Category: SMAC (Page 4 of 7)

This was meant to be a quick meeting in the Marina Bar followed by a curry upstairs in the Bombay Brasserie, but unfortunately due to the unpleasant weather causing accidents and traffic jams we delayed the start to give those travelling towards us a bit more time.

First up was a review of the current competition and points standings. We only have until the end of January to put more scores on the board, so we need a few more fishable days in January please! The current positions are on the sheet at the bottom of this report.

The next regular item on the agenda was Fish Of The Month. We actually had several cod to choose from and an impressive pollack, but as cod are such rare catches these days the best cod won. It weighed 13lb 10oz and was caught by Dan Lumsden.

We all agreed that the Open Cod Competition had been a great success, and the option to allow online payments for entry fees will be continued for future Open competitions to encourage participation (and a bigger prize pool!) from further afield.

Promotion for our next Open Competition, the annual Boat Bream Competition on Sunday 7th May will be starting soon, so save the date! There were some really good fish caught in 2022 so hopefully we’ll see a good turnout for the 2023 event.

Some more dates for the diaries: the Mandela Cup will be fished either on 28th or 29th January, and in the sea, harbour, marina or bar depending on the severity of the weather. It has to be done, the SMAC season ends 31st January!

The annual Awards Night will be held on Saturday 4th March in the Marina Bar. There will be drinks (a free one for each member), snacks, music and prizes so all members are invited, and families too. We will all be on our best behaviour so we don’t embarrass anyone in front of their partners. We save that for the WhatsApp Group.

Our next monthly meeting will be the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday 7th February where we decide on the committee members, rule changes and any other business of global significance for the 2023 season. It will be held at 6:30pm in the Marina Bar so please come along because your vote is important. SMAC is an amazing community and it will always be as long as it is run by us all, for us all. Some of us have more time to devote to club activities than others but don’t worry about that, every member counts.

Finally, we retired upstairs to enjoy a curry, a drink and some great banter. It was a pleasure to include the stalwarts from SMDAC too! I’d also like to thank Luke Scott for his extraordinary generosity, it was much appreciated by all.

Neville Merritt

We had another good attendance including a tableful of friends from SMDAC, starting at the earlier time of 6:30pm to fit in with the Marina Bar winter hours. We had the added attraction of a guest speaker, but first things first – Club business.

Competition Standings are below. The Bass Cup competition has closed with the end of the bass open season and Mark Banks seals first place. The Cod Cup and Cod Pool look remarkably similar, Dan Lumsden leading with 5lb 8oz and Tim Andrews in second place with 2lb 13oz. This is a sign of the times, when a Specimen cod is still listed at 20lb!

Fish Of The month was awarded by vote to Dave Newnham’s 24lb Blonde Ray which was just 1lb short of Specimen, even though Dan’s cod was in the present circumstances perhaps more remarkable.

The Cod Pool has 35 entrants and only Dan’s cod to beat, so it’s well worth the money.

The next debate was whether we will lose contestants from the Cod Open on Sunday 11th, as they might get too excited and bevved watching England v. France the previous day. We agreed to poll likely contestants (post meeting note: overwhelming Yes to carry on, weather permitting)

The Mandela Cup will be fished on 27th December, 8am to 2pm, weigh-in by 3pm (members only).

Our Curry Night will be after the January 2023 meeting which will be held a week later than usual on 10th January because of the New Year. A quick meet at 6:30pm, then whip upstairs for a decent curry.

Neville thanked members for their purchases of Fairtrade SMAC hoodies and explained that the supplier’s (Koolskools) MD Andy Ashcroft will be visiting the cotton growers and hoodie factory in India during December. He plans to bring back a few photos to show the benefits that our Fairtrade purchases bring to the workers.  We’ll also send them some photos of their hoodies in action with our club members!

Finally, we had a fascinating talk on the story behind the wreck of the Flag Theofano at Dean Tail led by Steve Hunt, in a “fireside chat” with Neville. Steve has been actively involved in researching the events leading up to the wreck and afterwards. He has been assisting the commercial diver Martin Woodward who is the author of the book “The Forgotten Shipwreck”, and campaigning for more recognition of the loss of so many lives so close to Portsmouth. Although the book has a lot of information, there is still more to tell and yet more to discover.

Steve, an experienced local mariner (Royal Navy, Pilot coxswain and Langstone Harbour Board assistant harbourmaster), is hugely knowledgeable and explained both the known facts and the remaining questions very well. He showed us charts, reports and images that are adding to the published story. In fact Steve himself bought the grave of the only casualty to be buried in Portsmouth, Ibrahim Hussein (aged 19) and persuaded Southampton Ship Owners Association to fund the memorial gravestone. Penny Mordant MP and the local Council have also put their support behind his campaign for more recognition of the wreck and those who lost their lives, and a memorial plaque on the seafront has been promised.

We are very grateful to Steve for coming along and giving us such an interesting talk.

There is a review of Martin’s book here (where you can buy a copy too) and I will also be publishing a follow-up article listing the unanswered questions. I have a feeling the story has not yet ended. There are almost certainly 14 bodies still in the wreck, only 3.8 miles from shore.

Next Meeting: 10th January because of the New Year. A quick meet at 6:30pm, followed by our Curry Night for those who wish to stay.

On a day so stormy we even considered changing the meeting date, we had the best attendance ever! Thank you to everyone who braved the wind and rain, including new members Ben Munday and Michael Chapman.

After presenting Tim Andrews with his long-overdue specimen certificate for a bream from June 2021(!) we moved on to the club competition standings. These are shown below. The Species Hunt always gets lots of attention at this time of year and Pete Churchill and Dan Lumsden are neck and neck with 40 species each!

The Cod Pool is open and currently stands at £250. First and second place give cash prizes for the biggest cod caught by members from a Southsea Marina boat between now and the end of January. If you haven’t put your money down yet please give Steve Kelly £10 otherwise your cod won’t win.

On the subject of cod, the Open Cod Competition has been moved to 13th November to give the whiting a chance to arrive. Unfortunately the weather has prevented us finding out if they have but I’m sure they will soon. There are plenty of prizes so everyone will be in with a chance of something – cod or big whiting. The Mandela Cup date will be decided at the December meeting – it will probably be held over the Christmas and New Year break.

Fish Of The Month was a bit of a no-brainer this month, with a Blonde Ray of 16lb (pictured) and a brill of 1lb 12oz both submitted by Dave Newenham. He wins FOTM, I’m assuming for the ray because we didn’t vote! Dave kindly donated his prize money to the RNLI fund. On a side note, at the next AGM we will be formalising which charities we support in 2023. To date we have always supported the RNLI and GAFIRS on an ad-hoc basis but with other deserving local causes this is worth a discussion.

The next meeting will be held at 6:30 on Tuesday 6th December in the Marina Bar as usual. This time we will have a special guest speaker, Steve Hunt who will be talking about the wreck of the Flag Theofano, aka The Dean Tail Wreck, where we all stock up on mackerel bait in the summer. The wreck has an interesting story behind it, and still some unanswered questions. Ex-RN, Steve is an experienced pilot boat coxswain and assistant Harbour Master in Langstone so he knows a lot about the sea, shipping and the local area. Do come along and hear the story.

Neville Merritt

The October monthly meeting was held as usual in the Marina Bar, and this time we had something extra – a virtual guest speaker! More later, first off we had to cover the usual monthly agenda. The Club Standings are as follows. You will see Ray Plomer enters the charts this month by winning the Inter Club Competition with a bull huss of 13lb 8z (112.2%), although that was for LFHA.

Fish Of The Month was hotly contested between the fans of Best Specimen and fans of Wow That’s A Good Catch For The Area. Dave Newnham won with a turbot of 5lb 11oz which was voted Most Notable, beating Mark Bank’s actual specimen bream. But that’s how it goes! Don’t feel too sorry for Mark, he won last month. Dave kindly donated his winnings to the Lifeboat Fund, as did Ray Plomer with his Inter-Club winnings of £22.50. It’s likely our charity fund will be divided between GAFIRS and RNLI as both are deserving local causes.

The club membership is growing and now stands at 63 members which is great to see. This means more funds for competitions, prizes and events. The Cod Pool is now 23 x £10 (£230) which means a winning cod would be worth £172.50 and at the present catch rate almost any cod caught could be in with a chance. Don’t forget the Cod Open is on 31st October with even more prizes possible.

Steve reminded us that winter meetings will start at 6:30pm because the bar will have to close at 8pm. We plan to have more guest talks over the next few months and we are open to suggestions – RNLI/boat safety is already on the list.

It’s getting cooler so if you haven’t got your SMAC hoodie yet, now is the time to order. Please send any catch photos to Neville for inclusion in the monthly Catch Reports. Also, if you buy anything from Amazon please go to the Amazon website from one of the links on the Boat-Angling/SMAC website because this adds funds towards running the site and makes no difference to the price you pay on Amazon.

Having finished the meeting early we then welcomed Liz Baugh, Lead Medic at Red Square Medical, who joined us by Zoom link to run a workshop on heart-related First Aid. Although a number of us had already attended some First Aid and CPR training, there is always something new to learn and despite having to address the room from a computer screen, Liz did an amazing job and helped us all to become more confident in helping with a cardiac arrest or heart attack.  Even Buster the dachshund was paying close attention. Then came the practical exercise! We used pillows, artistically decorated to represent a person. After the exercise and a Q&A session, we voted on the best CPR dummy design. Although the results were close, the winner was Frank Chatfield who won a Distillery Tour and Tasting, kindly donated by Portsmouth Distillery in Fort Cumberland.

For those that missed the meeting (or if anyone wants a two-minute summary), I still think Vinnie Jones’ video is one of the best. Here it is.

Next meeting will be Tuesday 1st November at 6:30pm in the Marina Bar

Save the Date: Next Meeting  is 4^th October when we have a special virtual guest, Liz Baugh to run a CPR training Exercise for members. The meeting will start as usual at 7:30pm in the Marina Bar and the training will start at 8pm.

CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) is a vital life-saving skill which is used when someone’s heart has stopped such as after a heart attack or near-drowning. Liz will give us guidance so we will all have the confidence to have a go if the need ever arises.  This wouldn’t be training without a practical exercise, so please can you bring a pillow with you, and an old pillowcase that is no longer required? To add a bit of fun to a serious exercise, we’ll also have a competition with a prize of a Distillery Tour for Two kindly donated by our neighbours at the Portsmouth distillery. You’ll find out more on the night!

Liz is a former Royal Navy Medic and is now Lead Medical Consultant with Red Quare Medical. She provides medical training services for maritime organisations, from commercial ships to super-yachts. She fully understands the world of boat angling and her training will be highly relevant for us. This training has been registered with the Resuscitation Council UK and everyone attending will get a CPR guide sheet to take home.

Despite a rather rainy evening we had another great turnout to our monthly get-together in the Marina Bar.

Words of appreciation were expressed for all those that contributed their efforts to make the annual BBQ in August such a success. With the help of Bill Arnold’s fund-raising efforts, the club accounts show a sufficiently healthy balance to see us through the various planned events and the Awards Night in early 2023.

Steve Kelly ran through the current competition standings which are as illustrated (apologies for the corrections, an updated image will be along soon). Mark Banks is in the lead for the Catch and Release Cup with a bass of 12lb 8oz – 131% of a specimen weight. Peter Churchill is storming away with a tally of 38 in the Species Hunt but he has some close competitors in his wake.

Next on the agenda was the Fish of the Month. Mark Banks cleared the table with his selection of double figure bass so we selected one of them and decided that he had won. Mark kindly donated his £10 prize to our RNLI Fund, moments before realising that exact £10 was needed to enter the annual Cod pool, which runs from today. You have to be in the Cod Pool before declaring a fish (winner takes 75%, second place 25%) so see Steve Kelly with your £10 before you catch one this season!

Pete Churchill, who knows a thing or two about fishing advised us that most of the season’s cod are these days caught mainly in the September to October timeframe. This poses a bit of a dilemma with the timings of the Inter-Club and Cod open competitions but we eventually settled on the Inter-Club on Sunday 2^nd October and the Cod Open on Sunday 30^th October (set your clocks back!) with reserve dates thereafter. There is already a growing prize table so promotion will start immediately.

A proposal was put forward to run a CPR Training session at the October meeting and this was unanimously agreed. October includes the British Heart Foundation Restart a Heart day so it’s appropriate timing. The plan is to run our normal club agenda from 7:30 then at 8:00pm Liz Baugh, ex-RN Medic and now running Red Square Medical will conduct a live virtual training session for us. The practical element will involve a bit of fun and a competition, so be ready to get down and physical! Members will need to bring a pillow and an old pillowcase they no longer require. You will find out why on the night.

The marina bar staff have advised us that their Winter hours mean closing at 8:00pm so we will move our club meetings to a 6:30pm start. Reminders will follow with the notifications of future meetings.

The RNLI pot is growing nicely so we plan to invite the RNLI or GAFIRS to a future meeting to receive the donation, and also provide a bit of safety-related training if that’s possible.

Finally in the photos below you will see our special guest for the evening: Zeke Newnham, a very well-behaved Saarloos Wolf dog.

Next meeting will be a 7:30pm on Tuesday 4^th October in the Marina Bar as usual.

By John Wearn, SMDAC

Southsea Marina Angling Club held their Annual BBQ on Sunday 28th August , with the weather holding out favorably making 2022 a resoundingly successful event. But only achieved by the hard work put in by Steve Kelly doing all the organizing aided by Bill Arnold, with Neville Merritt once again committing his good self to barbecuing all the succulent deliciously cooked and plentiful food, including separately cooking his specialty in marinating deliciously smoked mackerel, all freshly caught by fishing members, especially for the day.

Thanks must go for the lovely scones cooked to perfection by the loving hands of Eleanor Atkins Jim’s wife. Steve Andrews made up for it by winning most of the prizes, but give him his due he was just as busy giving them back to be re-raffled, that goes to show the character of members throughout the club.

There may have been others behind the scenes who helped in making the afternoon so enjoyable, if so thank you all for making the bbq such a pleasant occasion you did us proud. This is shown by the fun little Eira Scott SMAC’s youngest member ( as pictured with her dad Luke ) was having, as she helped Steve and Bill when the raffle ticket winners’ prizes were being presented. Our thanks for a great day from SMDACs attending members.

PS
Steve did a brilliant job, neatly filleting 30 mackerel for the smoker from fish supplied by members. You would think 30 mackerel equals 60 fillets, but not quite. Steve confided that as he was at the back of the boat getting into the rhythm of fillet-fillet-head over the side,  something  distracted him and it was fillet-fillet-fillet over the side. Oops. Still, there was plenty for all and we even sent a doggy bag of smoked mackerel to our good friend Rupert in the Marina Office.
Neville Merritt