5th Felinfoel Brewery Double Dragon RNLI Annual Fishing Open

The 5th Felinfoel Brewery Double Dragon RNLI Annual Fishing Open, organised by members from Pembroke & District Angling Club, Osprey Sea Angling Club, Haven Angling Group and West Wales Match Anglers, was held on Sunday 22nd January 2012 on Amroth beach in South Pembrokeshire. Unlike last year, a fortnight did not make much of a difference in catches compared to two weeks earlier, good catches of Flounder being recorded at both the Air Ambulance Open and this match. This time 39 out of the 96 anglers that fished, which included 8 Ladies & 8 Juniors (6 boys & 2 girls), managed to weigh in 74 fish as compared to 2 weeks earlier when 37 anglers weighed in 130 fish, the only difference being this time the size limit was increased to 30cm as compared to 25cm as advised by the Welsh Federation of Sea Anglers the National Governing body for Recreational Sea Angling in Wales. The weather and conditions were fairly similar, which may have accounted for the equality of catches, as in 2011 the weather calmed down between the two annual events.

The surf and weather conditions are shown in the above photo along with the Tenby Lifeboats, offshore and inshore which trained on the day in view of the anglers
The winning angler who managed to land 5 flounder for 2Kg 350gms was Cwmbran angler Neil Evans, netting him the first prize of £250. The biggest flounder at a very respectable 970gms went to a Geordie now residing in Maenclogoch Bryce Cochrane, fishing only his second Open Competition, the Air Ambulance being his first; he took the pool of £100. In a close second was Neil’s pairs partner from Kenfig Hill Mike Mather, who has won and featured high up in previous opens held at Amroth. He had 3 bigger flounder for 2Kg 015gms, allowing him to pick up the runner’s up prize of £75. Third place, by an even smaller margin, was Air Ambulance winner Haydn Cole (Lamphey), who had 5 flounder or 2KG 005gms, just 10 grams less, just 5 grams more than the separating margin last year would you believe!!! This won him £50. Obviously the pair’s competition was won by the first 2 Neil & Mike with their 8 flounder for 4Kg 365gms. So, they picked up £80, with father and son combination, Jeff and Chris Stephens (Bridgend), second, as they had been 2 weeks earlier in the Air Ambulance comp with 6 flounder for 2Kg 870gms again netting them £40. Third in the pairs were Steve Jones & Stuart Billings, but I’m afraid I didn’t catch from where they came, sorry. The Ladies prize was won by Sandra Thompson of Milford Haven with a Flounder of 670gms and the Junior winner was Cameron Pritchard, who’d been 3rd junior 2 weeks earlier with 2 Flounder for 1Kg 040gms, the only Junior to catch.

However, the most important result on the day was that the event raised just over £1200, over £100 up on 2011, for the Angle & Tenby lifeboats. To thank for this sterling effort we must first thank our main sponsor Felinfoel Brewery along with their rep Jamie Owen for continuing to sponsor this event and congratulate the anglers from the organising clubs, you know who you are, together with Roger Harris of the Amroth Arms who always puts his premises and valued support at this event’s disposal. We must also mention Saundersfoot Angling Club who once again supported our Charity events by holding a club match within this match, thanks. Finally, we must again thank all the kind and generous sponsors of the event, including those already mentioned, who donated cash, made collections and donated prizes for the mega raffle which ensured continuation of the event’s great success. These were, in no particular order, Shane Tucker, Roger Harries (Amroth Arms), Andrew Skeels, Alex Nicholas, Martin & Sandra Thompson of Anglers Corner Milford Haven, John O’Connor, Denis Nicholas, Haydn Cole, James Skeels, Ken Gainfort, The Brooke Inn St. Ishmaels, Haven Angling Group, Leigh Rogers, Chris Winn, Robbie Scale, Bart Morgan, Mervyn Davies, Andrew & Wendy Luxford, Dale Sailing, Consort, The Lobster Pot, Marloes, Chris Griffiths, Grainger Tubolt, Simon Safety, Brown MacFarlane, Travis Perkins, Talbot Timber, Phoenix Saxton, Rhyal Engineering, Lawson HIS, Pembrokeshire Recycling, Glyn Edwards and Tenby RNLI.

If anybody feels aggrieved that they have been missed off this list and we hope there isn’t, we are truly sorry, but thank you, most warmly, for your continued support.

Pictured (Left to Right) are Mike Mather, Sandra Thompson & Neil Evans with Cameron Pritchard in front, who also won the raffle first prize of £100 kindly donated by Roger Harries (Amroth Arms) which is why he looks so pleased.

10th Air Ambulance Open Beach Competition.

The 10th Wales Air Ambulance Open Beach Fishing Competition, organised by members from Pembroke & District Angling Club, Osprey Sea Angling Club, Haven Angling Group and West Wales Match Anglers, was held on 8th January 2012 on Amroth beach in South Pembrokeshire. Just like the previous 2 years, the weather was good with a variable westerly wind that prevailed all day. These mild conditions together with the weather forecasts were almost certainly the reason entries were very good at 102 anglers, which included 4 Junior boys, 5 Ladies and 1 Junior Lady. We thank them all very much indeed for their support and must mention Saundersfoot Angling Club as they held a match within this match which helped swell the numbers. Together with the nice weather, the sea conditions again looked nigh on perfect, with a nice low, gentle rolling surf caressing the sandy beach. 37 anglers, including 3 Ladies & 3 Juniors weighed in 130 Flounders, with more sizeable and undersized fish being caught with quite a few anglers not bothering to weigh in as they had, despite what could in the past have been thought of as decent catches, no chance of making the prize table. It was good to see Amroth once again, like the previous 2 years, back to its best and fishing like it used to fish when my son, now 29, was 6 or 7 years old. This made for a brilliant competition with just about every angler catching something even if it was one of a number Dabs that also turned up in numbers only seen, until recently, some 20 years ago, which although they did not count, made for pleasant fishing and of course good eating. A few 5 beard Rockling also appeared.

Andrew Skeels on his box savoring the weather conditions

EFSA Wales Shore Championships

Unlike the previous couple of years the weather allowed the EFSA Wales Shore Championships for the year 2011 to actually be fished in that year on December 27th & 28th at Aberavon beach and Freshwater East. Unfortunately, once again the entry was not high for various reasons, it seems that no time of the year is ideal to get maximum attendance at these events, a shame really.

The first day, at Aberavon saw all anglers catch with good numbers of fish over the 20cm minimum size being caught measured and released, out of the 84 recorded 74 were Whiting with 7 Dabs and 1 Flounder, Dog and Rockling. The leader after this first day was in fact last years winner Steve Tucker (Skewen) who had 14 sizeable fish, to put him on 479 points, there being one point per centimetre of length and five points per fish. This was a good lead of 116 points over Haydn Cole (Lamphey) with organiser and EFSA Wales Chairman Phil Lustig (Stackpole) only 16 points behind in third. So, it was all still to play for on the second evening at Freshwater East, where it would either be feast or famine, knowing this beach ,but if the fish did turn up there would be plenty of them especially Dogs and especially once it went dark.

The weather on both evenings was reasonably pleasant though a bit windy at times, more so on the second evening, though luckily the wind was from behind so fishing conditions weren’t too bad. Freshwater East that evening, for once, as can happen, fished its head off, there being 133 fish recorded, 115 dogs, 12 Whiting, 4 Ray, 1 Pollack and a Coalfish. The overnight leader Steve managed to record another 16 fish (13 dogs & 3 Whiting) to take his total points to 1117 but it wasn’t to be enough. Steve Lewis (Llangunnor), lying in fifth on 286 after the first evening had a blinder catching 21 Dogs and 2 Whiting to take his total to 1187 to get him the coveted Gold Pin which is awarded for first place. Steve had to be content with the Silver Pin for second, with Haydn back in third with 1024 points to take the Bronze pin.

So the final placings were:

1st & Gold Pin winner             Steve Lewis                32 fish for 1187 points
2nd & Silver Pin winner           Steve Tucker               30 fish for 1117 points
3rd & Bronze Pin winner         Haydn Cole                 28 fish for   1024 points

Longest Flatfish                      Steve Tucker               Dab of 30cm
Longest Roundfish                 Phil Lustig                   Whiting of 41cm

Pairs event                               Steve Tucker and Shaun Tucker (Father and Son)

Pictured is the winner Steve Lewis (right) receiving his Gold Pin from organiser, EFSA Wales Chairman and EFSA Shore Festival Officer Phil Lustig.

Annual Welsh Cod Championships

November, 19th & 20th, saw the Annual Welsh Cod (boat) championships fished out of Birkenhead in the River Mersey, for the 8th year running and though the number of Cod caught was down on 2010 they were of a better stamp. 95 Cod in all were measured and released over the two days; an average of nearly 6 cod per angler with very few small ones. The biggest on the first day was 55 cms in length and on the second day 57 cms. The weather over the two days was good, once again, being dry, but there was a bit of wind which proved a little problematic in that the boats took longer to turn with the tide than would have been ideal. No snow this year though making the journey up relatively uneventful for all.

Saturday morning dawned and panic set in as the boats were waiting to be filled up with eager anglers. The lugworm hadn’t turned up having been promised faithfully by the usual supplier, who, as we were to learn later, thought we were only fishing the Sunday!!!! Where he got that idea from, having supplied bait for many years, God only knows. So, frantic phone calls by Kevin Preston and Rod Adamson, those with local knowledge, saw Kevin and John O’Connor haring off to Tranmere to the Wirral Angling centre to pick up the 102 packs required. Thanks must go to all those involved for getting us fishing on that first day. Later Rod, with a few phone calls on the boat, had Sunday’s bait procured within 1 hour of the start and thanks must go to Tony Parry for supplying Sunday’s bait and Kevin & Rod for fetching it at an unearthly hour on Sunday morning.

Once again after day 1 the previous years runner up, Kevin Preston with 8 Cod for 337 points held sway from chief organiser Phil Lustig with 6 Cod for 284 with 2010’s winner Rod Adamson with 5 Cod for 249 points lying in third. But there was still a day to go. In the end the fifth placed angler, Haydn Cole, with 5 Cod for 237 points added another 6 Cod to win with 530 points from Kevin on 506, who could only manage 4 Cod on the second day and ended up being pipped for the third year running. So, Haydn took the Gold pin and Kevin the Silver and consolidating his third position, taking the Bonze pin, was Rod Adamson with 438 points. Rod also had 4 Cod on the second day. Rod’s son, also called Rod, fished this year for the first time and took a very creditable fourth position with 8 Cod over the 2 days for 357 points. Tina Lustig had the longest Cod on Day 1 and Alan Porter the longest on Day 2. The pairs section was won by Haydn and Rod Adamson junior, from Rod senior and Phil in second, with Kevin and John O’Connor, winner in 2009, in third.

Top boat was Osprey with 43 fish for 1976 points from Ocean Star and Tuskar with 27 fish for 1249 points & 25 fish for 1252 points, respectively. Our thanks go to Phil for organising it, Stan Kucyj for helping get the bait, Ken Gainfort and Barrie Senior for taking the photos, the Central Hotel, Birkenhead, for their usual hospitality and the Skippers, Stan Dickinson (Tuskar), Ray Spotswood (Ocean Star) and his son (Osprey) for finding the fish. We look forward to more and even bigger fish next year and hopefully a bigger entry.

Pictured (left to right) are Phil Lustig (Chairman & chief organiser), with the pin winners, Kevin Preston (Silver), Haydn Cole (Gold) & Rod Adamson (Bronze).

Charity Open in aid of Ashgrove Autistic School in Barry at Cold Knap & Porthkerry.

The event was a great success & raised over £2000 for the charity.

100 people fished the event which was run by DOW Corning SAC. Well done to the club & in particular club members John Little & Gerald John.

1st Ada Harris from Seaview Lads SAC with a Conger & 1 whiting for 14lb 10ozs. He was fishing at Porthkerry & won £300.

2ND was Gerald John from Caerphilly with 10 whiting & 2 dog fish for 9lb 1ozs. He was fishing at Cold Knap pebbles & won £200.

3rd was new tackle Dealer Ray Christo from Barry. He caught 10 whiting for 7lb 10ozs. He also fished the pebbles & won an ABU 6500 CT reel donated by Reg Aspinal.

On behalf of the Ashgrove School, Dow Corning SAC member John Little would like to thank all the sponsors who donated so generously to the the event.

See Attached photo of the top 3 winners. Left to right, Gerald john, Ada Harris, Ray Christo & main organiser John Little. 

Hopefully this will become an annual event & will be included as one of the Seamaster/Penn legs for next year. 

Pictured are the victorious Welsh B team with their President, (left to right) Steve Lewis, Shaun Tucker, Rino Renesto, Shane Tucker, Andrew Skeels and Steve Tucker

Pictured with EFSA Wales President Rino Renesto (Left) are (left to Right) the pin winners Paul Tyndall, Steve Lewis and Steve Tucker.

2011 European Shore Championships

This time Welsh anglers couldn’t quite repeat the feat of 2010 in sweeping virtually everything before them when they competed in the European Federation of Sea Anglers 2011 European Shore Championships which was organised by the Irish Section and fished on the Wexford beaches during the last 3 days of April. However, they did win Individual Gold, Kenny Gainfort successfully defending the title he won in 2010 in Pwllheli, only the second time it has ever been done; the first time in 1995 – 1996 by Isle of Man angler Ken Bragg. They also had Individual Bronze with former EFSA European Shore Champion Alan Cheswick, who was 5th in Pwllheli in 2010, but were not quite able to defend their Team Gold, getting the Team Bronze instead, a notable achievement on its own. English stalwart Reg Clough separated the two Welshmen winning the Silver. The Wales A team, again lead by their captain and repeating EFSA European Shore Champion Ken Gainfort, comprised the aforementioned Bronze individual Alan Cheswick, Haydn Cole, individual runner up in Pwllheli, former EFSA European Shore Champion and teams manager Philip Lustig and John O’Connor.

It all started on the evening of Wednesday 27th April when 57 competitors from 6 countries across Europe travelled to Kilmuckridge to Sean O’gs complex of Hotel and houses to attend registration for the event and once again the Irish welcome was second to none with a great buffet laid on for all the participants of whom included 3 Juniors, 3 Ladies and 5 Seniors as well as the usual adult male representatives.

The weather started out unseasonably balmy and though the wind picked up over the 3 days resulting in everything and everybody getting sand blasted during the last session, thankfully, except for a very few spits on the last day, the rain stayed away. In fact during the previous weeks they had had virtually no rain which was evidenced by the fact that all the streams that usually run into the sea along this coast, had dried up and on the Tuesday night in the Hotel complex, the water had been turned off! Fishing on the first 2 days was from daylight into dark, firstly at Kilgorman and then at Tinnaberna with the last day, all during daylight at Balinoulart. Catches were best in the last hour or so on the first 2 days thanks to the darkness, the brighter day time conditions being not conducive to the fish feeding.

At registration the anglers were drawn each to one of 12 pegs in each of the 5 zones, in which the matches would be fished, there being one angler from each international 5 man team in each zone, in this strictly catch, measure and release event, with individuals fitted in around them. Where you finished in your zone would determine the points you were awarded with numbers of fish caught being used for count back purposes in the event of any ties, and as expected, catches weren’t that great in the daylight. After the first session top dog was Wales B team captain Steve Lewis with Wales B leading the international event by 2 points from the reigning champions Wales A. Ireland A were in third 4 points further back. Other zone winners and all on 12 zone points, only behind Steve due to a lesser number of points were, in order, Shaun Tucker (Wales B), Peadar Taite (Ireland A), Kieran Rice, (Ireland B) & Alan Cheswick (Wales A).

The Bronze medallist Wales A Team (L to R) John O’Connor, Haydn Cole, Ken Gainfort, Philip Lustig, Alan Cheswick.

The 3 Top Men and Pin Winners with the EFSA HQ Shore Festival Officer Phil Lustig on the left and EFSA Ireland Chairman George Mc McCullough on the right. (L to R) Alan Cheswick Ken Gainfort & Reg Clough.

After day 2 Steve was still top dog with 23 points, having been 2nd in his zone on fish points, nobody having managed 2 zone wins. Also on 23 points were Ken Gainfort & Alan Cheswick of Wales A in 2nd & 3rd respectively, Ken having had a zone win to go with his 2nd on day 1 and Alan a 2nd to go with his first day zone win. Ireland A narrowly lead the international event from Wales A, so at this stage, all was looking good for possibly another unprecedented virtual clean sweep. But alas, it was not to be as on the final day the fishing was very much harder, with a certain amount of luck playing its part in where you were pegged. This was due to it being all in the daylight and conditions were perhaps a bit too rough for, what had been the mainstay of the daylight catches up till then, the humble Flounder, to come out to play.

So, with the fishing over it was time to compute the results and to award the prizes followed by that all important presentation of those coveted pins. Winner of the Gold Pin and once again, EFSA European Shore Champion, having successfully defended and retained his title, as previously stated, was Welshman Ken Gainfort with a zone win, a 2nd and a 4th over the 3 days, by 2 points from Englishman Reg Clough, who took the Silver Pin with a 2nd, a 3rd & a 4th. Third and winner of the Bronze Pin, was Wales A team member Alan Cheswick with a zone win, a 2nd and a 6th. The Senior event was won by Reg, the Ladies by Dutchwoman Clarinda Van Der Zande, there being no Welsh entries and the Life Members by another Englishman John Campbell. However, in the Junior event Wales did have an entrant, Scott Brunton, Haydn’s son, fishing his first international event. This he duly won having weighed in on 2 out of the 3 days, catching the longest round fish of the day on the last day to give him a zone 2nd. So, Wales also had the Junior EFSA European Shore Championship to go with ken’s title.

In the International Team event, in which the worst score is discarded each day, the English team of Reg Clough, Paul Curtice, Dave Lovelock, Brian Booker & John Campbell, which had always been there or thereabouts throughout the whole competition, had a great last day, as they often have in the past and cruised past the Irish and Welsh A teams to take the Gold. Second was the Irish A team of Ken Forsyth, David Keegan, Ian Knight, Peadar Taite & Stephen Glynn with the Welsh A team in third
 
To round off the championships the Gala Dinner & Presentation went very well with thanks to the staff of the Sean O’gs for putting it on and managing to feed and cater to the needs of all the hungry anglers. Thanks are also due to them for the way they looked after everybody during their 4 night stay at the complex, a credit to the hospitality of the Irish. Well done and thank you.

Annual Welsh Cod (boat) Championships.

Once again the last weekend in November, 27th & 28th, saw the Annual Welsh Cod (boat) championships fished out of Birkenhead in the River Mersey, for the 7th year running. The number of competitors, though still down on the average, was slightly up on 2009. Was this still a result of the recession? Was it because the English section, of whom a number usually attend, were holding their competition out of Littlehampton that very weekend? Or, was it still a legacy of the poor catches in 2008 with only small Codling being caught last year, albeit a lot of them, as a number of regulars were again conspicuous by their absence, although stalwart Dave Clark was there representing the English section. However, this did not deter the entrants, from having a great competition with once again bumper catches of Cod from the 3 boats used. 236, in all, compared to 288 in 2009, were caught, measured and released over the two days, an average of over 13 cod per angler and although a few were small, the average size was greater than the previous year, the biggest on the first day being 50 cms in length and 60 cms on the second day, which again augurs well for future years. The weather over the two days was great being hardly a breath of wind, no rain or snow and not too cold when the sun came out which it did and stayed all day. What a difference to the journey up through the blizzards and icy road conditions, worst for those travelling through Wales. It took one party seven and a half hours from Pembroke Dock going up through the middle and if they’d left just 10 minutes later they wouldn’t have made it and maybe would have had to have spent the weekend somewhere like Builth or Llandrindod. Having forewarned the second party from Pembroke of the road conditions they made their way by Motorway as they wouldn’t have got there any other way. However, such was the road conditions even on the motorway it took them 4 hours to Newport and eight and a half to Birkenhead! It was a good job both groups made it as they were the organisers!!!

However, all this was forgotten as the Saturday morning dawned and the boats filled up with eager anglers. After day 1 last years runner up, Kevin Preston with 16 Cod for 688 points held sway from 2009’s third placed angler, Rod Adamson with 14 Cod for 596 points. Lying in third was Phil Lustig with 12 Cod for 535 points only 2 points ahead of 4th placed Mike Morgan. But there was still a day to go. In the end first day’s first two placings were reversed with Rod Adamson over taking  Kevin to win by 931 points to 818, having caught a further 9 Cod to Kevin’s 3. So Rod took the Gold pin and Kevin the Silver. In third position, taking the Bonze pin, was Rolf Marshalek, the winner in 2008, who, though lying 6th after day one, like Rod, had 9 fish on day 2 to climb in to the 3rd pin position, and Mike managed to over take Phil for 4th. Rolf also had the longest Cod of the Comp and longest on Day 2 with Rod having the longest on Day 1. The pairs section was won by Rod and Phil, from Rolf and Steve Grant, with Kevin and Tina Lustig in third.

Top boat was Tuskar with 84 fish for 3488 fish from Ocean Star and Osprey with 82 fish for 3332 points & 70 fish for 2905 points, respectively. Our thanks go to Phil for organising it, Stan Kucyj for helping get the bait, John O’Connor for taking the photos, the Central Hotel, Birkenhead, for their usual hospitality and the Skippers, Stan Dickinson (Tuskar), Ray Spotswood (Ocean Star) and Alan Tinsley (Osprey) for finding the fish. We look forward to more and even bigger fish next year and hopefully a bigger entry.