It’s amazing how variable the fishing can be for us boat anglers. On a day when you would expect to catch plenty of fish it was not to be, and in the first 4 hours only 11 fish were caught .We were beginning to think that the highlight of the day was going to be the hearty breakfast we had earlier! The second half of the day proved to be a lot better once we had moved to area’s near Lynton and Lynmouth and the Valley of the Rocks and fish started to come in abundance.
14 different species were boated altogether, which made it a very interesting day as 6 of us were in close contention for winning the competition. The best specimen for the day was a bass of 6lb 13oz falling to the rod of Steve Lodge.
Steve Lodge narrowly won with John Thompson and Mike Tanner following closely behind picking up the minor positions.
Next one August 6th sailing at 10.30.
Mike
Berrow beach was the venue for this midweek league match on an extremely pleasant evening, but unfortunately there were very few fish caught with only three anglers catching.
It was particularly pleasing that 12 club members turned up to fish including several new members. We are begining to see an increase in numbers attending all of our league matches which is very encouraging as attendances had been poor in previous years.
Continuing his winning ways was Russ Tinklin with two rays. Runner up was John Lintern with one ray and his latest pupil Vicky Izzard beached two sole for third place.
Next match September 6th on Weston beach.
Mike.
This match was fished at Aust but unfortunately there was a strong south west wind and with an over abundance of weed it made fishing extremely difficult.
We all hoped that we would see some reasonable catches of sole as catch reports earlier in the week indicated that some good sole were coming from this venue. This was not the case.
John Lintern was again the winner catching a ray and a conger. Terry Giles managed two silver eels and two flounders for second place. In third equal place, both catching a conger and a sole was Nigel Pepper and Tony Tandy. Tony also caught the best fish of the day, a conger of 8lb 1oz. Dick Hooper won the flatfish pool with a flounder of 38cm.
Next one at Burton Bradstock September 17th.
Mike
The retired club members enjoyed a days boat fishing with Steve Webber in Minehead. Two committee members Terry and Nigel made up the numbers and Terry tried to convince those who were retired that they had come along as “Carers”.
Generally speaking it was a hard days sport for most, but some nice smoothounds were caught, but unfortunately not in abundance. With a smattering of different rays, bull huss, conger, and the inevitable dogfish there was plenty of action for most of the day.
Mike
The boat reports over the last few weeks were saying that the smoothounds were being caught in abundance in Minehead with one report of Mike Webber and his crew boating over 70, plus other fish between 5 anglers. This was not the case when 9 club members fished the June league match.
The fishing proved to be hard going all day, not only for us, but also the other boats sailing from Minehead that day.
We did however manage to boat 11 different species but not in the quantities you would expect to catch in June. The best specimen a smoothound of 13lb 8oz fell to Rick Crosby. Although there were several double figure smoothounds, bull huss, and rays caught.
Rick Crosby was the run away winner catching nine different species. Terry Giles came second and Steve Tanner third.
Next boat league match July 24th.
Mike.
Thirteen retired anglers fishing Clevedon Pier on the thirteenth day of the month is probably not a good omen for a decent days sport!
Only three of us managed to catch fish, although Colin Coburn did manage a Mackerel on a light rod which was still frozen having been clipped and slid down his line! The chairman should behave with a little more etiquette.
John May was declared the winner having winkled out two small Congers (I have seen bigger rag worm). Ivor Britt also had a small Conger for second place and John Beer plugged away and caught three small Whiting took third spot.
Next one Friday July 29th fishing 11.00-15.40.
Mike
It’s pleasing for those running the junior league matches that the club has had a steady increase in juniors taking part. The Sunday competition held on Burnham Beach was attended by 8 youngsters including three newcomers. A total of 20 fish were beached compising mainly of small Sole and a few Silver Eels.
Newcomer Lily Thompson who was being mentored by John Lintern had never been fishing before won with 7 fish (153cm). I wish John would give me some lessons! Harrison Izzard came second (103cm) and Grace Carpenter, another newcomer was third (71cm).
Harrison Izzard caught the best Sole of 32cm although he was afraid to pick it up! and Oliver Carpenter showed great excitment on catching a 42cm Silver Eel.
The next junior league match is again at Burnham Low Light on July 30th. Fishing 14.30-17.00.
Mike
Weston Beach was fished on a very pleasant evening for the latest midweek match. Unfortunately several of the regulars were unavailable for this one but 6 of us fished and all caught fish.
Nigel Pepper had been having a moan earlier that he had lost his knack of catching fish and was going to seek out John Lintern for advice. However on his last chuck he caught a 45cm Bass and with two small fish caught earlier he won. Andy Shopland had a 40cm Silver Eel to come second. Russ Tinklin took third place.
Next match on Berrow Beach July 7th. Fishing 19.30-22.30.
Mike
Sand Bay was the venue for the June weekend league match on a lovely calm summers evening.
Catches comprised of Silver Eels(6), Small Bass(8), Flounder(2) & Thornback Ray(1).
The winner was Paul Cox with 2 Silver Eels (100pts). In second place with a Silver Eel and a Thornback Ray (80pts) was Andy Capern and finally in third position was Dick Hooper who caught a Silver Eel and a Bass (51pts).
Mike Salter won the flatfish pool with a Flounder of 34cm.
Mike Tanner did manage to loose a reasonable sized Ray when his shop bought Pulley Rig parted on one of the knots. No he didn’t swear, well not much!
Next match July 3rd at Aust.
Mike.
Us boat anglers decided that as the tide height was most suitable for targeting the larger species we would have a day fishing further out in deeper water. We were not disappointed and caught 11 different species between us.
Some good sized rays were brought to the boat with the best of these falling to the rod of John Thompson, a thornback of 18lb 2oz. Not to be out done Steve Lodge had a blonde ray of 15lb and a small eyed ray of 11lb 8oz. Steve Beck also boated a splendid bass of 7lb (see photo gallery. Many good smoothounds were caught with a few congers and bull huss. All four species of ray that frequent the Bristol Channel were boated but the pesky dogfish tended to be a nuisance for everyone.
Is there no stopping Steve Lodge in his quest to retain his title of boat league champion? Yet again he was declared the winner with John Thompson coming second. Third place was Steve Beck. Next outing 18th June sailing at 07.00.
Mike
8 club members fished Weston beach on a fine sunny evening. It was a match with mixed fortunes for some but for those who caught fish some excellent fish were beached. Most notably a silver eel of 2lb 5oz for Russ Tinklin, and a bass of 5lb 8oz fell to the rod of Tony Tandy. There was also a couple of rays up too 6lb 8oz and two congers up to 8lb.
John Lintern was the run away victor with 169 points. His catch comprised of, one of each of the following:- conger, ray, bass. silver eel, plus eight smaller fish. Ian Brice was second with 112 points and Russ Tinklin third with 54points. Next match 8/06/2016 again on Weston Beach. Fishing 20.00-23.00.
Mike
Two teams represented WSMSAA in the first leg of three in the BCFSA 2 man boat competition at Minehead. Eight teams fished from two boats Osprey & Teddie Boy skippered by Steve & Mike Webber. John May also fished as an individual although the day didn’t go very well for him as he found he had left his sandwiches at home. Hunger turned John into a grumpy old git!
The teams from Weston were as follows:- WSMSAA (A) Steve Lodge & Mike Tanner, WSMSAA (B) Terry Giles & Rick Crosby.
Team A results:- Steve won on Teddie Boy and Mike came second aboard Osprey.
Team B results:- Terry was third on Teddie Boy and Rick was forth on Osprey.
After the first leg WSMSAA (A) are leading with Combe Martin in second place. WSMSAA (B) are third equal in the league.
Of the 16 different species caught there were some really nice sized bull huss in double figures, good sized smoothounds a blonde ray of about 13lb but the best fish a conger of 39lb 7oz fell to Pete Austin from Blackdown A.
