Another month has gone by already and it was great to see a good turnout of 24 members to our monthly SMAC meeting in the Marina Bar, Southsea. It was also good to see that Premier had been prompt in responding to requests to fly the D-Day 80 Flag, which they did!

Steve welcomed us with a rundown of news, activities and planned events. The current competition standings are listed below. It’s hard to keep up with Peter Churchill on the Species Hunt, between printing the list, having the meeting and posting this report his score has changed twice.

Fish Of The Month was dominated by bream from our earlier Open Bream Competition, and Dan Lumsden won this with his bream of 3lb 1oz.which also won him second place in the Bream Competition.

Steve reported on our achievements in the Bream Competition which you can read in full here. Out of 50 entries and 26 boats, SMAC members took home 10 of the 16 prizes which is a good show.

Our next event is the Annual SMAC BBQ on Saturday 22nd June in the Southsea Marina BBQ area. Please book your tickets on this link to make sure we have food for you! Free food will be provided for all members and families, and we always put on a good spread. Bring your own drinks, and a camping chair or two is always a good idea.

There will be a Pier Competition between SMAC and SMDAC on 23rd July, fishing between 3pm and 9pm on South Parade Pier for the Best Specimen Fish. This is being organised by SMDAC and details will be published separately. Food on the pier will be available to pre-order, payment with order.

A boat fishing regatta to Brighton has been proposed again, and subject to weather and support it will happen early August. Details to follow.

Our next open competition is the Open Species Competition on 11th August. Further details here.

The questions we put to the Southsea Marina Manager Dave Frey when he gave us a chat at the March meeting have still not been answered and this needs chasing up.

Finally, in AOB, John Calton gave us a useful tip on a Boat Scrapyard in Gosport, which sells secondhand equipment at very good prices. www.boatscrapyard.com

Next meeting is at 7pm on Tuesday 2nd July in the Marina Bar as usual. See you there if not before!