| torbay borough sea angling festival fishing competition devon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Torbay Borough Sea Angling Festival Diary 2005 |
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The 38th Annual Torbay Borough Sea Angling Festival commenced at 8.0 pm on Friday 2nd September. It continued until to the evening of Sunday 11th. That is nine days and nights of frenetic recreational sea angling for the many competitors who regularly enjoy doing their best to have a good time and win a share of the 104 Prize categories, sponsored by top tackle manufacturer Abu Garcia (UK) Ltd.
There are three weigh-in stations at Brixham, Paignton and Torquay which are open every evening between 7 pm and 8 pm. Fish must be weighed-in the same day they are caught. I’ve been Hon. Sec. to this exciting event for the past 2 years. Believe me, when I say that it generates a great deal of “behind the scenes” work for our dedicated committee throughout the entire year. Here’s my personal insight into the conduct of the Festival, I hope you will enjoy it as much as those who took part. Saturday 3rd September – The weather was dreadful, a brisk south easterly breeze was driving a lumpy sea. The majority of charter boats stayed inshore, if indeed they ventured forth at all. I received a ‘phone call at 1.40 pm from Dave Harrison, who charters his very successful and well appointed 40 foot Cygnus Cyfish “Gemini 2” out of Dartmouth. Dave said, “Do you want to go wrecking?” I assumed he meant later in the week and replied, “Yes please. When did you have in mind?” He said, “Let’s pop out about 2.30 pm to one of the small wrecks just outside the Harbour and see if we can find a decent Pouting or a big Mackerel.” It was then that I knew we had entirely lost the plot. It was entirely unplanned, a silly whim, but great fun. We anchored a small mark about 2 miles out of the Dart, where I managed to catch a "Sand Shark" (LSD) just over 2 lbs, amongst about 60 small Pouting and shoals of tiny Mackerel, which might just sneak in to win a minor day prize from Wreck - time will tell. It later transpired that only two boats had been out to fish from wreck marks that day and just 6 fish from wreck were weighed in. Thanks Dave. Meanwhile, Steve Underwood of Paignton SAC caught a Bull Huss of 15 lbs 9 ozs 14 dr from his private boat “Predator”, while his teenage son Carl caught another of 13 lbs 14 ozs 1 dr. John Heather caught his own “Sand Shark” (LSD) from inshore boat, which weighed 3 lbs 2 ozs 8 dr. Sunday 4th September - Patsy and I enjoyed a very pleasant day afloat in Salcombe Harbour, in company with our good pals Colin Wherlock and his Wife, Becky, in their small private boat, dodging the extremely heavy showers while fishing for Thornback Ray. We caught 17 in total. I got lucky and caught the best of the day, a "Thornie" of 11 lbs 12 ozs 13 dr. The other 16 Rays were all returned alive and well. We tried very hard to keep the specimen alive too, though alas we failed. Although it is 117% of specimen weight for Torbay Festival, I rather doubt it will be good enough to get amongst the prizes. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. Colin and I both caught "Gilthead Bream" around the 2 lb mark, but too small to weigh-in for a prize in the Festival as they were both below the minimum 50% of specimen weight rule. Thanks Colin and Becky for another great day of recreational sea angling. With administration of the event to deal with, it’s unlikely I will get out fishing myself again during the coming days. Back at the weigh-in at Paignton SAA, there were some excellent fish, including a wreck caught Pollack, which weighed around 18 lbs 5 ozs 3 dr, caught by Allyson Thomas from Wales. That is a quite exceptionally large Summer Pollack.
There was a Pouting from Wreck of around 3 lbs, caught by Dave Trevanthen from Ivybridge, who won the 2004 Festival. It must be in the early lead for the new “Charlotte Louise Trophy”. Several more very special specimen fish, including a top quality Ling of 20 lbs 10 ozs were caught by Plymouth Angler Alan Jones, using a "Mackerel Flapper" as bait aboard Dave Harrison's Dartmouth charter boat "Gemini 2". After the first couple of days, Steve Underwood's Bull Huss, of more than 15 lbs, caught from his own small boat “Predator” was up amongst the top contenders from inshore boat, although he subsequently caught another of 14 lbs 0 ozs 15 dr. Monday 5th September - Mark Barnett, a member of the Kingsbridge SAC put a “spanner in everyone’s works” when he weighed in a shore caught Pollack of 5 lbs 0 ozs 7 dr, which measured against a Festival specimen weight of 2 lbs 8 ozs, took a commanding lead at 201.094%. Mark was an unsuccessful candidate for the NFSA England Junior Shore Team. More recently he has done his best to get selected at Senior level and is clearly still trying to get noticed. I wish him every success in his endeavours.
Pete Sumner weighed-in a cracking wreck caught Bass of 12 lbs 12 ozs, taken aboard his own boat “Full Monty”.
Rob “Rocky” Marshall caught a Conger Eel from shore which weighed-in at Brixham at 31 lbs 5 ozs.
Sean Coulson caught a Bull Huss from shore of 11 lbs 13 ozs 2 dr. Tuesday 6th September – Today’s best fish was a wreck caught Pollack which weighed-in at 18 lbs 8 ozs 15 dr, caught by local angler, Bill Harkness aboard Dave Harrison’s charter boat “Gemini 2”. This was the best of the top 11 Pollack weighed in today from local charter boats who concentrated on fishing the mid-Channel wrecks.
Andrew Simpson, a visitor from Surrey caught himself a hard fighting Conger Eel of 65 lbs from Simon Pedley’s Paignton charter boat “Our Joe-L”. Only yesterday, at the weigh-in Andy was telling me how difficult it is for a visitor to catch a specimen fish. Andy, somewhere on high, an unknown force, must have been listening to your tale of woe and reacted with sympathy and understanding. Wednesday 7th September – Today belonged to local angler Martin Cosgrave, who fished out of Torquay aboard his private boat “PK”. Martin caught a fabulous Bass from an off-shore wreck mark which tipped the scales at 13 lbs 8 ozs 6 dr. Martin’s Bass narrowly beat another Bass of 12 lbs 1 oz 10 dr caught by David Lingham, who weighed in three more Bass around the 10 lb mark. Alan Bavester of Paignton SAA recorded a Cod of 22 lbs 0 ozs 10 dr caught from Lloyd Saunder’s charter boat “Saltwind of Dart”. Christine Wilden, fishing from her private boat “Excalibur” caught a Bass of 8 lbs 1 oz 8 dr. Another lady competitor, June Way of the Seafield SAC, who spends much of her life in a wheel chair, caught a Conger from a wreck mark which weighed-in at 56 lbs 12 ozs while aboard Chris Willicott’s Brixham charter boat “Seaspray III”. Stephen Scally, a visitor from Bournemouth, caught his own Conger Eel which weighed 65 lbs from Kevin Tate’s Torquay charter boat “Dalora II” to precisely tie with Andrew Simpson’s Conger of yesterday.. Kevin Martin caught a Grey Mullet from shore in the River Dart which tipped the scales at 4 lbs 12 ozs 10 dr. Thursday 8th September – Bill Harkness enjoyed another successful day weighing-in a Pollack of 18 lbs 4 ozs 15 dr. Alistair Wilcocks weighed in a brace of Bass over 11 lbs, to be narrowly pipped by David Lingham who weighed in yet another Bass of 11 lbs 14 ozs 2 dr. Andy Copping, a member of the Brixham SAC weighed in a shore caught Bull Huss of 13 lbs 1 oz 4 dr, which beat Daniel Deek’s shore caught Huss of 10 lbs 0 ozs 5 dr. Pete Sumner landed the best wreck caught Ling which weighed 24 lbs 1 oz 1 dr from his private Dartmouth boat “Full Monty”.
Chris Martin, also of Brixham SAC recorded a Blonde Ray of 22 lbs, while Husband and Wife team Colin and Christine Wilden of Torbay & Babbacombe ASA caught a brace of Bass from their private boat “Excalibur”, both around 7 lbs 8 ozs. Bill Sumner who was fishing from the private Dartmouth boat “Full Monty” caught a Black Bream of 4 lbs 3 ozs. Friday 9th September – Dean Corbett, a member of Paignton SAC weighed-in another Bull Huss of 12 lbs 14 ozs 11 dr from inshore boat. Paul Arkell weighed in another wreck caught Black Bream of 4 lbs 3 ozs, to tie Bill Sumner’s Bream. Pat Ellaby, who travelled from Australia to fish the Festival caught his own Thornback Ray of 11 lbs 9 ozs 4 dr from shore at Salcombe. He said his trip was well worthwhile. Meanwhile, local angler Nick Berry (not the chap off Heartbeat) caught a fine Grey Mullet from the River Teign of 4 lbs 5 ozs 14 dr. Shore Pollack leader Mark Barnett weighed-in a brace of shore caught Ray. It’s very difficult to determine the difference between “Spotties” and “Blondies” particularly when they have been in a bucket for several hours, causing their markings to fade and the slime to thicken. After proper consultation, it was agreed that Mark’s larger fish of 4 lbs 11 ozs 8 dr was indeed a “Spotted Ray” while his slightly smaller fish was a “Blonde”. I took a fair bit of stick over my earlier incorrect assessment of varieties. Just for the record, the spots marking a “Spotted Ray” are more pronounced and generally are darker in colour. There is a fringe which is free of spots around the periphery of the wing of a Blonde Ray which is substantially clear of spots. Sorry – I’m only human – only the Pope is said to be infallible!
Saturday 10th September – Today was the undisputed domain of Andy Copping of the Brixham SAC, who, not content with his Bull Huss caught on Thursday, weighed in an even bigger shore caught Huss of 14 lbs 4 ozs 6 dr. Kevin Hoare fishing from his own boat “Red Dwarf” caught a Bass which went 12 lbs 13 ozs 10 dr. David Trevarthen, winner of the 2004 Festival, silenced the teasing about his huge Pouting caught on Sunday, when he landed a wreck caught Conger Eel, which weighed-in at 78 lbs 1 oz 8 dr, caught yet again from Dave Harrison’s Dartmouth charter boat “Gemini 2”. Mike Bailey, Hon. Sec. of Brixham SAC, the “Brixham Mullet Master” caught yet another specimen Grey Mullet from the River Dart, which weighed-in at 4 lbs 15 ozs 12 dr.
Jim Attwood, fishing from his own small boat on the “Skerries” off Dartmouth caught the best Small Eyed Ray of the event, which weighed-in at 12 lbs 2 ozs 11 dr.
Mike “Lenny” Barnes weighed in a very good quality Grey Mullet caught from shore in Torquay, which tipped the scales at 4 lbs 10 ozs 6 dr. Will it be good enough to get in amongst the winners? Time will tell. Nice Fish Lenny.
There is far more to Torquay Sea Angling Festival than simply winning Trophies. It provides a great deal of leisure and recreation to a significant number of people. I watched as a Junior angler Dave Taylor weighed-in a very pretty Pouting at Paignton. You only had to see his face to know how pleased he was with his day afloat and his achievement.
Sunday 11th September - I received a late invitation and enjoyed another really good day afloat with my pal Colin Wherlock, fishing just out of Salcombe, aboard his own private small boat. We caught fish steadily throughout the day from an inshore reef mark, including a brace of Ling to 8 lbs; several Huss to a little under 10 lbs; I think we caught seven different species, and I was very fortunate to land a Conger Eel from mixed ground, which took a Mackerel fillet fished on a 50 lb trace intended for Huss. My Eel weighed-in at a touch over 30 lbs. Alas, it was not good enough to beat the inshore reef Conger caught by Paignton SAA member, Trevor Millman earlier the same day, which weighed-in at 37 lbs 14 ozs 10 dr, but it gave a particularly good account of itself on light tackle. Thanks Colin for inviting me aboard, and for your good friendship and company. Elsewhere, Simon Russell caught a superb Bass of 13 lbs 7 ozs 12 dr from an inshore boat mark aboard Jeff Taylor's Torquay charter boat "Jubrae". Tim Bird, Fishing Chairman of Paignton SAA caught this fine Blonde Ray, which was weighed on-board "Deadly Ted's" private small boat "Thermal 2" at 22 lbs and does not feature amongst prize winning candidates. Tim’s "Blondie" was returned alive to the water, unharmed by the experience of meeting Tim Bird, to grow, breed and hopefully fight again another day. Well done Tim.
Jim Attwood also sent me a remarkable photo of school Bass lining up behind “Thermal 2” during the Festival, together with the epithet,” They look really spooked don't they Mike". They too will grow and fight another day. Thanks Jim. I heard that Jim is seeking a job as the “Pied Piper”.
FESTIVAL CONCLUSIONS – More anglers than in recent years fished this year’s Festival. With something in excess of 3,000 angler days spread across the 9 days of the event and more than 350 sizeable fish officially weighed-in across three stations, it is impossible to mention everyone. If I’ve not told your particular tale, I apologise, but I’m certain you will understand the reason. Some very special fish were recorded, though the total number of fish weighed was down by about 25 percent. There were the inevitable gripes and concerns expressed, which the Committee will properly address after the Civic Reception and Prize Presentation Evening, Hosted by The Worshipful, The Mayor of Torbay, was held at 7.30 pm sharp on Saturday 1st October 2005 at the “Hoburne Torbay”, Grange Court, Grange Road, Goodrington, Paignton. A provisional list of winners is circulated via local Tackle Shops and Clubs, and can be seen on my “Fishing Dartmouth” web site. It permits necessary amendment of any unintended errors. A personal letter on behalf of the Committee and our generous Sponsors, Abu Garcia (UK) Ltd), together with invitations to the Civic Reception is sent by Royal Mail to every winner. It’s a great deal of work by a band of dedicated people from the four local Clubs who jointly organise what must now be regarded as amongst the very best recreational sea angling events anywhere in the UK. It’s all worthwhile when you see the smiles on so many faces. I would like to thank everyone who has been involved at whatever level. There is not space to name you all and I would be certain to miss someone out by accident as there are so very many individuals, without whose support this event could ever be possible. The dates for the 2006 Torbay Borough Sea Angling Festival are from Friday 1st to Sunday 10th September. See you at the “Do”! © Mike Concannon 14th September 2005 |
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