This month’s report is rather restricted because firstly, the weather was mostly foul and secondly, when we could fish we had the SMAC Mandela Cup and Open Cod Competition which have already been written up separately.
However, I did receive a very interesting catch report from David Cox which is worth featuring here in full:
” I’ve not posted a report for a while but thought you would like to know that my last fish of the season was a Blue Skate. It was a Juvenile of around 10lbs. It was thin with little in it’s belly but looked in good health. Caught not far from the Nab and went back safely. A great end to the season.
I hear the odd one has been caught along south Coast e.g Chesil. They are pretty rare and can live up to 100 years growing up to 300lb. They catch them up in Northern Ireland and Scotland. I remember as a little school boy on the Isle of Wight, some 60 years ago, of the odd one being caught off the end of Ryde Pier.
I would be interested to know if anyone else has come across them in the Solent area. This juvenile’s parents must be lurking in the Solent somewhere!”
That’s one that I haven’t seen yet on our SMAC Species Hunt list! Thank you for the report David. If anyone wants to contribute a catch report you are always very welcome. Just message or email me news@boat-angling.co.uk
After the usual multiple postponements it was a relief when the 29th December was forecast to be calm, if rather misty. Everyone was probably desperate to get out fishing after the festivities and we had a tremendous turnout of 82 anglers fishing from 44 boats. The on-line entry option proved very popular for the Hayling, Portsmouth and Island anglers attracting 34 competitors from further afield.
The target was cod, and failing that a decent whiting but both have proven elusive in previous years. However this year was a record with 10 cod weighed in leaving only five places to be made up with whiting. None were huge specimens but as long as they were above the MLS they counted!
We fished between 8am and 4pm with weigh-in at Southsea Marina by 5:30pm. The Marina Bar had kindly stayed open just for us, and we made good use of the facility while waiting for the results to come in. And here they are!
There were no claims for Junior or Ladies Bonus Prizes.
We would like to thank all of our sponsors who donated prizes: Premier Marinas; SMDAC; Baits ‘R Us; Victory Gas and Heating; Cosham Angling; Prestige Plumbing; Southsea Marina Bar; Fish-On Tackle; British Big Game Fishing; Sportsman’s Knight Charters, Newnham Builders and Mark Oldfield Plumbing and Gas Service.
We would also like to thank the Marina Bar staff who stayed on to serve us both days this weekend, Ruper Bremer of Southsea Marina who also stayed around to help manage the berthing of a lot of boats, Steve Kelly for all the organising and most of all, the anglers who made this competition such a great event.
Watch out for three SMAC Open Competitions in summer 2025: Bream, Species and a new one – Bass!
It’s hard to create as much drama as the Oscars when announcing the annual Mandela Cup winner but hey, it’s an important milestone in the SMAC calendar. Traditionally fished between Christmas and the New Year as a friendly within the club, we have often had to fish from the marina pontoons when the weather was bad. This year we were blessed with calm conditions even if they were misty and cold too.
We were aiming for the biggest cod but predictably, they didn’t come out to play. 10 anglers in five boats chased whiting as a substitute, “and the winner is….” – wait, you’ve already seen the photo. So much for the big reveal. John Wearn with a whiting of 1lb 1 oz wins him the £25 prize pot, plus of course the actual Mandela Cup at the annual Presentation Night at the end of the season. Congratulations John!
Feature fish of the month seems to be bass, and plenty of good fish were caught. We have very healthy stocks in the Eastern Solent, and the catch restrictions on commercial and recreational fishing plus the protected nursery areas seems to be working. The Closed Season for bass fishing in the harbour nursery areas is now over until the end of April 2025 when it comes into force again.
We seem to be seeing more large Bull Huss this year. The Inter-Club Competition was won by Ray Plomer for LHFA with a Bull Huss of 12lb 10oz.
Most marks were plagued with dogfish and small conger, which seem to be as prolific as ever. A few whiting and even fewer codling showed up, and we are hoping there will be a lot more by the middle of November for the SMAC Open Cod Competition.
Finally, squid fishing is becoming more and more popular. Both squid and cuttlefish can be caught on squid lures from boats over broken or rocky ground, from harbour walls and even steeper beaches in calm weather. Some large specimens have been caught along the coast including Portsmouth and Solent approaches.
Remember, Remember, the 5th 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 9th 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 17th 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 28th 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 15th 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 6th 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.
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 3rd December, 7pm to 8pm (Winter Hours) at the Marina Bar as usual.
At the September SMAC Monthly Meeting we had a guest talk from Dr Christina Hunt from the University of Portsmouth. She outlined two current projects: seabed mapping and a fish-length AI development project. She nows has a volunteer for the seabed mapping but still needs lots of fish photos with rulers, so her AI program can “learn” how to measure fish from a photo. I admit I keep forgetting, but if you catch a fish please can you take a photo of it next to a fish-length ruler and send to Christina at christina.hunt@port.ac.uk ?
September was a very wet month although that shouldn’t matter on the sea which is already wet. However, wet weather is usually accompanied by windy weather which does matter because that’s what stops us going out fishing. You can tell when a lot of boat anglers are frustrated by the weather by the number of political memes circulating on our chat forums instead of fish pictures.
That sounds gloomy but there were fishable days and fish were caught. September is a strange month because the warm days feel like an extension of summer: plaice, mackerel and bream are still around whereas the colder days warn of the switch to winter species with the arrival of squid and a few early codling.
As a result, catch reports were a real mixed bag with the regulars of rays, bass and bull huss plus some plaice, gilthead bream, brill and even red mullet. Stray codling were reported as early as late August.
By October the mackerel will be heading off although some are usually still around until November. Towards the end of the month we should see some whiting although in recent years they have been arriving well into November. We have a good stock of bass which will still be active and shoaling around the baitfish over banks and harbour entrances. We usually have a visit from trigger fish which are always good for the species count. In fact, for the next month or two almost anything can turn up so have a go, and do share your catch reports here!
This will be our 7th Open Boat Cod Competition from Southsea Marina and it gets better and better. As usual the First Prize will be a whopping 60% of all the entry money, Second Prize 30% of entry and a table full of runner-up prizes from our generous sponsors. Heaviest cod wins, and if we run out of cod the heaviest whiting will count. Ladies and Junior (under 16) Bonus Prizes too. Sign in at Southsea Marina £10 per angler in cash or online with Eventbrite (booking fee applies). If you book online you do not need to start from the marina, but you will still need to weigh in at the marina. Fishing 8am to 4pm, weigh-in by 5:30pm at the Marina and presentations in the Marina Bar at 6pm.
Please check Eventbrite and Facebook pages for dates. If bad weather causes us to postpone the event, we will roll it forward to the following Sunday. All tickets purchased will be valid for the revised dates.
