Alderney 2013

While I was away in Zakynthos soaking up the sun with the family, Dave was on his annual pilgrimage to Alderney (I will make it at some point!). Anyway - here is his account of the trip;

This year’s Alderney trip was booked up again with Rob T on Manta Ray for the first week in May.
I finally caved in to checking the long-range forecast a week before and wish I hadn’t as it looked pretty unsettled.
Thankfully as the trip got closer this changed for the better & following a short call with Rob on eve of the trip, we were on!
Muster time was 06:15 at Yarmouth quay and when we arrived Manta was already tied up quayside. The gear was swiftly locked and loaded & we were soon passing the needles and heading over to my favourite channel isle…
Conditions were around a F4-5 NE on the crossing which slowed us a little, but the Cherbourg & Alderney coastlines started to become visible within 2 ½ to 3 hours of leaving Yarmouth – nice!
Plan for the week was 4 days on the flats with some wrecking on the homeward journey. Sweeps were agreed for biggest and smallest turbot, lines were drawn for the annual inter-room comp and gear was readied!
Recent reports suggested the fishing was a little slower than the usual, possibly due to the lower than average water temperatures or perhaps just to the general cycles of fish stocks…
I really like this type of fishing, it can be slow at times but the rewards are high - long fishless hours can change in an instant with a double figure turbot or big brill hitting the deck -  to me, these are awesome fish and are well worth the effort!
All this said, some days can leave you needing counselling & in need of a trip to the turbot doctor!! I won’t mention names but one of our crew had a particularly frustrating day with the flats playing hard to get & once ashore needed a long walk to regain sanity!!
As predicted fishing was hard, but some quality fish were caught, I think the pics speak for themselves!

Another great holiday - the banter was on-going (and at points relentless), some top meals and great company for the duration…
Day 5 saw the best day weather wise which allowed us the cross the channel comfortably and fish a few wrecks, which resulted in plenty of Pollack and a couple of cod.

Next year we’re heading further North, in-fact well inside the Arctic circle for our yearly jaunt – but I am sure another Alderney won’t be too far after that!