It was great to be back at Plymouth to fish the Boat Championship although in somewhat constrained circumstances. Due to Covid restrictions we were limited to five anglers per boat and no presentation. However, most of us managed to catch up with friends and rivals over the two days.
Day 1
After reports back from the practice day and consultation with the skippers it was decided that all boats would fish The Rutts as the fishing at the Eddystone was poor. Boats were to leave Mount Batten by 7:30
All boats stopped for fresh bait of launce and mackerel although the mackerel were very few and far between for most. Then it was off to the Rutts to either drift the reefs and surrounding ground for Pollack, Pout, Whiting, Gurnards etc. or anchor up for Conger, Ling and dogfish.
The bigger scoring fish Conger, Ling and Pollack were hard to come by on some boats and scores were low. At the end of day one the five boat winners taking 100% through to the next day were Billy Cann on Mirage, Rolf Marschalek on Tamasis, Gary Geoghegan on Patricia Rose, Richard Russell on Crusader and Matt Osborne on Sea Angler 11.
Day 2
Again a 7:30 start with a slight drizzle but fortunately the rain and strong breeze forecast a couple of days earlier never materialised. Some of us were wishing we were in shorts as we fished in sunshine for most of the day.
This time most boats headed out to The Eddystone after stopping to bait fish. Fishing tactics were similar to the previous day and again the bigger fish were not playing ball.
Back on shore and with the results in both Richard Russell on Sea Angler 11 and Matt Osborne on Tamasis had again won their boats so both on 200%. On count back Matt was top angler and gold pin winner with 90 fish points. Richard had 88 fish points to take the silver pin. The bronze pin went to Garry Geoghegan with 190.24 %. Other boat winners were Dave Cogger on Patricia Rose, Barrie Senior on Crusader and Ray Barron on Mirage.
Longest Ling prize went to Matt Osborne with a fish of 107cm.
The Four Man Drawn Team winners were the team of Gary Galbraith, Gary Geoghegan, Ray Barron and Barrie Senior.
Top boat over the 2 days, which is worked out by taking the average score for the anglers on that boat each day and adding them together, was Mirage.
As we were not able to hold a presentation pins will be presented at the AGM. Andy Selby will be sending out vouchers to all winners.
Many thanks to all of you for supporting the Section in these difficult times which have caused the cancellation of our events over the last 15 months and forced us to put restrictions on this one.
Barrie Senior
Results
