400 Mile Fishing Trip

[Mike Fox]

Cast off from Poole on Friday evening, now nearly three weeks ago, in readiness for our Channel crossing, and picked up a buoy in the Wych Channel while we prepared a detailed passage plan, and waited for first light.

 

The tidal atlas showed a rare opportunity, a tide that could get us to the top of the Alderney Race by mid-afternoon at our customary 6 knots, then a hefty shove down to St. Peterport, in readiness for the next leg down to Norther Brittany.

 

We cast off just before first light, and by early afternoon, Alderney was visible, and as the tide slackened, we got closer, then the promised ebb tide carried us within half a mile of Alderney, missing all of the Race, and down to Guernsey as planned just a few hours later to complete almost 90 miles in 13 hours. After picking up an outer pontoon, and filling in the Customs forms (outside the EEC remember) we popped ashore for a forecast and evening meal (in that order).

 

Next day was calm and glassy, as we left St. Pete we wondered about the dangerous reefs half way across, and whether fishing for bass and pollack might be possible. One solitary dolphin off the SW corner of Guernsey saw us off on our way, but this time the tide carried us well East of the Plateau de Roches Douvres, a fearsome offshore reef, so dangerous, it hadn't even been safely charted. Swells were 7-8' from the SW, and it might have proven tricky to fish, even if we had time. We reached the mouth of the Trieux river after about 7 hours, just in time to carry the last of the flood 5 miles inland between the pink granite boulders to the waiting pontoon.

 

We had a few great days in Lezardrieux, stern on to the flood, with a superb view down river, where we fished for mullet to 4lb and black bream to almost 2lb, all on white bread flake!

 

George had several to 2lb 13oz over the few days, with my best reaching 4lb. Both of us lost bigger fish, that took us deep under the pontoon. We saw one huge beast with a bulldog head that kept nudging the bait, but refused to take the hook. It seemed to be the only one that saw the 17lb fluorocarbon trace! We had it, we had both been broken up on mono, so we tried it!

 

The next leg of our journey saw us dropping down the Trieux again, and heading to our Westward limit. Front after front was already piling up on the Atlantic Chart, and it seemed certain that the weather was due to break again, and I was keen to remain within 2 days travel of home. We cleared the inshore rocks, and following leading lines and the plotter carefully, we threaded between rocks and shallows towards the mighty lighthouse separating Lezardrieux from Treguier, the neighbouring town and river. In previous years, we had passed safely outside, hopping from cardinal mark to cardinal mark, but this year, we had the plotter. This showed us the inshore route, between the light and the craggy shore, and we followed it's guidance to the inch, going over jagged inshore rocks, full of intriguing echos that lurked downtide of the worst snags, as shown on the 200MHz sonar. After what seemed like hours we again found safe water, and continued on the 30 miles or so down to Trebeurden, inside the daunting Les Sept Isles.

 

After a catch of 10 spirited and plump mackerel that took our paravane-based spinners we tucked into the marina, and I took advantage of the calmness to fillet the mackerel and throw the frames over the side. I had one left to do, when I heard a swirl, and looked over to see 5 or 6 of the blackest mullet I had ever seen worrying the mackerel frames like a pack of dogs with a bone! We quickly rigged a rod, and George freelined a piece of mackerel flesh on a No 10 hook to fluorocarbon, and took a fish first drop! It was a thick-lipped and gave a spirited fight before being netted and weighed at almost 2lb 7oz. We popped it back gently, but it was a little dazed, until his mates came over and escorted him off! It was the last we saw of them! It wasn't until we went ashore later that we saw the "No Fishing" sign...!

 

The weather did break, with F6-7 and a day of persistent rain, and the weather window that followed was forecast to be less than a day wide. We left with a forecast 5-6, which contradicted the Atlantic chart, keeping most boats in harbour, but we had a look, found a SW 3-4, and dashed back to the Trieux, retracing our steps in brilliant sunshine, and seeing 3 ocean sunfish en route! The first two were basking lazily on the surface huge circular fish over 2' long with a milky white sheen and a lazy slow tail motion, with the upper black lobe slapping the water in their characteristic fashion. Carol saw the first, and George the second. It wasn't until we were almost in the river when I heard a splash, looked forwards and saw a milky white shape speeding underwater towards the boat, which then jumped a good 2-3' clear and splashed within a few feet of the hull - a third sunfish, which we must have almost run over!

 

The next decent fishing session we had was after a few days of day trips, and was on the Schole Bank between Guernsey and Alderney using mackerel we had caught

and fridged the day before. Using the technique described earlier on the forum, we used 5/0 hooks to 6' of fluorocarbon, hooking half mackerel fillets once through the wrist of the tail. We fished the uptide end of the bank first, being carried at 2.5 knots over it diagonally, and drifted again and again in rolling ugly westerly swells of 5-6'. It wasn't comfortable, but first a good mackerel of about a pound to George, then as we approached the down-tide end, I had a take, which made me free-spool for 15 seconds before lifting gently into a small brill of about 2lb. George then caught a lively bass, but repeating this drift didn't get any more action, and we were running out of tide on our trip to Alderney. The skies were blackening, the strong wind warning threatenedd to cause us problems in the upper Alderney Race, so we made best speed up to Braye. The rain beat us, as did the squalls, and when we tucked inside, every buoy was taken. We grabbed a private buoy and hoped for a departure, but no-one was leaving. Eventually we tied up alongside a boat of similar size, with a separate rope to the buoy, and popped ashore for a stroll.

 

That evening George and I broke out the inflatable again, and donning life jackets and spinning gear we trolled dead sandeel along the inside of the breakwater, catching 3 pollack to almost 2lb, a beautiful mackerel of a pound or so, then George had a take that bent his rod to the butt - but didn't stay attached. We drifted the same mark again and again, but after we moved, I had another take that I was convinced was a bass. A lovely pollack of around 4lb broke surface, and with a shake of his head, snapped the trace and was gone. George's fish would have been a lot bigger!

 

The next day we planned to see the other half of the island on foot, but the forecast from Jersey Radio was grim. Leave in a NW 5-6 with a strong wind warning, or wait for the gales to come. We had little choice, so we cleared out just before the tide started to flood in our favour. We did have the option of Cherbourg and ferries home (for work) if needed, but it was worth a look. The SW swell was huge - a good 8' that blotted out the horizon as soon as we cleared the harbour and the lee of the island, and much shorter than before. The NW wind had put an ugly wind against tide chop of 5-6' on top of that, and insisted in blowing the tops off at us. We shouldered the seas aside, and started the long slow climb home, making 6-7 knots through the water. Soon the tide changed, the seas flattened off as wind started going more "with" tide, and the ride became smoother. The trip took just over 9 hours to the Bar Buoy, the last 5-6 miles in the lee of land with the seas flattening beautifully.

 

Saw Charlie and crew briefly on Alfresco, and had a short chat on the VHF, then after waiting on a buoy for the 9.30 bridge, we saw Warren with Rich and crew returning under the bridge.

 

Last Saturday we cleaned down as the wind howled, and the rain lashed. It did the same Sunday, and I knew we'd been lucky it hadn't come through earlier.

 

It was a good holiday, not our longest, or most adventurous, but we managed a 14-day holiday afloat, with a little fishing for good measure.

 

Mike, Carol and George

Edited August 14, 2008 by Mike Fox

[Mike Fox]

..and my best mullet of 4lb

Edited August 14, 2008 by Mike Fox

[boybilly]

What a cracking post, how to keep all happy on holiday. Nice one.

[charlieannear]

Great report Mike, glad the Fox family were able to make the most of their two weeks away, and managed to catch a few fish.

Sounds like you like your new electronics too!

 

C.

Edited August 14, 2008 by charlieannear

[AHoy]

Enjoyable cruise report Mike and good raggie skippering (only to be expected though ) Sounds like you also got in amongst the fish more than a lot of us.

[Swainiac]

Mike, excellent read, quite a versatile craft the "Fox" is! We jet off to Florida a week today, once my sons disapear back across to Ireland. Hopefully some fishy tales to be told!

 

Rich

[great white]

Nice report Mike

 

You did well to get away many of the cruisers here are suffering from harbour rash

 

 

Nice to chat on the VHF on your return, we had hoped to cross channel last month but the weather stopped that

 

Tight lines

Charlie

[Mike Fox]

Charlie,

There were hardly any British boats over there, just the larger, heavier displacement boats with more experienced crews, who were better capable of handling the conditions. The weather was believed the main reason, but the cost of diesel is apparently hurting many, and the exchange rate of 1 Euro to 80p (instead of 68p last year) were both additional factors.

 

The French are still protesting about diesel prices, and marine fuel there is the same as road fuel, as will be the case here soon. There are many more boats up for sale over there as a direct result, and I suspect there might be bargains to be had. With the French equivalent of the RNLI charging for rescues, and mandatory safety kit for French boats, they generally are very self-sufficient, and come very well fitted out.

 

Other prices also seemed much higher than last year, even taking into account exchange rates, and on Guernsey, we couldn't find a loaf of bread for under a pound!

 

Still, there were gaps on pontoons, and spaces in favourite restaurants without booking. The downside is local businesses were suffering, and some might not survive until next year.

 

Mike

[great white]

Hi Mike

 

That also seems to be the thing here, a lot of boat owners moaning about the cost of fuel.

 

When we were in the solent it was 80p ltr, but it may have dropped a bit now.

 

It has stopped our larger boats popping across to France for lunch, but has not stopped them going for longer periods.

 

We would have gone over on Holiday on Alfresco had the weather been better.

 

Generally boating and all other forms of transport are getting dearer, you may finish up as the only Club boat fishing the schole bank before too long.

 

Cheers Charlie