Our meeting opened with the unexpected news that our Chairman Steve Kelly has resigned his position for personal reasons. Steve has been our Chairman since the very first SMAC meeting in 2013 when there were only 12 members. Since then the club has grown in numbers and reputation, and much of that has been due to the Steve’s personal commitment and many hours of work both representing the club and behind the scenes in administration. Steve has definitely earned this break from the heavy responsibility and he will remain an active member of SMAC. I’m sure every club member will want to express their appreciation for everything Steve has done for us.
As Deputy Chairman, I will take over from Steve until our AGM at the February meeting where we will be voting in a new Committee and reviewing any proposed changes to club rules.
So on to the actual meeting itself. The club standings are listed below, and are updated during the month on the club noticeboard in the Marina Office if there are significant changes.
Cod have become such a rarity that a fish of any size is worth a mention, and we had two entered for Fish Of The Month plus an impressive bass from Mark Banks. FOTM is decided based on either specimen weight or some other notable feature, and the members attending all decided that a small cod trumps a big bass! FOTM was awarded to Darren Price for his cod of 5lb 8oz.
Darren’s cod leads the Cod Pool with Tim Andrews chasing in second place with 4lb 9oz. The Cod Pool stands at £270 so Darren’s cod is currently worth £202.50 – until someone catches a larger one!
The Open Cod Competition will roll forward from Sunday to Sunday until the weather is kind enough to let all boats out safely. It will fish on the 7th, 14th or 21st December but will skip the Christmas weekends and reserve dates resume from 4th January.
The Mandela cup will fish on 28th December whatever the weather. Traditionally this is for to largest cod or whiting, but if we can’t get out we fish from the shore or pontoons and anything counts! This is a social event and rules tend to be amended on the spot and as soon as we have had enough we retire to the bar.
Our January meeting will also be Curry night. On 6th January we will have a swift meeting as usual at 7pm in the Marina Bar then move upstairs to the Bombay Brasserie for 7:30. I’ll be calling for numbers on our WhatsApp Group.
Presentation Night is on Saturday 14th March – a free drink, food and an amazing cash raffle as well as cups, prizes and banter. Families welcome!
We will be publishing dates for all our 2026 Open Competitions after our January meeting so we can promote the events to guest competitors and sponsors.
Finally, we also noted Premier Marina’s offer to club members for a special pre-Cod Competition discounted Lift & Scrub in November. These Club Concessions are much appreciated and we hope they will be repeated!
Neville Merritt, Deputy Chairman
PS Before the meeting, on behalf of Premier Marinas Steve presented me with a gift token in appreciation of our support for the Premier Berth Holders Event in October. I will buy a raffle prize with it for our Presentation Night!
