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Throughout my fishing life I have always liked to set myself targets. I always find I’m more motivated when I’m going for something, I wouldn’t say I’m competitive but I like to challenge myself.

The main one for me has always been the Jersey Specimen list which I have talked about before but I feel I have exhausted my options with that with the only realistic way of adding to my tally a fluke fish like a Sea Trout or a Lumpsucker or a new species turning up like a Couches Bream or maybe one of the smaller Tuna species.

That has led to me looking for new targets, one of which was to catch 10 species from the shore of Jersey over 10lb.

Perhaps surprisingly my first double figure fish wasn’t a Conger but was a 15-4 Undulate Ray rather ironically caught trying to catch my first Dogfish way back in 1984 when I was aged 11.

That was followed a year later by the Conger at 23-12 in 1985.

There was then a gap of 5 years till 1990 when I added 2 more double figure species, firstly a Blonde Ray of 17-13-6

Followed by my first double figure Bass at the end of the year at 11-1-5 to take me up to 4.

There was then a decade wait to add to the tally when the Smoothounds arrived and grew a bit, my first double being a starry of 10-12 in 2000

It took me a further 7 years to finally crack the double for a common but when I did it was a cracker at 17-12.

Still only on 6 so 4 more to find. Next one wasn’t added until 2015 and a fish I had chased for many years catching loads over 9lb before finally catching a double figure Smalleyed Ray with this one of 10-12.

Next was another dream fish to catch from the shore, my first shore Tope in 2019. It wasn’t a big fish at 19-8 but boy was I pleased with it.

8 down and 2 to go, the obvious next target being a BullHuss, another fish that had eluded my over 10lb. This one came in 2020 around Covid time. I had gone to a mark to try for a Huss but there was already other anglers fishing so I took a punt and went somewhere completely new to me and it paid off with a Huss of 11-2. Funnily enough I went back the next day on the low to have a look and I was fishing right over the top of a massive head, not sure how I managed to land it.

So just one more to go and it’s also a target I need for my Jersey Specimen list a double figure Stingray.

I had already spent a lot of hours trying for this one and with it now ticking off 2 boxes for me I became a little obsessed. The day it finally happened in 2022 the weather was actually horrible. I had picked up a lot of surface weed on my line so waded out to clear it before winding in to pack up. When I got back to the rod and wound down it was on and took off like a train. When it got close in I could tell it was a double but I was probably 200 yards from dry land with no net so a very slow walk back to the beach. Then to add to the drama when I went to unhook it the tale whipped round and stung me in the leg through my heavy Guy Cotten chest waders and my jeans and it hurt like hell. I got a weight of 18-5 and a few quick photos before slipping it back and hobbling the long trek back up the beach and home before getting told to go to A & E to get it checked out. It was a great feeling to get the 10th species but it didn’t half turn into a drama.

So that was the 10 x 10 completed and half of them coming from St Catherine’s, a mark I tend to avoid despite it producing many of my best fish.

Well March has been a bit of a strange month. Dad has been living with us while he recovers from knee replacement surgery and it’s not been all plain sailing although thankfully he is making good progress now and gradually getting more mobile.

As a result fishing trips have been a little more opportunistic than usual, I have still fished a fair bit but it’s been more about getting out when the opportunity arises. Unfortunately, it was more about the one that got away than the one I caught this month.

In fact the first round of the BOM was my first trip in two weeks almost unheard of for me. Time over the weekend was limited but I did have the Friday night to fish so decided on a beach trip with worm to just try and get a qualifying fish over 42cm to get the ball rolling. Well it didn’t exactly go to plan, best part of 4 hours in near perfect conditions and I blanked. I only had time for a couple of short daytime sessions over the rest of the weekend so it wasn’t going to be easy to get a fish.

Fortunately there was a fair bit of fog around keeping light levels low giving me a little bit of hope.

Saturday I only had about an hour and a half over the low water so I grabbed the lure rod and went for a wonder . It didn’t start well when I realised I had left my lure box on the bench in my shed. Luckily I had chucked a packet of Sidewinder Skerries in my bag so could still fish. About 30 minutes into the session I was hit and although it was only 45cm it was a welcome catch.

Sunday I had a couple of hours, this time over the high so I again reached for the lure gear making sure I had my lure box with me this time! It turned out to be a fun short session, 4 Bass landed, 1 hotdog, 47cm, 50cm and the best of the trip 52cm to finish off my weekend.

Unsurprisingly there were plenty of Bass caught over the weekend with 22 of the 40 entrants managing a qualifying fish, the best 2 both being cracking fish of 74cm for current BOM champion Daniel Bryant and local legend Steve Mullins. They were a fair bit bigger than the next biggest fish of 59cm.

Next up for me was another short beach session, this time hoping for a Gilthead. Mission was accomplished first cast with my first Gilt of the season of 1-7 which was followed up by several school Bass.

Then it was time to get out for a session with the big baits. There was a fair swell running so I decided to target Huss with the theory being if it was too bad to net a fish I could hand line it on the leader and hope it didn’t cough the bait up as they so often do.

Second cast in I had a decent bite and when I wound into it there was a bit of weight but it didn’t feel like an eel. After a decent scrap I could see the telltale reflection of the eyes of a Huss in my headlamp. I made my way down to the water to try and net it and after a couple of near misses and a boot full of water I decided to trace it out and fortunately it stayed on. It wasn’t quite a double but at 9-12 I wasn’t complaining.

Next cast I had another good bite but before I could pick the rod up everything went slack and I reeled in to find my leader had parted which seemed really strange to me as if it was damaged I would have expected it to part on the cast.

When the same thing happened the following cast I had another idea what the culprit might be. I didn’t have any Tope gear with me but I did have some Conger traces so I put one of them on and banged it back out. Sure enough the rod went again and as I wound into it, it took off like a train undoubtedly a Tope. Sadly the hook pulled and my chance was gone. I was gutted having not yet had a Tope off the rocks. To be fair it would have been a challenge to land it and I would have been pretty reluctant to use a gaff so maybe it was for the best. At least it gives me a bit of confidence to try again for them on the rocks.

I did return a couple of days later but the tide and conditions were very different and I only had the usual straps and dogs.

Then it was time for the 2nd round of the BOM. Again I opted for a beach session on the Friday night with worm and had a 45cm second cast. That was followed by quite a few over the 42cm minimum with the biggest just going 50cm.

I did however have a lovely bonus Gilthead of 2-8.

Saturday night I opted to go back on the lures for a couple of hours, a Pollack first cast and 1 Bass of 49cm being all I managed.

Sunday I only had the opportunity to fish daylight hours and being fairly bright i decided to try for an early season Mullet instead of a Bass. The theory was in the unlikely event I caught one it might be a decent fish. Well I proved the theory wrong as I did catch one and it was only 2-10.

Again it was a very good weigh in with 6 fish over 60cm with the biggest 68cm for Mark Le Moignan.

That just left time for an early season session for a Black Bream that only produced Dogfish and strap congers (They are even a nuisance in the day) before another bash for a Tope that you guessed it, produced Dogfish and strap conger.

I recently spent a fantastic afternoon in the wonderful company of Roy Newton. I took dad along with me and spent a few hours listening to Roy talking about his fishing life, life in general and the pair of them reminiscing about fishing in the 70’s and 80’s and all the characters of the day.

I’m sure Roy won’t mind me sharing with you he is now 86 years old and while he no longer fishes he honestly looks fitter than I am although he did share with me he had recently had a little fall after going up a step ladder to see to the bird feeders!

Roy had a pretty difficult start in life, born in 1939 he was sent by the Germans to a camp in Bad Wurzach in Germany from 1942 not returning to the island until 1946. It’s an amazing story for another post in the future.

He was quite a late starter to fishing, in his mid 20’s he was getting up to no good when a mate Chalky White suggested he go fishing. They went float fishing and second cast Roy managed to wrap the float around Chalky’s neck! He then went on to catch a snipe and from that point he was hooked.

As he started getting more into his fishing he started to target specimen fish and has caught some fantastic fish over the years including quite a few records along the way. In the early 70’s there was a regular crowd of anglers targeting the Undulate Rays and Conger at St Catherine’s Breakwater, along with my dad, Colin Shales and characters like Bert the Bike they would spend one weekend at St Catherine’s and often the following weekend out Elizabeth Castle fishing for Pollack. I could still hear the excitement in Roy’s voice as he described driving down St Catherine’s Hill on a Friday night seeing all the Tilley Lamps lighting up the breakwater. They had a 40 Gallon drum and would take a bag of coke and a load of Chicken legs and pork chops and spend the night down there. In Roy’s words it was like a family. When it came time to pack up normally around 5am there was no one complaining of tiredness, they would be discussing what time to go back down for the next night. Proper hardcore anglers.

Roy didn’t mess about when it came to the Undulates. His first one ever was a lifetime PB of 16-7, an incredible fish for 1975! It was just one of a number of incredible fish Roy caught including a Channel Island Record Flounder of 2-5-12 caught in 1974 from Rozel Pier, a 2-10 sole caught from the back wall of the Victoria Pier before the La Collette Marina had been built, A Jersey record shore caught Cod of 21-0 in 1983, shore caught Triggerfish record of 3-1-3 in 1991 and even the shore Black Bream record of 4-0-11 from 1975. Probably one of Roy’s most amazing catches was one of his smallest fish. In 1974 he caught a shore caught Megrim of just 2ozs 12drms, a deep water flatfish that just shows you never know what can turn up. It was identified back in the day by Ted Lawrence who used to have a fishmongers in the parade and was the local id expert of the time.

But for all these amazing fish it was Wrasse that was Roy’s true passion. I said to Roy when I went to speak with Colin Shales I always associated Colin with Undulate Ray but when I think of Roy I associate him with Wrasse. His face lit up as he described how he loved his Wrasse fishing. Roy looked like a kid again as he described to me how he can remember arriving at a mark with a bucket of hardback crab and shaking with excitement as he started fishing. It did of course help that Roy was an exceptional Wrasse angler with an impressive string of big Wrasse to his name from both Jersey and Alderney. Twice the winner of the Wrasse section in J.O.S.A.F with fish well over 6lb including a Jersey PB of 6-15 as well as a 6-6 that beat me by drams on the last morning of the comp but there’s no shame in being beaten at Wrasse by Roy. He also had a fantastic record in the Alderney Angling Festival with the Wrasse, a regular on the board for many years including his PB of 8-1, a truly immense Wrasse which incredibly came 2nd! Just shows how good Alderney really was, you catch an 8lb Wrasse and still don’t win.

Before I add some old photos Roy shared with me together with some specimen and record fish certificates I will share with you my favourite story of the afternoon. There were 4 of them that had gone out Elizabeth Castle for the night to fish for Pollack and Conger. Roy, Dad, Irish Billy Dunne & Chick Channing. This is back in the day when there was no railings on the castle. They were float fishing on the end when it got really nasty and the waves started coming over. Realising they were in trouble they hatched a plan to all hold on to the big drop net and try and make it to the bunker at the beginning of the breakwater where they would be safe until the tide dropped and they could get off. Slowly they made their way along the breakwater and eventually got into the bunker and managed to close the door where they sat and waited. A couple hours in, freezing cold Chick starts trying to sell his gear to dad, Roy & Billy as he doesn’t seem so keen on fishing any longer. He then starts trying to burn some of his clothes to generate some heat! After a while they decide to open the door and see how it’s looking, just as they do, a big wave comes over bringing with it a stone that smashes the Tilley lamp plunging them into darkness. It must have been pretty scary at the time but it was hilarious listening to dad and Roy remembering it.

I have known Roy pretty much my whole life, in fact he gave my dad my first ever push bike that had solid wheels and the first time I used it I slammed the front brakes on and went straight over the handlebars smashing my face up. I was probably about 5 years old. He is an absolute Gentleman, a fantastic angler but more importantly a fantastic bloke, so thank you Roy for a wonderful afternoon.

At a later date I hope to do another non fishing post with Roy about his time in Germany and the subsequent visits back as an adult. In the meantime here are a few old photos and certificates Roy shared with me. Enjoy.

February has been a very quiet month on the fishing front by my standards with only a handful of sessions. Seemingly endless rain and constant swells has seen most sessions more about where you can fish rather than where you want to fish.

With big tides at the start of the month I concentrated on bait collection rather than fishing so it wasn’t until the end of the first week that I finally managed to get the rods out.

A session on the big baits was in order but where to go to get out of the swell and find somewhere fishable. I opted for a mark I haven’t fished for a long time, awkward to get too and even more awkward to fish as it’s super tight for space and the little ledge you fish from slopes steeply towards the water. It’s a one man one rod kind of mark but I had caught some decent fish there previously so thought it was worth a bash. The session pretty much went as expected, I fished for 3 hours and had a bite every single cast finishing with 9 or 10 eels with the best estimated at around 13-14lb.

Next up was something different and a bash for a Rockling. I used to enjoy fishing for these in the winter when it’s a bit quiet but since the explosion of tiny eels they have become much more difficult to catch. As it happens I only had small eels before eventually switching to a bigger bait for the last cast and catching an eel around 10lb.

Then it was a switch back to the big baits for the next session but I decided to hedge my bets a little and fish 1 rod for Conger, with my second rod scaled back a bit to target a Huss. The night started with a tiny dogfish followed by strap eels before a better bite and a nice slow pull down. When I wound into the fish I thought it was just a small eel at first but as it started coming it didn’t feel like an eel and I thought it would perhaps be a decent Huss. As it got closer in it got heavier and heavier which made sense when a nice Undulate Ray surfaced, not what I was expecting but certainly welcome. I managed to slide it up the rocks on a swell, and when I picked it up it felt quite decent. On the scales it went 14-5, my first Undulate in 3 years certainly put a smile on my face.

I fished on and after more small eels I had another bite that looked like a little eel but when I wound into it, it felt a lot better. I grabbed the gaff and made my way to the water and after a cracking scrap an eel that looked around 20ish made the surface. It didn’t half go well for the size of it, I was expecting it to be a bit bigger if I’m honest. Anyway I landed it quickly before weighing it at 18-14 and slipping it back.

A cracking session for February and it wasn’t quite over yet as I managed a couple more smaller eels and a bonus Lobster to round a fun 3 hour session off.

I then did a super quick 1 hour session trying for a sardine for my species hunt but they were not there and I only managed a little pollack.

Then time for something different and a session on the beach for a Bass. Conditions were challenging with a big swell and a fair bit of weed. Bites were fairly slow, possibly due to the huge amount of fresh water running onto the beach but I persevered and managed a couple of Bass around the 2lb mark

And that just left time for one last session on the big baits. It turned into a bit of a saga, my first choice mark was way to rough so plan B was called for which turned into a long trudge across muddy fields and cliff paths before finally getting down to the rocks to fish. Sadly the fishing was pretty poor with just small eels.

The last week of the month I never managed to get out with the rods at all. The annual Sinkers Club dinner was held on the last night of the month, always a good night and I managed to come home with a fair haul of trophies.

There have been some nice fish caught by other anglers over the last month, Finlay Paton has continued his good form with a couple of cracking fish, firstly this cracker of a Garfish of 1-9

But my personal favourite has to be this superb 3 bearded Rockling of 2-4, what makes this even more impressive is it was targeted.

March sees the start of the Sinkers club Bass on measure competition which had become really popular and always throws up some quality fish.

Look out for my mid month post in a couple of weeks, it’s one of my favourites to date.

Finally for those of you asking, dad has finally had his first knee replacement and is currently living with us and doing well. he is about to start physio to get back out fishing as soon as possible.

For this TBT post I’m going back to my first year of keeping a fishing diary 1989.

At the start of the year I was 15 years old, doing my GCSE’s and not massively into my fishing. I left school in June when I went to work with Eddie at JFS Sport. June was also significant for the fact that I got transport when I got my 50cc Honda MB50 on a provisional license – No CBT back then you could just go straight on the road – I did many trips on that bike loaded up with rods, rucksacks and all sorts of other stuff pottering around at about 25mph!

The start of the year was really slow with not much fishing. I was doing a bit of coarse fishing back then and this entry from January 4th made me chuckle

“ Fished Milbrook reservoir, Peg 1 with Maggot bait. Tried float and ledger. Bad day, snapped my Boron Match and one of my wand tips. Thermal Suit blew in, lost about 20 hooks, had about 10 tangles got soaked and caught nothing”

February saw a fish that at the time really got me back into my fishing, this Undulate Ray on the back-wall of St Catherine’s Breakwater of 14lb 15ozs.

It’s amazing the difference a fish can make, before this I’d hardly fished all year, after this it was every other day. February also saw a load of Coalfish turn up, we were catching loads in the town harbour with the best I managed 1-6 but there were loads over 1lb. They were great sport, strange how they were only really there of that size for 1 winter.

Back then I was a member of the now defunct Jersey Light Tackle Group and March saw me catch a club record Dogfish of 2-8-5 along with another one of 2-6-14 in the same session as well as a PB Coalfish of 1-7 from St Catherine’s.

Highlights of April were just a Conger of 15lb and May was also pretty quiet although it did produce a PB Bass at the time of 4-2 caught on 5lb line and a tiny Yann.

June was spent doing a fair amount of Coarse fishing but I did have a Wrasse of 4-8.

July was better with a then PB Plaice of 2-2-12 as well as another of 1-6.

August saw a few club weighers, a then PB Black Bream of 2-11-10, Common Eel of 2-0-1, Red Mullet of 1-0-8 & a Mackerel of 1-0-5.

September and another PB Bass of 5-3 from St Catherine’s – It was a lot easier to catch a PB back then – as well as a PB ThickLipped Mullet of 2-13.

October was pretty uneventful but November made up for it with a stunning PB Bass from St Catherine’s on Ray gear that just missed out on a double at 9-14-4, a New Jersey PB Conger of 24-0 also from St Catherine’s just missing out on the conger club medal weight, another Bass of 6-0, a record rattling Pouting of 2-12-5 and a Flounder of 1-14-8.

And December produced another Eel, this one 21lb as well as my first ever Smalleyed Ray.

Very different times where every club fish had to be weighed on the club scales. It’s quite scary when I think this is now 37 years ago.

It’s fair to say we’ve had plenty of weather in January! From a freezing cold start to named storms bringing 90mph+ gusts, huge swells and at times torrential rain, the fishing has been tough at times.

My year started with the traditional New Year’s Day fish. I didn’t have a lot of time so it was a short dusk session on the lures. 3 small bass in 3 consecutive casts with the best just making 44cm avoided a first day blank.

Next was a worm session in the hope of Red Mullet or maybe a Sole but it was absolutely freezing and super quiet with just a couple of small pouting for my efforts.

Then a session on the beach for Bass or maybe a Gilthead Bream. Unfortunately I got plagued by small Bass, even catching them on whole squid at times with the best just 48cm.

It was then time to get dad out for his first session of the year so we hit one of the north coast piers to see what we could find. It was the usual Dogfish fest until out of the blue came this cracking (by Jersey standards) Whiting of 14ozs.

Then finally a lull of sorts in the swell and a chance to get the big rods out to try for an Eel. It was a pretty poor session with just small eels but I did have one interesting event. I had what felt like a slightly better eel on, maybe 8-10lb so I started making my way down to the water as it was going to be too heavy to wind up. It then made an incredible dive or so I thought before starting to come in easy again. A bit further in the same thing again only this time it didn’t stop, literally dragging me down the rocks before snapping me off. I can only presume a seal had taking a fancy to my eel on the way in!

Then it was a St Catherine’s session with dad which was pretty poor again with just Pouting, Dogfish & small Conger.

Then another slight lull in the weather so another North coast session on the eels. I arrived in daylight to try and catch some fresh bait managing a single Pouting on dusk before putting the Conger baits out. First up were small fish before a more positive bite that felt half decent when I lifted into it. Sod’s Law at the point it hit the surface a series of massive swells came through making it difficult to see the fish but it looked 20ish. I was just trying to wait for a gap in the swell to try and land it when a big wave washed it into the pool behind me making my job a lot easier. As it happens it wasn’t quite a 20 but at 19-3 not bad. I finished the session on 10 eels, quite a few over or around double figures with the next biggest 16-4, encouraging after so many poor years on the eels

Then it was a short harbour session to try for some Garfish. It was actually really slow, clearly not as many in the town harbours yet as the north coast piers but eventually we managed a couple with one making 1lb

It was then time for the Sinkers beach comp. It looked a bit touch and go with the forecast but fortunately the wind eased just in time to allow it to be fished across St Aubins Bay from West Park to Bel Croute. It was still pretty rough with a fair sea and for the last hour or so torrential rain. I decided to start at St Aubins on the beach. After a couple of hours and just a few schoolie bites I wasn’t feeling it and felt it was too sheltered, so made the decision to move for the last hour. I headed to the other end of the beach where the sea was a lot rougher and looked more like it to me. I had a few schoolie bites before very last cast I had the first proper bite of the night and managed a weigher albeit only 47cm. At the weigh in of the 38 anglers who took part just 6 managed a fish over the 42cm minimum meaning I just snuck on to the end of the prize money. The 2 best fish were 67cm & 66.5cm, the winner also caught right at the end of the comp, a lovely fish and new PB for James Bertram weighing 7-1.

Then it was back down the harbour with dad for another bash at the Garfish. This time there was a lot more despite the seal in the chervy doing its best to ruin the fishing. They were a decent average size with quite a few around the pound mark with dad finding the best at 1-2.

That just left time for one last session, a short daytime low water wading session that produced a few Bass, nothing big with the best around 48cm.

There have been some cracking fish caught locally by other anglers this month. Neil Muldoon caught this lovely Conger of 30-8 at St Catherine’s. An excellent eel by today’s standards and Neil’s qualifier for full membership of the British Conger Club. Well done Neil!

Finlay Paton has also been putting in the hours and has been rewarded with some cracking fish including an excellent solitaired Conger of just under 23lb and a good session on the Giltheads with fish to just over 3lb.

Having spent a fair amount of time over the Christmas holidays inputting the last few years of points history onto the new Sinkers website I thought it might be interesting to look back to my best year in the club, the 2014/15 season.

It’s the only season I can say I concentrated on the club league from the start of the season, the objective being to weigh in as many species as possible as opposed to trying to build a big points total. Kind of a species hunt on Sinkers weights. At this time I had never won the club points league and the bar was really high with most years winners having over 20 fish and over 1000 points.

First session of the season was on the 4th December and produced the first 2 weighers, a 2-1 dogfish and a 9-2 Smalleyed Ray. I also had a couple of Pollack to 2-9 but they had to be 3lb to weigh in back then. Next fish on the board was on December 10th, a pouting of 1-1 from St Caths. Next was an improved dogfish of 2-5 before a session at St Caths produced another 2, an Undulate of 10-8 and a bonus Cod of 2-8. The Christmas break saw me trying to tick off a Flounder and I eventually managed it on December 30th with a nice fish of 2-3 to leave me on 6 fish at the end of the first month.

First new fish of 2015 was a Whiting of 13ozs on January 2nd followed by a shore Rockling of 13ozs on January 12th and then a small improver and PB Cod of 2-11.

February was a tough month and I only managed to add 1 more fish, a Conger of 16-12 to take me to 9 fish at the quarter way point.

Things improved quickly in March, a 3 bearded Rockling of 12ozs before an incredible session at St Catherine’s that produced a rare hatrick of Rays, a PB 10-12 Smalleyed, a 12-6 Blonde and an 8-10 Undulate, only 1 improver and 1 new species but a great night.

Only 1 more addition in March, an improver Undulate of 13-5 to finish March on 11 fish.

April started with a small improver shore Rockling of 15ozs followed by Garfish of 1lb, Mackerel of 1-2, Black Bream of 1-10 and Ballan Wrasse of 3-1 to finish April on 15.

At this point it starts to get tougher as a fair few have been ticked off. 2 more were weighed in during May, a Thick Lipped Mullet of 2-12 & a Starry Smoothound of 8-8 to finish the month on 17.

June started with a PB common eel of 3-10.

Followed by an improver Ballan of 4-3. Then one of the highlights of the year, an improved Starry Smoothound of 20-0

That just left time for another improver Ballan of 5-3 to finish June on 18.

July saw me away on holiday for 2 weeks so just 1 new fish added on my return, a Common Smoothound of 6-4 for fish no 19.

August started with another bonus fish a Twaite Shad of 1-6, what a way to get to 20.

Then a Gilthead bream of just 6ozs, there was no weight for Gilts back then as they were still a new arrival for us. Then the first day of that years JOSAF I had an improver Black Bream of 1-13 as well as a White Bream of 1-12 and a Bass of 4-6 to finish August on 23 and now it’s getting much harder.

September I finally managed to tick off Golden Grey Mullet with a fish of 2-0, it was 1-12 to weigh in back then and I had several near misses before eventually ticking that one off. Then added Scad another one that took a while at 13ozs before an improver Thick Lipped of 3-0 and an improver 3 bearded Rockling of 1-6 to finish on 25 with 2 months to go.

October I fished really hard for flatfish and red mullet but despite catching all 3 species none were big enough to add to the tally. I did add a Tub Gurnard of 11ozs to take me to 26.

November and the final straight started with a Sole of 14ozs, not quite big enough. I really wanted one more as I believe 26 was the most ever weighed in for one season. After quite a few near misses I finally got over the line with a Red Mullet of 1-1 for a final season tally of 27.

I think it’s a lot harder now, species like Rockling, Pouting and Dogfish you could tick off easily back then would be quite time consuming today.

I’ve often wondered if you had enough time would 30 in a season be possible. That year I never had Bullhuss, Tope, Thin Lipped Mullet, Plaice or Sole but I did have Cod, Twaite Shad, White Bream and Blonde Ray all of which would be super tough if not impossible now.

These days I want to spend too much time on certain species to really try this again, the hardest thing I found with this was having to move on once a target was achieved. My obsession with finding a big Stingray would get in the way!

If I could sum up December in one word it would be swell, especially during the first half when there were dark nights with no moon. We had a good 3 weeks of continuous big swells wiping out most of the rock marks.

My first session of the month was a St Catherine’s session with dad on the bottom wall. Dad fished for Conger while I opted to chuck out a couple of Ray rods. It was a really quiet night on the big baits, just plenty of Pout & Dogfish on the bait rod as well as another surprise Bass around 2lb and this cracking big Lobster that was full of eggs and was carefully returned.

The first weekend of the month was due to be the inter club challenge match but it was postponed until the new year due to the huge swells and strong winds. That left a free weekend and with big tides I opted to use the time for bait collection. Believe it or not I did my first ever squid fishing session after watching a few of Sam’s videos on his Beneath the waves YouTube channel and in just an hours fishing I had 4 squid for the freezer.

Definitely something I need to spend more time doing, trouble is when the squid are around so is everything else and I’m always reluctant to sacrifice a bait session to go and fish for squid. The rest of the weekend was spent digging Rockworm which seems to get harder and harder.

I then did a session on the north coast with the big rods. The swell was still massive but I managed to find somewhere tucked in just about fishable although I still had to pack up about 2 hours before high when it started getting silly. Action was non stop with Conger, no monsters but a couple over the 12lb club minimum for my first weigher of the new season.

The Christmas markets were still going on so I was fitting in short sessions as and when I could. We then had a break in the weather, the swell was still bad but it was a bright sunny day and surprisingly warm so I decided to try for a late season mullet. Water visibility was pretty much nothing so i was cycling through the depths to try and find any fish that might be feeding. I shallowed right up to about 2 foot, dropped the float back in and it shot down like a rocket. When I struck the water erupted as an angry fish went mad on the surface. At first I thought it was a Bass but once it calmed down and swam off I could see it was a nice Mullet. After a short tussle I slipped it into the net and a nice solid fish of 4-3 was my second club weigher.

As is often the case late season that was the only fish although I did miss a couple of bites right at the end of the session. That evening after dinner I opted for another short session after a Smalleyed managing 1 small ray that was foul hooked first cast before a couple of strap conger and a Pouting.

Then it was back to St Catherine’s as again the swell was too bad for the rocks. Another pretty quiet session with a few Pouting & Dogfish and some small Conger, this one the biggest just about making double figures.

That just left time for one last session before Christmas. The swell had finally eased a little and I decided to risk a north coast session. I decided to target a Huss and use heavy leaders and traces so I could hand line or drag up in the swell a Huss and if I hooked a decent Eel then it would probably bite through the trace line. When I arrived at the mark it was the worst kind of swell, calm for a few minutes before a set of 2 or 3 massive waves rolled in, not fun in the dark when you can’t see them coming. I nearly abandoned it but decided to give it an hour and see if I could hold bottom enough to fish. A dogfish first cast followed by non stop action from small Conger, so much so that I couldn’t keep 2 rods in the water. The high tide passed and thankfully the swell dropped out making it a little more comfortable. Just as I was thinking of calling it a night after my 11th Conger I finally found my target species, this nice Huss of 8-4 and another club fish ticked off. Oh and it was caught on my Jersey caught squid!

Christmas saw a change in the weather with the wind swinging east and the swell finally dropping but so did the temperature. I don’t generally fish much between Christmas and New Year, it’s a break from work and I normally just have a lazy week. I did one short rather hopeful mullet session that was freezing and unsurprisingly a complete blank before one last night session on the rocks. It was a clear, cold night with a fair moon so I chucked one rod out with worm and the other with ray baits. Nothing too exciting happened but I did manage a couple more club fish with a 2lb dogfish and this chunky Pouting of 1-5.

So that rounds off 2025 and what an incredible year it has been for me on the fishing front. I certainly picked a good year to start a blog and I must point out what I have caught this year is not a normal year for me and would certainly rank as one of my best years with 3 new PB’s and plenty of other nice fish along the way. I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my blog and for all the positive messages and feedback I have received. I’ve really enjoyed doing it and if I have inspired just 1 person to go fishing then it has been well worth it. Hopefully the fishing gods will continue to smile on me in 2026 and I might even find that elusive big Stinger that I dream about. Here are my 2025 Highlights. Tight lines and best wishes to everyone for 2026.

Following on from my post last month about my unfulfilled quest for a British Conger Club shore gold medal a few people mentioned how it would be good to see dad’s equivalent so here it is.

Dad qualified as a full member of the BCC way back in 1975 with a St Caths eel of exactly 25lb. He didn’t have long to wait for a first medal with a silver medal fish of 35-9 caught straight off the end of St Caths in 1976.

1977 was another St Cath’s fish, this time a bronze medal for an eel of 32lb. There was no medal fish in 1978 before bouncing back in 1979 with his first of 3 Jersey 40’s with a St Cath’s backwall eel of 41-8.

In 1980 it got even better, another silver with a Jersey P.B, again from the backwall of St Cath’s at 43-13.

And to add to that he also had the first ever winner of the shore conger festival with his best jersey eel from the rocks at 38-4

There was then a 10 year drought of medals mainly down to bringing up myself and my brother before getting back on the medal trail in 1990 with an another St Caths eel of 30-8.

1991 was bronze again, yet again a St Caths eel of 30-0.

1992 was bronze again, this time a rare Jersey medal off the rocks with this one of 30-14.

1993 heralded the start of a run of big fish from the other Channel Islands starting with a silver medal fish of 36-15 from the aptly named Congriere in Sark.

1994 and another Silver, this time from Alderney with an eel of 39-0

1995 and silver again from Alderney, this time 35-4, a night that saw Paul Bisson also land an eel of 34-8.

1996 and another Alderney fish but this time it’s gold. Amazingly this eel of 46-0 was caught during the Alderney angling festival and was only big enough to finish second in the conger section, an insight in to just how good the conger fishing in Alderney was at this point.

1997 and after a run of silvers it’s back to bronze with another Alderney fish of 30-0 but it was just a dip because 1998 was back to Gold with a PB and 50+ tie winning Alderney eel of 53-12 caught in a big swell and expertly gaffed by Paul Bisson. I will always remember getting the phone call just before Christmas from dad saying he had just caught a massive eel and for anyone, but particularly dad a shore 50 truly was a dream fish of a lifetime.

1999 was back to earth with a bump with an Alderney bronze medal fish of 28-5.

There was then a gap of 2 years with no medal before bouncing back with a Jersey PB from the rocks of. 41-2. I remember this night well. It was February and the weather was awful so we had found somewhere to tuck in. The swell had got really nasty even on this sheltered mark so dad moved further into the bay where he was getting pestered by dogfish. Pretty fed up he left his gear out before a proper bite. It was super shallow so when the eel surfaced it was really fresh and looked massive. I was a little weary of gaffing such a fresh fish but there were no real dramas and dad had his 3rd Jersey 40.

2003 was another bronze, this time a Sark fish of 33-8, 2004 another bronze for a Jersey fish of 28-12 which was caught in the Conger festival and was the winner, a 3rd success for dad.

2005 was another Sark fish, this time a bronze of 32-0 before a medal less year in 2006. 2007 & 2008 saw back to back Jersey silvers with eels of 37-0 & 37-4 both rock caught eels actually caught within a couple months of each other.

2009 was medal less again before a Jersey bronze of 25-0 in 2010 actually caught during the bass festival, 2011 another Jersey bronze of 30-4, this one again caught during the Conger festival but not big enough to win on this occasion.

2012 was another Jersey shore bronze, this time 33-8 which was the last medal dad won.

So a 13 year gap since a medal, when you look at dad’s Congering history that shows the decline over the last decade or so although there are signs of a little recovery fingers crossed. Dad actually goes for his first knee op next week so hopefully once they are both done he can get back out and add to his impressive medal collection.

Well what a mad crazy busy month November was. Between fishing, work and helping my wife with the Christmas market I’ve barely had time to take breath.

Fishing wise the month actually started pretty slowly. The opening weekend I had commitments in the evening so was restricted to a couple of short daytime sessions in what was pretty grim weather, strong winds, big swell and really cold. I opted for a couple of short mullet sessions around the harbour that only produced a few small thick lips and a solitary snipe.

Next was a session on the north coast with the big rods. The swell was still really big so choice of venue was extremely limited. I managed to find somewhere I could tuck in that was just about fishable and had plenty of action from the off from Conger with a couple of slightly better ones amongst the usual straps both landed single handed with a landing net which was entertaining in the swell. These the best of them at 15-8 & 18lb.

Then it was time for the annual Bass festival which also serves as the penultimate round of the Bass on measure. I started on the Friday night with a session on the lures. At the 5pm start it was still a little on the shallow side where I was so instead of starting on the soft plastics I opted for a hard lure – an IMA Hound 125F Glide in silver scales for those interested. 2nd cast in I had a hit but failed to hook up, promising. Next cast and I’m hit again, this time connecting with a fairly small fish. After a spirited scrap I had the first fish of the session at 48cm, not a monster but at least it was a fish to register for the BOM.

It then went quiet so I moved along to the next point and 2nd cast again I got hit by what felt like a much better fish. It made a couple of really strong runs before it was close enough to see, I turned on my headlamp and was a little surprised it wasn’t a big bigger. I managed to slip it in the next In between the swells, a slight improver of 53cm.

I then had 3 small fish in quick succession as well as a few other hits before it went quiet and it was time to move along again. Next stop and 2 more small fish straight away before it went quiet again. One last move to an area I don’t normally fish but the tide was so high by this point there was enough water to have a go and second cast again I got hit. This fish was much slower just a few head shakes, no real runs and I was a little surprised to see the best fish of the night when I turned on my headlamp. A quick scramble down the rocks with the net and a long lean fish just under 61cm, a possible contender for a prize.

What a cracking session, 8 bass, 7 on the hard lure and just 1 on a sidewinder skerries.

Next was a stupid o’clock bait session that turned into a complete dogfish fest, so much so that I gave up early and was back in bed by 4am.

I then opted to give the remainder of my bait to dad to have a go on the beach while I returned to have another session on the lures. It’s rare for me to go back to the same mark in 2 consecutive days but they were there on the Friday so I felt it was worth another bash. Sadly I should have listened to myself because I never had a touch. Amazing the difference from one night to the next. That was the end of my Bass festival weekend, I had a family meal to go to on the Sunday evening so didn’t expect to be able to make the weigh in. That was however cancelled at the last minute so I made it down to see what had been caught. To my surprise I had the biggest lure fish so won the lure section as well as coming equal first in this round of the BOM.

Here are the full results from the Bass Festival.

Next session was another session on the rocks with the big baits which turned out to be quite a session. It started how these sessions often do with plenty of small eels before a much more positive bite which resulted in me lifting into what felt like a much better eel. I was fishing fairly light as was mainly targeting a Huss so took it easy. It was quite difficult to judge how big it was going to be because there was a really big swell still running and I was playing the swell as well as the fish. When I eventually managed to get it to the surface I couldn’t see it clearly in the swell but I thought it was around 20-25lb, a good eel these days. I started to make my way down towards the water, or as close as I could get in the swell and grabbed my gaff only for it to get tangled in my landing net which was laying alongside it! I’ve got the rod in one hand, the gaff in the other and I’m somehow trying to untangle the net. The eel then made a couple of strong dives taking a fair bit of line while I’m still trying to free my gaff! Eventually I get the gaff free from the net but now I have the challenge of landing the eel. The swell is coming around the corner washing the eel about 15 yards away from me, then I’m winding like mad to keep in contact as the backwash then drags it about 15 yards the other way. I know if I’m patient and lucky I might get one chance at this. I must of had the fish in the swell a good 10 minutes before a tiny window of opportunity and I didn’t miss my chance. As soon as I felt the weight on the gaff I thought it might be a bit bigger than I was expecting. It’s a long time since I’ve seen a big eel but I fancied it had to be close to 30. Well I wasn’t dissatisfied when the scales settled at 38-0, my best eel for many years and my first Conger club medal for quite a while. Amazingly this was the day after a wrote my previous post about trying for a conger club gold. It may only be another silver medal fish but I certainly wasn’t complaining.

I put the rods back out while I enjoyed that big fish buzz that doesn’t happen very often and marvelled at how lucky I had been to land it singled handed in those conditions. Next bite and it was the target species Bullhuss albeit only a small one but another species ticked off for my species hunt.

Rods back out and it’s not long before I’m in again and this one feels a little different. On the surface I spot the telltale reflection of the eyes from a better Huss, I decided not to chance my luck with the swell again and dragged it up with a big wave holding my breath it didn’t spit the hook as they so often do. This one was a better fish of 8-15 and my 20th club weigher of the year for the Sinkers, always a nice target to reach.

Rods back out again, the left hand one goes but it snags me and I snap out. I decide with the way the swell now is it’s time to reluctantly call it a night. While I’m sorting my gear out the second rod goes and I’m in again! This feels heavier and on the surface I can see it’s a bigger Huss, looks a good double. I wait for the right swell but my luck runs out and the trace parts as I’m dragging it up in the swell. I had rode my luck all night so couldn’t really complain and amazingly all this happened and I was back home by 8.30pm, what an amazing few hours fishing.

Following on from that lovely eel I had to get out and have another go but this session reverted to type with tiny strap eels and dogfish plaguing the baits.

I then had a small window on a Sunday afternoon and as the wind had swung east and the swell had finally dropped I decided to try for a late season mullet on the north coast. I had my first bite which I missed after about 40 minutes of chervying but next cast I hooked the first fish of the session, this spirited thick lipped just over 2lb.

I thought that might be it as you often get 1 fish on the rocks and that’s it, but 20 minutes later the float goes down again and I had a slightly better one of 3-4.

I then hooked one that put up a really weird scrap which made sense when I netted it and saw it was foul hooked. I then had another about 2lb before this one of 3-5

By this point I was running out of daylight fast, I had one more drop right under my feet where I could just about see my float, and down it went again. After a cracking scrap I slipped the best one of the session into the net at 3-13.

I did think about slipping the float off and fishing straight up and down as they were clearly there but I was already running late so decided to call it a day. 6 fish in a little over 2 hours was great sport. Oddly in the past where I have fished the north coast at this time of year for mullet you catch very few fish but they are generally good fish. So unusual to catch so many. oh and I even had a black bream.

Next was a session at St Catherine’s Breakwater with dad as he was keen to try and get a club weigher Conger for the year which needs to be over 12lb. It was just like old times, a horrible night with strong winds and heavy rain and dad and I the only two idiots stupid enough to be down there. I opted to fish for Ray, just catching the usual Pout & Dogfish as well as a few Black Bream and a surprise Bass about 2lb. I lost a couple of eels on the Ray gear that bit through the trace. Just when I was thinking of calling it a night I hear a shout from dad and he has an eel that looks like it might just make it. After a bit of a dance it was in the net and it felt like it had a bit of weight. Sure enough it was mission accomplished with this one of 12-15.

Then it was time for the last round of this years Bass on measure. I had only weighed in 4 rounds so was keen to at least try and get a 5th fish as only your best 5 rounds count. I was too distracted by Stingray in the early rounds to be competitive but a decent fish could still see me finish with a respectable total. This round also coincided with the first weekend of the Christmas market so time was going to be squeezed. I started on the Friday on the lures, I figured I had 1 hour and 10 minutes before I had to make a dash up the cliff to pick my wife up. I had a small fish of 40cm, not big enough almost straight away so was optimistic of a weigher but that was the only action of the session. I decided to go back early morning, personally I always prefer the morning tides but it was just a single fish session again, this one an angry fish that wouldn’t relax on the ruler but just scraped the 42cm minimum. It always amazes me when I catch a 42cm fish how small the minimum landing size is, it really is a small fish.

I then decided on a daytime low water session on the beach. It turned into a proper gruelling session. Firstly I really struggled to dig bait and managed just 60 small lugworm. When I arrived at the mark the weather was nothing short of atrocious. It was so windy I could barely open the van door and the rain was torrential. To make matters worse it was freezing. I decided on taking absolute minimum amount of gear, no tripod just a rod, a few bits of tackle, a ruler and my bait clipped to my waders. It has to be amongst the worst conditions I can ever remember fishing in. My hands were so cold I could barely bait up. Every time I reeled in my bait was gone and the trace wasn’t crab chewed so I felt I was getting bites I just couldn’t tell in the wind. I stuck it out probably as much because I couldn’t face the walk back up the beach as much as anything but I did feel my best chance of a fish would be just after the turn. Sure enough just after the low I had my first definite bite, when I wound down there was a fair bit of weight but I wasn’t sure if it was a fish or weed. About half way in I felt a kick and knew at least some of the weight was a fish. As it got closer in I got a bit more control in the wind and it began to actually feel like a reasonable fish. It then kited straight past me and looked pretty decent, I slid it on to the beach, a really solid fish in great condition. I didn’t have any scales but at 63cm in great condition it must of been pushing 6lb. A quick measure and back it went while I headed home for a hot shower and a coffee, frozen solid and soaked to the skin. Why do we do it!

I was unable to make it to the weigh in as I had to pack my wife’s stall at the Christmas market up but when the results went up I was equal first for the round and a late rally over the last 3 rounds had seen me finish with a respectable final score of 279cm.

Sadly work then totally took over and I only managed one very short session on the lures during the remainder of the month which was a blank.

December looks like continuing to be very busy with both work and two more weekends of the Christmas markets so fishing time could be a bit limited. It is however the start of a new club year on 1st December and next weekend is the inter club challenge match so plenty to look forward to.