This Is Guernsey

By Len Le Page

OCTOBER was a sensational month for the West Coast Sea Angling Club’s winter league.

No fewer than 75 qualifying fish, covering 17 different species, were entered by 25 members.

The incredible list of fish caught was made up of 16 black bream, 14 common eels, nine grey mullet, six golden grey mullet, five red mullet, four garfish, three bearded rockling, three ballan wrasse, three sole, three lesser-spotted dogfish, two bull huss, two conger, one small-eyed ray, one trigger fish, one Couch’s sea bream, one mackerel and that superb 59-0-0 stingray.

Sam Robins was in the lead when the league completed its first half at the end of March.

As it enters its winter session, Robins has confirmed he has no intention of relinquishing that position as he got off to a cracking start in October.

He landed six qualifiers to take his overall score up to 11 species for 559.7%. His catches were a 1-5-6 mackerel, 1-8-4 common eel, 1-1-8 garfish, 5-4-14 grey mullet, 2-12-0 black bream and a 5-10-1 ballan wrasse.

His nearest challenger now is Keith Quertier, who rose from sixth to second spot. He is on nine species for 490.62%, his October catches being a 2-9-7 common eel, 3-11-12 grey mullet, 2-11-8 black bream, 1-5-6 red mullet, 4-0-8 sole and 1-3-14 Couch’s sea bream.

Shane Huxster dropped from second to third and is now on eight species for 465.83%. He had four qualifiers, 1-10-0 common eel, 2-13-12 black bream, 10-0-5 bull huss and a 4-13-0 ballan wrasse.

The most dramatic climb up the league table saw Steve Greenway go up from 12th to fourth, and he is now on eight species for 421.80%. His October fish were 1-12-0 common eel, 2-5-11 lesser-spotted dogfish, 1-1-15 garfish, 24-4-0 conger, 4-11-0 grey mullet and a 2-4-6 black bream.

Matt Mahy completes the top five with eight species for 365.91%. He had four fish, 2-1-0 trigger fish, 1-14-2 black bream, 3-15-2 grey mullet and a 1-8-10 three-bearded rockling.

The top 10 list is completed by Glen Cortez, seven species for 342.31%; Steve Huxster six, 315.41; Lee Gillot seven, 301.12; Tony Merrien 6, 276.16 and Andy Le Lerre 6, 265.17.

The pairs competition leaders are Quertier/Cortez 832.93% and they are followed by the Huxsters 780.94% and Greenway/Shane Bentley 630.58%.

COLIN DRUCE and Lee Gillot won the top honours in the October Fish of the Month competition.

Druce took the Shakespeare Monthly Award for the top overall fish and the Select Decor Tankard for the best boat-caught specimen for his 14-7-2 bass, which scored 78.41%.

Gillot won the J. Meerveld and Sons Tankard for the top shore-caught fish with his golden grey mullet of 2-2-10, which was worth 71.76%.

The two runner-up prizes of Bucktrout’s Bass beers went to Gary Cordery’s 2-12-1 boat-caught trigger fish, 75.72% and Druce’s 13-7-5 boat-caught bass.

The Tackle Direct spot prize went to Steve Huxster who had entered an 8-14-0 shore-caught bull huss to score 63.96%.

There were no junior entries during the month.

The unsuccessful entries were: Raymond Breton, 12-1-2, boat-caught bass, 68.19%; Mark Le Page, 12-1-12, boat-caught bass, 65.73%; Raymond Breton, 12-1-12 boat-caught bass, 65.52%; Mark Fletcher, 5-9-12 shore-caught ballan wrasse, 64.65%; Colin Druce, 11-4-4 boat-caught bass, 61.15%; Marcus Crittell, 1-8-0 shore-caught garfish 54.93%; Matt Rowe, 5-13-4 shore-caught grey mullet, 48.98%.

There has been some uncertainty concerning the age to make a FOM entry for the junior prize.

The organising committee has confirmed that it is 15 years or under.

MARCUS CRITTELL has completed a grand slam of the major awards in the Guernsey Sea Anglers Club junior section.

Earlier in the year he won the boat championship and has now followed that success with victory in both the shore and overall championships.

The juniors have recently completed the last two competitions for the Bachmann Shore Championship Trophy and both were won by Crittell.

Both the third and fourth legs of the Bachmann Series were fished on St Peter Port Breakwater.

Crittell’s winning bag in the third leg was 19 garfish for 12-0-0 and 106 points.

The event attracted six youngsters who landed 77 garfish, three mackerel and one pollack.

Second on the day was Bailey Tulie with 14 garfish and the pollack for 10-0-0 and 91 points.

The fourth leg produced a similar result. Five juniors entered and caught 91 garfish.

Crittell’s winning haul was 25 gars for 15-8-0 and 132 points. Second was a different member of the Tulie family, for Macauley landed 18 gars for 10-6-0 and 77.5 points.

As a result of all this activity Crittell amassed 238 points to win the shore championship well ahead of two Tulie family members, for Bailey was second on 160.5 and his brother, Macauley, third on 158.75.

Jason Crittell ensured two families shared the top four spots by coming next on 147.75 points.

In the overall championship Marcus Crittell had a total of 466.25 points, well clear of Macauley Tulie in second place on 321.25.

FOUR fish were weighed in by Bailiwick Bass Club members during October, three shore-caught and one boat-caught.

Colin Patch topped the shore fish with a 7-2-12 bass, which gave him the Collenette Jones Heaviest of the Month Award.

The other two shore catches were Shane Toms 5-6-1 and Shane Branquet 5-4-12, the fish that won him the club’s Autumn Cup.

The boat-caught specimen was a 6-4-8 fish landed by John Le Prevost from his kayak.

As none of the top four in the championship list caught in October there were no significant changes, Steve Greenway retaining his lead of 14-0-13 over second placed Shane Bentley.

Greenway and Toms still lead the pairs championship with 73-14-3. Mick Damarell and Shane Branquet are on 57-3-4 and Ben Mahy and Jason Brouard are third with 48-9-1.

Guernsey Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society members managed to find nine fish, six shore-caught and three boat-caught.

Club president and shore championship leader Brian Montgomery had the biggest shore fish, his 9-11-0 bass giving him the Mick’s Fishing Supplies award.

Other shore fish were Andy Brown 6-13-0, Tom Broom 5-10-0, Andy Marquis 4-3-8, Andy Hockey 3-14-0 and Matt Mahy 3-4-0.

The catches meant that Montgomery retains his substantial lead at the top of the shore list, but Andy Brown went up from fifth to second and Andy Marquis from fourth to third.

The club’s boat championship has ended with Paul Clark successfully defending his title.

He finished with a flourish catching two fish from his kayak, specimens of 6-11-0 and 4-8-0, his bigger bass giving him the Boatworks+ award.

Martin Mourant completed the boat catches with a 6-8-0 fish.

Clark’s final winning margin in the championship was 29-15-5, 70-5-2 to Mark P. Fletcher’s 40-5-13.

THERE is no stopping Mike Weysom. He has a huge lead in the Guernsey Mullet Club championship and further consolidated his position by topping the catch list in October with four of them for 11-13-14.

In all six members entered a total of 10 grey mullet and one golden grey. The heaviest of the month, which won the September/October and the special October awards, was the superb 7-7-11 specimen landed by Peter Taylor.

The golden grey weighed 2-2-10 and was caught by Lee Gillot.

Other catches were Dave Vaudin, two for 5-11-0 caught in Alderney, a fish of 5-4-14 landed by Sam Robins, also in Alderney and two by Peter Frise for a total weight of 5-3-5.

Article posted on 11th November, 2009 - 2.29pm