7ozs she was safely released.

I then had a couple more nice fish in the 3-4lb bracket before it all went quiet again.

I went back with dad a couple of nights later, very similar tides and conditions but they weren’t there and I only had a dogfish.

I then went back again a couple of nights later trying a different beach but despite moving half way through the session I could only find small fish around the 1lb mark.

Next session was a trip to St Catherine’s Breakwater with dad. I chucked a couple of big baits out and used a 3rd rod to try and catch some fresh bait. The big rods were really quiet but the bait rod was busy with loads of Dogfish, a few pouting and a couple of surprise Black Bream. I was just thinking of calling it a night when I had a nice slow pull down on one of my big rods. I picked the rod up and as the fish moved off I struck into a solid resistance which felt like a decent eel. I managed to get it moving and it started swimming in, really strange. When it got closer in it started running along the wall and I thought it has to be a small Tope or a big Bass. Once it was on the surface I could just make out what looked like a Tope in the gloom. Dad was quite a way further up from me so I decided to try and manage on my own. Over the net went and without too much drama I managed to net it solo. I started pulling the net up but about a quarter of the way up the wall everything went solid and I couldn’t move the net. Oddly I could roll the net along the wall (this is why we make them round instead of square) and I could lower it but I couldn’t bring it up. I can only presume it had picked up some heavy duty lost gear at the bottom of the wall. After failing to budge it I gave dad a shout to come and give me a hand. We managed to make some inroads and got the next about half way up the wall before everything went solid again. To be honest at this point I was far more worried about potentially losing my net than the fish. The net was handmade by dad 30 years ago as a surprise Christmas present and is one of my most prized possessions. Dad suggested tying the rope to his van and trying to use the van to drag it up the wall. It sounded drastic to me but as he said what other options do you have so reluctantly we gave it a go. Very slowly the net came up and we finally managed to land the fish. Once up it was clearly a lot bigger than I thought, it was really long and I thought it might even be a new PB. As it happens it wasn’t quite as big as it looked but at 37lb 6ozs I’m not complaining. A quick photo and back she went.

We fished on for another hour and dad managed a jumbo Pout of 1-2 for he’s second club weigher of the month.

We did another couple of sessions over the next few days as often the Tope come up in batches but no more runs and just the usual Dogfish, Pouting and small Conger although I did have a spectacular slack line bite from an eel about 6lb that had me excited briefly.

March sees the start of the Sinkers Bass on measure competition so hopefully there will be a few Bass sessions, maybe a try for another early season Tope and possibly an early Gilthead towards the end of the month.

For this tbt post I’m going back to 1st November 1991. The plan was a beach session on the beach at the back of St Catherine’s over the low. In those days my go to beach Bass set up was very different to the long rods and braid I use today. A 10 foot Shakespeare Ugly Stick Spinning rod, Abu 6500 loaded with 18lb line, a long running ledger with 12lb hook length tied to a 3/0 Viking. Bait was a mixture of Lugworm and Whitecat. In those days I never used a rod stand it was all touch ledgering holding the rod. The session didn’t start well as we were getting absolutely plagued by small Pouting even fishing at really short range in the shallows.

Eventually I got fed up with the endless Pout so decided to leave a small one on and lob it back out as a live bait. I can’t of been much more than 15 yards out in a few feet of water. It wasn’t long before I could feel the Pouting going mad and I said to Dad, this is gonna go soon. Sure enough a nice slow pull and I stuck expecting to hook into a nice Bass. What I actually got was snagged which I couldn’t understand as we had not long been standing where my bait was and it’s just sand. I tried giving it some slack but nothing happened. Eventually I though I would have to pull for a break so wound down tight, pointing the rod at the water and started walking backwards. That’s when the snag started moving at pace in the opposite direction. Oddly the first run was quite short before I managed to make some line and started pumping something really heavy back towards me. It was so heavy I could barely move it with the little spinning rod. We were speculating what it could be, big Ray, maybe a big Cod as a few had been caught on the breakwater. We didn’t have to wait long to find out as it finally realised it was hooked and the tail of a really big eel came out of the water as it turned and started powering out to sea. At this point with a 12lb hooklink I’m thinking this won’t last long. Over the next 15 minutes we had a too and fro, the fish would take a load of line and then I would gradually get it back to within about 20 yards of the beach but with no Gaff or net it was going to be difficult getting it in. It then went on a mad run along the beach hugging the back of the rocks and with such a short rod I had no control and could only hang on and hope for the best. Eventually I got it back in front of us and clearly it was tiring. Dad waded out into the surf to try and grab it but getting hold of an eel in the water is just about impossible. To make matters worse he had a floatation suit on and the waves were lifting him off the bottom. The eel then swam straight between his legs and the line got caught around his legs. Luckily by this point the eel was exhausted and didn’t make any runs which surely would of been fatal. Dad managed to untangle himself and then the amazing happened, the eel obviously disoriented swam straight onto the beach and dried itself. I ran over and grabbed the trace and the 12lb line parted in my hand with the 3/0 Viking firmly in its top lip stopping the eel biting through the trace. I couldn’t believe we had landed it, the amount of luck involved was ridiculous. As we all used to do in those days we took it to get weighed, it didn’t quite make 40 but I wasn’t complaining at 39lb 4ozs.

The twist to this story came when we gutted it. In its stomach was one of dads really old Conger traces, he must of lost it at some point previously on the breakwater. Clearly he didn’t have my level of luck!

What a mad session.

My fishing year started as it usually does with a traditional New Year’s Day fish. This year it was a short lure session, last hour of darkness and first hour of daylight. The conditions weren’t great so I was just hoping to avoid a blank, however I did manage 3 Bass and dropped one. No monsters but a fun session to get off the mark.

Next up was a night session with big baits hoping for a Conger or Huss. As is typical these days with the amount of small eels around I had bites from the start. Second cast I had a more positive bite which felt like a slightly better fish when I wound into it. Once on the surface it looked ok so I climbed down and traced it out. A reasonable eel of 14-4.

Next cast produce a little strap but the following cast I had a proper old school Conger bite. A nice slow pull down that just keeps going. It was nice to feel a bit of resistance and a bit of weight. On the surface it looked reasonable and with the tide as it was I couldn’t get down to trace it out so I had to use the gaff, a rare event these days. I took my time and managed to get it in the chin. On the scales it went 20-8, by no means a monster but nevertheless a good eel these days. This is actually my 108th Jersey shore eel over 20lb which just shows how much our Conger fishing has changed.

One more small eel followed before I called it a night.

The next couple of trips were easy sessions on the north coast piers to try and tick a couple of species off this years club list. Amongst the hoards of dogfish I did manage a weigher Dogfish & Whiting.

Next up was the first Sinkers Sea Fishing Club competition of the year. This is a 3 hour beach comp for the longest Bass. I opted for the safe area away from the weed in the middle of the beach but unfortunately it wasn’t where the fish were and I only had 1 little one and dropped a reasonable one in the surf. The winning fish though was pretty special, a massive 13-8 Bass for Danny Le Merrer, incredibly his 10th Jersey shore double. Some achievement.

There was a silver lining to my failure though. Due to the lack of action where I was I had a fair bit of bait left so got up the next morning to have a go for a flounder. I had 1 bite, a tiny rattle that I thought was a micro bass that turned out to be a new PB Flounder of 2-14 breaking my oldest PB from 1985, 40 years ago!

I was one of the first to fish St Aubins for Flounder way back in the early 80’s. My dad was working on a mates boat so I went and fished off the pier. I didn’t catch but there was an old guy there, I think he was French using about 50lb line catching flatfish and some of them were massive. At the time we thought they were Plaice as you hardly ever heard of Flounder locally. We went back with worm the next day and I had a Flounder of 1-9 which at the time was a club record. We had it to ourselves for a couple of weeks before word got out and everyone was having a go. I can remember catching 5 in a tide and you rarely blanked back then. These days you could spend all winter there and still not get one. I have fished for them on and off over the years so it was really nice to finally break that PB.

Next session was another trip on the rocks with big baits. Still no sign of a Huss but I did have several small eels up to 12-8 and a little one that had lost the end of its tail earlier in its life.

That just left time for 1 last session, a short pier session for Garfish, topping up the bait freezer and ticking another club fish off the list

A pretty good January, I normally find February and March the slowest months but I will likely do a few Bass sessions on the beach and maybe a couple more trips for the Conger and Huss.

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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.

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.

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.

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.