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Le Fret 25th Aug 2002
Map Ref: 593,467
Tide: HW 8.50am (10.2m)
Weather Forecast: Bright with cloudy patches. Wind N to NE force 3 to 4
After the disappointing fishing of the previous day, we decided to try an alternative venue…..
Drove over to pick Chris up around 5pm and drove over to Le Fret …. Stopped off on the way to look at St Aubin’s Fort, but decided that the prevailing wind would make life uncomfortable….. continued on….. thought about fishing Noirmont, but with the rising tide already underway, felt we’d have more time there the next day, and so we decided upon Le Fret, with the hope that we’d be able to fish for mullet, but with the possibility for other species if the opportunity presented itself……..
Due to our stop off at St Aubins, we were a little late, and got to the bottom of Le Fret around 5.50am….. looked at La Potroune rock extension, but felt we’d be too high for most of the tide, and that whilst it would be accessible throughout , would make landing any reasonable fish rather difficult on the southern side, that we’d be fishing from…..
thus we decided to fish from the rock outcrop to the west of Les Meles….. an interesting platform that we’d fished from before, but that would be cut off by the rising tide…. Really a neap or low water venue, and at its limit with a 33ft (10m) tide, anything greater and the rock has the potential to be submerged, and certainly washed over by the ferry wake or other swells!!!
And so we set up .. Chris elected to start by float fishing from the front, for Garfish, whilst I set up to try for mullet, from the eastern side gully…… the wind was quite strong, ruffling the water, and making visibility very difficult… I think both Chris and myself had that sinking feeling of Doom….. our confidence of catching, seemed to be waning rapidly…
6.25am…… Chris was suddenly into a Garfish, and at quite close range, fishing from the low level extended platform on the eastern side, and trotting the float in front of the main rock outcrop……. First thought it was a small Pollack, but soon realised his mistake… having done so, it didn’t take him very long to land it… very nice fish of 24”… unfortunately it had swallowed the hook, and Chris was forced to cut the trace, before placing the fish in the bait bag……
7.35am…. having tried the eastern gully form mullet for an hour, and with absolutely nothing to show for it, I decided to give the western side a try, as the tide steadily rose….. the wind had picked up and made the fishing even more difficult, and I was generally starting to get that doom feeling and wondering if we shouldn’t have chosen a different venue after all…….
Suddenly my float went under … struck, and found myself connected not to the mullet that I’d hoped for, but to a garfish (or as they are known here, snipe)…. However, it failed to disappoint either Chris or myself, with a stunning series of acrobatic leaps and summersaults, followed by an exhibition of tail walking….. that very light tackle dictated by mullet fishing, suited the garfish, and such exhibitions are rarely seen with the more traditional heavy floats and line, so commonly used around the island….. eventually brought the fish in, and lifted it up to our vantage point….. only a small fish of around 20”, soon had it unhooked, and I decided against taking a photo in order to return it as quickly as possible, and to allow it to swim off rapidly …..
With the now rapidly rising tide, I did express some concern that our vantage point may not remain quite as dry as we’d expected, with an hour and a half of the tide still to go… but Chris seemed confident that all would be well, and pointed to the bird droppings at our feet, indicating that the rock had not been over topped in recent tides… and very soon we were cut off, as the gullies behind us flooded……..
The rising tide brought with it the run, with its complex currents and eddies …. Ideal garfish conditions…. I decided to give up on the mullet, and go for the garfish…. Still used the mullet tackle, but swapped bread for small strips of garfish ….. Chris had taken the garfish that I’d previously caught when we’d fished Boulay Bay, and had been very lightly salting it, and keeping it in the fridge, this had firmed the flesh, but not hardened it to rubber….. choose to use strips approximately the width of my little finger, and about half its length, hooked just once on the size 10 hook, from flesh out through the tougher skin…..
8.10am…. whoosh, down goes the float, struck home, and off tears the line, as the fish dives away, but very soon it hits the surface, but in doing so managed to get tangled in the trace, and was left unable to fight further…. Soon had it up, and on the platform… unfortunately, before I could grab it, it unhooked itself and fell to the floor, with a sickening thud, and smashed the end of its beak…… quickly measured it (22”), and placed it in the bait bag…..
Over the next hour of so, both Chris and myself had a number of bites, but failed to connect with the perpetrators……
9.25am…. talking with Chris, and pouring a coffee, when Chris gives a shout…. A garfish had taken his bait, and the first that he’d known, was when his rod started to nod violently in his hands….. after a number of leaps and somersaults, Chris brought the fish in…… nice 22” specimen…..
9.32am… sitting down, back with a cup of coffee, when Chris asks where my float was, just as I turned round to look, up it bobbed…… thought I’d missed it, until it shot off under the water again…… realised it was hooked… grabbed the rod, and took control ….. nice when the fish hook themselves…. Yet another exhibition of acrobatics and tail walking followed, thrilling stuff….. pulled it up, measured it (19.1/2”) and took some pix……
After this, Chris decided to scale down his gear, and swapped his large foam float for the stick waggler and other mullet gear, to enjoy the sport that these gallant fish had to offer….
9.55am….. missed a bite, and started to bring the gear in….. as I did so, a garfish leapt over the float, and shot off into the deep……
10.20am…. whoosh….. my float zoomed under… another garfish had taken the bait… this one really fought hard…… starting to tail walk, and then doing cartwheel after cartwheel, followed by a whole series of leaps, and it was proving very difficult to maintain the tension…… and just when we thought it had finished, it started skipping across the water again… really wish I’d had a video camera, and been able to show you….absolutely stunning stuff……. Eventually got it up…. 23” long …. Lovely fish ….. unfortunately the picture does it (nor any of the others) any justice….:-(
11.10am… the previous hour was relatively uneventful, and the sight of my float sliding under the waves was great to see ….. struck home, and started to play the fish …. Suddenly it leapt from the water, in doing so, the line dropped limp, only for a split second, but enough to allow the snipe to throw the hook, and off it shot :-(
11.45am ….. things continued to be very quiet, not helped by the fact that the receding water took the rip tide with it…… and probably most of the fish as well…
Chris decided to have a go at close range ground fishing for any Pollack, that may be around……..
Having done so, he then went over to the back of La Potroune, to see how two other angler were doing… turned out they were ground fishing into a hole for wrasse, using small thumb sized crabs, and seemed to have had some luck with a number of wrasse to show for their efforts up to 3lb……
12.15pm….. with no bottom activity, Chris decided to try spinning using a small bomb weight and a strip of garfish flesh, reasoning that the garfish would be possibly further out, than the simple float gear would allow for…..
12.20pm…. Chris has a snipe attack his strip of garfish right at the end of his retrieve, but failed to hook it…… suddenly my float went under, hooked into the snipe, saw it flash beneath the waves, but was off almost before I knew it…….
12.21pm…. Chris cast out again from the lower platform, and almost the instant it hit the water, a garfish snapped it up……. after a short acrobatic display, and a number of frantic runs, Chris pulled the fish up …… nice size, around 23” again …. Chris unhooked it, and slipped it back quickly into the water…….
12.41pm… Chris got snagged up on a submerged reef….. tried to pull free, but it cut his line…. Decided to call it a day… packed up, and walked back up the cliff, and then the cinder path to the car, pleased that the initial worries and concerns, that the day could prove fruitless, proved to be unfounded…..