Author: Neville Merritt (Page 4 of 44)

Our February meeting was also our AGM, where we elect our officials and discuss any Rule changes. It was also the first of our Winter Series talks so we started the evening hearing from Steve Dimmer, founder and Chief Instructor at Portsmouth Marine Training who are based in Southsea and Chichester Marinas. Steve has given SMAC members some amazing deals on some of his courses in February and at those prices it’s worth it just for a refresher. See the poster below for details. To claim these prices you need to book by phone not online Tel: 01243 511293.

Then onto SMAC Business! The AGM marks the end of one Club season and the start of another. Dave Newnham won overall Club Champion for 2024 – congratulations Dave – and the other winners are listed in the final Club Standings below. Cups and certificates will be presented at our Presentation Night on 15th March (members get a free drink and snacks!)

 The Committee all stood for re-election, and after calls to sack the lot of them it was quickly realised that nobody else wanted those jobs, so the Officers remain as follows:

• Commodore: Tim Andrews
• Chairman: Steve Kelly
• Deputy Chairman: Neville Merritt (+ writer of things and BBQ cook)
• Communications Officer: Steve Andrews
• Treasurer: Dan Lumsden
• Open Competition Organisers: Steve Kelly, Neville Merritt, Dan Lumsden, Dave Newnham
• Raffle Ticket Sales: Eleanor Atkins

The only Rule change was a proposal to add the Open Bass Competition, which is detailed below .

Fish Of The Month was awarded to Dave Newnham’s pollack of 14lb 6oz by a unanimous vote (see photo above).

Specimen Fish Award cards have been sent by the Angling Trust and will be given out at the Presentation Night. They have been getting physically thinner by the year, so Steve has purchased some nifty enclosures to bulk them up a bit. They need to be worth giving out!

Membership fees are now due (£20) and must be paid before any fish can be entered for competitions.

We now have a pair of SMAC banners to promote our club brand at open events and club socials. Other branded merchandise – caps, beanies and burgees – are still available to buy from Steve.

Dave Newnham and Dan Lumsden have been planning a new Bass Open Competition which we propose running on Saturday 5^th July (or Sunday 6^th and following weekends as a weather standby). This will be our first competition assessed by length rather than weight which helps with conservation and prevailing bass fishing regulations

Dave and Dan have proposed an interesting set of rules for this new competition. Please read through them so that we can adopt agreed bass competition rules at our March meeting. This proposal is posted below the meeting report – please let us know your comments either by email, message or at the March meeting.

Finally, in AOB there was considerable comment on the marina cill closure, the way it was communicated, impact on marina use, impact on the end of the SMAC season and to top it off, the new re-booking fee for short notice yard service changes. Individual members have sent emails of complaint but there have been no replies. Our Deputy Charman was tasked with sending a robust email to the Premier MD, Pete Bradshaw, on behalf of our members – who represent 45 berth holders.

Next Meeting Tuesday 4^th March 7pm in the Marina Bar.

Presentation Night is Saturday 15^th March

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PROPOSAL: Open Bass Competition 2025

Dates: Saturday 5th of July (or Sunday 6^th, weather dependent)

If deemed unsuitable, the following weekend and so on (Committee decides).

This Bass Open Competition is intended to be inclusive for small and large boats. We know big bass hide all around us so distance is not necessarily an advantage!

Competition rules

1. Competition entry fee: £20 per angler plus one official fish measure per boat at the cost of £10.
2. All fish must be measured and photographed on the standard SMAC Tronics pro fish measure supplied by SMAC £10 (or hire at £12 – to debate?)
3. Prevailing national bass regulations will apply: anglers may retain a maximum of two fish per angler, fish length must be over 42cm. If this rule is found to be breached, competitors will be disqualified. Catch and Release after measuring and photographing is permitted.
4. Each angler may use up to two rods and a total of three hooks.
5. Shotgun start at Winner Cardinal Buoy at 7.30am.
6. Fish length will be recorded on the SMAC Bass Competition WhatsApp group. Card numbers will be issued at sign-in. Either video or photograph can be used, but the fish length must be unambiguous and clearly visible to qualify for entry. If fish flaps in the video it’s not a problem, as long as there is a clear picture of the fish with all of the fish and the measure in view.
7. Fishing to finish at 5:50pm. Pictures must be taken by 5.30pm to reach WhatsApp group by 6pm cut off.
8. All boats must be back by 6pm to confirm competition entries (so time your trips well!). The Southsea Marina holding pontoon is available for visiting anglers or you can return to the marina by road from your normal berth.
9. Prize pool: 1st, 2nd, 3rd (cash payout, percentages to be determined as the competition is NON-PROFIT) other prizes up to 10th place to be announced.
10. All anglers on a boat must be paying competitors.  (This is to help the prize pool to reach its potential)
11. No active commercial Bass Fishing boats allowed (the main reason is they are out on the fish every day and have an unfair advantage.) Charter boats and skippers are allowed.
12. SMAC Committee will assess and rank fish pictures (specialists on hand for assessment.)
13. SMAC Committees word is FINAL.
14. Presentation starts at 6.30pm at the Marina Bar garden.
15. Please fish safely and with our fisheries protection in mind.

Tight lines, SMAC!

Our reasons for the rules and line of thinking:

1. The £20 fee is an increase on previous competitions but still cheap when we pay lots for bait, lures etc, it’s still a long cry away from SAC’s £250 (+ sea grass, litter picking !!)
2. The fish measures: do we sale them@ £10 each (they retail at £15 each) or do we ask for a deposit £15 refunded on return? Would the cost of 45 of these come out of club founds then comp fees? Club keeps them for following years? Same measuring devices for everyone help us in fair play.
3. Reasons for measuring not weighing Bass: we don’t want to be known as a kill fest and having protests at the bar/ prize-giving, or indeed have the fisheries all over us.
4. How to prove length: most people can use WhatsApp and have it on their phones, you may know that with pics, they are time, day and GPS stamped !!
5. Prizes: we decided that one large prize could make a weak person try to cheat. So cash spilt on 1,2,3 and donated prizes down to 10th as we think the real prize is “who’s the best Bass fisherman/ woman 2025”. We also believe that women would like to fish on a level with men ( equal rights ) no need for ladies prize. Kids – something to discuss??
6. Why a Shotgun Start: we decided that this would put pay to the fishing areas question & large v small boats, if you then want to go out 30 miles the people that don’t want to they get 3 hours more fishing time, so it’s down to you to plan your day and find the fish – big bass are everywhere!! And lots of ways to fish for them!

Dave Newnham & Dan Lumsden

We will review this proposal and members comments at our March monthly meeting. If you can’t attend please forward your comments to Neville or Steve Kelly.

Remember, Remember, the 5^th of November….well, we didn’t. Our meeting clashed with thousands of people flocking to Southsea Common for the fireworks, so the members that braved the journey spent more time looking at tail-lights than sitting in the SMAC meeting. Anyway, many thanks to those that made it!

Steve opened the meeting presenting a long overdue prize to Terry Webster. We couldn’t actually remember at the time what the prize was for, but on checking it was for 9^th place in the Open Species Competition this summer.

Next was the current Standings, these are listed below. It only takes a fish or two to juggle the placings, so all still to play for. Well done Pam for 20 Species, that’s a clear lead and possibly a record for our Ladies Species Cup.

Congratulations again to Ray Plomer who won the Inter-Club competition with a Bull Huss of 12lb 10oz. Although he was fishing for LHFA, this also earned Ray Best Placed SMAC Member and for good measure November Fish Of The Month.

Our next competition is the Cod Open on Sunday 17^th November, rolling forward Sunday by Sunday if the weather doesn’t cooperate. It will probably be on the same day as the ECA Cod Competition which adds to the fun.

The Cod Pool stands at 36 entries and no cod yet, so that’s a good pot and a very low bar so far!

The Mandela Cup will be fished on Saturday 28^th December. This is a fun social competition, theoretically for cod (or whiting) but if the weather is bad we fish from the marina and retire to the bar when we have had enough – in this case Rule 2 is invoked and any fish count. Rule 3 is when no fish are caught, and we decide on the spot how to allocate the prize.

The date for the Presentation Night has moved to Saturday 15^th March 2025 due to a clash of bookings, so please update your diaries so you don’t miss the best night of the year.

Looking further ahead we are planning a Bass Open Competition, pencilled in for 6^th July 2025. This will be based on length not weight (optional Catch & Release). We will need to source and supply Official Rulers which is being investigated.

On the topic of rulers, we were reminded that Dr. Christina Hunt still needs photos of your catches with a ruler please, so her AI Fish Measuring Bot can have some practice.

Finally, those that attended the Shark and ray Tagging talk at the ECA on Monday were surprised to learn that this research has shown that sharks and rays don’t breed every year. Tope are likely to breed every other year, smoothhound every three years and rays can breed every five years. We never knew that.

Next meeting is Tuesday 3^rd December, 7pm to 8pm (Winter Hours) at the Marina Bar as usual.