During a recent visit to the USA, I was given some samples of a revolutionary marine bilge cleaning device to test, the BioSok. It is based on pollution control material for industrial use, but it is also available for boat owners. Oily water in the bilges is one of those inevitable things that can, to steal a quote, be lumped in with death and taxes. It’s an unglamorous subject and is usually dealt with using some form of absorbent material – the cheapest being a disposable nappy (diapers to our American friends). The problem with this approach is that you are literally moving the problem from one place to another. Oil and fuel in the bilge water go into traditional absorbent mats where they continue to smell and then have to be disposed of as hazardous material somehow.
BioSok products are different. Instead of just absorbing the contaminants, bugs actually eat the oil and fuel, leaving nothing to be disposed of except water. The secret is hinted at by their logo – the contents of the BioSok are small grains covered in a derivative from beeswax, which stimulates the resident bacteria to feed. The oily pollutants go, and so does the contents of the BioSok so there’s nothing but the skin of the BioSok to dispose of. This is totally the opposite of traditional absorbent methods.
I’m trialling a BioSok in my own bilge this season, and so far results look very promising. The products were originally launched in the UK several years ago, but availability is limited. The manufacturers are actively looking for additional UK representation and distribution, so if you are interested in a commercial arrangement contact us for details.
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.
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.
On Saturday 12th July, an idea from Dave Newnham and Dan Lumsden finally became reality: the first SMAC Open Bass Competition. Not content with just that, they introduced several new (to us) features: it was to be Catch & Release, entries based on fish length; it would have a shotgun start and we would also pre-sell entries the evening before. Most significant of all, Chairman Steve Kelly was taking a well-deserved break so it was to be organised and managed by Dave and Dan, plus Neville Merritt. They say you should never make several changes at once but we are brave souls and ignored that.
After much investigative work by Dave and Dan we found a reliable supply of standard fish measures, we had prizes from our loyal sponsors and we also had a very welcome last-minute sponsorship from Rapala VMC. The rules were similar to other SMAC competitions but with one significant difference. Fish length on the SMAC measures was to be verified by a short video to be checked by the SMAC organisers. This proved to be very successful and meant fish could be returned quickly if required. In total 39 competitors and 16 boats took part.
The day dawned gloriously sunny and calm to start with, although a breeze picked up later in the day. After all registrations were complete and fish measures hired out together with a pack of free lures from Rapala, the boats gathered at the Roway wreck marker at 7:30am for a shotgun start. This was quite dramatic, because you don’t often experience 16 fast angling boats all heading to their marks together! (See videos below).
Competitors made the most of the time available, returning to Southsea Marina to register their claims by 6pm. After each claim form was checked against the video, we were able to rank the winners. At 6:30pm the Marina Bar Garden was full of anglers and friends all waiting for the results. Prize sponsors included Andy’s Baits ; British Big Game Fishing ; Cosham Angling; Fishon Bait N Tackle ; Victory Plumbing and Heating ; Southsea Marina Bar; Newnham Builders; Prestige Builders; Mark Oldfield Heating Plumbing and Gas Services and Rapala VMC .
Local Rapala Agent Mark Wright was also taking part in the competition so we invited him to award the prizes. There were no Ladies registered so we had the main prizes plus Junior prizes to hand out. These were won as follows:
1st: Steve Tambling, 70cm (£445 cash, rod and reel from Rapala)
2nd: Jim Atkins, 68cm (£222 cash plus rod from Rapala)
3rd: Matt Budd, 67cm (Andy’s Baits voucher plus rod from British Big Game)
4th Fergus Morrison (Junior), 66cm (Fishon Voucher plus Junior bonus of a rod from Mark Oldfield and reel from Newnham Builders)
5th equal: Richard Pack and David Miller, 65.5cm (Cosham Angling voucher and tackle voucher from Victory Heating)
7th equal: Dan Lumsden and Peter Atkinson, 64cm (each tackle packs from Rapala and British Big Game Fishing)
9th: Sam Cofie, 63.5cm (Meal for two from the Marina Bar)
10th: Ken Farmer, 60 cm (Bottle of Gin from Newnham Builders)
11th equal: Eddie Walsh and Dennis Fuller, 58cm (Bottle of Gin from Prestige Builders and Cooler from Rapala)
Junior 2nd place: Luca Bogza, 56cm (Reel from Newnham Builders)
Congratulations to all the prize winners, and many thanks to all the competitors who supported the event. We are very grateful to all our sponsors and to Premier Marinas for their continuing support of the club. Finally, thanks again to Dave Newnham and Dan Lumsden for all the hard work involved in creating a new angling competition for SMAC.
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.
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.
This is a quick reminder that the Bass Take Season for recreational anglers is closed from 1st February to 31st March. If you catch a bass in this period you must release it immediately, unharmed – preferably by unhooking in the water. From 1st April you can keep up to two bass per angler per day provided they are longer than 42cm. The official details are on the government website but trust me, you’ll be glad I summarised them above.
The Bass Nursery Areas remain in force and include Portsmouth, Langstone and Chichester Harbours, and Southampton Water. These are closed for bass fishing from 1st May to 31st October. The areas are defined on the Southern IFCA Website
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 ?
