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SMAC Open Species Competition

06/07/2025 /

Our popular summer Open Species Competition will be held on Sunday 31st August, with a reserve dates of the following Sundays if weather conditions are against us. Fishing will take place between 8am and 4pm, with all claims to be submitted by 5pm. There will be presentations of prizes (lots!) in the Marina Bar or terrace from 6pm.

Online Bookings

First prize will be 60% of entry fees, Second prize 20% of entry fees and a Ladies Bonus Prize of 10%. There will also be a Junior bonus prize and many other prizes from our regular sponsors.

Entry fee will be £10 per angler, payable in cash on the day at Southsea Marina or using our online link for boats not starting from Southsea Marina. All claims must be made in person at Southsea Marina by 5pm.

Rules: Maximum two rods per angler, maximum three hooks in total. All fish must be photographed with your entry card visible, and photographs must be available to substantiate all claims. A list of qualifying species will be provided. In the event of a tie, a species score tie-break will be used.

We hope you can join us!

SMAC July Meeting and International Seakeepers Society

02/07/2025 /

Despite the stifling heat we had enough members present to give our guest Vicki Neild, Programme Manager with Seakeepers International Society a warm welcome. The meeting started with an introduction to the Society and its aims, then Vicki explained four different projects that any of us can get involved in. Links provided take you to the relevant Citizen Scientist pages.

  • Seabed 2030: to collect depth and location data from participating vessels to help complete the mapping of the world’s oceans by 2030. All that is required is a data logger (supplied) to be attached to your boat’s data network.
  • Orca Oceanwatchers: to report sightings of any whales, dolphins and porpoises. Training and an app is provided.
  • Humpback Whale Sightings: working with the University of Exeter to record sightings of humpback whales in UK and Irish waters.
  • Eyesea: reporting any form of pollution including oil, chemicals, plastic waste to help build a global picture of what is really happening in our seas.

Vicki concluded with a link to the Green Guide to Boating which we can download and gives tips on protecting the environment while we enjoy boating.

If you would like to be involved in any of these projects please contact Vicki at vicky@seakeepers.org

After that very interesting presentation, we returned to our regular agenda. Steve went through the current club competition standings, see below. Then it was Fish Of The Month! We had a number of good entries and nobody challenged the unofficial rule of Best Specimen, so FOTM was awarded to Andy Bird for a mullet of 4lb 8oz.

The Annual SMAC BBQ attracted 32 members, and the raffle raised £785.00. After costs were deducted we were able to add £52.48 to club funds. Neville was thanked for cooking and also putting out a small BBQ fire, and Team Atkins were thanked for the delicious pile of scones. You can read more and see photos on the linked page.

Our next event is the Bass Open Competition on 12th (or 13th) July. Posters and banners are up, prizes are being collected and fish measures have been delivered. Dave Newnham explained the rules and answered any remaining questions. Details are on our Competition page with a link to the sign-up form unless you want to pay cash on the day.

The date will be set for our annual Open Species Competition in August after the Bass Competition is completed.

Our next monthly meeting will be on Tuesday 5th August at 7pm in the Marina Bar as usual.

SMAC BBQ June 2025

29/06/2025 /

This is our annual summer event, free for members and families, where we get together on the Southsea Marina BBQ Deck and have food, banter and a fundraising raffle. We were fortunate again this year with glorious weather and just enough breeze to keep boat anglers ashore.

We aim to keep the annual subscription low, and supplement funds with raffles at our main member socials – the Summer BBQ and the Presentation Night after the end of the season.

Running a club BBQ on this scale is a real team effort and we had lots of support. We are very grateful to Dan and Steve who ran around organising prizes, BBQ and ordering supplies; fab scones from Eleanor and Jim, raffle ticket sales by Eleanor, Steve and Pam organising the remote ticket sales for members who couldn’t make it, John C for help setting up the gazebo and clearing up, Frank as Fire Safety Officer, Eleanor for Food Hygiene Inspector, Tim for making the site tidy and all those who donated prizes. And finally, huge thanks to all the members and families that turned up and made it a fun event, and those who couldn’t attend but bought raffle tickets anyway. I was just cook!

Neville Merritt
June 2025

Catch Report May 2025

06/06/2025 /

May is Bream month although they stay around our section of coast for a lot longer than they once did. The larger fish come inshore to breed and there have been plenty of them caught right through the month. The SMAC Open Bream Competition  was won by a 3lb fish and all in the top 15 were 2lb plus.

Harbours and marinas are full of mullet. When they first appear they are very difficult to catch because they are feeding on small natural items like weed and micro organisms. As the season progresses their diet extends to scavenging from things we drop in the water and are much easier to catch on bread for example. Not that they are ever that easy to catch! SMAC Fish of the Month was a 5lb mullet caught by Ray Plomer.

Mackerel and garfish are around in reasonable numbers but still not as plentiful as they once were. You will often see birds working particularly in the evening and at first light, and although there are plenty of fish there, they can be difficult or impossible to catch. This is because fish can be very single-minded if they are feeding on very small fry that have just hatched. They are either focussed only on tiny baitfish or their stomachs are full!

The first smoothhounds have arrived and will be on the usual marks. There are also plenty of bass, particularly the smaller ones shoaling up like mackerel. There are also plenty of the usual species to keep anglers busy like the nice Thornback Ray above that was John Calton’s Personal Best. There’s always a chance of an unusual bonus like a turbot. It would be nice if we had more of those again.

Next month we expect to see more catches of tope as the larger fish arrive inshore to have their pups.

Thanks to everyone for sending in photos for the gallery!

SMAC Monthly Meeting June 2025

04/06/2025 /

We had a good attendance last night even though some of our members were away enjoying themselves fishing in Florida and Norway. Steve Kelly chaired the meeting as usual, opening with a run-through of the Standings. All change here as you can see below, and this early in our calendar we can expect a lot more challengers too.

Our Fish Of The Month award turned into Southsea Marina’s version of Conclave, with a good number of bream entered in the 2lb+ mark plus a decent gurnard and bass too. However, after much debate white smoke emerged and FOTM was awarded to Ray Plomer for a 5lb mullet, at 125% of the Specimen size.

The SMAC Bream Open Competition was very successful attracting 54 competitors. It was won with a 3lb fish and Jim Atkins the Best Placed SMAC Member in Second.

The new SMAC Open Bass Competition has overcome the hiccup over the supply of fish measures so it remains a Catch & Release competition, to be held on 12th July (13th July reserve date) 2025. The Club will fund the purchase of fish measures which will be supplied one per competitor’s boat for a returnable deposit of £15. Claims must be supported with a short WhatsApp video of the fish measurement. Many thanks to Stuart Newall of British Big Game Fishing for sourcing these for us.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 1st July at 7pm in the Marina Bar. We will open with a short talk from Gill Rodrigues and Vicki Neild of the International Seakeepers Society about Citizen Science marine research projects we can help with.

SMAC Open Bream Competition 2025

20/05/2025 /

After several postponements due to the weather, we finally held our first Open Competition of the year from Southsea Marina. The weather was glorious and 30 boats with 54 competitors went out on Sunday to search for the biggest Black Bream.

The fishing was generally very good with plenty of catches. The general opinion was that it was easier to catch a lot of bream than to catch a very large one! Although we were targeting bream, a variety of other species were caught alongside them which at least made interesting sport while waiting for the big one.

The wind picked up a little in the afternoon and boats started coming back in early which spread the load on Steve Kelly and the weighing-in. There was plenty of speculation because there were eight prizes plus Ladies and Junior prizes so fractions of an ounce suddenly became very important. In the end we had an uncontested overall winner, although many of the other places were only separated by the tiniest amount.  Prize-giving took place in the Marina Bar garden (garden? Well, it has a fence) and prizes were handed out by last year’s winner Mark Oldfield. Results are as follows:

1st – Dave Schofield with the only 3lb bream
2nd – Jim Atkins
3rd – Peter Churchill
4th – Jim Taw
5th – Ryan Whitmore
6th – Dan Lumsden
7th – Neil Glazier
8th – Eddie Walsh

Ladies Prize – Eleanor Atkins

Junior Prize – Luca Bozga

We would like to thank all our competition sponsors who donated prizes, Steve Kelly for a lot of organising and all the competitors who made it a great day for us all.

Cash prizes were awarded for First and Second place. Other prizes were donated by: Premier Marinas, Southsea Marina Bar, Bait’R’Us, SMDAC, Brian van Daal, British Big Game Fishing, Mark Oldfield Plumbing, Victory Gas & Heating, Fish-on Bait and Tackle and Cosham Angling.

SMAC Monthly Meeting – May 2025

14/05/2025 /

It was a glorious evening at Southsea Marina and we had a full room of members – I think there’s a connection there. Steve opened the meeting as usual with a run-through of the current standings, see below.  Dave Newnham is in the lead for the Champions Cup with five points. Then came Fish Of The Month and although we had several notable fish in the book for April, the only true specimen was Peter Churchill’s Ballan Wrasse of 5lb 2oz so this was voted Fish Of The Month.

We hope the postponed Open Bream Competition will be held this coming Sunday 18th May weather permitting.  We are keen to start promoting the next competition which will be the new Open Bass Competition. This will break new ground for us, being Catch & Release (optional) and a whole load of new rules. The planned date is Saturday 12th July, reserve Sunday 13th July.

Here’s a quick summary of future events:

  • Sunday 18th May – SMAC Open Bream Competition
  • Tuesday  3rd June – SMAC Monthly Meeting 7pm
  • Saturday 28th June – SMAC Members & Families BBQ and Raffle
  • Tuesday 1st July – SMAC Monthly Meeting 7pm plus a visit from Seakeepers International
  • Saturday 12th July – SMAC Open Bass Competition
  • August/September – SMAC Open Species Competition
  • November/December – SMAC Open Cod Competition
  • Christmas Break – Madela Cup (Members Only)

Finally, we were very sorry to hear that at the end of April, Pete Kilshaw’s Sportsmans Knight hit a submerged broken pile in the marina channel, and sank. Pete was rescued by Steve Kelly on Lady Elsa, and Sportsmans Knight was eventually recovered to the marina. This was obviously very distressing for Pete who has regularly donated prizes to the club. The good news is that there seems to be no problems with the insurance pay-out, and Premier and Langstone Harbour Board are getting quotes to remove the obstruction. In the meantime it is marked in the channel by a buoy, so it is worth giving it a wide berth.

Next meeting is Tuesday 3rd June, 7pm in the Marina Bar as usual.

Catch Report April 2025

08/05/2025 /

We had some amazing weather with day after day of sun and low winds. Even when the wind picked up the sun was still shining. As a result there were a lot more fishing trips and plenty of catches to show off.

Bass are with us all year now, and with the two month Closed Season behind us bass were a target species again with some good fish caught. The last few small whiting were still around but they will be gone by the end of the month, probably returning in November.

Pollack are gathering over the wrecks and although it can be a bit of a hunt to find a wreck holding fish, those that persevered were successful.

The first mackerel arrived, attracted by the enormous shoals of baitfish that sometime fill our fish finder screens. I haven’t quite worked out the migration pattern of herrings but they were around in good numbers this April. Good for bait and even better fried in oatmeal.

Another summer visitor is the smoothhound and these hard fighters give great sport on the right tackle, particularly in shallow water. The first bream appeared and became more plentiful towards the end of the month. The larger breeding fish will probably depart after May but there will still be plenty of bream to catch all through summer.

There is always the chance of a bonus fish and Jim Atkins managed to find a turbot. Jim also scored the prize for biggest bass in the Sea Angling Classic Meet & Fish hosted by Premier Marinas Southsea and sponsored by Crewsaver (see Galley below).

All in all, a great start to the summer season and if the tope follow the mackerel as usual we should have a good May.

SMAC Monthly Meeting April 2025

02/04/2025 /

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

SMAC Bream Competition

SMAC Open Bream Competition Sunday 4th May 2025

28/03/2025 /

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.

Entry fee £10 payable before you start fishing.

Good luck!

Book Your Competition Entry Tickets Here

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