The meeting started with a quick catch-up of prizes won but not collected including Specimen Certificates for Sam Cofie (pictured), then we were onto the Club Standings. That was a very short agenda item because nothing much has happened except Pete Churchill has Best Specimen with a spurdog of 14lb 8oz, and he also leads the Species Hunt with 9. That’s it, everything else on the table is blank. Roll on Spring!
Fish of the Month was a little more entertaining because we had Pete’s spurdog plus another from Peter Atkinson, except he had measured his at 109cm instead of weighing it. Google AI estimated 77lb and if we are trusting our future to AI it looks like we are all doomed. Anyway, it turned out that Peter’s mystery-weight fish wasn’t caught on a club boat anyway and was disqualified leaving FOTM to Pete Churchill.
Our club membership stands at 71 paid members, 2 lifetime members and 6 junior members. SMAC represents 47 boats berthed in Southsea Marina, which is a significant percentage. Club funds are healthy, enough to pay for our summer BBQ (free to members and family) and our end of season Presentation Night in 2026. Save the date for the BBQ – it will be on Saturday 28th June in the Marina BBQ area as usual.
The Sea Angling Classic Meet & Fish event will be hosted by Premier at Southsea Marina on Saturday 26th April. This year it will be a charity fundraising event for Sea Spirit and sponsored by Crewsaver who will be donating some good prizes. Entry £15 per angler, minimum 2 and maximum 4 per boat. You need to pre-book your entry here
Our next competition is the Bream Open on Sunday 4th May, details here
Our new Open Bass Competition is scheduled for 5th July, details will be confirmed nearer the date.
Next meeting will be Tuesday 6th May at 7pm in the Marina Bar
Save the date for the annual SMAC Open Bream Competition which will run from Southsea Marina on Sunday 4th May (weather permitting). Sign in at the marina office on the day or book online. Fishing from 8am to 6pm, weigh-in at Southsea Marina by 6:30pm. Prizes will be awarded in the Marina Bar from 7pm. All anglers welcome!
Rules are simple: fishing from a boat, competition is for heaviest Black Bream only. One fish may be entered per angler. Heaviest fish wins. Maximum two rods per angler, maximum three hooks in total.
Cash prizes for first and second place will be calculated from the entry pool. There will also be runners-up prizes from our sponsors, and bonus prizes for lady anglers and junior under 15 years old.
On Saturday 26th April, Southsea Marina will host the Sea Angling Classic – Let’s Meet & Fish.
This year, the Sea Angling Classic and Let’s Meet & Fish events will double as fundraising initiatives for FreeSpirit of the Sea CIC, a newly established not-for-profit charity. This initiative is dedicated to providing on-water experiences for cancer patients, disadvantaged children and families, and individuals facing mental health challenges.
To bring this vision to life, FreeSpirit of the Sea CIC is commissioning a custom-built boat featuring therapy areas designed by medical specialists. Additionally, the vessel will serve as a floating classroom, offering hands-on learning experiences with state-of-the-art educational facilities. Click here to see more about the charity.
The SAC Let’s Meet & Fish at Southsea Marina will be sponsored by Crewsaver, with some great prizes and bonuses. Entry fees are £15 per adult, £10 per junior under 16. All entry fees go to FreeSpirit CIC. There will be a number of optional pools with prizes divided between the winners and the charity.
The competition rules follow the SAC event model, targeting specific species. Scores are awarded for fish length as this is a catch and release competition. There is a minimum of two and a maximum of four anglers per boat. To book your places and check further details please register here.
Our Presentation Night is one of the social highlights of our calendar when we can celebrate all the successes of the previous season and have a few drinks and fun as well. As usual, this year we combined the SMAC Awards with our friends from SMDAC and packed the room at the Marina Bar. Steve Kelly had once again done a huge amount of work organising the cups, engraving, prizes, venue and food. On top of that he compered the evening with his usual efficiency and humour making it a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
The running order of the night was the SMDAC Awards, then the SMAC Awards and finally after some food to sustain our energy levels, the raffle. Before we got on to the main business we had to catch up with a Fish Of The Month award for Ray Plomer from November. Next item was to hand out all the Angling Trust Specimen Certificates and Medals which covered 13 specimen fish caught by members last season.
The club awards were presented by our good friend Rupert Bremer who has supported SMAC at Premier Marinas since its inception. SMDAC cups and awards cover beach, boat and lake fishing and were presented as follows.
Mixed Freshwater Lake Cup – Frank Chatfield
Largest Freshwater Fish – Tony Tadd (Mirror carp, 13lb)
Silver Fish Species Cup – Frank Chatfield
Combined Beach and Pier Competition – John Wearn
George Dominy Trophy – John Wearn
Best Specimen – John Wearn
Cod Cup – John Calton
Species Hunt – Frank Chatfield
Runner Up Champion – Tony Tadd
Club Champion – Frank Chatfield
The SMAC awards were then presented by Rupert Bremer as follows:
Plaice Cup – Dave Newnham (1lb 15oz)
Bream Cup – Dan Lumsden (3lb 1oz)
Bass Cup – Steve Tambling (8lb 10oz)
Cod Cup – Darren Price (7lb 10oz)
Pollack Cup – Mark Banks (16lb 5oz)
Best Specimen Turbot or Brill – Dan Lumsden (Brill, 2lb 9oz)
Turbot or Brill Runner Up – Richard Pack
Ladies Cup – Soulla Banks
Junior Cup – Jack Dickson
Catch & Release Cup – Jock Park (Thornback 15lb)
Best Specimen – Peter Churchill (Gilthead 3lb 6oz)
Species Hunt Cup – Peter Churchill (39)
Ladies Species Hunt – Pam Eckersall (23)
Junior Species Hunt – Jack Dickson (6)
Nelson Mandela Cup – John Wearn
Bream Open, best placed member – Dan Lumsden (2nd)
Inter Club Competition – Ray Plomer
Cod Open, best placed member – Neville Merritt (3rd)
Cod Pool, First – Darren Price (7lb 10oz)
Cod Pool, Second – Neville Merritt (4lb 3oz)
Bill Arnold Memorial Trophy – Neville Merritt
Pairs Cup – Steve Tamblin & Dan Lumsden
Club Champion Runner Up – Steve Tamblin
Club Champion – Dave Newnham
The Bill Arnold Memorial is awarded in memory of our now departed but very dear friend Bill, to the SMAC member who has made a significant contribution to the running of the club during the year. Unfortunately Bill’s sister Mary was unable to present this in person but we hope to welcome her again in future years.
After pizza and chips we moved on to the raffle. We have one free raffle for members and then a fundraising raffle. In addition to prizes bought by SMAC we were also very grateful for prizes donated by SMDAC and Premier Marinas. The raffle raised £760 towards the cost of the evening, so many thanks to all that contributed.
Congratulations to all the competition, award and prize winners! We have lots to look forward to in the coming year including a new Open Bass Competition plus our regular fixtures of competitions and annual BBQ. All we need now is some warmer weather.
Last year the Southsea Marina Angling Club was introduced to the work of Seakeepers International with a talk by Gill Rodrigues, Director of International Relations. The charity aims to connect boat owners with marine research, through Citizen Science projects and hosting research teams on board. This year there are more projects available including ORCA Ocean Watchers and Seabed 2030. Rebel Runner has signed up to both of these!
ORCA Ocean Watchers simply involves reporting sightings of whales and dolphins so that a more global record of these magnificent animals can be maintained. This will in turn support more extensive research and understanding. Because most of us probably can’t be trusted to identify a short-beaked dolphin from a white-sided dolphin, by signing up for the programme we are also booked onto an on-line Whale and Dolphin identification course. This means that the sighting we record on the ORCA app will be more reliable for the researchers.
The Seabed 2030 project is a global Citizen Science Initiative to map the world’s oceans by 2030. This will be particularly valuable in areas where leisure boaters travel but hydrographic survey data is out of date. Signing up to this project is a little more involved because the data is recorded on a data logging device attached to your vessel’s data network. It picks up depth, location and time data and stores it on a micro SD card for uploading later to the research data portal.
Last week Rebel Runner hosted a visit from Gill Rodrigues and Vicky Neild, UK Programme Manager to install and test the data logger. As we have a NMEA2000 network this was a very easy job and the green data light was soon blinking to show all was well.
The next step will be to generate a test file which sounds to me like a jolly good excuse to take Rebel Runner out for a spin. Even better, I can now tell the FPO* that I am conducting important oceanographic research which may sway things in my favour.
There was also an unexpected treat for me in the form of a very impressive goodie bag from Seakeepers as a thank you. Inside a useful mesh bag was a bottle of eco boat-wash, eco detailing spray, a very posh insulated bottle, a cap and a sample of the Cano resealable can of water.
If anyone wants to get involved in these or other marine research projects, there are more details here. Please contact Vicky at Seakeepers International to register your interest.
At the March SMAC Meeting, we invited Steve Thair, Area Manager and Community Advocate for St. John’s Ambulance to give us a talk on First Aid on board. Steve is impressively knowledgeable and I’m quite sure could have spent a lot longer than the 45 minutes allowed in educating us on this vital subject.
Although many of the members will have attended First Aid training at some point, it is easy to forget some of the things taught but Steve’s encyclopaedic knowledge brought us up to date.
The purpose of a First Aid Kit is by definition to patch up an injured person so that they can then go and get specialist help if required. Sometimes this is just to make someone more comfortable, other times it can help prevent further complications and in extreme cases it can also save lives.
On an angling boat travelling many miles out into the Channel, it could take over an hour to get back to land or in extreme cases even to get lifeboat or helicopter support, so an adequate First Aid kit and some basic First Aid knowledge are essential.
Steve asked us to describe the sort of injuries we had either experienced or were aware are likely when fishing in UK waters. These include cuts from sharp bait knives; penetration of sharp items such as hooks, baiting needles and gaffs; bites from conger and tope and falls against hard objects which can break bones.
Our First Aid kits need to contain items that can be used to treat these injuries, many of which can be extremely serious particularly if a blood vessel has been severed. A box of Band Aids isn’t going to be enough. Another fact to learn is that First Aid kits need to be regularly serviced and replenished because many items have a shelf life. There is no point having adhesive plasters that don’t stick or sealed dressings that are no longer sealed. I was shocked to discover that what I thought was a well prepared First Aid box on Rebel Runner was in fact out of date by at least five years!
Steve gave us all a list of what we need to keep on board (below). He recommended that we keep them in labelled bags within the kit so you can grab them based on the type of injury you are dealing with, rather than rummaging through the whole box in an emergency. There are ready-made compartmentalized bags available if you are flash. Other items recommended are Tuff-Cut scissors for clothing, small scissors for dressings and I have found tweezers very helpful for removing splinters.
Steve then demonstrated basic wound management with particular emphasis on reducing bleeding for deep injuries. This is very important for offshore First Aid where some time may pass before the injury can be dealt with by the professionals.
The talk finished with a quick recap on CPR and the use of a modern defibrillator. I was impressed with how good the modern AEDs are and how easy they are to use. We should all get ourselves familiar with the basics so we have the confidence to have a go when the need arises.
If anyone wants to buy more First Aid supplies to bring their kit up to standard, the St. John’s Ambulance shop has everything you need and prices are good.
The First Aid Manual is a very helpful guide and for the price, well worth buying and putting in your first Aid box.
We started our regular monthly meeting with a talk by Steve Thair, Area Manager and Community Advocate for St. John’s Ambulance. He gave us invaluable advice on what should be in our First Aid Kits, how to use the kit for common injuries and also gave us a quick refresher on CPR and the use of a modern defibrillator – all in 45 minutes! There is a more detailed report on his recommendations here .
Then on to regular Club business – although being early March there wasn’t a lot to report. Fish Of The Month was an uncontested Spurdog of 14lb 8oz winning Peter Churchill the medal and a tenner. Peter generously donated his winnings to the RNLI.
It’s very early days for the Club Standings (below) but already we have a neck and neck race for the Species Hunt between John Wearn and Peter Churchill with three species each.
Presentation Night is Saturday 15th March in the Marina Bar. Prizes will be presented from 7:45pm so get there well before then if you want a seat, a free drink and the chance to buy tickets for an amazing raffle. If you haven’t told Steve Kelly you will be attending there won’t be enough food so please let him know. Thank you!
Looking forwards to our Open Bream Competition in May, we have decided to limit entries to Black Bream only. We don’t want a freak Gilthead stealing the show!
Neville reminded members that we can still get involved in citizen science projects which were introduced to us last year at a club meeting by The International Seakeepers Society. Here’s an update we received this week:
Dr. Christina Hunt’s fish-measuring project Competitive Angling as a Scientific Tool is active until the end of March, therefore we welcome any participation up until this point. We are in contact with the researchers to discuss whether this timeline can be extended if either yourself or any other members of Southsea Marina Angling Club are keen to participate after this date. We will keep you updated with how this proceeds.
Seabed 2030 – This UN Ocean Decade Action project aims to map the entire global seafloor by 2030, using small bathymetric data loggers that connect to a vessel’s navigational backbone. By collecting time, GPS and depth measurements through these loggers (provided by SeaKeepers), Citizen Scientists can contribute valuable data to this project with little personal effort, mapping regions where data is currently sparse, non-existent or of poor quality. Coastal seafloor regions in particular are highly variable, thus data collected here can have the greatest impact.
ORCA OceanWatchers – The ORCA OceanWatchers project encourages vessel users to conduct effort-based sightings surveys to monitor global cetacean (whale, dolphin and porpoise) populations and investigate their distributions, identify hotspots, and better understand the threats they face. Citizen scientists have the unique ability to expand the project’s data collection capacity, empowering all to contribute to meaningful scientific research that drives policy change and safeguards these creatures for future generations.
Neville is signed up to the Seabed 2030 and ORCA projects and has had a data logger fitted on Rebel Runner. In return there was nice gift of freebie swag! If any member wants to participate, please contact Vicky Neild at Seakeepers. Project and contact details here.
Finally, Dan gave us an update on progress with planning the new Bass Open Competition in July. Getting large-scale sponsorship has been challenging so it is likely the competition will be run on similar lines to our other competitions.
Next Event:Presentation NightSaturday 15th March, Marina Bar from 7pm
Next Meeting:Tuesday 1st April in the Maraina Bar at 7pm where we may get some unusual entries for FOTM.
Boat angling catch reports are always a challenge in winter because the number of fishable days are limited by the weather and sometimes we can go for weeks without getting out at all. January was even more challenging this year because the cill (lock gate) at Southsea Marina was due for extensive maintenance, so most boats were locked into the marina for the last ten days of January.
Despite that, we got out for a few sessions and the results were fairly typical for January. Boats that went out to the reefs and wrecks found some good bass and pollack, with a bonus John Dory. Nearer home, the cod have all but disappeared, or were they even here? In the last two winters we have had much smaller whiting catches compared to previous years. On the other hand, conger are far more plentiful and bass that were once seasonal are around all year. We have already seen mullet back in the marina which is exceptionally early. Spurdog appear around this time for a few weeks, and these have been caught but not in great numbers. Catches have been boosted by the usual local species of rays, dogfish and pout.
I don’t expect much to change in February but anglers will be out looking for early plaice and if the seasonal changes carry on at the present pace we will probably see bream arriving too.
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 5th July (or Sunday 6th 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 4th March 7pm in the Marina Bar.
Presentation Night is Saturday 15th March
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PROPOSAL: Open Bass Competition 2025
Dates: Saturday 5th of July (or Sunday 6th, 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
Competition entry fee: £20 per angler plus one official fish measure per boat at the cost of £10.
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?)
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.
Each angler may use up to two rods and a total of three hooks.
Shotgun start at Winner Cardinal Buoy at 7.30am.
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.
Fishing to finish at 5:50pm. Pictures must be taken by 5.30pm to reach WhatsApp group by 6pm cut off.
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.
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.
All anglers on a boat must be paying competitors. (This is to help the prize pool to reach its potential)
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.
SMAC Committee will assess and rank fish pictures (specialists on hand for assessment.)
SMAC Committees word is FINAL.
Presentation starts at 6.30pm at the Marina Bar garden.
Please fish safely and with our fisheries protection in mind.
Tight lines, SMAC!
Our reasons for the rules and line of thinking:
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 !!)
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.
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.
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 !!
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??
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.
The SMAC season ends on 31st January and let’s face it, this time of year isn’t the best (or most comfortable) for fishing. We have traditionally used the next couple of months to introduce some variety and interest in our monthly meetings, and 2025 is no exception.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 4th February at 7pm in the Marina Bar. After we swiftly cover our usual meeting topics we have the great pleasure of welcoming Steve Dimmer, founder of Portsmouth Marine Training. Steve will be giving us a short talk on troubleshooting diesel engine problems at sea. If you want more extensive training on marine diesel engines, Steve is Chief Instructor at the company and in addition to a number of other boat and shore-based courses, he also runs the RYA Diesel Engine course.
The following month on Tuesday 4th March we have invited Steve Thair, Unit Manager for Alton St. Johns Ambulance and First Responder to talk to us about First Aid at sea. Steve will explain the best ways to treat common injuries sustained while in small boats, and also how to deal with potentially more serious conditions. Steve will include a run-though of what to pack in a basic First Aid kit on board, which we should all have – and keep up to date.
Please come along and support these talks if you can. There’s always something new to learn even if you are familiar with these topics already.
