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.
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 ?
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.
Southsea Marina Angling Club were delighted to host a talk from the International Seakeepers Society and Dr Christina Hunt at our monthly meeting at Southsea Marina in September.
Gill Rodrigues, Director of International Partnerships introduced Seakeepers which is a non-profit organisation promoting and enabling oceanographic research and education through the yachting and boating community. Seakeepers connect boat owners with researchers so that research projects can be undertaken without the major expense of boat charter, and boat owners can have an active part in supporting marine research and conservation. In addition, Seakeepers have a fleet of yachts which are used as research and education platforms.
Seakeepers are based mainly in the USA, but have UK and Asia-Pacific teams locally. They have an interesting form of funding: when super-yacht owners decide to replace their vessel they gift it to Seakeepers, which in some countries is a tax-deductible transaction. Seakeepers maintain the vessel in their fleet for three years and then sell it on. Unfortunately for SMAC members, supporting this presents us with a bit of a challenge because in the UK the tax concessions are not so generous, nor do any of us have a super yacht to give away.
Even if you don’t have a superyacht to gift or loan for scientist-led expeditions, anyone can be involved in other parts of the Discovery Yacht Program. These include Citizen Science Initiatives such as the one below; Educational Outreach and Community Engagement.
Gill then introduced Dr. Christina Hunt who is leading the Competitive Angling as a Scientific Tool (CAST) project for the University of Portsmouth. Dr. Hunt explained that the project is to map seabed habitats of five species groups in the eastern Solent area: Bass, Bream, Skates & Rays, Tope and Smoothhound. It is no coincidence that these are the species in the Sea Angling Classic competition because the catch size and location data for all the SAC competitions will be used to analyse the habitats and better understand the connection between the underwater topography and species movements.
Dr. Hunt is looking for volunteers to map the seabed in a number of specific locations using Lowrance or Simrad sonar. This hardware restriction is because the data analytics software is based on data formats from these manufacturers. For more details of the project and to get involved please see here
There is another project under way at the University of Portsmouth which is to develop an AI model to calculate fish length from a photographic image. To help the robot “learn”, it needs to look at a lot of fish photographs with a length ruler so if anyone has any such photographs from past catches please forward them to Dr. Christina Hunt.
SMAC would like to thank Gill Rodrigues and Megan Hickling from Seakeepers and Dr. Christina Hunt from the University of Portsmouth for a very interesting talk. We hope to keep in touch with both Seakeepers and the University of Portsmouth researchers so that we can help in these and future projects. Marine conservation needs to be based on knowledge, and sea anglers have a great interest in supporting both the research processes and conservation outcomes.
Our popular summer Open Species Competition will be held on Sunday 11th August, with a reserve date of 18th August 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.
A full list of eligible species and rules can be downloaded here
On Saturday 11th May, Southsea Marina hosted the Sea Angling Classic Meet & Fish Competition which was the first event of a Social Day for all berth holders. There was also a Beach Clean, a SMAC information stand, RNLI lifejacket check, a raffle and a shanty band so plenty to keep the non-fishing folk entertained. Anyway, back the SAC Competition. This was a friendly, following similar rules to the SAC main event but with a big difference – it was free! Prizes were awarded for the longest of five species: bass, bream, ray, smoothhound and tope. Thirteen boats and crews from across the Solent entered, including two boats and crews from SMAC. The event started with registrations at the marina followed by a captain’s briefing by Ross Honey, founder of Angling Spirit which organises the SAC events.
Boats headed out of Langstone Harbour for a 9am competition start, each making for a mark that was most likely to produce some big specimens. We were very fortunate with the weather, because although tides were strong and the wind easterly, the sun was shining and the sea relatively calm. Through the day, competitors caught fish, measured them on the boards supplied and sent photographs of catches back to the event organisers.
By 4pm the competition was over and crews were back at Southsea Marina to hear the results, and we were delighted that SMAC members secured two of the five top prizes! Here are the winners:
Longest Tope – Peter Churchill (SMAC) 160cm Longest Tope (Junior) – Carla Bream 125cm Longest Ray – Peter Kinchin 58cm Longest Bream – Caroline McKell 37cm Longest Bass – Nick Wallis 62cm Longest Smoothhound – Jason Williams 120cm
Peter’s tope was actually the longest tope ever recorded in SAC competition history, so well done Peter! It was a very close competition, SMAC members Ray Plomer and Richard Pack came within millimetres of the winning bream but unfortunately there were no second prizes. They made up for it carrying off five raffle prizes so all was not lost.
Marina staff Rupert and Sergey did a great job as hosts for the day, organising event space, berthing and all the things that need to happen behind the scenes. Steve Kelly represented SMAC with a table and stand display, and that stand is another of Bill Arnold’s legacies for the club.
Here is a gallery of photos from the SAC Meet and Fish Competition, prizegiving an entertainment.
