On 30th June at the port of Poole on the quayside the anglers started to meet up ready to start registration and pay the £5 optional pool for most species on the day. At 0730 the boats started to load, ready for the 8 o’clock departure. This year it was a good entry of 41 anglers to fish on 5 boats, this was encouraging as over the years there have been less clubs entering anglers but there have been an increasing number of Angling Trust personal members entering. Many had fished the event in previous years so it was great to meet up again and a lot of us fish many other events so know each other very well.
As the boats headed out of the harbour there was a little more wind and swell than was forecast, but within an hour the wind eased and it was a gentle breeze as expected so good weather and a warm dry day for the event.
Once out of the harbour the boats went different ways with different game plans. I was on “Our Gemma” with Mervyn Minns. This was certainly a memorable day for Mervyn as it was his last day with the boat. He has decided to retire from running a charter fishing boat, though as he said maybe it will now give him time to do a bit of pleasure fishing without the pressure of putting the anglers on the fish. The new owner will be using the boat for bird watching apparently. At the end of the day we all shook Mervyn’s hand and thanked him for the years he had given anglers a good time and wished him a long and happy retirement.
During the fishing there was time for an appreciated cup of tea or coffee from the skipper. As with most competitions there was a lot of banter among the anglers on board but also encouragement and a cheer when someone landed a good fish, or, as was the case on our boat, many a comment on the size of some of the conger and a pout “I can’t remember seeing one that small!”
On Our Gemma we stayed on the same bit of ground, and, when the tide turned, our position changed, but the fishing remained similar. It was mainly the bigger point fish that we caught including tope, conger and different species of rays. Also other species were to be had including gurnard, pouting, dogfish, bream and mackerel (these need a mention now days as hard to find and not as years ago when there were shoals to catch easily). Also, 2 ballan wrasse, one brill and one plaice. I should mention here that all fish were returned to the sea as this was a catch and release competition. All boats had similar catches but additional species recorded were numbers of wrasse, pollack, scad, bass and one garfish.
When the boats were back in and once the anglers were on the quay the talk started on how their day was and who won each boat, so the top anglers on each boat already had a good idea of their overall placing for this year’s championship. It was then a short drive to the ex serviceman’s club who allowed us to use their room and bar for our presentation. Once the scores were entered onto the spreadsheet the placing and the other awards were worked out and the presentation got under way.
The presentation started with a raffle which was well supported possibly due to the many prizes with a 50 pound note among them. Thanks to Steve Bachelor and John Bellamy for organising the raffle.
Kim Bowden then read out the awards which were presented by the Wessex President Mr Ray Ashby. Kim thanked all the skippers for their efforts today then awarded the top skipper boat plaque to Terry Allen on Dannyboy 2. The optional pool for the most species was a 5 way tie on 9 species. These were Paul Hollyoak, Ray Barron, Colin Searles, Cliff Williams and Luke Allen each getting a share of the £200. As the 5 boat winners all get a cash prize the anglers who finished 6th to 15th were announced first and came up in turn to select a prize from the table. As the top 5 all had 100% their placing were decided on count back on boat score. 5th was Paul Hollyoak, 4th Steve Bachelor and 3rd Cliff Newbold.
There were 2 categories in this event, Champion of Champions and personal member. This time the top 2 receiving both awards, Colin Searles was runner up representing Hamble Angling Club and a personal member so he received the 2 trophies and £100. The Wessex Champion of Champions and personal member winner for 2018 was Ray Barron representing the Individual Boat Angling Club who took the 2 winners trophies and the £200 prize.
Kim Bowden closed by thanking all for supporting the event and making it the success it was. Also his thanks went to Andy’s Baits for supplying the bait for the Championship. It is expected to have the date and venue for 2019 very soon so keep an eye on the Angling Trust Wessex website. Kim finished by wishing all well for the rest of the fishing year and to have a safe journey home.
Report by Kim Bowden
Results
