HCA boat fishing winter league is going to be the closest it has ever been with one match to go it is still all to play for. Last Sunday’s match was again fished in good conditions although the fishing was hit and miss with some anglers doing well whilst others struggled. There were a lot of smaller fish about. There were also other species caught including dogfish, rays and bass. But mainly it was cod that made the bags up.
Richard Stanley who is topping the league got maximum points with a 34lb bag. Dave Bakin was second with 29lb 5oz and Olly Call 29lb. The top beach boat was Simon Drayton 26lb 9oz. The heaviest fish was caught by Wally fishing off his Boat Dangler, he had a fish of 7lb 4oz, there was a tie for second between Ian Stephenson and Simon Drayton both having fish of 6lb 12oz.
The league now looks like this Richard Stanley 136 but he has to drop a match. Mark Briggs 128 but he has already missed a match. Chris Banks 114, he also has to drop a match. Then it is myself with 110 and I have to drop a match. Then Tim on 102 but he has already dropped a match. Then there is several people on 100 and they have dropped matches so I would expect that either Richard or Mark claiming top spot then for the other places it is between around eight anglers. It is all on the last match and who ever finds the fish.
On the beach it was Humber SAC in action on Cleethorpes Beach and it was Adie Cooper who is continuing his good form with yet another win he had 3lb 3 1/2oz . Adie managed to get bigger fish and he also got the biggest flat on the night a 37cm flounder. George Smith was catching smaller fish and nearly doubled Adie catch but they were all small fish and only weighed up to 2lb 11oz this included a 25cm bass that was the biggest round fish on the night. The club’s next match is this Sunday at Humberston Creek fishing 1pm to 5pm and meet at the old Jenny Café Car park at 11.45hrs.
If you want any crab George’s Tackle Box has started to get some in . He got several hundred in this week and they have all gone so get your orders in early. He will also be getting wild King rag worm in around a fortnights time. These were brilliant last year for the bass in the boats.
Grimsby SAC were also in action last Saturday and they had a few fish on the sea wall. D. Greaves was top angler with 5 fish for 2lb 2oz, John Major took second with 5 fish for 1lb 15oz and S. Field 3 fish 1lb 12oz. The summer fixtures will be coming out shortly and as soon as I get them I will let you know.
On the Monday it was a bank holiday special with John Atkinson organising a match off the Humber Bank wall. The match was well supported and there were some good bags of fish. Chris Mack made the trip over the bridge worth while with a 12 fish bag of 2lb 9oz. this earned him £80, next was George Smith 5 fish for 2lb 7oz and third was Garry Hutson who I am please to say is coming back in to top form on 2lb 5oz. The biggest fish on the night was a sole of 1lb 4oz, caught by P.Greaves.
Skegness Pier Angling Club (S.P.A.C) has been active from both boat and shore, firstly with 8 members having an away day to Grimsby for a charter boat trip aboard Lady Nicola, skippered by Chris Fyson. Although the Winter cod season is almost over in the Humber Estuary, 15 cod and a couple of whiting hit the deck, with Wrangle’s Paul Cridland catching the best cod weighing 5lb and S.P.A.C Secretary Chas Tibble catching the most cod, with 5 taken in the last couple of hours of the trip.
Returning to the shore scene, S.P.A.C Match 6 was held from Chapel Six Marsh, with anglers struggling to catch in the transition period between the end of the winter fishing and influx of the summer species. Cleethorpes ace angler Garry Hutson used his long distance casting skills to good effect, running out an easy winner with four fish weighing 3lb 7ozs. Garry also took the heaviest round fish award with a 1lb 15oz lesser spotted dogfish and surprised everyone by including an unseasonal “pup” smoothound in his catch. A single 10oz flounder took both second place and the heaviest flatfish prize for Kettering’s Bob Foster, with Friskney’s Mark Holmes filling the frame in third place, with two whiting for 7oz.
Next S.P.A.C match will be held on Saturday 25 April from 5 till 9pm at Jackson’s Corner, with members fishing for the Frank Parkin’s Shield. The shield is fished for annually in memory of Frank, who was Chairman of S.P.A.C for many years. Contact Chas Tibble on 07984 967988 or chastibble@hotmail.com for further details.
