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ALDERNEY - 2006 |
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Monday 24 July
We all met up at 7.30 am and after storing our fishing tackle, suitcases, loading up with ice (for storing the daily catches of fish) and sand-eels we were on our way at 8.30am. The weather was clear and sunny with light northeast wind and a slight sea. During the crossing, skipper Paul Whittal stopped at several of the many wrecks along the way where we caught some decent sized Pollack, Cod to 6lb and a 7 lb Bass to Chris. We hopped from wreck to wreck and the type of fishing was dictated by what the tide was doing at the time. After negotiating our passage between the numerous supertankers and large ships in the Channel we saw our first sight of Alderney at 1.30pm in the distance, with the Cherbourg Peninsular approx 20 miles off to the Southeast. We sailed along the east side of Alderney, about 1 mile offshore and began fishing in the tide races for Bass, but we were disappointed at the poor numbers of Bass with only 4 being landed and a solitary 3 lb Turbot. We then moved to the northeast banks and tried for some Bream, but again we were disappointed with the catches being landed, only 5 Bream being caught. Offshore Rebel slipped into Braye Harbour at 7.00 pm and we loaded our suitcases into the taxi for transporting to the guest house.
Tuesday 25 July
We were all on board by 8.30 am and with a good night’s sleep behind us and a nice sunny day forecasted, we headed to the east side of Alderney to continue where we had left off the night before, fishing for Bass and then Bream. We were struggling to fish for the Bream as the tides were too fast, but once it began to ease we dropped anchor and slowly began to catch some decent Bream. The irony of it was that Tiger Lily was anchored 50 metres from us and was enjoying a very productive spell with over 50 Bream landed in less than an hour, we could only manage 15. Once the tide picked up we began to drift again for Bass, but the response was again slow with only about 10 being landed in two hours. In the afternoon we anchored up and had a spell fishing for Turbot and Brill, but the best was a 4lb 5 oz Brill and several red Gurnards. By this time everyone was getting disgruntled and we repositioned for another attempt at Bass, but still with a poor return.
Wednesday 26 July
We didn’t leave harbour until 9.00 am in order to catch the right tide on the east side for Bream. It was another calm sunny day as we started our drift for Bream and at last we were catching a decent number on each drift. As the tide increased we moved to the Bass banks on the south side and we were soon into landing quite a few to 6 lbs. The plan was to drift here until the tide turned southwards which would enable us to sail on to the island of Sark 12 miles away and try a recently discovered Bream area. We were not disappointed with the quantity of Bream, but as this area fishes best in October the fish were small and over half our catch was returned. We arrived back at Braye harbour at 9.15 pm tired, sunburnt, but more than happy with our catch for the day.
Thursday 27 July
Another warm and sunny morning greeted us as we left harbour and sailed northwest for a morning session for Tope or Bull Huss. We anchored up , set our lines and sat back in the warm sunshine for the ‘big’ one. After about 2 hours all we had to show was 3 Bull Huss to 7 lbs and some Dogfish. We then sailed around to the southeast side of Alderney to replenish our stock of sand-eels (Launces local name). After about an hour we had more than enough and set up our gear for Bass and at last we started to land decent quantities, however the were small. At 4.00 pm Paul decided to fish for large Bass in the ‘washing machine’ a section of water at the northeast corner of Alderney where numerous tides meet and in water over 100 feet deep. When the boat drifts over this section you cannot let your line hit the bottom or you will snap off. We had 8 drifts across it and with over 5 ‘snap offs’, we had 2 Bass, a 5lb to myself and a 6 lb 12 oz to Wayne.
Friday 28 July
All good things come to an end and with another warm sunny day ahead we set sail for home, stopping off at numerous wrecks in mid-channel where we picked up 3 Ling to 15 lbs loads of Pollack to 13 lbs 7 oz a solitary Cod to 20 lbs (Chris) and loads of Mackerel. We enjoyed the sightings of a family of Basking Sharks about 12 feet off the boat and a solitary Sail-Fish. We arrived back in Weymouth, disappointed with the previous few days’ catches, but on dividing up the catches between us we each had 8 Bass, 8 Bream and loads of Pollack fillets to show for our efforts, much the same as last year.
Other Charter Boats from the South Coast in Alderney were: Tiger lily, Peace and Plenty, Sundance, Lone Shark and Valkyrie. |