The latest Skegness Pier Angling Club Match was fished at North Shore on Saturday. Nineteen anglers competed for the Bev Faithful Memorial Shield in a fresh onshore breeze, little weed and building sea. Conditions made reaching the fish difficult for all but the biggest casters. The fishing was best in first hour of the match, slowed over the top of the tide and picked up again at the end as the angler strived for distance to find hounds as weather window closed. Other species caught where flounders, dabs and a nice bass along with a weever.
North Shore Beach
Adie Cooper made an impressive start, landing a hound within the first minute of the match. Making the most of a favourable draw with a bank end running onto a flat area of sand, he targeted this spot by casting fresh softies long distance into the brisk southeasterly wind, using a 170g lead, single bait and his M4GT. The next forty minutes were filled with challenges for him; with two missed bites, a bird’s nest, and a snapped line, which got carried away by the sea breeze. Adie then switched to his second setup, the M4GT, and immediately caught another hound. Unfortunately, he lost the next one due to a nicked line, caused by turbulent sea conditions and weed. Persisting, knowing the hounds were still in front, Adie continued and ultimately added five more hounds to his tally. He finished the match with a winning total of seven quality smoothies for 659cm.
Match winner Aide Cooper with a hound
Dave Shorthouse relied solely on frozen crabs, but of good quality, and managed to catch two hounds immediately at the start. As conditions grew rougher by the hour, he remained determined, utilising his 200m plus casting capabilities to deliver baits at distance casting low into the wind. His perseverance targeting hounds paid off, allowing him to land three additional sizeable fish, earning him a total of five hounds and second place with 444cm.
Dave Shorthouse in second place
Fishing near the southern end of the match length, Gary Hutson targeted smooth hounds at long range, alternating between fresh and frozen peeler crabs on a small penel setup. He found three hounds before high water, then had a lengthy wait of an hour before encountering more activity in the final hour, adding two more hounds to his card. The hound bites were notably gentle, with the rod tip nodding slowly rather than the typical sharp pull-downs associated with the species. Gary finished in third place with a total of five hounds for 383cm.
Gary Hutson in third place
Match Organiser Russ Parsons fished fresh peeler crab a range for four hounds to fish in fourth place with 351cm but was unlucky to miss two more bites.
Martin Holmes caught three decent hounds on fresh black lug fished at a very long way out in the windy conditions, Martin snapped off twice and switched to a fixed spool reel blasting out baits into the headwind illustrating how hard it was to reach the feeding fish.
Martin Holmes with a decent hound
Tony Burman fished crab and worm baits, alternating both at distance picking up a cracking bass of 48cm and the longest fish prize for a double figure smooth hound of 112cm again on ragworm.
Tony Burman had a cracking bass at 48cm
Kev Martin finished in 7 the place with three fish including a hound and flatfish on fresh lug but was unfortunate to lose a really big bass which snapped his Kamasan hook in the surf and escaped.
Kev Martin with one of his flounders
Zac Short (junior) managed a nice hound for eighth place and Nev Hardy catching his first match hound of the year finished in ninth.
Arty Arkrill target flatfish fishing precisely into a gulley he had seen at low tide and was rewarded with two dabs the largest at 32cm won the longest flatfish prize.
Mark Bradbury had a single hound for tenth place with Tony Dunk with a couple of flounders in eleventh and Scott Emm fishing his first match with the club catching a weever for twelfth place. Welcome along Scott.
Gary winding up a high swing pendulum cast
The remaining other six anglers blanked.
Many thanks to Adie for pegging out the match and to Russ Parsons for running it on the day also thank you to Bev Faithful’s family for attending the match today and providing a prize of a bottle of scotch for the winner. Thank you to Will Cooper for the great pictures and to all those travelling from Grimsby, Kettering, Lincoln and Norfolk to fish with the club today your support is greatly appreciated. The next match is in two weeks’ time at Sandilands.
