The colder months are out the way!

It's April can you believe it? Since I got into fishing April has always been a very exiting month for me, waters start to warm up fish start to become more active. Towards the middle of the month bait fish shoals have found their way into the shallows. With a bit of luck the predator fish are following them! 

So what have I been catching over the last 3 months? Well for the amount of times I have been fishing I have caught myself a few fish.

Well this one is certainly not a specimen sized fish, I think when you catch your target species especially on a cold January night it doesn't matter how big it is I still get happy! My first Sole of the year and probably my smallest ever Sole.

The good thing about fishing is you never know what is going to happen, I must of found myself casting my worm baits over a big shoal of Pollock. I was getting one a chuck couldn't leave my rod down for 2 minutes before it was bent double with a Pollock on it all taking the worm baits on the bottom. I managed alot over 2lb and managed a chunky 3lb 2oz,

 I put a bit of time into my Flounder fishing I have done two sessions with 1 Flounder caught this year, okay I might have got a bit lucky as it was a good one caught on Redcat worm at range using a size 4 Sakuma Hook.

2lb 9oz Flounder

I have done a few Conger sessions over the last couple of months. I seem to be finding the Eels but there is just no size to them. 

Here is a few picture's I got anyway - Managed a couple of eels this night was cold but the eels was feeding over high water. (Jersey's North Coast)

Jonathan Bailie with a Conger caught on Jersey's SW Coast on a whole cuttlefish.

13lb 10oz

Mark Le Huquet with a 14lb Conger caught down St Catherine's one night.

I am sure if we keep at it throughout the year we should find some bigger eels just need to be in the right place at the right time.  

First personal best for the year. I went down to a rock mark in search of some rays. My plan was to blast baits out at range (Well as far as I could chuck them) Hope that a big Blonde Ray finds my launce sandeel baits. Wasnt looking too promising after the first couple of hours with just a couple of dogs and pollock for my friend Jonathan.

As I was reeling in what I thought was just another average sized dogfish, I actually thought too myself when it broke the surface as my head torch lit up the water ahh its a small huss! But it wasn't just a new personal best dogfish weighing bang on 3lb! Still a dogfish but any PB is welcome :)

The tide was nearly forcing me from the rock I was standing on I thought to myself "where there is dogfish there is a ray" I always tell myself this literally every session, just gotta fish through them keep checking them baits and stay on the ball. My best fish of the session was this Undulate Ray which weighed 15lb 2oz which took my launce sandeel the cast after my big doggy! 

Bass Fishing Lure & Bait. 

We all know the winter months can be good for Bass fishing from our beaches using worm baits. Local angler Leigh Mullins seems to prove this over the last couple of years getting double figure fish both years in these colder months. Pretty much any beach in Jersey you could catch a big bass its just working out the tides & trial and error as too which beach is holding the most / biggest bass.

 I obviously didn't get it right the 2-3 sessions I did in terms of size of fish. But the first session had a couple of small ones. 2nd session I did manage 6-7 Bass but all schoolies. 

I had a brilliant lure session after work with Alex Plaster we reunited for the first time since he returned from tagging sharks in Bimini! We set the location and only planned a quick lure bash after work, so we got fishing by 5.30pm and I went for a hard lure three casts later fish on!! Felt like a good one strong head shakes and dives Alex just went around the rock (With the net) so I had to Gill this one was a struggle but I did it - Shouted to Alex he was gutted he missed the fighting action! 

70cm Lure Caught Bass

After some photos and weighing/ measuring 7lb 12oz & 70cm I put her back in. Chucked my lure back in the same place bang another fish on this one just a 49cm fish!

 Absolutely buzzing with this we carried on with confidence and at 6.30pm Alex had his last cast with his Savage Gear - Zzzzz fish on looked like a great fight and I got it in the net no bother pictured weighed and released 5lb 8oz! 

😃

🐟

 1st Lure caught bass of the year for me too haha! All fish returned.

Few days later we was twitching to get back out we decided on a early morning raid on the Bass Alex Plaster catching the only one during the short morning session.....A lovely solid fish weighing 6lb 14oz (65cm) Caught on a 42g White Pearl Savage Gear.

🌊😃🐟

🎣 Lure caught C&R!

 Boat Trip!! 

Went for a trip aboard Anna 2 the weather was not great at all with big swells and F5-6 winds. We tried offshore but was too much like hard work to fish properly. We ventured inshore and anchored a reef, we had a few fish I managed a couple small Huss the best fish of the day was caught by Alex Romeril and it was a Common Smoothound which was caught and released. Wasnt much caught apart from that and 1 small conger. I have heard the mackerel are in now and my friend has caught Turbot so get out there and give it ago!

A few other fish caught 

Session at St Caths nothing but dogs, pout and this Three Bearded Rockling weighing 1lb 3oz.

Pollock took the Ray gear one night again wasn't much happening on this session. 

My first wrasse session was only 1 hour long and stuck to the lures this time last year was getting a few chunky ones on blue soft plastics so I tried it again but the tide was wrong but managed a couple of baby ones. Next time I go will do the incoming tide and I think we should see some bigger fish!

Thanks for reading just thought I would try and keep up with my fishing a little bit more. Otherwise lots of sessions get forgotten about, Rumour has it the bait fish like gars & the odd mackerel are in now so we are likely to see a lot more fish getting caught! 

Into the New Year - 2014!!

December Mullet Poaching & finding new marks :) 

Myself and a few boys went hunting for those fishing spots which we think would be untouched around Jersey Coast Line! we found a couple of spots and cant wait for the sun to start shining to have a go with a rod there! We spent alot of time pegging up these spots and working out how its even possible to get to the bottom of some ( without being stupid ) always have a hand on a rope and always make sure you are with someone else.....here are a few pictures.

As for the Mullet!! 

I should not be posting this up as the location we was fishing, is not really allowed. For legal reasons i am informing everyone that i have photo shopped the background to make it look like we are in the Marina ;) 

CONGER TIME

Myself & Alex Plaster was in desperate need of a proper fishing session! He was back over from university just for the Christmas period and we fitted in quite alot of messing around but no proper fishing! So we got the bait rods out and hit the rocks!! on my first cast of the year i was into a small conger! 

They was not growing in size but still good to see :) 

The Conger got bigger as the night went on this was the biggest! I only had 4 Casts & 3 Congers, so far thats pretty good going as its the only shore fishing session i have done this year so far! 

Unfortunately Alex did loose one Conger on the surface. Other than that he was useless ;) 

Tony Heart Skipper of Anna 2 Fishing Trips gave me a text and asked if i fancied getting out for some wreck fishing....i can never turn down such a trip! I fished along side 6 Anglers, there was a bumpy swell at first and after only having like 3/4 hours of sleep the night before down to the fact i was partying! I wasn't enjoying the 20 mile steam out to sea too much lol! But i soon woke up and i managed the first fish of the day which was a Whiting of 1lb 12oz. We steamed out to a Wreck of which we had a few drifts and didn't get into any fish. Then my step dad Ged was into one.....i scooped it up in the net for him and it was a nice one weighing 15lb! :) Sadly we all tried very hard but no one else could manage anything...it was one of those days where the sea felt empty.  

As i aint been fishing much, i have asked my friend Sam Daniels if i could post a few of his pictures. He has had a few decent fish so far this year which includes Wrasse over 3lb, Sole & Congers :) 

So this just shows you that there is still fish feeding! Its having

 the motivation to get out there and brave the weather! I have been

 focusing on staying warm and getting fit....not that you fishy people

want to know but i am down 4kg in weight & feel so much better!! 

Thanks for Reading my Blog! I am going to continue to slack with the fishing for a while, but doesnt mean you lot shouldnt! I hear there is a few Undulate Rays around near 16lb i hear...so get out there and catch some :) Cheers for now & Tight Lines 

September & October Report!

Hello again, I have been a busy boy recently with fishing the Alderney Angling Festival, aswell as a few trips in Jersey :)

Going to kick this off with a Boat trip I did on Anna 2. Sam Chapon with a unusual catch a Sting Ray weighing 8lb 8oz. This was caught whilst drift fishing for Mackerel, the fish took feathers which he was bouncing off the bottom of the seabed.

The next best fish of the day was this Reef caught Conger Eel it went near 50lb.

He also had a cracking Bull Huss shortly after this one weighing 15lb :)

Lure caught Bass of around 2/3lb had first cast on White 4" Paddle Tail.

I had my first Sole of the year also, I do love catching these fish!

Alderney Angling Festival 2013

So my first time fishing the competition in Alderney and I really couldn't wait! I didn't know what to expect apart from good fishing. So we flew in on a Thursday had a night out on the Beer and gathered bait over the Friday and then the Fishing started! Mine and Leigh Mullins session was all planned out! on our first cast we both hit into Black Bream over 2lb! after around 5 Bream over 2lb - none over 3lb. It was time to do a bit of Wrassing. Literally every drop was getting a bite think we managed around 40 Wrasse each on this session. Leigh having one around 5lb...my biggest so far about 4.8. A different type of wrasse took my Crab though, a female Cuckoo Wrasse weighing 15oz. It was weighing 1lb 1oz on the scales at first. So thought I was into a weigher....wasn't keeping my hopes up though and as I had to wait like 15 Hours before weighing it in, I was expecting it to loose some weight. It went 2 Drams under anyway. Still a personal best fish so I was happy :)

So darkness soon came upon us so we both geared up for the Conger Eels, was pretty quiet to start with but Leigh soon hooked into the first one. We had 3 Congers in total all of which was caught within 30 minutes of each other, Leigh Mullins had the biggest one 26lb 6oz. This eel won Leigh first place in the Conger Category.



So we all kept on fishing very hard, with team mate Matt Smith (from Alderney) having weighed in a Pollock & Bass over 5lb our team now had 3 Fish. I tried finding myself a big Wrasse.
S

So I did try nearly every day for a Big Wrasse. By the end of the week I did manage x3 Wrasse over 5lb. It was all very fun especially when getting them on the soft plastics!  I even set my self a challenge to get a Wrasse on a toy spider, which I managed first cast :)

All in all we caught something like 17 Species of fish between myself, Ross Johnson & Leigh Mullins. Leigh was unlucky with a few fish didn't quiet get on the board. Black Bream of like 2.15, Sole of 1.14 & Dogfish just 1oz shy too! Very unlucky but that's Fishing :)
Ross Johnson managed to get a Wrasse on the board weighing 6lb 7oz this was a new PB for him & he also managed his Couches Bream which he needed for his species hunt.

So the competition came to an end, I didn't manage to get a fish on the board. But I learnt a lot and am already counting down the days until I return to fish it next year :)

Since I have been back to Jersey I have done a couple of sessions, catching the smallest Red Mullet I think I will ever catch! Also had around 4 Tub Gurnard too, all being very small.

My first session back on the rocks in Jersey and I go and catch a new Personal Best Undulate Ray weighing 14lb this took a Launce Sandeel wrapped in Fresh locally caught Squid. New Personal Best Sole too weighing 1lb 9oz :) I will be focusing a bit of time on Conger Eels soon as well as a nice Bass :)

Thank you very much for taking the time to look at my Blog, until next time...tight lines :)