European Species (Conger) Championship
Plymouth 29th / 3th May 2009
On the evening of 28th May at The Royal Western Yacht club the registration and welcoming ceremony were held for the 2009 Species Competition. This gave competitors an opportunity to renew friendships over a drink, then at the official opening a chance to put forward any questions on the competition so all was clear on rules and timetable for the 2 days fishing.
Day 1 and the 71 competitors from 7 sections mustered prompt at 0700 with expectations high of the possibility of hooking into that big-un. Weather was dry but with a stiff breeze from the East which with the rising tide meant wind over tide for most of the day so boats headed for their favourite piece of rough ground as anchoring a wreck with these conditions was nigh impossible, though the last couple of hours with the turn of tide some boats did anchor a wreck. All boats found conger but not all anglers, most eels were between 10 and 30 pound with the best of the day to Paul Hart with one of 70lb. Top anglers on the day joint on 100 fish points were our very own Andy Selby and Alexander Gusev from Russia.
Day 2 and the wind had increased to a 5 or so, it was therefore declared to fish reef only. As yesterday the effects of wind and tide meant that the usually beneficial stern draw resulted in fishing under the boat for most of the day. Not that anyone had it easy as the boats were continually swinging on the anchor. I was fortunate to be on Sea Angler and Malcolm the skipper put us on a productive area of rock which saw 54 eels caught and released, this was the top boat on the day and overall top boat with 94 congers. Also glad to be on that that boat was Ray Barron who pulled up 13 eels for 100 points and won the day.
On the Saturday evening the presentation was held at The Royal Western Yacht club, a very nice venue with good food though a bit tight on space with the number attending, despite this everyone was in good humour and enjoyed themselves.
As for the results, the day 1 winners failed to add to there score which resulted in Ray Barron’s 20 from day 1 plus 100 from day 2 put him as overall winner and gold pin. 2nd and silver pin was Takhir Ahyautdinov from Russia on 105 points and 15 fish, and 3rd and bronze pin was Mick Clarges of Ireland on105 points and 12 fish. It was good to see the honours spread amongst different sections.
International team winners were England A team of R.Barron, G.Galbraith, P.Hart, S.Clements, M.Smith.
Overall
Name Country Score Conger
1st Ray Barron England 120 16
2nd Takhir Ahyautdinov Russia 105 15
3rd Mick Clarges Ireland 105 12
4th Andy Selby England 100 13
5th Alexander Gusev Russia 100 10
6th Kristbjörn Rafnsson Iceland 95 12
7th Andrey N. Smirnov Russia 85 15
=8th Mike Smith England 85 10
=8th Kevin Preston Wales 85 10
10th Andre Machiels Belgium 85 09
11th John O’Conner 80 10
12th Andrey Smirnov 70 13
13th Steve Clements 70 09
=14th Andrew Smith 70 08
=14th Olafur J. Gudmundsson 70 08
16th Neil Barnes 65 12
17th Dmitry Baturin 65 10
18th Paul Hart 65 07
=19th Robert Troy 60 10
=19th Victor Alikin 60 10
21st Steve Grant 60 07
22nd Warren Doyle 55 09
23rd Matt Osborne 50 08
=24th Robert Kanora 50 07
=24th Ashley Currier 50 07
=24th Steph Baker 50 07
27th Roy Shipway 50 06
28th Olafur Jonsson 50 05
=29th Anton Kadzharduzov 45 06
=29th Billy Trevarthen 45 06
31st Dave Francis 40 08
32nd Bobby King 40 07
=33rd Gary Galbraith 40 06
=33rd Marcus Wuest 40 06
=33rd Helgi Bergsson 40 06
36th George M’Cullough 40 05
37th Mike Toomer 35 06
38th Mikhail Dyshlyuk 35 05
39th David Styles 35 04
40th ` Frank Spruyt 30 06
41st Shay O’Neill 30 04
42nd Christie Cloak 25 05
=43rd Dave Clark 25 04
=43rd Natalia Gorbarenko 25 04
=43rd Paul Hutchinson 25 04
=43rd Martin Bobbett 25 04
47th Yulia Goncharova 25 03
=48th James Phillipson 20 03
=48th Terry Carolan 20 03
=48th Kim Bowden 20 03
=48th Willy Vanrebterghem 20 03
=48th Joe Gough 20 03
=53rd Bill Cann 20 02
=53rd Ken Smith 20 02
=55th Emiel Pasmans 15 03
=55th Stuart Pennock 15 03
=57th Graham Latimer 15 02
=57th Neil Bryant 15 02
=57th Richard Russell 15 02
=60th Heiko Dreier 10 02
=60th Jeff Hunter 10 02
62nd Luc Moreel 10 01
=63rd Neil Cottington 05 01
=63rd Malcolm Ruff 05 01
=63rd Tony Hudson 05 01
=66th Rod Adamson 00 00
=66th Jim Whippy 00 00
=66th John O’Leary 00 00
=66th Yurity Belin 00 00
=66th Robert Quinn 00 00
=66th Oleg Baztenev 00 00
=66th Odnolko Eduard 00 00
=66th Roger Whiting 00 00
=66th Darren Latimer 00 00
2 Man Open
1st T.Ahyautdinov, V.Alikin 165 (25)
2nd O.Gudmundsson, K.Rafnsson 165 (20)
3rd G.M’Cullough, M.Clarges 145 (17)
4th A.Gusev, A.Kadzharduzov 145 (16)
5th A.Selby , B.King 140
6th S.Clements,N.Barnes 135 (21)
7th R.Barron , N.Bryant 135 (18)
8th M.Smith , G.Galbraih 125
9th M.Wuest, J.Oconnor 120
10th A.Smirnov, M.Dyshlyuk 105
11th M.Toomer, P,Hart 100
12th L.Moreel, A.Machiels 95
13th H.Bergsson, O.Jonsson 90 (11)
13th K.Bowden , A.Smith 90 (11)
15TH R.Adamson, K.Preston 85 (10)
16th R.Kanora , F.Spruyt 80 (13)
16th T.Carolan, R.Troy 80 (13)
18th M.Bobbett, A.currier 75
19th P.Hutchinson, B.Trevarthen 70
20th D.Bauturin.O.Baztenev 65
21st H.Drier , R.Shipway 60
22nd D.Francis , S.Pennock 55 (11)
23rd N.Cottinton, M.Osbourne 55 (9)
24th S.ONeil, J.Gough 50 (7)
24th R.Whiting, S.Baker 50 (7)
26 C.Cloak, B.Cann 45
27 M.Ruff, D.Styles 40
28 W.Vanrebterghem,E.Pasmans 35 (6)
29 R.Russell, K.Smith 35 (4)
30 D.Clark, J.Whippy 25
31 J.Hunter, T.Hudson 15 (3)
32 G.Latimer , D.Latimer 15 (2)
Four Man Open
1st A.Selby,R.Barron,B.King,N.Bryant 275
2nd K.Rafnson,O.Gudmundsson,H.Bergsson,O.Jonsson 255
3rd O.Baztenev,T.Ahyautdinov,M.Dyshlyuk,A.Gusev 240
4th M.Smith,G.Galbraith,A.Currier,M.Osbourne 225
5th J.Gough,M,Clarges,S.Oneil,W.Doyle 210
6th D.Baturin,V.Alikin,A.Kadzharduzov,Y.Goncharova 195
7th P.Hart,T.Hudson,M.Toomer,A.Smith 175
8th N.Barnes,M.Ruff,S.Clements,J.Hunter 150
9th G.M’Cullough,D.Styles,P.Hutchinson,B.Ttevarthen 145
10th T.Carolan,R.Troy,R.Shipway,H,Dreier 140
11th R.Kanora,W.Vanrebterghem,E.Pasmans,F.Spruyt 115
12 N.Cottington,R.Adamson,K.Preston,K.Bowden 110
13th A.Smirnov,R.Whiting,R.Russell,K.Smith 105
14th C.Cloak,DFrancis,S.Pennock,B.Cann 100
15th J.Whippy,G.Latimer,D.Latimer,D.Clark 40
Four Man Executive (Drawn)
1st A.Selby,K.Rafnsson,A.Machiels,A.Kadzharduzov 325
2nd S.Baker,R.Barron,N.Cottington,R.Kanora 225
3rd O.Gudmundsson,P.Hart,N.Gorbarenko,M.Osbourne 210
4th R.Troy,B.Trevarthen,W.Vanrebtergem,A.Smith 195(27)
5th A.Gusev,V.Alkin,R.Russell,K.Bowden 195(25)
6TH M.Wuest,K.Preston,C.Cloak,M.Bobbett 175(25)
7th M.Smith,W.Doyle,O.Baztenev,D.Styles 175(23)
8th R.Adamson,N.Barnes,S.Clements,P.Hutchinson 160(25)
9th L.Moreel,R.Shipway,D.Baturin,M.Dyshlyuk 160(22)
10th B.Cann,T.Hudson,H.Bergsson,A.Smirnov 150
11th A.Currier,D.Clark,B.King,Y.Goncharova 140(21)
11th D.Francis,R.Whiting,G.Galbraith,S.Grant 140(21)
13th J.Hunter,M.Ruff,M.Clarges,K.Smith 140(17)
14th D.Latimer,T.Ahyautdinov,J.Gough,H.Dreier 135(20)
15th G.M’Cullough,J.Whippy,S.Pennock,J.Oconnor 135(18)
16 O.Jonsson,M.Toomer,E.Pasmans,F.Spruyt 130
17th Y.Belin,J.Philipson,O.Eduard,A.Smirnov 90
18th G.Latimer,S.Oneil,N.Bryant,T.Carolan 80
Ladies
1 Natalia Gorbarenko 25 4 Conger
2 Yulia Goncharova 25 3 Conger
International Teams
1 England A 360
(R.Barron,G.G.Galbraith,P.Hart,S.Clements,M.Smith)
2 Russia A 330
(D.Baturin,T.Ahyautdinov,V.Alikin,O.Baztenev,A.Gusev)
3 Wales A 265
(D.Francis,J.OConnor,S.Grant,R.Adamson,K.Preston)
4 Iceland A 255
5 Russia B 245
6 Ireland A 240
7 Belgium A 190
8 Ireland B 135
9 England B 105
Top Boat
Total Conger Average per Angler
1 Sea Angler 94 5.88
2 Happy Days 73 5.21
3 Scorpion 84 4.20
4 Size Matters 62 2.58
5 Crusader 39 1.95
6 Typhoon 26 1.44
7 Mirage 23 1.44
8 C-Cheeta 12 0.60
Best Conger
1 Paul Hart 70lb
2 Andy Selby 60lb
3 Olafur Gudmundsson 57lb
Special Prize (Donated by Conger Club)
1 Kristbjorn Rafnsson ( 5lb Ballan Wrasse Caught on Feathers While Mackerel Fishing)
Day One Winner
Andy Selby 100pts 13 conger
Day Two Winner
Ray Barron 100pts 13 conger
Life Members
1 Ray Barron 120
2 Mick Clarges 105
3 Andy Selby 100
4 Mike Smith 85
5 Steve Clements 70(9)
6 Andy Smith 70(8)
7 Paul Hart 65
8 Rob Troy 60
9 Warren Doyle 55
10 Robert Kanora 50(7)
11 Roy Shipway 50(6)
12 Dave Francis 40(8)
13 Marcus Wuest 40(6)
13 Gary Galbraith 40(6)
15 George M’Cullough 40(5)
16 Mike Toomer 35(6)
17 David Styles 35(4)
18 Shay Oneil 30
19 Christy Cloak 25(5)
20 Martin Bobbett 25(4)
20 Paul Hutchinson 25(4)
21 Dave Clark 25(4)
23 Terry Carolan 20(3)
23 Joe Gough 20(3)
23 James Philipson 20(3)
26 Bill Cann 20(2)
26 Ken Smith 20(2)
28 Stu Pennock 15(3)
29 Richard Russell 15(2)
29 Neil Bryant 15(2)
29 Graham Latimer 15(20
32 Heiko Dreier 10(2)
33 Tony Hudson 5(1)
33 Neil Cottington 5(1)
35 Jim Whippy 0