On Tuesday 23rd July it was a calm sunny day, perfect for boat fishing. So we had a pier competition. (Thank you Steve for that line!) Joking aside, we had a really enjoyable afternoon and evening organised by SMDAC who challenged SMAC members to a fishing competition on South Parade Pier. Fishing from 3.30pm to 9pm, 16 members were competing in three categories: most fish caught, most species and heaviest fish.

It turned out that the heaviest fish wasn’t going to be very heavy at all and a moderate bream and a wrasse were both returned before we realized that even a fish the size of a mobile phone would have been in the running.

On the subject of mobile phones, for those not familiar with the pier fishing deck it is surfaced with a grid of very generous spacing so we were all keeping a very tight grip on our possessions, tackle and bait.

Mid evening, Sara from the Best Of British café hailed us for a slap-up meal of burger or sausage and chips of epic proportions, served in individually customised cartons appropriately decorated in sea angling themes.

The species category was fiercely contended by those going for quantity rather than quality. While the latter, inspired by a large bass caught earlier in the day hefted whole squid to the horizon hoping for more than just a few kilos of Solent weed, others were fishing right by the piles with micro hooks and having plenty of fun. Most of us soon listed the obligatory pout and wrasse, but the decider would be who could winkle out something different.

Peter Churchill nailed the species category with five: pouting, corkwing, ballan, pollack and bass. This was in spite of being given angling advice by a casual onlooker who was unaware that Peter is the reigning species king in SMAC. Heaviest fish actually weighed was Steve Kelly’s 6oz ballan wrasse, and most fish caught was 54 also by Steve.

Overall the evening was great fun and our thanks must go to John Wearn and Frank Chatfield of SMDAC for organising such an entertaining evening of fishing, food and plenty of banter.