Comments (0)

By Vic, 11 February, 2008 16:23

Yesterday, I took part in a competition organised by the Shoreham Angling Squad club. Funnily enough, this was held at the West arm of Shoreham harbour.

It was an early start for me, leaving home at 6.40 am in order to stop off at ‘The Tackle Box‘ shop at Brighton Marina for bait. Whilst getting my Lugworm and Ragworm, Dave Grinham kindly gave me a large bag of Slipper Limpet to supplement my supplies.

Arrived at the venue at the allotted time of 8am. A long wait ensued while we waited for everyone to arrive, book in and draw numbers for the order of ‘walking off’. I unluckily picked 32 which meant I would be one of the last to walk off and would thus be limited to where I could fish.

My spot was quite a way inshore and I would be casting not far of the beach itself. Anyway, armed with a good supply of quality bait, I was confident of doing well. Targets were Flounder and Dab. I tackled up and awaited the hooter to mark the beginning of the match.

First few casts produced numerous knocks and bites but I couldn’t connect. First fish of the day arrived soon afterwards and I found the culprit to be a small 5 Bearded Rockling which sadly was under the 18cm limit and therefore didn’t count. This was followed shortly after by another non qualifier. That was it for the rest of the day with no further fish landed. No matter what I tried, I just could not get the fish to bite. Frustration grew as I heard reports of a few fish coming up the blokes fishing at the end of the arm.

Gladly, it was a warm bright day with little wind – nice and comfortable for me but not good conditions for fishing.

The hooter marking the end of the match sounded at 3.30pm. Time to tackle down and make my way to the meeting point to watch the lucky ones receive their prizes. I didn’t even win anything in the raffle- pffft.

I then faced a journey of nearly one and a half hours through Brighton to get home. It had been an enjoyable day, even though I was virtually fishless.

Incidentally, I believe a reasonable amount was collected from people who fished the match towards a fund being set up for the family of Alan Wright, a young man who was washed away whilst fishing in the Bristol Channel. Alan was a member of WSF (World Sea Fishing), a fishing website/forums used by many of us anglers.

Link

Link

Link

Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Comments (0)

By Vic, 30 September, 2007 14:50

Saturday 29th September was the date, Widewater beach Shoreham was the venue. The occasion was a friendly meet/get together/competition organised by S.A.S. (Shoreham Angling Squad) and involving anglers from Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Kent and Essex.

I arrived at about 10am to see that there were already numerous participants mooching around the marquee waiting to snaffle the breakfast rolls that were being expertly prepared by club members ‘Mesito’ and ‘Bloated Cod’. Once I’d scoffed a belter of a bun with bacon, sausage and egg, it was time to sign in, get my scorecard and await the walk off.

True to form, I was last to walk off and headed off to my chosen spot. (oh how I wish I’d gone right and not left). I set up my rods – one single hooked and baited with whole calamari and lobbed a few yards out, hoping for a prize winning Bass. The other rod two hooked paternoster baited with lugworm and sent out about fifty yards or so. I sat back and thought positive thoughts.

Time passed slowly and uneventfully (apart from witnessing catches made by Mark_S fishing the next beach). Every so often the monotony was broken by absolutely nothing. I poured coffee, I shuffled my feet, I even began to wonder if I could count the boulders in the sea defences – nothing would provoke any fish into helping me win prizes.

Eventually, I had my first fish, a Bass. Unfortunately this particular Bass was not even anywhere near close to the 18cm minimum qualifying length. Neither were the next two I had. So three fish and none counted towards points.

After what seemed like five and half hours – oh that’s right, it was, the competition ended. I packed up and walked back to the marquee where I was greeted by the smell of burgers, hotdogs and Paella.

Anyway, the boring stuff was dealt with and the prizes handed out. At least I wasn’t going to be lumbered with carrying loads of goodies back to the car.

After being fully and totally stuffed with Mesito’s excellent Paella, it was time to bid farewell to the gathered motley crew and make my way home and back out of ‘Bandit country’.

A thoroughly enjoyable day spent with great folks, great food and no fish.

Full report and pictures