SMAC Open Species Competition 2026

Organising an Open Competition in Summer will always have challenges, with competition from holidays, social events and family demands so we were very grateful for the support we had for the 2026 SMAC Open Species Competition. A species competition really finds out who the all-round anglers are, because to catch a wide variety means changing marks, methods and bait all day. It’s a real competition of tactics! However, you can still notch up a good score fishing local marks so on a calm day this can be a great family and social event.

We were delighted to welcome as many visitors as club members, with 16 competitors taking part on 10 boats. We introduced a different tie-break scoring system this year in case anyone was planning the game the system!

A final tally of species at the end of the day was 22, with some common species not making an appearance so the field was still wide open. The full list is below, but you probably want to know who won. Here are to top nine prize winners. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors Rapala, we not only had rods as prizes, we also had lure packs for all of the other competitors. You had to be in it to win it, literally.

First: Dan Lumsden, 14 species

Second: Peter Churchill, 13 species

Third: Richard Pack, 11 species, tie break score 13

Forth: Steve Tambling, 11 species, tie break score 7

Fifth: Jon Challinor, 10 species

Sixth: Mick Teague, 9 species, tie break score 20

Seventh: Toby Challinor, 9 species, tie break score 7

Eighth: Stuart Jones, 8 species, tie break score 20

Ninth: Neville Merritt, 8 species, tie break score 15

We would like to thank the following prize sponsors for their generous donations: Premier Marinas, Rapala, Baits’R’Us, Portsmouth Distillery, Decathlon and Marina Bar. Thanks also to the SMAC organising team behind the competition and to the Premier Marinas crew for their help on the day, it is always much appreciated. And finally, thank you to everyone who took part!