Author: Neville Merritt (Page 1 of 44)

We had a great turnout of members despite the weather and Eastern Road. That was good because we had a lot of rule change proposals in the pipeline and we needed a representative number of members to vote on these changes. The minutes of the AGM might look more official than our usual reports and this is because we may need to reference a formal set of AGM Minutes if we apply for a different status of club which could allows us to reclaim VAT.

SMAC Annual General Meeting 10^th February 2026

Minutes:

1. Members Present

• 17 SMAC members were present plus one puppy

2. Review of 2025 Season

• Bream Competition May, best placed member Jim Atkins 2nd
• New Bass Competition, promoted and organised by Dave Newnham and Dan Lumsden C&R, shotgun start, sponsorship by Rapala, best placed member Steve Tamblin 1st
• Species Competition top members Dan Lumsden and Pete Churchill, both with 11 but Dan placed first with a score of 27 vs 7
• Cod Competition, first date in November finally fished February, best placed member Dan Lumsden 1^st
• SMAC BBQ in June, good call on the weather
• Premier Berth Holders Social Morning – result, new prize sponsor Portsmouth Distillery, Premier lift & Scrub discount and a promise of a new banner

3. Treasurer’s Report

• Funds at start of year £2,230 (committed spend approx., £1,900 for presentation night)
• Funds at end of year £1,897 (expected spend £1,900 for presentation Night)
• Membership funds due now approx. 70 members @ £20 – £1,400
• Raffles raise £400+ each

4. Officer Elections: 

• Commodore: Tim Andrews re-elected as Commodore
• Chairman: Neville Merritt elected
• Deputy Chairman: Jim Atkins elected
• Treasurer: Eleanor Atkins elected
• Secretary: Dan Lumsden elected
• Event and Competition Volunteers: Dave Newnham, Steve Kelly, Dan Lumsden

We always welcome other members to come forward to help our Committee and volunteers with future events and competitions!

5. Rule Change Requests:

1. Rule 7: “Species Hunt to be added to the Annual Competition and count towards Club Champion”  – ACCEPTED by unanimous vote
2. Rule 7: “Each cup to be increased from 3 places and points to 5 places and points” – ACCEPTED by unanimous vote
3. Rule 7: “Only one fish to be entered per angler per cup” (instead of one angler taking several places with several fish) – ACCEPTED by majority vote
4. Rule 7: “Add smoothhound to the Competition Cups” – REJECTED by a majority vote because this was considered impractical as most people want to return smoothhound. However it was suggested that we could run a summer or evening Social Competition for smoothhound based on length on Club Rulers.
5. Rule 9: “Only fish caught on berth holders’ boats may be entered into Club competitions” (instead of only Annual berth holders) – ACCEPTED by unanimous vote
6. Rule 9: “Only fish caught on berth holders’ boats or by past berth holders (i.e. not crew on their boats) if they have maintained their membership for up to five years may be entered into Club competitions. All boats must leave and return from Southsea Marina or Langstone Harbour within 24 hours and all fish must be weighed and witnessed on Southsea Marina scales on return” – ACCEPTED by majority vote. As this is a new rule we will offer an amnesty valid only for one month for memberships that may have lapsed over the past five years.
7. Rule 11: “Fish of the Month awarded only to Specimen Fish” – REJECTED by a majority vote. However it was noted that the wording of this rule should be clarified to: “Fish Of The Month – awarded to the best specimen fish or notable fish, members at the meeting to vote.” This means that exceptional fish can be recognised even if they do not reach specimen size.

6. Plans for 2026 Season

• Presentation Night 14th March
• Bream Comp 3rd May
• Bass Comp Saturday 18^th or Sunday 19^th July
• Species Comp late summer date tbc
• Inter-Club hosted by LHFA again
• Cod Comp to be scheduled from early November
• BBQ June date tbc
• Premier Berth holder Socials will be supported by SMAC if invited.

7. AOB

• No AOB thankfully

9. Next AGM

• Tuesday 2^nd February 2027

February Monthly Meeting

Following that epic session, we then rattled though our regular Monthly Meeting Agenda.

Standings was a short read as only a few fish have been caught let alone entered since our season started on 1^st February. Please see WhatsApp or the noticeboard because Steve and I scribbled all over our only copy in our excitement during the AGM.

Fish Of The Month was awarded to Ray Plomer for a giant dogfish of 2lb 1oz. A sign of the times but well done anyway.

Our Open Cod Competition was finally fished on 1^st February (or 32^nd January) after postponing since the end of November based on weather forecasts. Congratulations to Dan Lumsden for catching the only cod and taking 1^st place. You can read all about it here.

Now the SMAC 2026 season has started, membership subscriptions are due £20 please to Steve Kelly who has kindly volunteered to help Eleanor our new Treasurer.

Presentation Night is Saturday 14^th March in the Marina Bar as usual. 7pm for 7:30 start and we always expect a big crowd – partners and juniors welcome. There will be a free drink voucher for all members, free food after the prize giving and a massive raffle. Our new committee and volunteer team are already on the case to make this another great evening.

Next regular Monthly Meeting will be Tuesday 3^rd March in the Marina Bar starting at 7pm.

Let it never be said that SMAC members are wimps. 17 brave souls defied snow and the Eastern Road gridlock to attend the meeting, and 14 of us enjoyed our Curry Night afterwards. Many thanks to the staff of the Marina Bar for staying open for us!

We started as usual with the current Standings, which Steve kindly prepared for us (updated version reproduced below). This was followed by Fish Of The Month and because of the dire December weather – which is easier to blame than dire angling skills – we only had three fish to choose from. Ray Plomer’s Bull Huss of 12lb 10oz was a clear winner at 107% of Specimen Weight (updated to add the photo above of the actual Ray Plomer and the actual Bull Huss).

We reported on the Mandela Cup previously, and we honoured the Stalwart Seven who fished bite-less on 28^th December. Having been in the archives I noticed that not only was it traditional to fish between Christmas and New Year, it’s almost traditional not to catch anything either.

The Cod Competition still hasn’t been able to run, so we may consider a Saturday if Sunday forecasts remain iffy. However, there still seems to be cod around according to those like Tim Andrews who are catching them.

Next monthly meeting is our AGM where we appoint our Committee and review Club Rules. Following the resignation of our long-standing and brilliant Chairman Steve Kelly, we need to review roles and responsibilities across not only the Committee but also those members who are able to help out on an ad-hoc basis. It is important for the survival of our club that we are jointly able to keep it going by sharing the work involved – if we are able to do that then no single role need be too much of a burden. We will circulate a proposal for who does what so that members can consider any of these roles before the next meeting.

There are a couple of Rule amendments we may consider at the AGM:

1. In the Winter period, when the Marina Bar shuts early and members are less inclined to attend a club meeting on a cold evening, to consider not holding formal monthly meetings in person and instead provide updates and interaction online.
2. To consider including long-term Winter Berth holders (i.e. not monthly contracts) for Club competitions, which are currently restricted to Annual Berth holders only or members fishing from those boats.

Any proposed rules changes require a Proposer and Seconder, and will be discussed and voted on at the AGM before being adopted (or not).

Finally – a reminder that the SMAC season ends on 31^st January, so you have the rest of the month to catch a cod for the cod pool, top up your Species count or fluke something big to mess up the Standings!

Next meeting will be our AGM on Tuesday 3^rd February at 7pm in the Marina Bar.

The Mandela Cup is our traditional Christmas Break competition, and because of the timing the weather and our availability from family commitments is always a challenge. Once we set a date though, we fish regardless of the weather even if it means braving wind and rain and fishing from the pontoon. This year was one of those, and although we didn’t have rain we certainly had a biting north-easterly wind. Nevertheless seven brave (or crazy) souls turned out to fish the competition which was slated to start and at 10am and finish…whenever. After two and a half bite-less hours and numb extremities we called it a day. It is a Winner-Takes-All competition but as we all came joint first the only fair thing to do was to split the prize money between all of us. We are going to have to figure out how to fit seven names on the Mandela Cup but we’ll find a way. Thanks guys for turning out, we had some good chats and shared lots of plans for our 2026 fishy ambitions.

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 7^th, 14^th or 21^st December but will skip the Christmas weekends and reserve dates resume from 4^th January.

The Mandela cup will fish on 28^th 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 6^th 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 14^th 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!

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.