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With this years conger festival only a couple of weeks away I thought it was worth having a look back at what I believe is the Channel Islands longest running open fishing competition.

Started in 1980 by the Jersey Light Tackle Group which if my maths is correct makes this years event the 46th. As the JLTG gradually dwindled it was run for many years by Adrian Sangan and then by Peter Gosselin until the JLTG finally finished in 2007 when I took on the running. At this point I didn’t belong to an angling club so I approached the Sinkers Sea Fishing Club to ask if I could join and run the conger festival as a Sinkers organised event, much the same as the Bass festival. 18 years on and the Conger Festival continues to be a popular event in the competition calendar and has evolved to be a catch and release only event and in recent years to have a dedicated St Catherine’s Breakwater section.

Going back to the very beginning it started with a minimum weight of 10lbs with a prize for both the heaviest fish and the heaviest bag. Imagine having to carry every eel over 10lb back up the cliffs to the weigh in. The original prizes were a Hardy Tourney beachcaster and an Abu. 9000c reel. I don’t have all the early records but I believe there were winning bags close to 100lb! I know of at least one occasion where people haven’t allowed themselves enough time to carry all the eels up and have missed the weigh-in!

Over time the heaviest bag section was dropped and the minimum weight was increased to 15lb where it stayed until eventually the competition became a catch and release only event and no minimum weight was necessary.

Originally it was a one night event held over a Saturday night with most people fishing right through, these days it’s held over a weekend meaning even if you only have one free night you can still take part.

The first winner was dad with a Conger of 38lb 12ozs which was also big enough to win the heaviest bag that year. Dad went on to win again in 1989 & 2004 making him the only angler to date to win 3 times. There have been 3 Conger that have weighed over the magical 40lb at the weigh in as well as a couple that fell just short. Perhaps surprisingly the biggest two eels ever weighed in were 41-6 caught by top local coarse angler Greig Brown in 2008 which was caught on the middle arm casting into the Tanker Berth and 40-12 in 2003 caught by Mark Symons at St Catherine’s Breakwater on the bottom wall in front of the old tackle shop. The 3rd 40 pounder was 40lb exactly caught by Mark Le Houquet in 2000 from a rock mark.

The dubious honor of catching the biggest eel not to win goes to Andy Garnier who had a eel of 35-15 in 2014 only to be beaten by a St Caths eel of 39-8 caught by Mick Le Fevre.

The worst year has to be 2016. The forecast was to be ok until about midnight and then blowing up overnight. We made the decision at lunchtime to go ahead thinking everyone would have a few hours before the weather closed in. Unfortunately the weather arrived early and by about 9pm it was horrendous, some of the worst conditions I have ever fished in and I was really worried for everyone’s safety. It was a bad call to go ahead and I was ready to give up after that year, incredibly we actually had 2 eels over the 15lb minimum with Sam Chapon finding the winner at 17-12.

I finally managed to get my hands on the trophy in 2013. The year previous I had fished what is probably the most difficult rock mark I had ever fished and come second with an eel of 24-12. I decided to return complete with various pegs and around 300ft of rope just to get down to where I wanted to fish. The last bit you have to lower your gear down on a rope and then climb down. I tied my bait bucket by the handle and was lowering it down when the handle came off, the bucket fell and nearly all my bait went in the sea! I climbed down and figured I had enough bait left for a couple of hours so would fish for as long as I could. First proper cast in the dark and I hooked what was clearly a half decent fish, on the surface I climbed down to gaff it and after a couple of missed opportunities I gaffed the eel and made my way back up. I was just about back to the ledge I was fishing from when the eel span off the gaff. Luckily I’d had the sense to back my drag off but the eel went the whole way back down and into the sea! I climbed back down, pumped the eel back to the surface and gaffed it again. After finally climbing back up and putting it in a sack I weighed it at just under 25lb and a possible contender. I had another couple of casts before facing the challenge of climbing back up with all my gear and an eel. I decided to leave a fair bit of stuff down there and return for it the next day and gradually made my way up, being home in bed before 11pm.

Next morning at the weigh-in my eel went 24-4, big enough to win by just over 1lb. It is probably the competition I have been the happiest to win.

Now I’m a fair bit older and I like to think a little wiser I look back at where I fished those 2 years at night and alone and I realise how stupid it probably was. I have only been back twice since, one in JOSAF where I managed a weigher and once again in a conger festival where I couldn’t fish due to the swell and had to pack up early. I doubt it will ever be fished again.

So this years event in a couple of weeks has no minimum weight and is completely catch and release with only your biggest Conger counting. It is split into 2 sections, one for St Catherine’s Breakwater fish only and an overall section with the same top prizes in both sections meaning it is a competition available to everyone. We even have a trophy and prizes for the biggest Conger by a junior or lady entrant. If you’re interested in taking part entry forms are available at all the local tackle shops.

August started really slow, it’s often a month of two halves with the Jersey Open the final week a lot of the earlier part of the month is spent sorting gear, collecting bait and generally spending some time at home.

First trip of the month was a predictable poor Stingray session that only produced the normal small Black Bream and Bass. Next up was a light beach session which produced some small Bass and my first Golden Grey Mullet of the year for my species hunt albeit not very big.

Next up was a St Catherine’s session with dad, dad wanted to try for Wrasse so I chucked a Tope rod out and took a scratching rod to try and add a few new species for the hunt and finished with a mixed bag of Tompot Blenny, Black Bream, Red Mullet, Goldsinny Wrasse, Dogfish, Corkwing Wrasse, Ballan Wrasse and this chunky Baillons Wrasse the biggest one I’ve seen.

Then it was time for the first Sinkers Sea Fishing Club Thicklipped Mullet competition. This is a catch and release event with the longest fish winning. I fished with dad at St Aubins Harbour on the Friday evening but we blanked. I was unable to fish on the Saturday so did a rockmark Sunday morning and managed 2, the biggest going 52cm caught 2nd drop when I had only been chervying about 5 minutes. Not a monster but big enough for 3rd place with Sam Bennie taking the honours with a 56cm fish just ahead of Steve Mullins 55cm.

The next couple of weeks I only did a couple of short trips trying a few things before the open that produced my first Thin Lipped of the year of around 2lb and a Gilthead just over 1lb.

Then it was time for the open. For anyone not familiar with the format this is a week long festival with 9 different sections, the objective being to weigh in to as many different sections as possible. Your fish has to be over some very high minimum sizes and also beat the 5th place weight in that section. If at the conclusion of the competition there is a tie, the angler who got to that number of species first wins.

My week rather unusually started a couple hours after the midday start as I didn’t want to start fishing until the tide had turned. First up was a Black Bream session, minimum weight for these is 1-8 which is a lot tougher than it sounds. I lost count of how many Bream I caught on the first day, I would estimate more than 50 with the biggest just short at 1-7. I take a disgorger with me and managed to release all but 1 of them.

Then it was off to the beach for a short Gilthead session, these don’t have their own section so are in the “any other” section with a minimum weight of 1-8. The session started well with a Gilthead of 1-4 but sadly it was the only one together with a few Bass around 2lb and a small Conger.

So that was day 1 over for me and no weighers as yet.

Day 2 started at first light and a change of targets to Wrasse which have to be 50cm and are catch and release. 4th cast and I have a lovely slack line bite that must of swam in 15 yards before I caught up with it, the rod doubled over and I knew I had a reasonable fish. A quick scramble down with the net and I had a possible weigher. Out with the ruler and it just made 51cm, I was on the board which is always a relief.

So that was me heading off back up the cliff not long after climbing down to go home and grab some different gear and head off in search of a Mullet or Black Bream. 8am and second mark of the day I had some reasonable looking mullet feeding with the biggest looking like it could possibly just make the 54cm minimum. Unfortunately he wasn’t the one that got to my bread first and the one that did was only 50cm a little over 3lb. That spooked the shoal so it was a switch back to Breaming and after plenty to around 1-5 it didn’t look like it was going to happen. I left my rod out while I sorted all my gear out to pack up at the end of the session and when I turned around the rod was bent over and I had the biggest of the day, just big enough and finally went 1-9-4 when weighed in and my second fish on the board.

So another climb back up the cliff and another change of gear and I’m off to try for a Bass over the low tide. Conditions are terrible, bright sunny day flat calm crystal clear water but at this particular venue I have caught when it’s like this so I felt it was worth a shot. As it happens it wasn’t and I never had a bite.

The start of the competition had seen several Snipe (Garfish) over the 1lb minimum weight weighed in from the town harbour and with 1 space left on the board I opted to start Monday early trying for one of these, I think possibly the first time I have ever fished the harbour in the open! Weigh-in was at 7:30am so I started about 6 and had a couple of possibles by the weigh-in time, the first fell agonisingly short at 0-15-14 but the second just made it at 1-0-10, it wouldn’t last long but it was a 3rd weigher and it was only Monday morning. I also had a chunky Scad of 13ozs for the club.

Another quick pack up and gear change and it’s back down the cliffs to try again for the mullet I saw yesterday. Sadly they didn’t show up and I just added yet more Black Bream.

I then decided to go and dig some fresh bait to get up early and try for a Bass. I find bait digging has got a lot harder in recent years especially red cat and rock worm and it was a struggle until I found one little spot right at the end. I had enough for what I needed and decided to go and have a couple of casts for a Stingray since I had fresh bait. Not long after setting up another club angler set up alongside me and had a nice little Stingray just over 6lb. That was promising, a few minutes later my rod screams off and I have a ray on together with a fair amount of weed making it difficult to judge how big it is but in the net it looked likely to make the 10lb minimum. Sure enough it was comfortably big enough at 14-9 and a 4th fish by the end of Monday meaning another angler would need 5 to beat me, a tall order indeed.

At this point I had a 2 fish lead over everyone else and I felt one more would seal it but a 5th fish is really tough and has only been done a couple of times before. At this point as well the weather had completely changed from flat calm, hot and sunny to windy with a huge swell, the result of a far away storm. To me my obvious next target was a Bass, at 60cm not easy but possible.

My first attempt was an early morning session at a mark I haven’t fished for some time but used to be very productive. Sadly not anymore and apart from a few Dogfish it was very slow. Then it was another low water wading session, I was hopeful the changing conditions might improve the area I was fishing but it was still really slow and I only had 1 Black Bream & 1 small Bass.

Wednesday now and a couple of other anglers have moved onto 3 fish so I feel I will need to find a 5th. I decided on another wading session but a change of venue. The conditions were pretty wild so I opted for absolute minimum gear just a rod with a bait bucket clipped to my dry bag which just had my ruler and a few essentials in. I made the fatal decision not to take a net as it can be a nightmare when wading in a big surf. I had a few smaller bass to about 2lb before a much better bite and I’m into what feels like a better fish but will it be big enough. After taking my time I have the fish alongside me and it’s around 6lb and a definite weigher. I lost one in similar conditions a couple of years ago in the open by trying to lift it out so I decided the best option was to slowly walk it back to the beach. I had the trace in my hand and the fish was right alongside me so I could have netted it easily if I would have had a net! I was about half way to the beach when the hook pulled out and off it swam in about a foot of water. It’s amazing the emotions this comp can give you, from the elation of getting a Stingray to the despair in that moment. I wondered if that mistake would cost me.

I decided to return on the early morning tide and try again, 2nd cast and I have a cracking bite and can feel some real head shaking. After a decent scrap I turn my headlamp on low to be greeted by a Conger about 4lb! Not what I wanted and a nightmare to deal with in the waves. After having to walk most way back to the beach to sort it out I waded back out only to catch another one, fortunately this time lip hooked. I then finally managed to start catching Bass, mainly small stuff but I did have a slightly better one of 55cm, not big enough but at least I was catching.

I went back for the afternoon tide but it was really slow with just 1 small Bass, time to move on and try somewhere else.

The board was also changing fast and Sam Bennie was on a run, now also on 4 fish making that lost Bass looking like it could be costly.

I decided to go and try a high water beach Thursday night but after moving 3 times I abandoned it as just to rough or weedy for the areas I wanted to fish.

Friday morning and Sam has caught a 5th weigher, a truly outstanding achievement. It also meant I would need 2 more fish otherwise known as a miracle! And that’s if Sam doesn’t continue the charge and get a 6th!

I opted to follow the tide up on the beach, if by some miracle I managed a Bass I would push on through the night and try and find a 6th fish. I never had a bite for the first 2 hours of the flood, hard going when you’re holding the rod in the surf but then a cracking pull down and I strike to nothing. I wound in to see my entire snood is gone. I think it’s gonna be one of them days. I fished on and about half hour later a similar bite, this time the fish is on and despite a decent scrap it’s only about 3lb. As the tide got higher the tiny schoolies moved in on mass and I decided to call it a day. It had been a brilliant week, weighers in 4 sections would normally be enough but the last couple of years the bar has been raised and you have needed 5. The decision to leave the net at home turned out to be decisive, fine margins indeed.

Congratulations to Sam who fished brilliantly and quite honestly caught better fish and is this years worthy winner.

You can view a full list of results on the J.O.S.A.F Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/476672935758797

September see’s the competition season continue with the next round of the Bass on measure followed by the shore Conger festival.

On another note I want this blog to be about shore fishing in Jersey, not just about me. If you catch a nice fish and you are happy for me to share it please send me a photo and details.

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As I’ve mentioned before I have this little obsession with catching as many different species over Jersey specimen weight from the shore as possible. It’s a great way to motivate yourself to learn how to catch species you perhaps don’t normally fish for and it’s turned into a challenge that’s spanned a lifetime as new species turn up and species you used to catch thin out or disappear completely meaning it would be difficult to get beyond the mid 20’s without having been around a long time!

Following on from dad achieving his 34th species over Jersey specimen weight last month with his Tub Gurnard I thought it’s only right to have a look back at what really has been a lifetime of angling. I asked dad to dig out some photos for me, he doesn’t have photos off all of his specimens but he does have the vast majority of them. Even I was a little surprised to find that the earliest of his 34 specimens was actually caught in February 1973 some 52 years ago and actually before I was born. When it takes 52 years of fishing to get to that point it makes you appreciate how challenging it is.

I was fishing with him when a fair few of these were caught but there a couple of memories that stick out. The first was his Lumpsucker. We were going to Sorel point to try for an early season Snipe. I turned up with a float rod and a decent landing net, something I very rarely go fishing without. Dad proceeded to rib me a little about bringing a landing net Snipe fishing but as I told him you never know what you might pick up. Anyway dad fished like a complete novice, allowed his stop knot to slide way up the line and his float to drift right into the rough until it started laying on its side as he was catching bottom. The float then went down and didn’t come back up and when he reeled in he had a Lumpsucker on! Of course at that point he had to eat humble pie about me having a decent landing net. Oddly I’m pretty sure we saw the Lumpsucker swimming around earlier in the session, we thought it was probably a Bass at the time but I reckon it had finished nesting and was getting ready to head back out to deeper water.

The other one I have real fond memories of is actually a pretty recent one, his Tope. It’s not that long ago that the idea of catching a Tope from the shore locally was unthinkable and a dream fish. I had managed to catch a few but despite a couple of drop runs and a straitened hook he was still waiting for his first. I had taken a day off work for an appointment that got cancelled so dad and I went to have another go. He actually either had the take on the drop or as soon as it hit the bottom as he cast out and before he could put the rod down it went in his hand. After a pretty epic battle it proceeded to get tangled around the strop ropes on the drop net, always a nightmare but with a bit of patience it eventually swung the right way and it was in, and a cracker it was as well. so here is his list followed by some photos of most of them.

Bass 11-12-0 (2004)

Black Bream 3-6-0 (1993)

Gilthead Bream 2-9-0 (2020)

White Bream 2-4-0 (2008)

Bullhuss 9-3-0 (2019)

Conger Eel 43-12-0 (1980)

Common Eel 2-4-0 (1993)

L.S.Dogfish 2-9-0 (?)

Flounder 3-13-4 (2018)

Garfish 1-6-0 (2012)

Tub Gurnard 1-2-0 (2025)

Mackerel 1-8-0 (2015)

Golden Grey Mullet 2-3-0 (2013)

Thick Lipped Mullet 5-2-0 (1998)

Thin Lipped Mullet 3-5-0 (2010)

Red Mullet 1-7-0 (1992)

Lumpsucker 5-15-0 (2011)

Tope 34-0-0 (2020)

Plaice 4-3-0 (1987)

Pollack 10-0-0 (1973)

Pouting 1-11-0 (1989)

Smalleyed Ray 9-7-0 (1992)

Thornback Ray 10-8-0 (1974)

Undulate Ray 15-15-0 (2014)

Sting Ray 11-8-0 (2024)

3 Bearded Rockling 2-12-0 (2017)

Shore Rockling 1-4-0 (?)

Twaite Shad 1-7-5 (1989)

Common Smoothound 18-12-0 (?)

Starry Smoothound 16-4-0 (2012)

Sole 3-13-0 (1987)

Triggerfish 3-2-10 (1999)

Ballan Wrasse 7-1-0 (1994)

Whiting 1-6-0 (2018)

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.