Top catch for Swain

JERSEY angler Kevin Swain had the top fish in the Open Alderney Angling Festival. He won the Barbie Cosheril Best Fish Trophy with a new Alderney record Couch's sea bream, a 1-15-2 specimen.

The record was actually broken twice for Alastair House also topped the previous 1-13-6 standard with a 1-14-6 fish.

The two anglers shared the £500 prize for beating the record, with Swain also taking £150 for topping the best fish under 5-0-0 category, while House took £125 for second.

The remainder of this category were all filled by Couch's sea bream. John Dunster won £100 for his 1-11-2 fish, Rob Blondin £75 for a 1-10-8 and Steven Bunn £50 for his 1-10-4 specimen.

There was also an outstanding fish in the black bream category, Jason Le Noury taking the top prize with a superb 5-1-2 specimen.

The remaining four were Dave Saunders, 3-15-6, Naomi Hall, 3-10-2, James Butel, 3-7-6, and Graham Gresley, 3-5-10.

Surprisingly there were only four qualifying in the ballan wrasse category. Guernsey's Andy Loveridge won with a 6-11-8 fish, with the other three being Bill Scott, 6-9-2, Mark Plowman, 6-7-0, and Sid Reynolds, 6-4-4.

Bass were also restricted to four entries. Jason Sugden won with a 10-7-14 fish, followed by Darren Braby, 9-12-14, Mick Maurice, 7-12-2, and Brian Williams, 6-5-8.

It was pleasing to see five qualifying in the plaice/sole category, all being sole.

Alderney tackle dealer Mark Harding and John Dunster tied for the top spot with identical fish of 3-10-10, although Harding took the top prize as his was caught first. The other three were Peter Loveridge, 3-2-8, Danny Le Merrer, 2-13-4, and Simon Bristow, 2-13-0.

Unusually, none of the grey mullet entries topped 5lb. Alderney's Dick Smith won with 4-11-6, followed by Steven Lamb 4-10-2, Andy Hedger 4-9-2, Adrian Coquelin 4-8-12 and Brian Williams 4-7-6.

Graham Hazell won the best over 5-0-0 category with a 10-10-14 bull huss and also took the Andy James Trophy for the best cartilaginous fish.

The three others in this category were Steve Harder, 10-11-12 small-eyed ray, Dave Saunders, 9-13-12 pollack, and Andy Rogers, 6-1-4 pollack.

However there were a few disappointments in the festival.

Alderney is noted for its conger fishing and yet only one qualifying fish was caught, the category being won by Bill Scott's 42-0-0.

What happened to tope? In 2004 heavy catches of the specimen were made, topped by a new Bailiwick record 50-14-13. Similar catches were eagerly anticipated this year but none was forthcoming.

The £150 prize for the top UK angler went to Dunster and the women's trophy to Naomi Hall.

The Pairs Trophy went to UK anglers Andy Rogers, Bill Scott, Steve Harder and Mark Plowman.

The festival was well supported with 128 taking part, proving yet again that it is one of the Bailiwick's most successful and popular angling events.

GILTHEAD bream, grey mullet, bass and black bream took the top honours in the September fish-of-the-month competition.

The Shakespeare Monthly Angling Award for the top overall fish and the J. Meerveld and Sons Tankard for the best shore-caught was won by Shane Bentley for his 8-1-4 gilthead bream, which scored 99.33%.

The Boat Exchange Tankard for the best boat-caught specimen went to Tim Froome for his 5-5-15 grey mullet worth 91.22%.

The Megabite Tankard for Visitors went to Brett Adams for his potential record boat-caught bass, that scored 106.40% and weighed 18-6-12.

The Aval du Creux Hotel angling award for juniors was won by Sark's Jason Brehaut who shore-caught a 2-13-0 black bream worth 43.11%.

The two runner-up prizes of Bucktrout's Bass beers went to Jason Le Noury's 2-2-4 shore-caught Couch's sea bream, 88.81% and Keith Quertier's 11-0-10 shore-caught bull huss, 79.56%.

The unsuccessful local entries were: Len Le Page, 1-8-2 boat-caught cuckoo wrasse, 76.89%; Paul McLaren, 6-1-12 shore-caught gilthead bream, 75.12%; Paul Berry, 12-4-0 boat-caught bass, 70.75%; Colin Tranter, 11-13-0 boat-caught bass, 68.23%; Jez Vaudin, 11-12-3 boat-caught bass, 67.93%; Simon Rowe, 11-9-0 boat-caught bass, 66.57%; Jez Vaudin, 1-4-12 boat-caught cuckoo wrasse, 66.13%; and Mark Page, 18-1-4 boat-caught cod, 46.35%.

The unsuccessful visitors' entries were: Christy Dempsey, 1-4-0 boat-caught cuckoo wrasse, 63.74%; David Woolcombe, 14-10-6 boat-caught pollack, 56.88%; and Wool-combe, 19-10-10 boat-caught cod, 50.42%.

The first entry in the October competition has come from Steven Torode. He legered a squid bait at Bordeaux and caught an 11-11-0 bull huss, which will be judged against the 13-14-0 Bailiwick record.