Remember, Remember, the 5th of November….well, we didn’t. Our meeting clashed with thousands of people flocking to Southsea Common for the fireworks, so the members that braved the journey spent more time looking at tail-lights than sitting in the SMAC meeting. Anyway, many thanks to those that made it!

Steve opened the meeting presenting a long overdue prize to Terry Webster. We couldn’t actually remember at the time what the prize was for, but on checking it was for 9th place in the Open Species Competition this summer.

Next was the current Standings, these are listed below. It only takes a fish or two to juggle the placings, so all still to play for. Well done Pam for 20 Species, that’s a clear lead and possibly a record for our Ladies Species Cup.

Congratulations again to Ray Plomer who won the Inter-Club competition with a Bull Huss of 12lb 10oz. Although he was fishing for LHFA, this also earned Ray Best Placed SMAC Member and for good measure November Fish Of The Month.

Our next competition is the Cod Open on Sunday 17th November, rolling forward Sunday by Sunday if the weather doesn’t cooperate. It will probably be on the same day as the ECA Cod Competition which adds to the fun.

The Cod Pool stands at 36 entries and no cod yet, so that’s a good pot and a very low bar so far!

The Mandela Cup will be fished on Saturday 28th December. This is a fun social competition, theoretically for cod (or whiting) but if the weather is bad we fish from the marina and retire to the bar when we have had enough – in this case Rule 2 is invoked and any fish count. Rule 3 is when no fish are caught, and we decide on the spot how to allocate the prize.

The date for the Presentation Night has moved to Saturday 15th March 2025 due to a clash of bookings, so please update your diaries so you don’t miss the best night of the year.

Looking further ahead we are planning a Bass Open Competition, pencilled in for 6th July 2025. This will be based on length not weight (optional Catch & Release). We will need to source and supply Official Rulers which is being investigated.

On the topic of rulers, we were reminded that Dr. Christina Hunt still needs photos of your catches with a ruler please, so her AI Fish Measuring Bot can have some practice.

Finally, those that attended the Shark and ray Tagging talk at the ECA on Monday were surprised to learn that this research has shown that sharks and rays don’t breed every year. Tope are likely to breed every other year, smoothhound every three years and rays can breed every five years. We never knew that.

Next meeting is Tuesday 3rd December, 7pm to 8pm (Winter Hours) at the Marina Bar as usual.