This Is Guernsey

By Len Le Page

MARTYN TORODE, pictured, needed only a 3-14-7 specimen to win the first weekend of the Guernsey Mullet Club’s 25th anniversary open festival.

The catches were abysmal. Only three fish were brought back to the first weigh-in on Saturday evening, but Sunday was even worse as all the competitors returned empty handed.

Paul Carre finished second with a 3-3-7 specimen, while Mike Weysom completed the catch list with a 2-14-8 fish.

Why was it so bad? There was general agreement that the cold easterly winds, coupled with the gin-clear water, were to blame.

There is no doubt that the breezy conditions also deterred many anglers from taking part, for the 43 who did enter was well below expectations.

It was extremely disappointing for the club and its sponsors who will be hoping for much better weather, catches and support when the second and last leg is fished on Saturday and Sunday 15-16 March.

FOLLOWING agreement between the Guernsey and Jersey Record (Rod-Caught) Fish Committees, 10 new records will appear on the 2008 Channel Island record lists, four boat-caught, five shore-caught and one mini.

Three records have shifted from Jersey to the Guernsey Bailiwick and one has moved in the opposite direction.

Tony Ozard’s 7-11-7 specimen takes over the boat-caught tub gurnard record, ousting the 7-8-3 previous best caught off Jersey in 2006.

Mark Giles has also pinched a Jersey-based one. His boat-caught 2-1-13 scad beat a 2-0-3 fish that had held the record since 1982.

Raymond Fallaize is the new boat-caught Couch’s sea bream record holder, his 6-9-7 fish easily beating the 4-8-3 specimen caught by Colin Truffitt in 2006.

Colin Torode added a new species to the boat-caught list, with his 1-7-12 almaco jack.

The only change on the mini list was a new record for the saury pike. Visiting angler Roger Wheatland boated one of 0-2-8 off Alderney, which improved on the previous 0-2-5 record.

Jersey angler R. Allen pushed the shore-caught white bream mark up from 1-7-4 to 1-10-11.

Catches of white bream in Jersey are following the same pattern as the Couch’s sea bream in our waters. Both appeared for the first time in recent years and regular captures are steadily pushing up the records. It’s strange that Jersey don’t seem to get the Couch’s sea bream and although white bream have been reported in Guernsey waters, they have yet to be caught on rod and line.

Jersey’s Lee Guyoncort was the only angler to take one of our records down to the sister isle. His 19-4-0 shore-caught starry smooth hound smashed the 19-9-2 previous best that was caught in Alderney by visiting angler Steve Ace in 2006.

Tim Cotterill took over the shore rockling record by the narrowest of margins, his 1-0-5 fish being just one dram over the previous record that was held by Shane Huxster.

Huxster had some consolation for his 3-1-0 shore-caught three-bearded rockling ousted the former 2-11-10 record that had been caught in Jersey way back in 1970.

The list of changes was completed by Daryl Butcher, whose 8-8-0 shore-caught gilthead bream beat Bert Marquand’s 8-2-2 record that had stood since 1983.

All the Channel Island and Guernsey Bailiwick records will appear in the new record list booklet, which is now at the printer. They will shortly be available at the tackle shops.

Bearing in mind that the Fish of the Month and many club competitions, are based on percentages of the records, the new list should be a must-buy item for all anglers.

ADRIAN SARRE is the new president of the Guernsey Sea Anglers Club. He was elected into the post at the annual general meeting held at La Villette Hotel.

He took over from Mike Weysom who had decided to step down after eight years at the helm. However, Weysom will not be lost to the committee for he was elected as competition secretary, filling the vacancy left by John Hatton who had retired from the post.

The remainder of the committee’s officers were all re-elected: vice-president Joe Gomez, secretary Martyn Smith, treasurer Daniel Smith, boat organiser Peter Frise and junior section secretary John Davey.

Stuart Tostevin and Dave Tostevin were re-elected as committee members and they were joined by Hatton and Lee Vaudin, who filled the vacancies left by Sarre and Jason Sangan who had retired from the post.

Ron Harris and Len Le Page, the club’s delegates to the Bailiwick of Guernsey Record (Rod-Caught) Fish Committee, were also re-elected.

The competition secretary’s report confirmed a small drop in catches by the club seniors in 2007 compared with the previous year.

Boat catches had risen from 938 to 1,165, while the shore had dropped from 1,226 to 865, which means an overall drop of 134.

Pollack totals fell from 835 to 703 and garfish from 765 to 612. Increases were recorded in the mackerel catches, up from 222 to 319, and black bream from 56 to 71.

The biggest surprise was the catch of 44 herring, the first time that this species had ever been recorded in the club competition results.

Unlike their senior colleagues, the junior section had seen a rise in catches. This was largely due to the abnormal number of mackerel caught by youngsters. They caught 267, which was nearly half of the year’s total of 553 fish in junior competitions.

One pleasing aspect of the year had been an increase in both senior and junior memberships.

Conversely, one enormous disappointment had been the cancellation of the Fur and Feather competition due to adverse weather.

ROCKLING dominated the catches when members of the West Coast Sea Angling Club fished an all-night in Guernsey roving shore match. The total catch consisted of eight three-bearded rockling, two shore rockling, one conger and one red mullet. The event had attracted 26 members but only seven brought fish to the scales.

The winner was Steve Huxster with four three-bearded rockling and a shore rockling for 2-15-0 and 51.75 points. Simon Fletcher was second with a conger, for which the club award 50 straight points.

The only other angler not to catch a rockling was fourth placed Dave Vaudin who had an 0-13-0 red mullet to score 23.25 points.

The competition kitty for the top two heaviest bags, excluding conger, went to the Huxsters. Steve landed 2-15-0 and son Shane 1-14-0, which gave him third spot with his two three-bearded rockling for 23.25 points.

The catch list was completed by Danny Cook, who was fifth with a 1-7-0 three-bearded rockling, worth 13.75 points, Adrian Coquelin sixth 0-13-0, 11.25 points and Matt May 0-3-0, 8.75 points.