ANGLERS will surely agree that 2007 was one of the most unpredictable ever experienced. The weather was superb in April, but the summer was one of the worst for years, with the windy weather in May, June and July playing havoc with both charter and private boat angling trips.
At least it made amends for there was a real Indian summer in September and October.
In the first half of the year the fishing was as disappointing as the conditions.
Bass catches at the Boue Blondel were only slightly down but the usual run on the Great Bank did not materialise.
Flattie catches in the spring were disappointing and, except for a few odd specimens John Dory, failed to appear on the Great Bank.
Inshore marks were no better. Catches were poor and even the usually reliable pollack were difficult to find.
If all this wasn’t bad enough, there were problems with the supply of sandeels. The shoals consisted almost entirely of melvie, the very tiny specimens which were generally unsatisfactory for hook baits.
There were a few pluses. Mackerel were a success story throughout the summer and black bream were again plentiful in the second half of the year, although the numbers were a little down on 2006.
Generally things improved in the late summer and autumn, with shore anglers in particular enjoying good sport.
Nevertheless, the unusual year still had a surprise left. Trigger fish, a comparatively rare visitor to our shores, suddenly appeared in huge numbers during September and October and anglers enjoyed some unexpected and exciting sport, particularly on marks on Guernsey’s north coast.
In sharp contrast to the below par fishing no fewer than 16 record claims were received, the highest in one year since 1991 and many were for really outstanding specimens or beat very long standing records.
The two most spectacular claims were for a Couch’s sea bream and a porbeagle shark.
In April, Raymond Fallaize caught a 6-9-7 Couch’s sea bream at the Susanne. It smashed the 4-8-2 Bailiwick record, and annihilated the 4-14-4 British boat-caught record.
Jamie Allen’s 295-8-6 porbeagle shark beat Peter Rouxel’s 220-0-0 record which had stood for 35 years. It was the heaviest ever fish to be caught on rod and line locally.
The capture of the shark became front page news in the Press. The landing of the huge fish caused much adverse comment in the Press from conservationists who considered it should have been released. However, it was not wasted for it appeared on a fishmonger’s stall, following which it figured on many restaurant and private dinner menus.
There is no doubt that these two specimens must jointly be considered to be the fish of the year.
A number of long-standing records were broken.
Daryl Butcher had a number of big gilt-head bream. His biggest an 8-8-8 shore-caught fish, landed at the Longstore, eliminated the 8-2-2 best that had been on the list since 1983.
The 2-10-10 shore-caught three bearded rockling record landed 20 years ago was beaten twice, first by John Dunne with a 2-11-4 fish and then by Shane Huxster with a 3-1-0 specimen.
Mark Giles had a 2-1-13 boat-caught scad which beat the 2-0-0 record that had stood for 27 years.
Colin Torode will add a new species to the boat-caught list, a 1-7-12 almaco juck caught at Grandes Rocques.
Both Torode’s fish and Fallaize’s Couch’s sea bream were approved as British records at the national body’s October 2007 meeting.
The freshwater enthusiasts shared in the rush of claims, for they submitted four of the 16, two coming from Dave Cupperwaite, for bream and tench.
Chris Byng’s 1-1-4 rudd was another to break an old record, for the previous best was caught 23 years back.
In spite of the rather strange fishing trends, entries in both the Fish of the Month and the Phoenix Fish Bass competitions were very similar to recent years.
The list of top fish in the FoM confirms the variety of fish in our waters, for no fewer than 28 different species were entered.
The high standard in the Phoenix Fish Bass competition shows no sign of declining. Of the 23 entries received only one is below 10-0-0.
After years of steady decline the overall support for the Open Competitions finally showed signs of an upturn.
The Guernsey Mullet Club Open, held in January, attracted 63 anglers, the second best ever, but the fishing was poor. Only five were caught - Pierre Garrick winning with a 3-14-4 fish.
The two bass festivals were a great success and are still the most popular local open events. Each saw a rise in support, with 186 entering the Guernsey Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society Open and 154 the Bailiwick Bass Club event.
The two competitions were to produce new records, and very mixed fishing results.
Denis McKane won the GBASS boat section with a 16-4-3 specimen, the heaviest ever recorded in a local bass festival. Andy Brown won the shore prize with a 10-3-7 fish. Catches in the boat section were well up on recent years, but surprisingly shore results were extremely poor with only 11 being caught over the four-day event.
The Bailiwick Bass Club Open produced a shock, for Caroline Froome became the first female angler ever to win a local bass festival, her winning fish being 11-10-1. Mark Page took the shore section with an 8-0-6 fish. Catches in both the boat and shore sections were well up on 2006.
The Specimen Fish Hunt was one of the most exciting for years. The 102 competitors landed 212 qualifying fish, a record for the event, covering 19 different species.
Three anglers tied for top spot with nine species, the final placings having to be decided on their percentage scores, which confirmed that Shane Bentley won the Specimen Hunter for 2007.
No Bailiwick records were broken so the £1,000 special prize was not won. Lee Vaudin came closest for his 2-13-10 lesser spotted dogfish was only one dram under the record, giving him a percentage of 99.86.
Once again the Alderney Festival was a great success. As in the Fish Hunt record fish proved elusive, the top fish being a 2-10-10 golden grey mullet caught by UK angler Tim Morley.
Catches of Couch’s sea bream were definitely down last year. In the Fish Hunt only one was caught, but the Alderney Festival bucked the trend with all five places in that category being filled. However, none over 2-0-0 was recorded in either competition.
Bailiwick anglers failed to take the top honour in the Alderney Festival, the top CI angler award going to Jersey Angler Danny Le Merrer.
The unpredictable year would even leave its mark on the programme of open events.
For the first time in 42 years the Guernsey Sea Anglers Club’s Fur and Feather was not held. Two successive weekends of severe gales and heavy rain caused first a postponement and then the cancellation of the event.
Sadly the year saw the end of one of the Bailiwick’s angling clubs. The Guernsey Shore Anglers Premier Pursuers folded after 22 years. They had been a very successful club but declining membership in recent years had meant the club was no longer viable.
In spite of the inconsistent fishing and the year’s other problems a number of anglers enjoyed success and will look back over 2007 with some satisfaction.
Shane Huxster won the West Coast Sea Angling Club’s Guernsey shore and overall championships for the second year in succession, broke the three bearded rockling shore-caught record with a 3-1-0 fish, and won a FoM tankard for his catch.
Shane Bentley was presented with the 2006 WCSAC Winter League Trophy at the club’s dinner and went on to prove that his specimen fish catches were no fluke when he won the Specimen Fish Hunt in the autumn.
Liz Dewe will not know whether she will win the Sark AC championship until the club’s last match in March, but as the year ended she was in a strong position to beat all her male colleagues and go on to win the title.
The last few days of 2007 must have been nerve-racking for Paul Clark and Mike Weysom.
Clark could achieve a unique double in GBASS. He has already won the boat championship and was only 1-5-13 behind Karl Le Prevost at the top of the shore championship.
Weysom was leading the Guernsey Mullet Club championship and if he could hold off his close rivals he will take the top honours for the fifth consecutive year.
In the GSAC Brendan Zabel won the junior championship and Zahrah Nicolle must be delighted with her grand slam of the women’s awards, including taking the overall title for the third year in succession.
Stuart Tostevin had a sensational year. He fished in nine of the 11 GSAC championship competitions and won seven including a clean sweep of all five boat matches. His success in winning the club’s overall title stopped Peter Frise’s long run at the top, dating back to 1998.
Many other anglers may well have outstanding catches, which makes the choice of angler of the year a difficult one. Personally, I would choose Stuart Tostevin for his whole year of outstanding results.
Problems that could adversely affect angling in the future were not resolved in 2007. In fact everything just seemed to stagnate and no news on progress, or not, appeared.
No action or decisions were made concerning the fishing activities at Boue Blondel. All the clubs and organisations have differing views on the catching of fish at this mark. They continued to make their own policy decisions on how to deal with the situation as regards their competitions, and those varied greatly from club to club.
Even the agreement in the UK to up the bass size limit from 36 to 40cm failed to materialise, for it was agreed by the UK Government only to be rescinded later. This obviously meant that the local limit would remain unchanged.
The question of the introduction of bag hunts for English charter boats was seemingly not resolved, although it may be a case that the problem has solved itself for the number of English boats visiting Alderney slumped dramatically and catches of prime species in particular turbot and brill were well down.
Then there was the question of the dispute with Jersey over fishing rights and access. A decision on this subject still needs to be resolved, but it has meant there is no control about who fishes within the three- to 12-mile zone.
Whether this will have an adverse effect on anglers’ future catches remains to be seen.
Article posted on 2nd January, 2008 - 12.00am
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