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Le Fret 2nd August 2001
GR: 593,467
Having arrived on the Jersey the night before, I decided to get a few things sorted out for the rest of the month … so I headed off into St.Helier and J.F.S.Sport in Green St….. met up with Eddie and chatted about his expanding business, and the impact it was having on reducing his fishing time in a very big way (something I could readily relate to!!!!)….. he kindly talked me though some of the local mullet spots and how to fish them…. along with what was going on fishing wise..
Grabbed some bits and bobs and shot off to catch up with Karen who was already at Chris Balls house waiting for me to arrive.. except I’d sort of forgotten about the time due to Eddies tea and chat….. anyway got to up to see Chris and we chatted about what where and when we’d like to fish for over the coming month….
Chris had written down a number of venues for us to consider, some new, some not really explored by us before and a few old favourites….. but we kept coming back to the same thing, to try and target specific species relative to the venues, rather than just chuck and hope (although that could always be the job of a second rod where practical…), and to try and do a lot more ground baiting to attract and hold what fish were about…..
I didn’t feel able to go fishing that night as I’d not charged the headlamps or unpacked any of the gear, so we decided that the best course of action was to fish the Friday, weather permitting…..
However, on the drive back to St Brelades, I really started to get that “I need to fish” feeling, and made my mind up that I could go for a short plugging session down at Le Fret that evening…..
The weather forecast was for a light NW wind increasing from the West, with possible scattered showers…. and high tide was due at around 6.30pm with a 9.6m tide....
And so I went for it…. Got down to the common car park around 5pm .. walked almost to the cliff edge before I realised that I’d forgotten the water bottles in the boot of my car, along with my light waterproofs ….. far to eager to get fishing and not totally focused on the prep!!!!!!
By the time I’d walked back to the car, got the water, and climbed down the cliff it was 5.30pm ….
To start with I fished just to the west of the western rock of Les Meles…. But the wind was already picking up from the west and making life difficult and so I decided to move slightly along to the Eastern side and opposite the Eastern pinnacle, and cast with the wind to my back and retrieve along the shoreline, or out towards Les Meles as the wind would allow…..
Decided to use a J13, a Slither, and the dexter wedge as the mood took me...
6.20pm… I saw a large fish cruse right under my feet, but at some depth …. I think it was a bass with a slightly brownish back or so it seemed, don’t think it was a wrasse or mullet but I could be wrong , and I did only see it for a few seconds as it passed over some lighter coloured rocks below..… but what ever, a very nice looking fish all the same …. And where was my lure …. In completely the opposite direction to the fish and fully cast out!!!!
6.35pm … had what felt distinctly like a tug by a fish on the J13… but failed to connect :-(
6.45pm…. another “bass” cruising just to the left of me .. and again my lure is in completely the wrong place for a quick retrieve and flick out in the direction of the fish!!!!
After 7pm the wind really started to pick up and a lot of leaden clouds started to come over the top of the cliff and in from the west … by 7.45pm, decided that as it was the first outing of the month, I’d call it a day, and have a more pleasant time of ascending the cliff than if it decided to rain .. so I packed up and set off back to base ready to prepare for the next day…. contented in that I'd at least seen some fish.... now all I had to do was catch some!!!!!