St Helier Harbour 8th Aug 2006

Map Ref: 650,483
Tide: HW 5.21am (9.4m):
Weather Forecast: Sunny spells with patchy cloud 19^oC. Wind NNE 10mph with gusts to 17mph

Having done some reconnaissance on the previous Friday, and following some handy hints and tips from the locals, we decided to try our luck around the harbour ….

I picked Chris up around 4.30am, and drove down to the harbour area and parked up at the ferry terminal car park - decided not to park too close as my English number plates and us bobbing around the boats looking for places to fish could well be too much of a temptation for any inquisitive official types that may have wished to stop us….

On the way, Chris came out with something about needing to be prepared when fishing… what he was talking about transpired to be related to our trip down at the desalination plant… he'd had a couple of very positive takes on his new jointed plugs but failed to hook up --- it was only when he got home and sorted his gear out, that he realized he'd left the small protective plastic sleeves on the hook ends/bards!!!!!!!! I have to confess I was very cruel and couldn't help but burst out laughing…..

Anyway parked the car, and walked back to the harbour, about 10 minute walk with the gear, and started to set up --- that's when Chris's words of wisdom about preparation came back to haunt me --- I'd left my sunglasses in the car --- so off I went and retrieved them….

When I got back, Chris was almost tackled up, and there was as yet no sign of Chippy who was due to join us - if he managed to get out of bed in time….

I strung up a 5BB waggler, with a 16” fluro hook trace and a painted (white) size 10 hook …. And used the medium sliced bread for the hook…

Started fishing around 5.30am (first light, although there were plenty of street lamps blazing) at a depth of around 3 or 4ft….
Despite flicking out the groundbait it all seemed very quiet, and with this being high water, I was starting to wonder if the fish had already gone…. Except for the small 8” mullet that were hitting the surface every so often… and giving little taps to our floats…

Around 6am a car drew up behind us and stopped.. neither Chris nor myself wanted to turn around and engage what we both suspected was some form of official enquiry as to what we were doing… but as it happened it was Chippy..

Paul with his Jersey plates and harbour parking disk pulled his car up around the corner, and swiftly came and joined us…. Although by this time I was just starting to wonder as to the wisdom of me dragging the two Jersey Men away from their beds on some fools errand not having had any serious bites or seen any signs of larger mullet!!!!

6.20am … I was standing next to Paul and we were both fishing, when his float went under… for what ever reason Paul just seemed to watch it go… it bobbed back up, and Paul seemed to come out of what ever daydream he was in and tightened the line…. The float sailed under again, and this time Chippy struck home… his rod arched over, and I gave a shout to Chris that Paul was in……

The fish looked to be a nice size and we were guessing around 4 to 5lb… it sure started to fight like a good fish, giving Paul a run for his money.. diving this way and that, and forcing Paul to move in order to avoid letting the mullet have access to the mooring ropes that it was in very real danger of tangling with if it had been given the chance….. I grabbed the drop-net and went with Paul until he gave the word that he was ready….

Having lowered the net however and let it sink was still a little premature as although the fish had come to the surface it was not yet finished, and made a series of short but powerful runs, every time Chippy brought it towards the waiting net….. eventually Paul had it going in ever decreasing circles, oh so tantalisingly close, and at one point I thought we had it.. but just as I raised the net, off it sped … leaving me with my heart in my mouth -- netting especially with a drop-net is probably one of the single most notorious times for loosing fish, and I certainly didn't want that to happen to Paul - a couple more circuits and eventually Paul had the fish truly over the net, and gave the call…. Pulled up the net, and we had one bagged fish… placed it next to Chippy's bag of gear so he could do the honours of unhooking etc….

Paul had a bit of difficulty re-setting his scales, so I offered mine --- came in at 4lb-07oz --- and so I took a couple of pix of a very happy Chippy holding his best mullet of the year so far, before he walked around to the steps and returned the fish…. Boy did he have a big grin on his face!!!!!

I asked Paul what sort of depth he had been fishing, his reply was about 7 or 8ft …. So I quickly adjusted my float depth accordingly….

6.40am … I started getting a number of small taps on the float, very much like the small mullet bites earlier… then the float solidly sailed under the water…. I struck and hit home…. I was in…. this felt like a good fish, it's difficult to describe why, but the power and mass of the fish made it feel really solid…

I was convinced however when it came to the surface that it was the same if not smaller than Chippy's had been, despite both Chris and Paul saying the complete opposite….

The fish lolled just below the water about 40ft out, and then started to crash dive, and was head shaking as it went… turning this way and that it headed to my right and the large mooring lines…

I had little choice but to bully the fish away, with my rod arched right over, and half expecting the hook to pop out at any second - thankfully I succeeded and the hook stayed true….

But no sooner had I done so than the fish was off again on another crash dive, and really seriously going for the head shaking routine --- I said something to Chris about wishing it would do anything but head shake… and so it did… popped to the surface and started to thrash around, I yielded line to get it back under to reduce the disturbance to the swim, and it took the opportunity to make a bee-line for the moored boats straight ahead of us ….

Managed to bring it away from that danger, and then it just cruised beneath the surface, with the odd loll and roll… asked Paul to lower the drop net, and tried to bring the fish in, but as soon as it saw the net it was off again…. Around and around it went, until at last I managed to get it to swim over the net, and gave Chippy the shout … up came the net, and my heart started to beat once more….

Chippy put the drop-net down in front of me, and it was only really then that I realised the size of the fish.. not long (22”) but it was very fat…. We are talking seriously chubby tubby mullet….

I weighed it with Chippy looking over my shoulder to confirm the weight, just as I had done for him… wow… 5lb.06oz…. a new PB!!!!!
Chippy took my camera a snapped a couple of pix, before I took the fish over to the steps…

I had to cradle this beautiful fish for about 2 minutes, rocking it backwards and forwards to force water over its gills, before it lazily started to kick away, and sail off into the deep water under the nearby pontoon…..

I went back to the others, and it felt like I was walking on air, the adrenaline rush was huge…. The only thing to do was to have a cup of coffee and babble on, probably to the point where the other two were thinking of chucking me over….

The tide was now starting to drop and we were plagued by small mullet of the 6 to 10” variety… the larger fish seemed to have departed just after the turn of the tide…

I did manage to pull up a crab, and so started to fish a reduced depth… as the sun rose, I could see more and more fish with my Polaroid sunglasses, but they were all small undersized fish……

By 7.30am, Paul decided to call it quits, and half an hour later as planned Chris and I called time as well…

I was so pleased that we'd decided to do our homework, listened to what we had been told, gone out on a recon, came up with a plan, for both time of day and tidal state, executed it just the way we'd talked about it, and gone with the right tactics / frame of mind, and that we'd managed to get a couple of lovely fish in the process…. It doesn't get much better than that….

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