Skegness Pier Angling Club fished their latest match at Chapel Point on Saturday. Nineteen anglers fished in overcast misty conditions with a calm sea. The match was dominated by whiting with a few flatfish and a single dogfish recorded. The South end near the point itself fished well in the first hour of the match unlike the North end which hardly produced any fish until the ebb. The middle sections produced fish throughout and the winning catches came from here, with most fish taken at long range from a flat stretch between two large banks to the north and south. Everyone caught plenty, especially later in the match, and no blanks were recorded.
First place Adie Cooper with a double shot whiting and a dab.
Adie Cooper won the match with a 41 fish card for 1256cm total length. He fished fresh yellowtail tipping off with fish cast as far as he could, on his standard three hook clip down rig. At the start of the match fishing was hectic with double and triple shots all the way up to high water then as the tide turned the fish stopped biting and a few fishless casts ensued. Then as the ebb picked up so did the bites although slower than on the flood at range and picking up a fair bit of weed. Aide noticed anglers picking up double shots close in, so he followed suit and dropped short picking up bites faster and avoided the weed. Here he found the fish again in numbers and added eleven more in the last hour to win the match.
Gary Hutson in 3rd place with a double shot of whiting.
In second place was John Spalton, fishing a couple of pegs away in the middle section of the match. John found fish from the start at long range and made great efforts to match distance with Adie, blowing up two reels in the process. He shortened his snoods to cast farther and switched to smaller hooks, as the whiting seemed to favour tiny baits that evening. He discovered using vintage four week old black lug got bites almost every cast, filling up his rigs with double and triple shots. John used just one wrap of worms in whole match. At one stage he couldn’t get a bait in the water fast enough when the whiting fed in earnest and finished up with 30 fish for 849cm total length and second place.
Lee Williams in fourth place with a double shot of whiting
I third place was Gary Hutson who after trying a new rod out found his casting distance was down and as result couldn’t keep pace with John Spalton or Adie on nearby pegs as distance was crucial at the beginning of the match. He changed back to his AFAW TMP and soon started filling up his rigs with decent whiting, two and three a cast. He continued to catch for the remainder of the match but couldn’t claw back the early deficit on the other two. He added a 60cm dogfish last cast which gave him 708cm and third place plus the longest round fish prize.
Kev Martin with a whiting, Kev won the blind pairs with Adie and caught the the biggest whiting of the match at 39cm
Lee Williams was pegged at the south end of the match stretch and found the fishing was best in the first few casts of the match then slowed all the way to high water. Bites picked up in the second hour of the ebb and Lee finished on 636cm adding most fish on the last hour narrowly beating Karl Nangle into fifth place on 509cm.
Karl Nangle with a whiting. Karl finished in fifth just outside the money on 609cm
Also pegged here were Karl, Russ, Nathan and Kev found plenty only had a hand full of whiting by high tide each. This put them behind the mid-section leaders catching double shots for fun further up the beach. Despite the fish arriving in numbers here on the ebb and the anglers catching well in the last hour of the match they were unable to catch up.
Tracey with a 30cm flounder which won her the longest flatfish prize.
The anglers pegged at the other end of the match stretch to the North- Rik, Tony Dunk, Tony Burman, Scott, Mark, Steve Delmar, Nev, and Arty—found the fishing very slow initially, with many catching little due in part to the shallow beach. Rik Jarvis didn’t even have a bite in the first two hours then had eleven fish in the last two. All caught well at the end with most getting around 300cm of fish and Scott Emm catching 16 fish for 427cm.
It was great to welcome Chris Ovens fishing with the club for the first match today Chris did well, finishing with 220cm of whiting for seventh place. Great to meet you Chris and hope to see you again at the next match.
The match winners Lee 4th, Tracey (Longest Flat), John 2nd place, Adie Cooper 1st place and Kev Martin the winning pair.
Tracey Cooper-Adams has not been able to fish as many matches as usual this year due to a foot operation and said she felt rusty missing matches now was getting back in form catching 313cm of fish including a 30cm flounder which won her the longest flatfish prize.
The inaugural Blind Pairs draw took place after the individual match prizes were presented. Based on combined catch lengths, the winning pairs were 1st, Adie Cooper and Kev Martin, 1761cm (£50); 2nd, John Spalton and Russ Parsons, 1369cm (£30); and 3rd, Mark Bradbury and Nathan Hopkins, 1096cm (£20).
Many thanks to Adie for pegging out the beach before the match and to Russ Parsons for running the match thanks to Tina and Tracey for the great pics. Thank you to everyone travelling to fish with us today and supporting the club. The next match is on Sunday 22nd November at Huttoft fishing for the Bateman Cup.
