Visit Jersey!

This year it looks like I will be missing my annual trip to Jersey due to other commitments, so I thought I would give this wonderful place a quick mention.

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Jersey has top notch bass fishing & everything it takes to keep a family happy while you are out on the rocks, and is easy to reach from the UK (direct flights from mainland Europe are few and far between, but can be well worth the effort).

Beautiful beaches.

Fantastic scenery.

With the fishing being spectacular at times, there are some great fishermen on the Channel Islands - the locals are easy going & willing to help you catch "that bass".

Bass heaven!

A must for a visiting angler is a trip to Mr Fish, an excellent fishing shop based in St Helier. Mr Fish offer a huge range of fishing tackle as well as one of the most extensive lure selections I have ever seen..
These guys really know their local fishing (and can often be talked into revealing where the fish are currently being caught). Mick can be contacted here http://www.mrfishjersey.com/ (or by clicking the store front below).

Click to enter.

The credit card may take a beating...

 

Two of each please!

Another group worthy of mention are the guys from Sinkers Sea Fishing Club (they can be found here http://sinkersseafishingclub.blogspot.com/ ) - Sinkers organise an annual bass comp with sections for bait, lure as well as catch & release, which is alot of fun.

Even I catcht the occasional fish in Jersey.

Also Jersey based, are the extremely talented Keith and Kevin White who run JBG (Jersey Bass Guides - find them here http://www.jerseybassguides.com/bassfish/blog1.php ). If you decide to visit Jersey and go guided, then these are the guys to go with (they offer a whole range of guiding as well as coaching services).

Keith with a prime night bass caught on a soft plastic.

Check this short video that Keith and Kevin made of the exceptional waters they guide on.

Video courtesy of Jersey Bass Guides.

I hope to do a bit more about JBG at some point in the future so keep an eye on this space.

Jersey wrasse love a lure too.

Sam sporting a 21lb boat caught Pollock.

If you get the chance - visit Jersey - you won't be disappointed!

Enough for now....... (time to start sorting lures for my upcoming trip to Wales!)

Thanks for reading! (& thanks to Sam, Keith & Mick for the pics)

Hens Teeth.

Finally managed to get hold of some X-Rap SW 10s in Ayu which seem to be very scarce at the moment.

This lot will be winging their way to Dorset where Im sure Mark is dribbiling already.

The X-Rap - a great little suspender.

Might hold onto a couple actually........(just kidding Mark dont worry).

Tight Lines.

Another Golden Oldie.

Having just had a poke about in my mail folders, I found these gems from Sam & Omar, which they sent to me a few years ago when Sam & Karen were down-under for a visit..........

"These are some of the photies taken by the newspaper guy, but unfortunately not used.. This is Karen's fish, needed all of us to hold it,100 lbs and a meter and a half long, no wonder it made her speechless. The other 2 guys in the photo are Al and Gary, skipper and crew. Sam looks pleased, and I am pleased not to be overboard, thanks to Karen for hauling me in!!! Pull your bloody arms off as they said, they were right.

Off on the houseboat again tomorrow for a couple of days of much gentler fishing. Love to all Omar."

Bit of  a tug Karen? lol

Smiles all round.

Or screams!

Sams mail to me was similar lol - but check the numbers!!

"Well today we have got up and are backs, arms, legs,hands and knees feel completely shot to bits. Went out on a boat yeserday and the skipper told us that the fight is similar to someone putting there foot in your arm pit and trying to pull your arm out of its socket - we laughed at the time and he said you wont have smiles on your faces in 2 hours time we laughed again which he didnt find amusing. He got his revenge when I stepped up and after getting my harness together dropped my line to 100mtrs and within 2 minutes was almost pulled overboard, however after 2 minutes of sreaming action my fish was taken ...we think by a shark.- the fish would have been approx 20 kilos so I dread to think of the size of the shark.. All the fish in the photo are would you believe it......Samson Fish!!!!!!!!!

Total catch of the day was 43 weighing approx 1000 kilos!!!!! Ripping stuff. Karen had the fish of the day , approx 50kilos and 1.5m in length. All apart from 1 was tagged and released alive and well, Recovery day today, taking it very easy.

Will send another report of our next sortie due to take place as soon as we are capable of holding a rod and line.

Hope you are all well and wish you were ere!!!!  Sam"

Shell-shocked by Samson.

Sam losing the plot - deckhands seen it all before......

Happy & tired at a guess.

Now thats what I call a gut busting session!

A big thanks to Sam & Omar for letting me use their pics!

For those interested in The Samson (Seriola hippos) - a member of the Jack family, more can be found here:

http://www.fishbase.org/summary/SpeciesSummary.php?genusname=Seriola&speciesname=hippos

Omar can be contacted here:

http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/member.php?u=20368


Tight Lines!

Where did I go wrong?

Ever wonder where you went wrong with the parenting?

Well, my boy has finally decided just how boring bass fishing can be with dad - I must have gone wrong somewhere here (perhaps starting with something easier than lure fishing for bass?)

Boys with their toys.

Footballs the name of the game at the moment (always hoped he would sign up with BASS not the DFB lol), anyway I can always live in hope that he goes far in footbal, and can buy me a boat full of tackle one day.

Lures - learning the hard way....

How can this not be better than chasing a ball?

If you have a look around the forums there are some great young lure fishermen out there so dont despair - give it a go (you may have more luck than me).

Off to order a rod now (more on that later).

Tight Lines!

Lending Lures - Lesson Learnt !

I've just arrived home after a few days of very difficult fishing in Dorset, and am "feeling the pain" of a couple of good falls on the rocks as usual.

We arrived in Dorset to find the wind had swung to North East, flat calm seas, crystal clear water & bright sunlight were the conditions we had to contend with (we knew fishing was going to be tough), so plans were changed and we decided that the rock marks would give us the best chance of a decent fish.

First evening we had a quick session (which only produced a mackerel) and we realised it was going to be even tougher than expected!

The next day my lesson was learnt about lending lures to mates - Mark asked if I had a Chartreuse Patchinko he could borrow (bright conditions - bright plugs and all that), as good as I am the said lure changed hands & Mark cast it way out to try a spot at range. Two turns of the handle & the water exploded with a massive splash, and a very decent fish managed to miss the lure!

Inspired by this we all pushed on but had no more rises until Mark hit a decent fish (in the line of rotting kelp) which smashed into the topper. The fish was just over 7lb according to the B.A.S.S tape.

A fine fish on the Patchinko.

Marks head was certainly bigger after this catch!

A happy plugger.

Lesson learnt was next time Mark asks to borrow a lure - tell him you were just about to use that one & clip it on yourself. Joe also had a couple of schoolies & I had the dreaded blank.

Joe with a pretty schoolie.

I was under pressure (being the blanker), and was most relived to take a schoolie which followed the lures until I had no more line and had to swing the rod around to get a hook-up (a very unusual follow as the fish was swimming at the same speed as the lure - the lure actually in its mouth, but its mouth wide open & not touching it (until the rod was swung & raised to get the hook-up).

"Tommy Three Chins" - shocked to catch a schoolie!

Graham_hk had been catching on the same spot the day before - he managed 18 schoolies in a very short period! (not the lunkers we were after perhaps but good fishing all the same - well done Graham on catching in Caribbean conditions).

Steve "Hound Dog" Payne also popped down from Wales to see us in the hope of a fish or two so we headed out to Portland after one of Steve's famous breakfasts, but the fish just didn’t seem to be there so we tried a few other spots without much luck.



Anyway - I ended up catching 3 fish (losing two) - I think there were about 30 fish caught between us all (a few people fished with us in various combinations & the lack of sleep makes this an estimation as I wasn’t really counting).

A few random pics…….

Hurry up Steve....

Almost there.....

There were schoolies about....

Topwaters & divers both caught.

While there I also got to try one of Richards (Dorset Fishing Rods) custom built rods and was impressed, especially after seeing some of the other rods he is designing (he has some really interesting blanks and is working on a rod which will probably do just what I want, so next time I'm over I will be having a chat and possibly order a short custom rod for hard baits). Richard can be contacted here http://www.dorsetfishingrods.co.uk/

Anyway I will leave you with the above for the moment (as I'm kaputt at the moment), but will post again in a few days with some observations I made, and some information on new tackle performance. Oh and I'm sure Joe will have a report on his blog soon too http://www.lurefishingforbass.com/


As a last note - a big thanks to Joe for collecting me from Heathrow and doing the driving, Steve for the fastest breakfast in the West, Richard and Graham for the laughs, Angie for the cooking & cleaning, last but not least - Mark......for well...."being Mark"  ;o)

Tight Lines!

Gone Fishing.

Gone Fishing !

Back soon.