You probably saw Southsea Marina on the news on Sunday! By Tuesday it was hard to imagine that so much drama had occurred because it was as peaceful as most Tuesday evenings are. However there were lots of first-hand stories to swap which made an entertaining preamble. We must express our thanks to all the Premier crew and SMAC members who were involved (in a good way), for doing their part in keeping things as safe as they could be in the circumstances.
Anyway, onto the meeting! We had 13 members present at the Marina Bar on 8th September. First up was the Standings (thanks Steve for updating these). A few good fish have juggled the ranking! See below.
Fish of the Month was next, with two stand-out fish from the eight in the book. These were Ray Plomer’s Stingray of 25lb 2oz (100.5%) and Kev Johnson’s bass of 11lb 4oz (118.4%). The bass had it so Kev receives Fish Of The Month.
The Treasurer’s Report followed some very meticulous organising of our financial paperwork by Eleanor, and we can report that we have a balance of £1,114.66. This puts us in good shape for our final expenditure of the year which are trophies and hospitality for the Presentation Night. We are close to setting up the bank account which will make collecting funds much easier.
We had a quick recap of the Species Competition, which is reported in detail here. Those present expressed their disappointment at the low level of support for this competition with only eight members taking part out of a membership of 60+. We had another eight visitors, but it was still a small field which was a pity.
The next competition is the Inter-Club Competition, hosted by last year’s winners LHFA. We understand it is scheduled for 3/4th October, and Pete Churchill was tasked with getting a formal notification circulated by LHFA to the clubs.
The Open Cod Competition date will be Sunday 29th November, and Sundays thereafter until we find a fishable one, preferably with cod and whiting present too. Dave Newnham is organising a tour of local clubs to whip up more support, and posters will be available soon. The Competition Team will be shaking up our regular sponsors for a nice full prize table.
There has been a lot of comment in our WhatsApp Chat and on social media about the role of the RNLI in the illegal channel crossings, and concern has been expressed about the financial donations we collect for the RNLI and GAFIR. For the record, there was an equal level of support for the RNLI, whose crews do their job regardless of the political moves elsewhere. We agreed to propose at the next AGM that we maintain two collection pots, one for each so members can decide how their donations are distributed. There will be no change to the 50:50 split in the current season.
A quick reminder on Club Merchandise: we have the last two pennants at £20 each and a few Beanies and Caps at £10 each. Please message if you want to grab one.
Post-Meeting Note: the Cod Pool is upon us! As the Cod Pool opens on 1st October which is before our next meeting, this is a reminder that if you want to enter and fish for cod before the next meeting, just write your name on an envelope plus the helpful words Cod Pool, put your £10 entry fee in it and leave it in the Marina Office for the SMAC message folder.
Finally, due to another booking at the Marina Bar on our normal Tuesday, for our next Monthly Meeting we will instead meet at 7pm on Tuesday 13th October.
