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ALDERNEY - 2007 |
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Monday 30 July
We all met up at 7.15 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 8.20am. The weather was clear and sunny with light northeast wind and a slight sea. It was decided that during the crossing, the skipper Paul Whittall would stop at about mid-channel on one of the many wrecks along the way where we caught some decent sized Pollack to 15 lbs, Cod to 15 lb and a 8.5 lbs Bass to Eric. We stayed on this wreck for several hours as the type and quality of fishing was very good, finally moving on at 3.30 pm. Our tally consisted of 11 Bass to Eric, 9 Bass to me plus a 15 lbs Pollack, 1 Cod to 17 lbs to Charlie and 11 Bass between them. After negotiating our passage between the numerous supertankers and large ships in the Channel we saw our first sight of Alderney at 5.00 pm 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 as we have done in previous years, but we were disappointed at the poor numbers of Bass with only 8 being landed and a few dogfish. Offshore Rebel slipped into Braye Harbour at 6.30 pm and we loaded our suitcases into the taxi for transporting to the L’Haras guest house.
Tuesday 31July
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 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 half an hour Charlie was into the first Tope, landing a nice 30 pounder. Soon we were all into Tope with myself and Eric landing four each of similar weights with best at 40 lbs. The others were also landing decent sized Tope with two or three each to the others on board (except Derek, who blanked). Another angler on Tiger Lily landed a 70 lbs Tope later that day. We moved at 12.30 pm and tried to catch ‘live mackerel, but as these were very scarce we moved back to the east side of Alderney to try for Bream. We were struggling to fish as the tides were too fast, but once it began to ease we soon began to catching some decent Bream and managed about 25. Once the tide picked up we began to drift again for Bass, but the response was again slow with only about 18 being landed in two hours. In the late afternoon we moved into the ‘washing machine’ a section of water at the northeast corner of Alderney where numerous tides meet around the large submerged Blanchard Rock with 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 each took turns in two groups using the few live mackerel we had caught earlier and Derek came good with a 8 3/4 lbs Bass, several others were caught, but not so large.
Wednesday 1 August
We left harbour at 8.00 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 and size (best at 3 lbs) on each drift. As the tide increased we moved to the Bass banks on the south side and we were soon into landing 20 to 6 lbs. The plan was to drift here until the tide turned southwards which would enable us to sail back up to the ‘washing machine’, but as we again had only a few live mackerel our time here was curtailed and only 1 Bass was caught, again to Derek. We arrived back in harbour via the west side of Alderney at 6.45 pm, sun burnt, but more happy with our catch for the day.
Thursday 2 August
The day started off overcast and breezy with a light drizzle, but by lunchtime we were back into warm sunshine and light winds. We then sailed around to the northeast side of Alderney to try for Pollack and Cod in the Hurd Deep, but the tide was too strong resulting in loss of gear and no fish. We moved nearer shore to catch ‘live’ Mackerel and after about an hour we had more than enough and set sail for the east side of the island, firstly for Bream on the ‘slack’ water and Bass after lunch. At 4.00 pm we again moved into the ‘ washing machine’ where each group had 8 drifts across it and with over 5 ‘snap offs’, we had 5 Bass, a 9 1/2 lbs to myself and a 8 lbs to Derek, 6 lbs to Eric and Mark and 7 lbs to Tony.
Friday 3 August
All good things come to an end and with another warm sunny day ahead we set sail for home, stopping off at numerous wrecks and reefs in mid-channel where we picked up loads of Pollack to 14 lbs and loads of Mackerel. We arrived back in Weymouth, pleased with the previous days’ catches, and on dividing up the catches between us we each had 11 Bass, 8 Bream and loads of Pollack fillets to show for our efforts, much the same as previous years.
Other Charter Boat from the South Coast in Alderney was: Tiger Lily. |