July 2014 Monthly Report

It’s been back to back trips down here in Poole for the last month; the weather has been faultless with only a few days rest taken due to the odd puff of wind. It’s that time of year now where everything is in full swing and we are spoilt for choice as to what we fish for. The only thing that aren’t playing ball, as I’m sure many other ports are experiencing round the country, are the mackerel. Some days we are spending up to 2 hours feathering to get enough to go bass fishing for a few hours. There seems to be an abundance of small scad out on the sand in Poole Bay which is helping fill the gap when we want to go fishing with live baits. The one place mackerel have been in abundance for me this year is over in Alderney, all around the Island and down on the fishing grounds we have no trouble getting bait. In early July Graham Kent and his mates did a 5-day trip over to the rock with Silver Spray II and had a brilliant time. Rather than just sticking on the flats for 3 days straight we tried our hand at a bit of everything and we were rewarded with a variety of species including tope, bull huss, conger, bass, turbot, brill, cod, ling, pollock to name but a few. The top fish of the trip for me was Andrew Dunne’s turbot of 20lb 4oz. A brilliant turbot by anyone’s standards made even better by the fact he caught it on bass gear whilst we were drifting at 4 knots in over 100 feet of water. The fish gave a fight like I’ve never seen from a flattie before and took over 10 minutes to get to the boat appearing and then disappearing from view several times in the process. Alderney is certainly renowned for being a destination where anglers can catch themselves some monster fish and not many anglers have spent as much time hunting one down in that area as my Dad, Andy Cumming. On a recent trip to the Island with his Wife for some golf and relaxation he somehow managed to sneak in an afternoon on the banks onboard Silver Spray I. After a good day on the flats he was just packing his gear up when his Diawa Saltist 12-20 rod bent over the rail with a cracking bite. After a struggle lasting around 15 minutes Andy’s wife Alison netted a colossal turbot which I weighed for him back in Brae harbour at 31lb 8oz. I’ve seen god knows how many fish of all shapes and sizes on my travels in commercial and charter fishing but I have never seen anything of that enormity, a true fish of a life time.

Sam Cumming

Silver Spray II