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Raiders of the Lost Sark |
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I returned home late on Monday evening from a really exciting fishing adventure to Sark, in the Channel Islands aboard Dean Corbett's private boat "Deborah Jane" .
Before I went I said on here that we hoped to catch
Cod in excess of 20 lbs on the outward journey. We did that we found
Cod in mid-Channel about 40 miles out of Dartmouth. Dave Baker
hooked a specimen which weighed 21 lbs 6 ozs.
Fred Parnell caught Cod and Pollack too on his brand
new prototype 20 lbs class 2 piece Shakespeare "Ugly Stik" rod. It
has a female to male spigot in the middle of the rod length, rather than
the traditional long continuous blank which screws into the butt.
This new rod handled everything he hooked without any fuss whatsoever.
We pushed on towards the Channel Islands, where we met a friend who fishes out of Sark. Kevin Laws was waiting patiently for us on the Shoal Banks, which sit between Alderney, Guernsey and Sark, aboard his private "Pirate 21", a very well laid-out boat. Kevin gave us sand eels and we joined him for about an hour towards the end of the tide, We caught four nice Bass to about 3 lbs. We followed Kevin into Sark, where we refuelled in harbour from a "bowser" towed behind a Tractor.
Next day, we headed out to the Shoal Banks, to fish the
Ebb for Brill and Turbot, using whole fillets of fresh Mackerel as bait.
We caught 6 Brill with three in excess of the 5 lbs NFSA 100% specimen
rating. Dave Baker caught the best Brill, a fish which weighed 5 lbs
4 ozs. Will Bower caught a Brill of 5 lbs 3 ozs and I had one of
exactly 5 lbs, the majority of the six were returned alive. I also
caught a small Turbot of about 4 lbs which I returned alive, and Dave
Baker caught a small Tope of around 10 lbs which he also returned alive.
As the tide died we moved to fish a different mark in search of Black Bream, but it only produced one fish of note, a Tope, caught on Hokkai feathers baited with Mackerel, intended for the Bream, by Dean.
In the distance we saw a familiar shape, the lines of Lloyd Saunder's Dartmouth based charter boat "Saltwind
of Dart". Lloyd enjoys taking parties of recreational sea anglers on
3 to 5 day trips
during the Summer months, fishing out of St. Peterport, Guernsey. We
hailed Lloyd on the VHF radio and steamed the couple of miles to meet him.
He told us that his anglers had caught about 30 Black Bream to about 3
lbs, but that the bites had slowed down with the tide.
The lads aboard also showed us some very good quality
Brill and Turbot that they had caught earlier that day. It's almost
impossible to take a good photograph when the subject is rocking gently
and the floating platform on which the cameraman is perched is also moving, but I did try!
I baited up my two-hook specialist Black Bream rig
(which Lloyd originally taught me how to tie) and
quickly caught a beautiful Black Bream of about 1½ lbs which I returned
alive. Lloyd was right - the fishing there had dropped off with the
last of the ebbing tide.
We pottered off and spoke to three guys in a local private leisure angling boat who were catching some excellent Tope nearby, but we had another pressing engagement of our own.
Our local pal, Kevin, had pointed us to a very small
bank which he described as "Turbot Town" and we wanted some of that
action. He met us near the bank and said it would start to fish well
within the next 15 minutes when the tide started to run. We baited
up our 5/0 hooks on plain 6 foot traces with fillets of fresh Mackerel,
lightly whipped on with bait elastic, then lowered our weighted booms or
sliding lead links to the sea bed and fished on the drift. It
certainly was "Turbot Town".
We caught 5 Turbot between a tad over 4
lbs and 7 lbs 7 ozs during the next hour and a quarter. I had the
best fish at 7 lbs 7 ozs, but rarely seem to get any photos of my own fish as
I'm usually behind the camera! On this occasion, Dean photographed
me holding my Turbot with his own digital camera. Thanks Deano!
Such moments are rare and I enjoy looking back on them.
Fred Parnell caught another quality Turbot which was exquisitely marked.
We returned home on Monday, stopping to fish a couple
of mid-Channel wreck marks en route. Will Bower caught another
couple of nice Cod and we all caught Pollack, though the average size was
smaller than on our outward journey.
Our special thanks go to Kevin Laws who moved from Dorset, to live with his family on the Island of Sark. He and his many friends made us all feel most welcome on the Island. Kevin's boat is licensed for guided charters for two or three anglers in comfort. You can always contact Kevin on 07781 432963 if you fancy a holiday in one of the most restful and laid-back places I have ever visited. Ian and Troy were also great company and helped to make our visit a resounding success. Lawrence is a good guy who was only too glad to help us out . We thank you all. For any of you who don't know, there are no motor vehicles on Sark, apart from the occasional Tractor. You can pre-book transport from the Harbour to your chosen Hotel on a trailer drawn by a tractor, though these do not run on Sundays. Almost at the top of the hill (about a 20 minute uphill walk from the harbour) there's a great little pub' where a pint goes down particularly well after a long day at sea.
We stayed at the Dixcart Bay Hotel, which is about a 35
minute walk on foot from the Harbour area, though it is quite close to its
own local beach.
The food was very good. The staff were most helpful and I would like to thank them personally for their care. I intend to take Patsy back for a short break in this wonderful location as soon as possible. You can contact Stefan at the Dixcart Bay Hotel on 07781 100100, or Email info@dixcartbayhotel.com alternatively you can visit the Hotel's web site at www.dixcartbayhotel.com for more details. A good starting point for anyone wishing to holiday on Sark is the Sark Tourist Information on www.sark-tourism.com If you would like a very quiet holiday with no vehicles, peace and quiet, and complete relaxation, then I recommend Sark to you. I loved it. If you are seeking exciting night life, then this is not the place for you. Click on this button to view the full video of our trip - approx 9 minutes.
(c) Mike Concannon - Fishing Dartmouth 22nd June 2005 |
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