John Dories reappear on the Great Bank

JOHN DORY and cod have hit the headlines over the last week. It is a mystery why the John Dorey reappear each year on the Great Bank and yet seem to be almost non-existent on other marks.

Up to 10 years ago they were considered something of a rarity in local waters and very few were caught.

Even at the present time they continue to elude the majority of local anglers and it's only a small minority who get the satisfaction of catching one.

Nevertheless big specimens have returned again this year and four have been entered in the May Fish-of- the-Month competition.

Mark Gillson started the ball rolling with an 8-11-2 fish.

The next angler to enjoy success was Peter Davison with a 7-8-5 specimen. Steve Whales soon followed with a 9-2-0 fish, while junior angler Daniel Smith boated one of 7-7-8.

All were caught on the Great Bank on legered sandeel bait and will be judged against the 11-0-5 Bailiwick boat record, which was caught on the Great Bank, by the late John Cataroche in May 2001.

Cod are a cold water species, which give UK anglers good sport in the winter months from both boat and shore marks.

Unusually, we sometimes get a run of cod in the early summer when water temperatures are rising.

Over the last month cod have been reported from a number of marks from Brecqhou, up to spots just south of Alderney and while the majority are not exceptional in size, they are good takeable fish.

One boat caught six up to 7-8-0 near Alderney, which is a good example of the current catches.

Meanwhile, two anglers found specimens worthy of a FOM entry. Richard Smith, out with Neil Corbet on the 3Js near Alderney, caught an 18-8-4 specimen on legered sandeel bait.

A wreck to the north of Guernsey produced a dozen cod for one party of anglers, with Stuart Tucker boating the heaviest, a 21-0-0 fish that was tempted by an ark artificial lure.

Both fish will be judged against the 39-0-0 boat record.

Paul Dempsey has submitted an entry for the heaviest ballan wrasse reported so far this year.

He was legering a ragworm bait on a west-coast shore mark hoping for a bass, but it was an 8-0-12 wrasse that was tempted. His catch will be assessed against the 8-10-13 Bailiwick shore best.

The June competition got off to a cracking start last Sunday with three entries completed, and one more to follow.

Sarah Harvey got the ball rolling with a shore-caught entry.

A legered ragworm cast out from the White Rock tempted a ballan wrasse of 4-5-5, which will be judged against the 8-10-13 Bailiwick shore record.

One slightly unusual catch made by the party was an 2-8-2 sole, a species more usually at night.

The cod catches are continuing through into the new month, for Brendan Conlon caught a 28-8-0 specimen off a wreck west of Guernsey. The huge cod was tempted by a pirk artificial lure and will be judged against the 39-0-0 boat record.

Chris Le Gallez went out with Richard Seager for a quiet evening's angling session near Brecqhou. The expectation was for a few pollack and maybe a bass.

You can understand his amazement when his sandeel was grabbed by a huge turbot that went on to pull the Record Committee's scales down to 26-0-0. His catch compares very favourably with the 27-7-0 Bailiwick boat best.

Also an entry for a turbot of nearly 18-0-0 caught at the Schole Bank is being completed.

n*PAUL MCLAREN won the West Coast Sea Angling Club's first charter-boat match of the season.

Richard Seager on Out the Blue took the 11 anglers to various marks along the south coast of Alderney where they boated 113 pollack, nine bass, one cuckoo wrasse, one cod and two tub gurnard.

McLaren's winning catch consisted of 14 pollack and two bass for 40-14-0 and 279fi points.

As he had the heaviest catch of the day he won half the competition kitty with the other half going to Andy Le Lerre, who boated the second heaviest bag, 37-0-0.

n*SARK anglers are finding shore fish as difficult to find as their Guernsey counterparts.

The Sark AC's second competition attracted 16 members but only five found fish, the total catch consisting of 17 ballan wrasse.

Glyn Williams won the event with four for 10-4-0 and 43 points, his catch including the heaviest of the day, a 4-12-0 fish.

Eddie Glaba was second with six for 8-13-0 and 37/, while Richard Hann had four for 5-8-0 and 24 points for third spot.

Richard Knight had two for 2-1-0 and 10/ for fourth and Michael Guille found one of 1-9-0 and 8/ for fifth.