This was meant to be a quick meeting in the Marina Bar followed by a curry upstairs in the Bombay Brasserie, but unfortunately due to the unpleasant weather causing accidents and traffic jams we delayed the start to give those travelling towards us a bit more time.

First up was a review of the current competition and points standings. We only have until the end of January to put more scores on the board, so we need a few more fishable days in January please! The current positions are on the sheet at the bottom of this report.

The next regular item on the agenda was Fish Of The Month. We actually had several cod to choose from and an impressive pollack, but as cod are such rare catches these days the best cod won. It weighed 13lb 10oz and was caught by Dan Lumsden.

We all agreed that the Open Cod Competition had been a great success, and the option to allow online payments for entry fees will be continued for future Open competitions to encourage participation (and a bigger prize pool!) from further afield.

Promotion for our next Open Competition, the annual Boat Bream Competition on Sunday 7th May will be starting soon, so save the date! There were some really good fish caught in 2022 so hopefully we’ll see a good turnout for the 2023 event.

Some more dates for the diaries: the Mandela Cup will be fished either on 28th or 29th January, and in the sea, harbour, marina or bar depending on the severity of the weather. It has to be done, the SMAC season ends 31st January!

The annual Awards Night will be held on Saturday 4th March in the Marina Bar. There will be drinks (a free one for each member), snacks, music and prizes so all members are invited, and families too. We will all be on our best behaviour so we don’t embarrass anyone in front of their partners. We save that for the WhatsApp Group.

Our next monthly meeting will be the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday 7th February where we decide on the committee members, rule changes and any other business of global significance for the 2023 season. It will be held at 6:30pm in the Marina Bar so please come along because your vote is important. SMAC is an amazing community and it will always be as long as it is run by us all, for us all. Some of us have more time to devote to club activities than others but don’t worry about that, every member counts.

Finally, we retired upstairs to enjoy a curry, a drink and some great banter. It was a pleasure to include the stalwarts from SMDAC too! I’d also like to thank Luke Scott for his extraordinary generosity, it was much appreciated by all.

Neville Merritt