My Day Trip Catching Bass In Guernsey

At first I was a bit hesitant about going on this fishing trip because I was really trying my hardest to get my internet business up and running. In the end I couldn't resist so I agreed. I would like to say that I had a quiet night the night before but I had had a few pints and when I woke up about 7am, I didn't want to move out of my bed. After all it was mid winter. And my head was a bit crook.

Anyway, I shook off my fuzzy head and had some breakfast. Andy picked me up and as it got light we were greeted with a fantastic day. Foggy and very mild for the time of year. I get sea sick and I was worried that because I had had a few beers the previous evening it would make me chunder all day long. I needn't have worried though because the sea was like the proverbial mill pond.

As I was waiting in the boat, Andy was getting the live sandeels out of the couge (an oval basket which keeps the sandeels alive in the water). He put the live ones into the water tank on the boat and tipped the dead ones on the pontoon. I reckon it took about 20 seconds for the gulls to eat hundreds of the dead sandeels. I've never seen anything like it.

Richard's boat is a rather large catamaran and they go out in all types of weather in it. The weather was absolutely beautiful though so there was hardly any movement at all. That was good considering my head and stomach situation. It was hard to believe that it was the middle of winter. I only had my T Shirt on out at sea. Amazing.

We got to the fishing marks after about an hour's travelling time. Richard switched on the echo sounder and we went searching for the bass shoals around the reefs. At first we couldn't find them. After about half an hour, suddenly they appeared. Thousands of bass shoaling right under the boat.

Without any more having to be said, our weights were hurtling into the depths. Richard said to wind up about 10 turns to get our baits in the correct place.

BANG.



I was into a fish. I had never caught a bass fishing from a boat before although I had caught many from the shore. Did it fight or what. It seemed to struggle a lot harder from the boat than it would from the shore.

Maybe it was just my imagination. This wasn't an angling trip as such because it was Richard's and Andy's livelihood so I couldn't enjoy the fight as much as I would have liked. It was a case of bring it in and get down again. Shame. So there it is. My first bass.

The tide was so strong that we only had one drop per drift. We we drifting over the reefs so we had to keep on readjusting the depth at which we fished. We lost quite a bit of fishing tackle but there was nothing we could do about it because we had to be right down there among the fish.

The bass would stay around for a while and then disappear when all of the rest of the boats came over and would freak the fish out. Because Richard has state of the art fish finding equipment, the other boats would follow him like rats after the Pied Piper of Hamlyn. It was annoying but there was not a lot we could do about it.

We fished all day until the tide changed and the bass stopped biting just as suddenly as they started. I had a brilliant day and I hadn't been sea sick. I didn't feel sick at all. Testiment to Richard's fantastic boat.

We had caught three and a half boxes of bass and a few pollack. I thought it was a good catch but Andy and Richard went out the next day caught nine boxes between them. It was rougher so only a few other boats went out and therefore didn't freak the fish out.


On the way back, Andy tagged all of the fish with Guernsey rod caught fish labels. It gets a better price when it is sold than would netted fish. We had a cup of tea and returned back to the harbour. When we returned, Richard dropped Andy and myself off on the slipway, with the fish. We took the bass to be weighed and Andy picked up the receipt for the weighing process.

I had an absolutely brilliant day. I needed a change from sitting in front of the computer and it certainly did the job for me. I ended up with a bass for my troubles aswell so I can't complain.