Match fifteen of the Skegness Pier Club League was fished on Saturday with ten anglers competing for the Dutton trophy.
Conditions were good with a calm sea and offshore light breeze however, the fishing was poor, perhaps due to the very clear water and weak tide flow which meant the fish stayed way offshore. The only action took place near the start of the match with a brief flurry of fish being caught in the first three casts and a total of just five fish were caught between the ten anglers.
Dave Shorthouse won the match on his first cast with a nice smoothhound of 97cm, taken on fresh peeler crab, cast to near his maximum range on a drop down dongle rig. This also won him the longest round fish prize.
Garry Hutson, who is another great caster, came in second place with another single hound of 77cm on his second cast about fifteen minutes into the match, he caught this on half a fresh peeler, which also won the longest flatfish prize by default.
Adie with his record mackerel
Adie Cooper came in third place casting a very long way on fresh peeler baits with a two fish for 57cm. His first fish gave a couple of taps on the rod tip and a huge slack liner which usually the type of bite from a bass or a hound, especially as he was fishing a standard hound rig with fresh peeler. The fish then went ballistic close in, and he was convinced it was a bass until a monster mackerel came out onto the sand. The mackerel measured 42cm and is a new club record for the species weighing 1lb 10oz, beating the old record by 8oz. His second fish being a 15cm weever on crab.
Match organiser Russell Parsons picked up a pin whiting of 13cm at about twenty minutes in, to come in fourth place.
The rest of the anglers did not get a single bite and six blank match cards were returned. This was not through lack of trying though, for example Tracy Cooper tried every bait combination, including maddies on tiny hooks, at every range she could cast to find a fish but despite her best efforts she blanked. Even John Spalton casting a long way on his new back casters and long casting match angler Paul Marshall both blanked illustrating just how difficult it was and that any fish which were sitting out at extreme range on a rock hard day on the Lincolnshire coast.
We look forward to seeing you all at the next match.
