Lots to tell you about this time so grab a drink and settle in for a read. Our May meeting was held a week later than usual on the 10th May to accommodate the Bank Holidays. We had a good turnout as usual in the Marina Bar.

First up was the Competition Standings, which if I had recorded properly I would have reproduced them here. What I can remember is that Steve Tambling is on there as the Best Placed SMAC Member on the recent Open Bream Competition.

Next was the regular Fish Of The Month vote. Members were reminded that fish don’t swim onto the entry book by themselves. Qualifying fish have to be written in the book in the Marina Office, even if they have been weighed and recorded in a SMAC competition. Once that was out of the way we voted Mark Banks the winner for a bream of 3lb 13oz. If Mark had timed that better he would have won the SMAC Open Bream Competition last Sunday, but that’s fishing. We had a little chat about how well that event went, you can read about it here.

Our next event will be the annual SMAC BBQ on Saturday 3rd June. We will provide free food for members and partners, just bring your own drinks. It will be held in the Marina BBQ area which is located on top of the toilet and laundry block. It isn’t nearly as bad as that sounds. The event starts at 2pm, with a raffle at 4pm. Food will be served when the cook decides it’s safe to eat, and the event ends when we have had enough. This is always a fun occasion so do come along. We’ll confirm during the week before just in case the weather forecast is terrible although unlike fishing competitions, wind doesn’t matter.

Save the date for the annual Open Species Competition, which will be held on Sunday 13th August. It will be fished from 8am to 4pm; last weigh-in 5pm and prize-giving in the Marina Bar at 6pm. The format will be the same as in previous years: photograph the fish and the entry card showing all distinguishing features before returning the fish to the sea. The photographs will be needed to verify the species claims for the winners.

We will have a group night fishing trip for stingray and sole some time in the summer, so watch out for details. We’ll anchor or moor up in shallow water targeting stingray in the evening and sole at night. This will be a great opportunity for those of us (myself included) who feel a lot more confident fishing at night when you know there are other boats close by.

We also have plans for a weekend trip to Brighton Marina which is being organised by Dave Newnham and John Evans. The plan is to fish on the way to Brighton, overnight at Premier Brighton Marina either on board or in a hotel, have a slap-up meal and a few beers in the evening then on the Sunday, fish on the way back to Southsea. Dates will be dependent on numbers interested and berth availability in Brighton Marina so please contact Dave if you want to be included.

We will be ordering a batch of SMAC Anniversary T-Shirts soon, when prices are confirmed. I’ll circulate order details as soon as they are known. We expect the first batch order to be cheaper than ordering later individually, so grab the opportunity when it comes. Standard SMAC logo polo shirts and hoodies can still be ordered online from the Club Shop.

That’s it for now. Next meeting will be Tuesday 6th June at 7pm in the Marina Bar.

Neville Merritt