WITH all the furore and excitement over the massive bass hauls off the west coast, recent flatfish captures have tended to be somewhat overlooked. They shouldn’t have been though, as Banc au Nord, the Great Bank, Godine and particularly the Banc de la Schole have seen some quite spectacular catches of turbot.

Hauls in excess of 30 have been reported by charter angling boats on a number of occasions, while many private craft have returned with a bag of 10 or more.

The only small disappointment has been the modest size of the majority of the turbot and the relatively few brill.

However some of the flatties have been heavy enough to warrant April Fish of the Month entries.

Jason Ogier legered a sandeel bait on Godine and boated a 16-1-0 turbot, while Mark Amies used a similar method at Banc au Nord to catch a 14-15-8 specimen.

Meanwhile, Paul Berry, the Bailiwick boat-caught pollack record holder, has come from Australia on another holiday.

He confirmed his return by submitting the first visitors’ FOM entry of the year, his legered sandeel on Banc de la Schole producing a 9-13-0 turbot.

All three fish will be judged against the 27-7-0 Bailiwick boat record.

A trip to the Schole produced an unusual catch for Gary Le Cloarec.

He was hoping for a turbot, but was surprised to boat a 6-6-7 ray.

After some research and discussion, it was finally identified as a small-eyed ray.

This meant that there was no point in considering a FOM entry for the boat record stands at 12-13-12.

The season’s first big John Dory from the Great Bank has been reported, a 10-0-0 specimen boated by Paul Baudains.

Sadly no FOM entry was made for the fish. This was a little unfortunate, for as the record stands at 11-0-5 it would have been a hot favourite to beat all the bass and turbot to take one of the top prizes.

Entries are now welcomed for the May competition. Prizes at stake are the Shakespeare Monthly angling award for the best overall fish, the J. Meerveld and Sons Tankard for the top shore-caught fish and the Tackle and Accessories Tankard for the best boat-caught specimen. There are also the two runner-up prizes of Bucktrout’s Bass beers.

Anglers are also reminded that the Phoenix Fish Bass competition continues. The first angler to submit a May entry was Jean Paul de Bourgonniere. He was spinning a live sandeel at a mark south of the Gouffre when he boated a 6-3-0 John Dory, which will be judged against the 11-0-5 boat record.

It seems that flatties will continue to produce good entries through into May, for Nathan Martel has submitted a 17-0-15 turbot which accepted his legered sandeel bait at the Schole.

*MARK FLETCHER topped the Bailiwick Bass Club’s shore-caught catch list for April. He landed four for a total weight of 18-13-6, his individual fish were 5-11-14, 4-11-0, 4-5-12 and 4-0-12.

Shane Branquet wasn’t too far behind with three bass for 16-1-7.

His top specimen weighed 7-6-15, which was not only the winning fish in the club’s Spring Cup competition, but also gave him the Collenette Jones Heaviest Bass of the Month award. His other two weighed 4-7-0 and 4-3-8.

Paul Clark landed fish of 6-15-6 and 4-9-4 for 11-8-10, Mick Damarell had one of 5-7-4 and Martin Millman, one of 4-5-0.

After the first two months of the club’s competitive year, Paul Clark is leading the shore championship list with five bass for 29-0-6. Mark Fletcher is second with four for 18-13-6, while current club champion Shane Branquet is third with three for 16-1-7.

*STUART PENNEY has won the West Coast Sea Angling Club’s first small boat competition of the season.

His catch consisted of an 8-0-0 brill and four turbot for a total weight of 27-13-0 and 261 points.

The all-day event attracted just six anglers in two boats. Marks fished were Banc de la Schole and Banc au Nord, with the total catch consisting of 10 turbot, one brill and four lesser spotted dogfish.

Scott McMillan was second with three turbot for 15-0-0 and 150 points while Craig McGrath came third with two turbot and one lesser spotted dogfish for 6-3-0 and 87fl points.

Andy Le Lerre found a 3-10-0 turbot and a dogfish for 3-10-0 and 47fi points, while Sam Robins gained six points for his catch of two lesser spotted dogfish.