April in Jersey (At long last)

Well I've been getting a bit behind with my posts of late, a lack of internet access and a busy working schedule being the main reasons for this. Eventually though, I've sorted myself some Wi-Fi and its time to do some catching up.


So..... April!
As many of you will know, during the first week of April, I made a switch to the channel islands to spend the summer working on a charter boat as a deck hand. However, with the first booking of the year not being until the 14th April, I was supposed to spend the first week settling in to Jersey life, learning the ropess on the boat and finding myself some digs. In reality though, it was essentially a week for exploring and finding marks that I'd be fishing later in the year, whilst doing a bit of fishing in the process of course. My catches during this period were fairly decent, with plenty of wrasse, garfish, turbot and mini species falling to my light gear tactics.

The time soon came though for my first day on the boat.

PB smashing Turbot - 8lb 4oz

My first Brill - 6lb dead

PB Whiting - 2lb 15oz

Monster 4lb 9oz Whiting

15lb 8oz Blonde - Andreas

Up and out by 7.30am, I met with the skipper to sort out the gear for our first party of anglers, a German trio that had come to the channel islands for 5 days to catch one thing, Turbot. This really excited me as I'd never fished for turbot off a boat and my PB was a measly 10oz. Anyway, over the 5 day period we got out on all but 1 day and its fair to say we did pretty damn good. Here are a few photo's of the catch.




New PB Pollack - 11lb 12oz

As for the rest of April, let's just say it was a fun time to be on the boat. We had a real mix of people from all over Europe and fished many different tactics over different types of ground for a wide variety of species. The highlight of April for me though came on my birthday, a wrecking trip with Tom, Brian, Chris and Peter, a group of anglers that joined together each year from different areas of the country to fish in Jersey. I had never done wreck fishing before, so again I was not sure what to expect, although my hopes were high for at least one decent fish...... if of course the guys would allow me to wet a line.


New PB Ling - !5lb 14oz

For the first few hours it was relatively quiet with just a few Pollack coming aboard to just under the 10lb mark and during this period I was unable to fish as I had rigs to make for later. As the tide eased though, the lads gave me the all clear to have a fish and I was quickly setting up to join them. After a number of fruitless drifts on live eel, I decided to make the switch to artificials, a rhubarb and custard sidewinder being the lure of choice. Two drifts later I got smashed, rod bending over double and an immediate adrenaline surge. After a really good fight, the fish was up on the surface with the skipper doing the honours with the net. It was a massive new PB Pollack of 11lb 12oz, well and truly chuffed, but it was to get better. Having changed tactics to bumping half a mackerel along the bottom, I was soon back into another heavy fish. We knew it could of been one of a few things so when it revealed itself as a nice ling, again my face lit up. At 15lb 14oz, it was again a massive new PB, beating my previous best by over 12lbs. With that I stopped fishing and returned to my duties as deck-hand, cant say I minded to much though.

That pretty much sums up April,
Hope you enjoyed reading,
Tight Lines,
Ross

Last few sessions bassing and species hunting

Lleyn mark, Ravens and Ty Croes

It was the day after my epic bass session and I'd arranged for another bass  session with webbo, his mates John and Dean (i think) and haydn (chiefbeef). I met webbo, John and Dean at the mark at around 3.30, which was just after low water. We fished crab and rag baits in the surf with just 3 doggies a piece for myself and Webbo, who also managed this fat turbot at 13oz, whilst Dean had a spider crab to show for his efforts. At 7ish Haydn came to try and get himself a bass, but by 9ish when I left due to tiredness (no sleep in near 48 hours), there were only a few more doggies landed. I think Webbo went on to get a bass after I'd left but I'm not sure about the others. I'm sure they'll update you in due time.

After a day of rest came the next session which was at ravens point. Inspired by Gareth's species session a few days prior, I set off with the intention of getting a dragonette. I made a few 2 up 1 down rigs with a luminous bead above a size 6 hook and baby ragworm as bait. I arrived to find 2 other blokes fishing so after a quic chat to see how they were getting on, I set up my rod and cast out. For 2 hours the only interesting catches were a spider crab and a tiny octopus, with the usual hordes of dogfish and dabs getting to the baits before anything else had a chance. After a couple of hours the other blokes decided they'd had enough of the dogfish and went home leaving me the mark to myself. Time to experiment! I chucked out my scratching rig at range and then set up a set of sabikis on my plugging rod. After a few fruitless casts I finally

felt a little nibble. Not the mackerel I wanted for breakfast, but my first new species for the day, a launce (species 30). I went on to catch 5 of them with this one on the left being the largest at nearly 28cm. The feathering died off for a while as did the scratching so my attentions turned to fishing the margins. I opted for a one up rig with a rotten bottom link. The hook length was 12lb fuorocarbon and attached to the end was a size 4 hook and rag.

The bites came thick and fast with plenty of

corkwings and small ballans falling victim to these deadly tactics. In the mix though was the odd tompot blenny and a few micro-pollock. Every so often though I'd get a tiny rattle and wasn't able to hook up. New tactics were needed. Same rig only this time with a size 12 hook. Again the ballans and corkwings came out in steady numbers but eventually after wading through them came that little rattling bite I had kept missing. With the size 12's on though I had no such problem and up came this little fella (left), a rock-cook wrasse (species 31) It was now getting late and after a few more chucks for the mackerl I called it quits. On arrival at the car though I was approached by an elderly chap who was part of the community watch. Apparently I looked suspicous even though I was wearing a bright blue billabong hoody, shorts and had a fair amount of fishing gear on me. On a serious note though, the reason he was checking up on me was due to a number of burglaries in the area by individuals posing as fisherman. After a nice chat though he realised I wasn't a yob and rather nicely said I seemed an intelligent young man (good job I make a good first impression), though he had said it was officially trespassing on private land and therefore strongly discouraged me and anyone else from venturing there. Just a warning for anyone thinking about a session there soon.

My last session to write about was today. After yesterdays warning, I stayed clear of ravens and instead headed for ty croes. It was a similar story to ravens to start with with dabs a plenty and dogfish making up the large part of my catch. There were the odd whiting in there though and a solitary codling for good measure. I again tried for a mackerel and again failed, only managing another 6 launce.(Maybe I need to bulk up my fluff so its more noticeable to the macky). Then I had a lovely surprise when a huge slack liner on my scratcher led to me hooking what felt a good fish. I hadn't a clue what it was and at the time I thought it may have been a triple header of doggies. To my great relief though not a doggie in site, instead a double header of pin dabs and this lovely 8lb 7oz thorny which visiting angler Colin arrived perfectly in time to photograph for me. Cheers Colin! The amazing thing was it was landed on a 12lb fluorocarbon snood and a size 6 hook baited with little bits of rag. Amazing how strong those sakuma hooks are even in that tiny size and my first ray to rag, bonus. After a further 30 minutes I was joined on the lower ledge by another angler who I had said could come down and have my spot as I was leaving shortly. After a few more dogs, dabs and whiting I called it quits, left the launce for the other chap now fishing the ledge and headed back to the car with Colin to show him a few spots I fish in the area. The rest of the day was spent hopping from mark to mark with plugs, meeting fellow plugger Paul Abbott along the way who was a pleasure to meet along with his little dog. Unfortunately this proved useless but found a few more nice marks for next time.

So the last few days has seen me reach the half way point on my species hunt which is pleasing and leaves me with just shy of 8 months to round up 29 more. This is when it starts getting tough though. If anyone has any suggestions on where to target the rarer species I'd appreciate any info possible. Thanks!

Cheers for reading,

Tight Lines,

Ross

Lure session down the lleyn produces the goods

 The Lleyn 28/03/2012

With all this glorious sunshine at the moment, the urge to head down the lleyn has been far too tempting and this session was my fourth outing in 5 days. After 3 previous blank sessions on the plugs at my usual spot, I opted for a change and headed to the North side of the Lleyn. I had originally planned to fish the tide up for the last few hours and then down a few hours with bait but this idea was scrapped when, upon peering over the headland, I could see a shoal of fish rising to take sandeels off the top. Getting a haste on back to the car I felt very optimistic about my chances, however when I returned the fish on the

surface had vanished. Not sure whether they were bass or mackeral I climbed down on to the ledges and whacked a sun sprat coloured baby patchinko on. After half an hour of nothing I ditched the surface lures and instead opted for a 4.5" original ayu coloured x-layer. First cast and before the lure had even hit bottom I had a twitch. On the retrieve I had another couple of knocks but no hook-up. It was only when the lure was visible through my polaroids that I realised it was small schoolie bass having a go; about 20 of them following the lure until they spooked after catching sight of me. Brilliant, bring on the bass I thought. 2nd cast, knocks again and this time a fish on. Not what I expected though when a ballan wrasse of about 1lb popped up in front of me (top left). This was a first for me at this mark as its clean ground with only the odd patch of rock. Has anyone else had wrasse over reasonably shallow sandy ground? Anyway after a quick picture it was back out with the lure and would you believe it 3rd cast, a spirited little schoolie that was followed in by 6-7 of his mates. Only 35cm but a bass and after the blanks of the previous sessions it was a very welcome one. I couldn't believe what was happening and the fishing continued at this pace for about 15 minutes in which time I ended up landing 4 bass all between 34-39cm. Crazy stuff! I even decided after this mad period to set up my camera on video mode to try and record the fishing. I'm glad I did aswell because whilst it was recording I managed a first for me. A turbot on a lure (species 24). I have had turbot before but never fishing lures so this was brilliant and I have video proof of it as an added bonus. I'll try and upload it to the blog if I can but the last time I tried it took hours and I decided not to bother with it in the end. I have it stored though. Bass numbers 5 and 6 came around 20 minutes later on consecutive casts but then it went dead for about an hour.

I think this was the slack water period. Whilst it was quiet though I took the opportunity to scout the coastline further down. There was an abundance of small sandeels in close all along this stretch for about 1/4 mile so no wander the bass were here early. On my way back I noticed some splashing on the surface in the distance. As I got closer I realised it was the bass again shoal feeding on the sandeels. I dropped everything bar my rod and a few lures and bolted down the cliffs only to find the ledge I wanted to fish was now an island surrounded by what looked like waist height water. Without hesitation I leapt in to find that it was actually chest high water and I now had to swim to the ledge. Dedication was the key though as after putting in the effort to reach the ledge where the fish were it was party time. The baby patchinko was back on and I couldn't wait to whack it onto the fish. For the first few casts I literally watched the fish taking it in turns to have a go as the lure danced across the surface but they kept missing the hooks. It wasn't until the 4th cast here that I finally got a hook up. Still only a schoolie though of about 35cm but it didn't half give me some stick. Back he went and after a few more casts, bass number 8 was on, safely landed, unhooked and returned to grow a bit for next time. Then I made a bad decision by deciding to go and get my camera to try and make another recording, this time with the surface lure. Sod's lure though as by the time I was back the fish on the surface had again disappeared. I tried for a good 20 minutes but they had gone and that was the last action I saw for the day on my rod at least. For the following hour I sat on the cliff tops surveying the water as my clothes dried off and the bass made a few appearances nailing the sandeels again, unfortunately far beyond casting range though. I left feeling well and truly satisfied and I can't wait to get back there for another crack, hopefully with some bigger fish showing.

And for the record, all fish were released.

Hope you enjoyed the read,

Tight Lines,

Ross