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! 

I am back on the Rock!!

With my first session planned Monday 10th Aug after work, my plan was to hit up St Catherine's Breakwater. I saw the tides looked perfect for a chance of an Undulate Ray with the possible Smooth Hound to target also. I picked up UK fresh water match angler Tom Downing from his campsite where he is staying for a holiday for 2 weeks and of we went. 

With not shore fishing in 30 days from Jersey...Yes 30 days wow I was pretty keen to get the rods in the water. We went near the end of the Breakwater on the lower wall and I wacked out two whole squid baits as far as I could on single hooked running ledger rigs. 

I made up a bread shirvy and started to ground bait for a Mullet at the same time, my left rod had a bite and I left it for a good 10 minutes to see if anything progressed. Well luckily it started to bend right over on the railings. I picked my rod up and waited for a strong pull down and gave it a good strike. Fish on straight away I guessed Undulate Ray and after a nice fight it was easily netted by Tom. I said "we are in the right place mate your turn next" so after weighing pictured and released it went back in the water to live another day 

8lb 11oz Undulate Ray

I got my rod back in the water with my 2nd rod still out on its first cast. Half way through setting up some mackerel feathers on my 3rd rod my rachet went on my 2nd rod! Ohhh this looks like a Ray bite also, again picked up waiting for a good strong pull down and strike FISH ON! This rod is a bit lighter than the previous rod I had caught my last fish. One was 4-8oz Anyfishanywhere 6&bait and the one I have just hooked the 2nd fish on is a Penn PTT Viper 4-8oz, this fish was diving a little harder and stayed deeper during the whole fight. I guessed it was going to be a double figure fish and it surfaced I could tell it was close or it was indeed a 10lb+ fish. After a little struggle getting it in the net because it got a bit twisted we soon sorted it out and got straight in :) 

10lb 4oz Undulate Ray

I re-baited the rod up after returning the fish and then started feeding up some mullet with the help of local angler Steve Mullins, he knows a thing or two about mullet he was helping me ground bait as I started targeting them with bread flake under a float. After 10 minutes of missing bites I was into one I managed to sight hook around 3lb 8oz with the tide being so slow it was a struggle to fight and play the fish into a position I could get the net under the fish. So after a couple of minutes fighting and me trying to bully it a bit to much the hook popped out the mouth :(
I passed the rod over to Tom let him get frustrated for a bit well 30 minutes of missing bites and darkness coming in making seeing the float hard work we returned to focus on the big baits. Steve Mullins had caught us a few scad for bait on my 3rd rod, moaning that the rod was too heavy for him  he still did a fine job. Tom had caught a few mackerel also so that is his breakfast sorted as well as some bait we moved onto the back wall. I put out a Conger Rod and 1 Ray rod out. It went very quiet and time started to go quicker it was 10.30pm and I had a bite on my Ray Rod, I struck into it what I thought was a small dogfish not fighting with a lump of weed on also. Coming over the wall I soon realized it was no dogfish and it was a small Starry Smooth Hound YAY my first for the year.

Packed up the rods and called it a day. 

Wednesday 12th August I met up with Alex Plaster for a quick session on the Lures after work, only planned to fish till 6pm from 5pm so had to try and get a few fish in on Jersey's South Coast. 

We headed down to a new mark for Alex, I know that Bass, Wrasse & Pollock can be targetted on lures here aswell as Garfish and Mackerel. Started off very quiet with not much action on the 42g Savage Gear Sandeels. We changed over tactics in a gully out of the strong winds, and we both hit into some Ballan Wrasse. So we did not blank and we called it a day and got some good cardio in on the walk back up the steep cliff. 

Cheers for reading :)

St Catherine's Breakwater Fishing Guide

St Catherine's Breakwater Fishing Guide

So I have decided to do a general fishing guide on St Catherine's Breakwater and give out some information on how to fish it. I will also let you know the best baits, state of tide's etc. 

There is so many different tips and tricks to learn, even when pier fishing.

Learning where the sand patches are, and where the rocks are is what I recommenced you do first. Go down over a Spring Low Tide & check it out! Do not just go down there chuck out some bait and hope for the best. Sometimes a couple of meters in your cast can make a huge difference in catching fish and not catching fish! I thought this post would be very helpful for tourists and beginner fisherman to take a look at. 

St Catherine's Breakwater is Jersey's most popular Angling location to fish, this 600 meter breakwater throws up some outstanding fish on its day! Certain fish species feed harder on certain tides, so before I even think about going fishing here, I evaluate the weather/tides and target species that I am aiming to catch. The majority of fisherman that fish this breakwater target Mackerel. These can be caught here right through the Spring & Summer months, the most popular method of fishing is spinning with feathers. Pollock & Garfish can also be regularly caught on the Mackerel Feathers or another popular method is Float Fishing for them. Personally I find the back wall around 10 meters from the end the best place for catching them in quantity, but every day is different. 

Wrasse / Rockling

There is lots of boulders reinforcing the edges of the breakwater. Watch your gear if you are fishing close in! Sometimes if you are prepared with a load of weights in your tackle box, then it can be the best place to fish! Wrasse take cover in these boulders, it is sometimes good to use a weaker bit of line tied to your weight. This is because you will only loose your lead & not your hooks & fish you might have on your line.
Just a short cast out & fish right amount the boulders, personally i would only do this when fishing for Ballan Wrasse, use worm baits for the smaller fish & Green Crab for the larger specimens. There is a few deeper holes and good patches along the back wall for Wrasse. But you can work them out for your self :). Fish in the boulders when night fishing too as it is pretty good for Rockling, use small fish baits for best catches. 

Black Bream

Barrie Aubert with some Black Bream

From May till September a popular species to target is Black Bream, for those people that are wanting to catch one, I recommend near the end of the breakwater on the Back wall or Front Wall.

Fish on the Dropping Tide around 2 hours after high tide & you will have a chance of catching Bream right through until the flooding tide where the tide will be quite strong for your weight to hold bottom. Use a 2 Hook Paternoster with small Circle Hooks & Squid strips for bait.

Rays

Nearly every species of UK Rays have come from this breakwater at some point. Personally I have caught Small-Eyed Ray, Blonde Ray & Undulate Ray from the Breakwater and have witnessed a shore caught Marbled Electric Ray caught from the Back wall of the breakwater. 

Simon Gavey with a Blonde Ray

Sting Rays & Thornback Rays have also come from this Breakwater over the years! Rays can be caught from lower wall and the upper wall! If you are going to try I recommended going past the three arches on the breakwater and anywhere in between there and the steps at the end of the Breakwater (Back Wall included). 2/3 Hours either side of Low water for Undulate Rays tides under a 32ft tide is best. 

As for Small Eyed Rays & Blonde Rays I have had them when the tide is pulling strong and I am using 8oz + Grip leads to hold bottom so even fish over high water & you are in with a chance. Best rigs to use for Rays in General are Running Ledger & Pully Rig

Jack Gavey with a Small Eyed Ray

Depending on what species of Ray you are targeting you will need to be prepared with the correct bait! My Favorite baits to use at St Catherine's for Undulate Ray is: Small Pouting Dead or Alive, freshly caught Mackerel, Squid, Launce Sand-eel or Extra Large Sand-eel, Strips of Wrasse & Strips of Cuttle fish are also good! You dont need to cast far out for these Rays! If you are fishing with two rods, then cast one rod as far as you possibly can & the other one just an average cast. 

Do not forgot a Drop Net otherwise there is no point in targeting Rays as if you try and hand line it up the wall, it would have a very good chance of snapping your main line!! I use 4-8oz Beachcaster Rods with Multiplier Reels for all of my Bottom Fishing and normally use 30lb Main line for everything.

Thick Lipped Mullet

To target these fish you need patience and time! I use a 13ft light match rod & i float fish bread flakes at different depths. This type of Fishing is probably for the more experienced Angler, it requires plenty of bread based ground bait some polarized sunglasses and a bit of luck. (Try on the Stairs at the end of the Break water around low tide and fish just over the Boulders). p.s dont let the fish get the better of you, make sure you strike on the smallest of bites! 

Leigh Mullins with a Shore Caught Conger Eel

Conger Eel's

Over the years many Conger Eels have been caught from this Breakwater. I have caught them right out side the Tackle Shop near the beginning of the Breakwater. You get them all the way along the Breakwater! It has to be night time for them, and best baits i find are Fresh Mackerel, Cuttle Fish, Double Squid, Fresh Pollock & Pouting. I have personally had them to 41lb there with the help of Leigh Mullins & speaking of Leigh here is a picture of him with a 42lb Conger caught from the Breakwater. 

You will need to come prepared with the right fishing gear to fish for these fish! 150lb Line to your 8/0 Hook and use mainline above 30lb in Breaking Strain. Make sure you have either a Flying Drop Gaff or a big Drop Net otherwise you will have no chance in landing any Eels that you hook. If you dont have them with you there is no point in trying for them! It is always good to be with someone else, as they are very difficult to land them when fishing on your own.

Other Possible Catches

Bass- I personally dont rate this pier highly for Bass, but a few big ones do get caught there during the summer months mainly when live baiting small mackerel. Fish from the very end of the Breakwater into the tidal run.

Peter Jarvis with a Plaice 

Red Mullet & Sole - September to November on Worm Baits around the beginning of Breakwater Back wall & Front. 

Plaice - can be caught on worm baits throughout the Summer, hard to target as normally a Wrasse will get to your bait first. 

Dogfish - These fish are a pain for the serious Angler as they are normally a by-catch - Great for the beginners it is pretty easy to catch more than 10 of these in every session!

Smooth Hounds - Summer Months - Fishing in May to August & you will have a chance to catch one powerful fish the lower wall is best! Use Squid or Crabs - Sunset & Sunrise i find are the best times.

Trigger Fish - Mainly by-catch when targeting Black Bream they take Squid Strips & other fish baits.

Pouting - Plenty of these around at night caught on fish baits and worms baits use small hooks and you will catch them. 

Cuttlefish - Using Squid Jigs around September-November you are in with a chance of a few Cuttle fish i have caught them from the Slipway and along the lower wall of the Breakwater.

Phil Driscoll with a Starry Smooth Hound

So that is my little guide on St Catherine's Breakwater, Thank you for reading. 

P.S - Try to catch & release every Ray, Conger, Smooth Hound you ever catch down there so that other people can continue to enjoy the great sport that we have from this Breakwater!  

Tight Lines - Daniel Ferguson

November Report :D

NOVEMBER FISHING IN JERSEY

November is always a great month to fish, this year was very hard work compared to recent years though. The Congers have not really been feeding inshore, the weather has not been kind to us either but still i worked my socks off trying!!

I attempted catch  a Golden Grey Mullet down our local harbor (failed at that) found a few Garfish & Mackerel on the float was good fun on the 13ft Match Rod! 1lb 2oz was my biggest Garfish & Gareth Mcmonagle also had one of 1lb 2oz...the best one went to Adrian Le Hueze at 1lb 3oz

Ben Bates with a nice Pouting (he demanded the photo lol)

November is always a good month in Jersey for targeting Red Mullet & Sole, this year however they have not really came on the feed! After many sessions trying for a Red Mullet i did manage just the one weighing 1lb 8oz (First Cast) 

Other Anglers in Jersey managed to find some specimen Red Mullet & i believe they had them up to 2lb 12oz. After this very short session i changed location and changed over to using my lure rod, guess which cast i caught a fish on??? 

No more fish was caught on this little Adventure i stayed fishing for another 30 mins. 

As for Ray fishing i cant seem to find any more Small Eyed Rays or Blonde Rays, but i managed to find my Personal Best Undulate Ray! It was a Monday night & the tides was not really in my favor, i was thinking all day of where to try.....I started headed up North to find out it was too rough for what i wanted to do! Wasn't too keen for my Plan B as it is a bit of a hike, but thought i could do with the exercise. I have been quiet jammy with my "first cast" recently but the Launce Sand-eel did the job again!  

15lb 9oz

Now i was chuffed to bits after taking these self timed shots i released her to fight another day :)

It was now around 10pm and i wanted a different species, A BASS so out came the lure rod for a while. Didn't take me long before i landed two Bass on a Delalande Weedless Shad

Now i can go home and sleep a happy boy :)

 Now it was Conger time, sticked one rod out with whole Cuttle Fish & the other with fresh Pouting head! I was playing around with my scratching rod catching quiet a few Shore Rockling / Pouting, i got a run on my Eel rod Strike Fish on! Ohhh this is small :( saw it on surface and thought id test my rod out so i winched it up the rocks!  

Here are some of the Shore Rockling i have had during November all pretty small though 10oz biggest!

10oz Shore Rockling

Now i have been trying to get my self a big Pollock also they have been mostly around the 2lb mark though with a couple over 3lb too!

During our a competition i had a few Wrasse one morning too but nothing over 3lb really this one took Limpet on a Jig Head :) 

Myself & Sam Daniels had a lovely romantic evening on the rocks as well & just few Pollock and a pathetic Conger ....and of course the usual Dogfish, Pouting & Rockling to show for it....good sausages though ;)

Rock Hiking Boots :)

On my last fishing day of November & i managed a Flounder weighing 1lb 3oz :) i have blanked on previous 3 sessions for them so was good to see :)

Thanks for Reading, i am currently having a bit of a rest from Fishing. I am sure i will sneak a few trips in though! Tight Lines!