Le Noury's monthly double

COUCH'S sea bream, red gurnard and bull huss took the top awards in the August Fish-of-the-Month competition. The Shakespeare monthly award for the best overall fish and the Fletcher's Freesias Tankard for the top boat-caught fish both went to John Le Noury for his 4-2-0 couch's sea bream which scored 92.22%.

The J. Meerveld and Sons Tankard for the best shore-caught fish went to Jason Le Noury for his 1-14-11 red gurnard which was worth 84.36%.

The runner-up prizes of Bucktrout's Bass beers went to Stuart Tostevin's 2-13-8 shore-caught trigger fish, 77.94% and Trevor Ferbrache, 6-4-1 boat-caught ballan wrasse, 77.56%.

The unsuccessful local entries were:

Gary Le Cloarec, 6-5-0 shore-caught ballan wrasse, 72.75%; Wayne Dolan, 5-8-0 boat-caught ballan wrasse, 68.21%; Peter Perrio, 1-11-0 boat-caught red gurnard, 59.09%; Keith Lambotte, 16-10-5 boat-caught cod, 42.67%.

The Mallard Tankard for visitors went to Wil Franken, whose 11-5-10 boat-caught bull huss scored 84.82%.

Ian Fisken has submitted the first entry for the September FOM competition. He legered a sandeel bait on the Great Bank and boated a 9-10-2 bass. It will be assessed against the 17-5-0 record.

THE Bucktrout's Beers Open Bass Festival was brought to a successful conclusion, with the presentation evening held at Blind O'Reilly's.

Section winners Alan Pike and Dean Tulie topped the list of anglers who were present to receive their awards.

The event had been organised by the Guernsey Bass Anglers' Sportfishing Society and it was the society's president, John Hanley, who compered the function.

After welcoming all present, he thanked the sponsors for their continued support and the anglers for participating in the event. The only disappointment had been a drop in the number of entrants this year.

As reported last week, the number of fish caught were on a par with the previous year but the average weight was well down, which confirms the season's trend of a run of smaller bass.

The shore section saw 11 entered for a total weight of 54-2-9 and an average of 4-14-12. Comparative figures for 2002 were 14 for 91-13-3, an average of 6-7-15.

It was a similar story in the boat section. This year 21 were landed for 135-4-1 and an average of 6-7-0. Last year 17 were snapped up for 152-4-2, an average of 8-7-5.

The trophies were presented to the winners by Colin Druce, representing one of the co-sponsors of the event, Hotel and Commercial Laundries.

THE West Coast Sea Angling Club have defeated the South Devon Sea Angling Club in their annual match by 629fl points to 423.

This year it was fished in local waters and was concentrated on marks around Sark, including the Couchee.

The contest was sponsored by Mick's Fishing Supplies and South Devon Angling Supplies. A £20 tackle voucher went to local angler Roger Netherton who had the heaviest bag of the day, 40-14-0.

SDSAC's Barry Sokell won fishing tackle for the top bag by the visiting team, 14-10-0, while Danny Bishop won a reel for the best fish of the day, a 5-13-0 turbot.

The total catch by the teams was 38 pollack, two mackerel, 12 bass, three black bream, one wrasse, one turbot and two red gurnard.

NICK MERRIEN has won the second leg in the four-match Bachmann series in the Guernsey Sea Anglers Club junior section.

Eight youngsters entered and were taken over to Herm for the all-day match.

Six of the youngsters found fish, the total catch consisting of one bass, two mackerel and 39 garfish.

The president's prizes went to Nick Merrien for the heaviest bag of the day, 9-3-0, and to Robert Wakeford, who had the heaviest fish, a bass of 3-5-0.

YOUNG anglers and their mums and dads are reminded that the Western Tackle Junior Open, organised by the Bailiwick Bass Club, will be held at Vazon Bay this Sunday from 3pm to 6pm.

Registration will take place by the kiosk at the bay. All anglers aged 15 years or under are eligible to enter but all competitors must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Although it is run by the Bailiwick Bass Club, all species of fish will be accepted in the competition.

Anglers are reminded that two open events are scheduled for this month.

The first is the Boatworks+ conger competition. This will take place from 6pm on Saturday 20 to 8am on Sunday 21 September.

Registration will take place at Boatworks+ between 5.30 and 6pm on the Saturday.

It is strictly a shore competition and anglers can fish anywhere they wish, using a maximum of two rods.

The following weekend will see the first leg in the three-weekend Specimen Fish Hunt, organised by the West Coast Sea Angling Club.

The first leg will run from Friday 26 September through to Sunday 28 September.

Registration is from 6pm on the Friday and the subsequent weigh-ins will take place at the Brock Road Youth Centre at the former Boys' Grammar School.

Prospects for the autumn's opens and indeed for shore fishing generally seem to be cautiously optimistic.

The current hot spot continues to be the St Peter Port Breakwater, with mackerel, scad, garfish and bream being landed in some numbers.

Other shore marks are producing bream, red mullet, trigger fish, sole and bass, as well as mackerel etc. for the float-fishing enthusiasts.

Our commercial colleagues have been having success with conger in recent weeks, which it is hoped will be a good omen for the Boatworks+ Open.