Pollack were the first to show, with Matt Harrison taking an early lead with a pollack weighing 1 lb 8 ozs 4 drms. Whether close in or at range, they continued to come to the net although none was to prove big enough to topple Matt’s. That was left to Rebecca Baker, weighing in not a pollack but a garfish weighing just under a pound. Sure that this was to be the first of many, several competitors began to seriously target garfish, only to find that Rebecca’s would prove to be the only one weighed in on the day.
With the best part of the day now behind her, Rebecca began to harbour hopes of victory, only to have it snatched from her grasp by the arrival of another two species, one a golden grey mullet landed by Shaun Coulson, who loves to target the species, and the other a big shad by George Sheppard. Both fish were within drams of the same weight, with Shaun’s mullet just a little bigger at 1lbs 10 ozs 12 drams and George’s shad exactly 1 lb 10 ozs.
For a while confusion reigned, with someone accidentally recording George’s shad as a scad, but this was soon put right with the golden grey rightfully taking its position in first place. With a specimen weight of 111.46% (measured against Baywater Anglers’ specimen sizes) Shaun’s fish looked set to win the day, as indeed it did.
George’s shad which, by Baywater Anglers’ rules, had to be weighed and returned alive as quickly as possible, survived its brief encounter and swam off quite safely, leaving its captor with a specimen percentage of 72.22%, which was enough to secure second place. For the rest of the competitors, the day was to prove a bit of a scratching exercise with numbers of small mackerel, pollack and wrasse, which were returned alive to the water, coming steadily to the net. Several competitors landed numbers of fish but often these were simply not big enough to present a real challenge to the leading contenders. However, speaking for myself, I was really glad that people had a great day, especially when the majority of the fish caught were able to be safely returned to the water.
I would also like to say that the entire club is deeply appreciative of the fine range of prizes donated by Masterline Walker, Torbay Tackle, Tidal Tackle, Brixham Bait and Tackle, Town Parks, Euro Angling, Devon Angling Centre and Tackle Trader. With the current economic climate, we are acutely conscious of the pressure that businesses are under so for them to dig so deep into their pockets to support us is a wonderful gesture, for which we thank them very much. Masterline Walker, in particular, has been an absolutely stalwart supporter, from 13 years ago to the current day. We could not have done it without them.
The final results were as follows:
First Prize, Shaun Coulson, Golden Grey Mullet, 1 – 10 – 12, 111.46%
Second Prize, George Sheppard, Shad, 1 – 10 – 0, 72.22%
Third Prize, Rebecca Baker, Garfish, 0 – 15 – 12, 65.63%
Fourth Prize, Matt Harrison, Pollack, 1 – 8 - 4, 60.63%
Fifth Prize, Phil Luxton, Mackerel, 1 – 0 - 0, 57.14%
Sixth Prize, George Sheppard, Mackerel, 0 – 15 - 4, 54.46%
Seventh Prize, Brian Gale, Mackerel, 0 – 15 – 0, 53.57%
Eighth Prize, Brian Gale, Mackerel, 0 – 14 – 8, 51.79%
Ninth Prize, Gordon Wafer, Mackerel, 0 -13 - 2, 49.55%
Tenth Prize, Nick Major, Mackerel, 0 – 12 - 14, 45.98%
Eleventh Prize, Julie Green, Mackerel, 0 - 12 – 8, 44.64%
Team Prizes, George Sheppard and Kieren Taylor, Combined percentage of 129.36, Shad & Mackerel
Junior Prizes, Nimisha Baker (Aged 7), Mackerel, 0 – 10 – 8, 37.50% & Kyle Bavister (Aged 4), Mackerel, 0 – 9 – 8, 33.93%
Best of Species (Mackerel), Adrian Grimshaw, 0 – 12 - 4, 43.75%
Best of Species (Pollack), Lana Beresford, 0 – 15 - 8, 38.75%
Best of Species (Wrasse), Steve Clark, 0 – 7 - 4, 9.06%
