A gentle NE breeze and light cloud cover greeted the 11 anglers who fished the Heron Angling Society's 'Evans' boat competition on Saturday 26th September.
The trophy is a solid silver fishing boat mounted on a wooden plinth and is much coveted by those who have not yet won it.
Most boats stayed relatively close in, starting at the rand and weir bank areas as a result of recent catch reports and rumours. Large numbers of whiting usually start to show at this time of year and were expected by all but surprisingly they were very thin on the ground.
Dogfish accounted for the bulk of weights although a few skate also showed. Dabs, smooth hounds and tub gurnards were also landed, two of the latter will earn their captors club specimen medals in fact. Junior member, L. Perry-French, boated a gold medal winning fish of 1lbs 9.2oz whilst G. Mummery will receiver Silver for his at 1lbs 7.2oz.
Gurnards aside, it was P. Thornton who won the event with 1 Ray and 21 dogfish for a combined weight of 32lbs 7.6oz from the Weir bank.
2nd spot went to B. Morris who bagged the most Rays with 3 from the pier head. Added to his dogfish, Ben had a total weight of 25lbs 5.2oz.
The heaviest fish fell for G. Mummery with a skate of 7lbs 8.8oz from outside of the copperas.
Overall the weights were very close and the bags varied in a very enjoyable competition.
Full Results as follows;
1st- P. Thornton, 22 fish, 32lbs 7.6oz
2nd- B. Morris, 11 fish, 25lbs 5.2oz
3rd- C. Zacharia, 27 fish, 20lbs 9.3oz
4th- L. Perry-French, 19 fish, 20lbs 2.2oz
5th- K. Wilton, 8 fish, 19lbs 11.2oz
6th- G. Mummery, 7 fish, 19lbs 4.2oz
7th- B. Perry-French, 19 fish, 18lbs 11.8oz
8th- M. Morris, 25 fish, 18lbs 5.8oz
9th- T. Morris, 6 fish, 10lbs 3.4oz
10th- R. Lowe, 8 fish, 9lbs 6.6oz
11th- P. Gower, 4 fish, 4lbs 2.8oz
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| B. Morris with 2 of his 3 Rays |
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| B. Perry-French 1lb 9.2oz Tub Gurnard |
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| C. Zacharia and K. Wilton with the best of their catches |
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| G. Mummery with his Specimen Gurnard |
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| P. Thornton, Event Winner |
