English Boat championship Torquay 14/15th June 2014
Attendance for this year’s event was well down on last year’s championship held in Plymouth (30 down from 70) not sure if this is down to financial constraints or choice of venue, either way it’s hard for EFSA England to profit from such a low turnout, just remember your support in our events is crucial to maintaining the stability of EFSA.
HQ was again the Rainbow International Hotel, which I am led to believe has been vastly improved since we came here in 2010, especially the food.
Day 1
Anne Clare chose to drift a few offshore wrecks for pollack and the chance of bass, fortunately the whiting, pout & gurnard obliged as did the mackerel, Becca Marie chose an inshore wreck that is often used to take the tourist to, two other local boats had the same idea so the 3 boats took it in turn to fish for the pollack etc. Ray Baron managed to capture the best pollack of the weekend (around 7lb) other fish landed included pout, mackerel, whiting, gurnard and a lone scad. Kelly’s Hero chose a different tactic and chose an inshore mark that has been known to produce small conger eels and the occasional bullhuss, no conger showed however Kim Bowden did manage a lone bullhuss he also had 1 herring, 1 gurnard, 1 whiting….if there were additional points for each species he would have won the boat!
Day 1 winner was Ray with 50 fish points followed by Neil Bryant on 39, Steve Batchelor and Rolf Marschalek came in joint 3rd with 30 points each.
Day 2
Today’s plan was to fish the banks for plaice and rays but with the large tide Anne Clare chose to target a couple of inshore wrecks 1st then move to the banks as the tide became more favourable, the 1st part of the plan was a bit disappointing with only mackerel to show for 2 hours fishing, the move onto the Skerries was more successful with several nice plaice including Keith Skaggs’s fine 45cm specimen that won him the price for the longest flatfish, Clive Newbold boated a fine 16lb blonde ray but neither of these could secure the boat win, this went to Richard Russell, this win added to his 82% from day 1 gained Richard the top senior award. Kelly’s Hero went straight to the sand banks to try for bass, whiting & gurnard, only the whiting showed, Dave then moved onto the Skerries bank for the plaice, this proved slightly more fruitful as several plaice were netted along with a few gurnard and whiting, as the action slowed a move inshore to try for more whiting and gurnard, again this plan worked for Rolf as he managed 72 points to secure a second boat win. Becca Marie went straight to the Skerries to try for the plaice, Dean then moved inshore to try to add a few more points to the struggling score line, Neil Bryant managed to add a couple of whiting and gurnard to his plaice. The last hour was spent at anchor, again Neil added to his score, Pete baily had spent most of the day with a solitary mackerel to show for his effort he did however manage to add a plaice to his card in the last 2 minutes of the day. Neil secured a second boat win to add yet another silver pin to his collection.
Day 2 winner was Rolf Marschalek with his 72 points added to the 1st days 30 points, this resulted in 2 anglers securing double boat wins, Rolf did however become our 2014 English boat champion as he scored more points than Neil over the event.
Result
Overall
1st Rolf Marschalek
2nd Neil Bryant
3rd Richard Russell
Pairs
1st Neil Bryant/Ray Barron
2nd Rolf Marschalek/Colin Searles
3rd Steve Batchelor/Rob Shattock
Four man open
1st Neil Bryant/Ray Barron/Andy Selby/Perry Dack
2nd Matt Osborne/Colin Searles/Rolf Marschalek/Marcus Wuest
3rd Steve Batchelor/Rob Shattock/Pete Baily/Cliff Newbold
See attached for full results.
Overall the fishing failed to match this areas potential, whether this was due to the weather, tide, easterly wind or lack of skill on the anglers part I do not know, on the bright side the sunshine and company made this an enjoyable event for all but one angler, just remember pay attention when crossing the road (Ash is recovering from his sudden meeting with the pavement)
Big thanks to the staff at the Rainbow, Dean, Dave & Kevin for their effort trying to find the fish, Jan & Keith Scaggs for setting up the price table and to the organisers and competitors.
Report by
Martin Bobbett
Results
