St Peter Port Harbour breakwater and the ‘square’ on which the lighthouse sits have been the training grounds for many of the Bailiwick’s best anglers. There’s always something to be caught there, including record-breakers of various specimens. (Pictures by Adrian Miller, 0663362)

ST PETER Port Harbour breakwater has been a fishing Mecca for local anglers since the day it was built.

Steve Huxster, one of the island’s most successful, has been fishing off the ‘square’ for all but seven of his 46 years. He has no doubt it’s the island’s hottest spot.

‘If my life depended on catching a fish, I’d go from there. There is always something to be caught,’ said Steve, who has twice landed Bailiwick-record fish from the area.

The only trouble is, as he explained, it is too good and too popular. It is not uncommon for 30 or 40 anglers to be fishing from it on a summer evening, which makes it all a bit cramped.

‘I’ve seen 20-odd rods fishing the bottom for bream and others casting over the top of them,’ he said.

‘You try to keep it organised, but it’s not always easy.’

The ‘square’, a raised area on which the lighthouse sits, also produces a wide variety of specimens.

Between 1966 and 1998 it yielded an incredible 32 Bailiwick records, covering 16 species.

Steve Huxster has fished from the breakwater for all but seven of his 46 years and has twice landed Bailiwick-record fish there. (0663365)

‘Last week there was a smooth hound caught, a cod and two double-figure [lbs] bass,’ said Steve, who like so many islanders learned his angling skills there as a boy.

‘When I was a kid we would stay there all day and all night.

‘It’s a good learning spot. I learned there and many of our top anglers cut their teeth there.’

But popularity brings problems – and ones related not only to space.

A couple of years ago, the harbour master threatened withdrawing use of the breakwater if those frequenting it continued to leave so much rubbish.

Steve said the situation had improved.

‘We try to educate people to clear up after themselves,’ he said.

‘It’s not the proper fishermen, but the ones who come down for the odd evening and chuck their rubbish down.’

Steve’s seen some funny things there over the years.

‘I’ve seen people cast out other people’s rods and people’s coats and there was one guy who had a hook through his ear.’

In terms of idyllic fishing spots, Guernsey has many better ones, but Steve said that while overcrowding often kept him away, he has a favourite time for casting out from there.

‘Fishing for mackerel early mornings in the summer. Idyllic.’

There is perhaps one man who fishes the harbour breakwater more than any other.

Colin Help works at the harbour and given half a chance and decent weather, he will be dangling his rod over the side.

‘It depends on the weather, but I’ll fish there perhaps three or four times a week. And if the weather is good, almost every day.’