Author: Neville Merritt (Page 1 of 43)

As usual for a dark evening we were competing with members’ other engagements, but thankfully the attendance was significantly boosted by the presence of our good friends SMDAC. Steve ran through the current Standings (see below), with two points worth noting: a good showing of Angling Trust Specimen Fish (20) and a complete absence of anything resembling a cod.

Fish Of The Month was between Andy Bird’s mullet of 5lb 4oz (131.2% of Specimen) and the estimated weight of the bluefin tuna caught and released by Peter Atkinson. Although the tuna represents a magnificent achievement and a first for a tuna caught from Southsea Marina, there is no specimen weight (yet) for tuna so Andy was awarded the prize.

Cod Pool stands at £240 so we need a cod to spend it on. A 10lb+ cod was caught in the Harbour Run this month (but not by one of us) so let’s hope that line on the Standings isn’t blank for long.

The Inter Club competition between SMAC, ECA and LHFA  was eventually held on 12^th October. It was won by Jim Taw of LHFA so they host next year’s event again. The club’s chairmen will be meeting up sometime to confirm timings, rules and entry fees so hopefully the 2026 competition will be better supported.

The next dates for your diaries will be:

• Open Cod Competition: Sunday 30^th November (and following Sundays as reserve dates)
• December Club Meeting: Tuesday 2^nd December at 7pm in the Marina Bar
• January Meeting and Curry Night (optional): Tuesday 6^th January
• February Meeting: delayed by one week due to an event booking to Tuesday 10^th February
• March meeting: Tuesday 3^rd March
• Presentation Night: Saturday 14^th March – including a free drink, food, cash raffle and loads of awards. Be there or we’ll spend your subscription money on ourselves.

Finally – SMAC supported the Premier Marinas Berth holders Social Morning on 24^th October. We made new friends at Premier HQ and acquired a new competition prize sponsor, Portsmouth Distillery. That plus a free bacon roll, coffee and Premier branded swag made it a very worthwhile morning. Premier promised another one in the Spring, so watch out for their announcements in March sometime.

Only a few of the faithful turned out for the October meeting. We considered voting to divide the entire club funds between us but decided to give the others another chance. Steve as usual chaired the meeting with his usual authority although to be honest we could have just sat round a table.

Steve announced the Club Standings (see below). We all noted that the plaice and bream sizes were down compared to previous years, although bass are bigger. 19 Specimen Fish though! Next up was Fish Of The Month and with only one entry, it didn’t take long even for us to work out that Andy Bird clinched it with a 42lb Stingray (pictured above).

The Cod Pool currently stands at £220 but that is likely to double when members realise what a cod could be worth. On the subject of cod, the SMAC Cod Open is scheduled for Sunday 30^th November with the following Sundays as reserve dates. Watch out for the usual promotions.

The Inter-Club Competition was postponed due to the weather and will roll over to the following Sundays as reserve dates.

Premier Marinas will be organising a Berth Holders event on Saturday 25^th October, and have invited SMAC to be present. Watch out for promotions from Premier on that one.

We finished the meeting listening to Peter Atkinson’s account of his first three Bluefin Tuna caught from Southsea last week, an incredible achievement. Photos and story will be in our Catch Report.

Next Meeting: Tuesday 4^th November at 7pm in the Marina Bar.

After several postponements, the weather forecast looked promising enough to run our annual Open Species Competition on Sunday 28^th September. As it turned out, the forecast was only an approximation of reality because a gloomy sky and a stiff southerly breeze greeted us as we departed. However, by the afternoon it brightened considerably, so much that we were able to have our prize-giving ceremony in glorious sunshine (which is why we are squinting at the camera!)

The competition is for the most different swimming fish species – squid and crabs don’t count! It is always likely that there will be a lot of ties for number of species caught so we use a tie-break score based on a species table.

In total, 25 different species were recorded by 20 anglers fishing from 10 boats.

We had no Juniors entering, so the competition results were for all Adults and a Ladies Bonus prize.

1^st Prize £120 cash plus a Lift & Scrub from Premier Marinas: Dan Lumsden, 11 species score 22

2^nd Prize £60 cash plus Baits ‘R Us Voucher: Pete Churchill, 11 species score 7

3^rd Prize Rod & Reel donated by Dave Newnham: Dan Sissons, 10 species score 27

4^th Prize £50 donated by Dan Sissons: Dave Newnham, 10 species score 11

5^th Prize £30 donated by SMDAC: Richard Pack, 10 species score 7

6^th Prize £20 tackle voucher donated by SMAC: Steve Tambling 9 species score 7

7^th Prize Voucher donated by the Marina Bar: Mike Cave 8 species score 7

8^th Prize Bottle of Whisky donated by Dave Newnham: Wayne Comben 7 species score 16

Ladies Bonus Prizes:

1^st Prize Rod & Reel donated by British Big Game Fishing: Penny Arthur 7 species score 0

2^nd Prize Bottle of Gin donated by Steve Kelly: Pam Eckersall 4 species score 9

We would like to thank all our generous sponsors and all the competitors who supported the event by taking part. It means a lot to the organisers when everyone enjoys themselves!

Here is a full list of all species reported on the Claim Forms:

• Bass
• Blenny – Tompot
• Bream – Black
• Bream – Gilthead
• Bull Huss
• Conger
• Lesser Spotted Dogfish
• Goby – Black
• Goby – Rock
• Mackerel
• Pollack
• Pout
• Poor Cod
• Ray – Smalleyed
• Ray – Thornback
• Scad
• Smoothhound
• Tope
• Tub Gurnard
• Turbot
• Whiting
• Wrasse – Baillons
• Wrasse – Ballan
• Wrasse – Corkwing
• Wrasse – Goldsinny

The first announcement from Steve was a sad one: our friend “Mad Mick” Beattie has lost his long battle with cancer and passed away last week. Our condolences to his family and friends.

Onto happier things: the current club standings have had a switch around after a flurry of plaice catches – see the Standings Listing below.

Fish Of The Month had a number of entries but the hot contenders were Andy Bird’s mullet of 5lb 4oz and Steve Tamblin’s huge stingray of 43lb. The stingray was 143.4% of the specimen weight and wins Steve a medal and £10 – an impressive catch.

We couldn’t bring news of the SMAC Open Species Competition because it was postponed from last Sunday and will carry forward each successive Sunday until we have fishable weather. Dan has a hot tip for small species identification: take a clear plastic container and photograph the fish in water. Fins are a good indicator of species and they are much easier to see when swimming.

The Cod Pool is now officially open so please pay Steve £10 before you catch a cod to be in with a chance of taking all the pool money.

The date for the SMAC Cod Open Competition will be Sunday 30^th November. Put that date in your diaries and clear every Sunday afterwards until about the end of January. The only year we actually fished the Cod Open on the original date was the year I couldn’t be there, which I am still sore about. It’s a great event.

The Inter-Club Competition was won last year by Langstone Harbour Fishermen’s Association so they are hosting this year’s event. So far we only have a suspicion of a date based on rumour so we are seeking clarification, to put it politely.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 7^th October at 7pm in the Marina Bar.

We were almost outnumbered by SMDAC this time – we followed their meeting where they welcomed the new Chairman Ben Munday and planned the next few months’ activities.

Anyway, Steve’s back from Norway and soon called us to order. The current competition standings were announced, which are detailed below. So far we have 14 specimen fish entered for Angling Trust certificates, which shows we have some very good anglers in the club.

A number of those specimens have appeared in the Fish Of The Month entries, and this time we had a close tie between Ray Plomer’s 2lb 6oz Gilthead Bream and Andy Bird’s 4lb 12oz Mullet. The Gilthead won by a whisker (or whatever they have).

We then reviewed the first SMAC Open Bass Competition which was very well supported. The full report is here. You can also listen to an independent podcast from DNA Fishing covering the Bass competition here  (it’s a long podcast so you can fast-forward to 127 minutes to hear our bit)

Our next competition is the SMAC Open Species Competition on 31^st August. Same rules as before: photographic entries for most species with a tie-break species scoring system. Cards and claim forms will be issued on registration. Further details and on-line booking if required is here . Our competition advertising banners will be updated and made available to sponsors.

A monthly Catch Report is published on this website. If you would like photos and mentions in the August or future reports please send them in – email, SMAC WhatsApp or message is fine.

Next meeting will be Tuesday 2^nd September 7pm in the Marina Bar.