Article Index
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2020-21 season
(Starting 1st Nov 2020) Listed with most recent first
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This is primarily to avoid the chance of commercial fishermen exploiting the information for their own gain to the detriment of club members.
The reports shown below are as they were submitted for publication in the IW County Press
The published version often differs but this is out of my control.
| 30-12-20: Cod & Whiting Specimen |
A fortunate last minute change of date, due to forecasts, enabled the scheduled Cod and Whiting comp to go ahead prior to the January Covid-19 lockdown prohibiting all angling activity.
Excellent weather conditions saw 22 anglers signing on in hopes of catching the best specimen.
Unfortunately no Cod were returned to the scales despite reports of their capture in days prior to the comp.
It was, therefore, left down to the best specimen whiting and even good specimens of them were hard to find with only 8 being brought to the scales.
1st Andy Ellis 2lb 10oz Whiting
2nd Callum Smith 1lb 9oz.Whiting
3rd Ryan Wyatt 1lb 4.5oz Whiting.
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2019-20 season
(Starting 1st Nov 2019) Listed with most recent first
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| 9-8-20: Bass comp |
| 12-7-20: Plaice comp |
Excellent conditions of light breezes & a neap tide resulted in 23 anglers signing on for the BAC Plaice only competition.
In the interests of conservation, no more than two fish per competitor were accepted at the scales.
Ten competitors weighed in fish.
1st Phil Smith 3lb 9oz for a 2 fish bag.
2nd Ross Staplehurst 3lb 0oz for a 2 fish bag.
3rd Ian Mann 2lb 14oz with a single fish.
Junior Daniel Gawn 2lb 11oz for a 2 fish bag.
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Due to government restrictions regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, competitions scheduled in 2020 prior to July 12th could not be held.
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| 29-12-19: Cod & Whiting specimen comp |
16 members signed on for Bembridge Angling Club’s Christmas Cod & Whiting competition.
Despite good calm weather and suitable water colour, very few fish were brought to the scales with only 6 members weighing in. Members reported good numbers of conger & dogfish but these were ineligible.
Ray Ellis recorded the only Cod at 11lb 11ozs to take first place.
Andrew Ellis caught a Whiting of 2lb 4ozs for second place
Steve SImmonds recorded the only other Whiting to exceed 1 lb being 1lb 2ozs for third place.
| 17-11-19: Cod & Whiting specimen comp |
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2018-9 season
(Starting 1st Nov 2018) Listed with most recent first
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| 30-12-18: Cod & Whiting specimen comp |
| Open Cod Comp: all attempts to hold this comp failed & any further attempts abandoned. |
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2017-8 season
(Starting 1st Nov 2017) Listed with most recent first
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| 21-10-18: Best Specimen Cod or Bass |
| 16-9-18, 23-9-18, 14-10-18: All comps cancelled |
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As a departure from normal competitions, there was a geographical limit of no more than 3 ½ miles from Princessa Buoy.
In addition there were two sections to the comp with one being for flatfish & the other being a conservation comp where points were awarded according to what species of fish was captured & released.
Unfortunately sport was generally poor with smoothounds, rays & wrasse being recorded.
Dave Peach won the flatfish section as he was the only one to bring one to the scales which was a Brill of 2 lbs 8 ozs.
Top honours in the conservation section went jointly to Jason Haliday & Ian Mann who both recorded 30 points.
Ray Ellis was second on 18 points & Mark Jones was third on 7 points.
| From 8-7-18 up to & including 5-8-18: All comps abandoned due to anticipated lack of interest |
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8-7-18: Plaice Comp:
Apologies that only very short notice was given for this comp to be confirmed. The committee finally agreed that it should still count for championship points. If anyone has any strong feelings against that then please advise any committee member.
Result report:
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In the interests of conservation, only a maximum of two fish were permitted.
Ian Mann was first with a bag weight of 5 lbs 6ozs
Liam Smith was second with a bag weight of 3 lbs 13 ozs
Bill Smith was third with a bag weight of 3 lbs 1 ½ ozs
| 1-7-18: Plaice comp : although scheduled it was abandoned by request of skippers. |
| 24-6-18: Plaice comp (added by popular demand.) |
As a result of representations from skippers in Bembridge Angling Club, an extra competition for Plaice was added to their list of competitions & it was recently held in near perfect conditions of little breeze & good water clarity.
This was well supported with 31 anglers participating.
Unfortunately, despite the favourable conditions, only 15 competitors weighed in & what fish were caught were mostly disappointingly small with a large proportion returned alive.
In the interests of conservation, the club had imposed a maximum bag limit of 2 fish.
Jason Holliday found by far the largest Plaice on the day at a sweep winning weight of 4 lbs 3 ½ ozs which significantly contributed to his first placed total bag weight of 5 lbs 10 ½ ozs.
Liam Smith was second with a 2 fish bag weight of 4 lbs 7 ½ ozs
Marcus Gawn was third with a 2 fish bag weight of 4 lbs 1 ½ ozs
It is unfortunate that the County Press does not seem to have published the results report that was submitted to them.
| 20-5-18: Open Bream competition: see full report under Open Results |
| All competitions prior to the special 2018 open Bream competitiom either cancelled or abandoned. |
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2016-7 season
(Starting 1st Nov 2016) Listed with most recent first
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| Points Comp 16th September |
| Conger Comp 2nd September |
| Skate / Ray Comp 27th August |
| Points comp 30th July: Cancelled due to bad forecast |
| Plaice Comp 16th July |
| Bass Comp 2nd July |
Members of Bembridge Angling Club had been keenly looking forward to finally being legally allowed to retain just one Bass per day for the rest of 2017 when the club held a Bass only competition last weekend.
An acceptable, but far from perfect, forecast meant that only 18 competitors entered.
A strong north wind in the first few hours of the comp & an increasing west wind towards the end, restricted boats to marks relatively inshore and only 7 competitors brought fish to the weigh in.
Liam Smith maintained his recent good form by returning with a winning fish of 6 lbs 3 ½ ozs.
Martin Evemy was second with a 4 lbs 14 ozs fish and Martin Dye was third with a 4 lb 11½ oz fish.
The next scheduled competition is for Plaice on Sunday 16th July
| Points Comp 18th June |
| Eddy Salisbury comp 10th June: Cancelled due to bad forecast |
| Bream Comp 13th May: Cancelled due to bad forecast |
| Flatfish Comp 29th April: Removed from fixture list due to delayed boat lift. |
| Cod & Whiting Comp 31st December |
Despite the thick fog of the previous day, the 18 competitors enjoyed good visibility & calm conditions. In the interests of conservation, the competition was for the best single specimen of either species, both being prime eating fish.
Club chairman, Ross Staplehurst, opted to target Whiting & was rewarded with a competition winning specimen
Martin Dye’s Cod of 20 lbs 12 ozs was very narrowly beaten into second spot but additionally won him the optional sweep for the heaviest Cod.
Dave Peach was third with a Whiting of 2 lbs 4 ozs.
| Open Cod Comp: 11th December: See open results page |
| Comp 12th November: cancelled due to poor forecast |
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2015-6 season
(Starting 1st Nov 2015) Listed with most recent first
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| Comp 23rd October: cancelled due to poor forecast |
| Comp 9th October: cancelled due to poor forecast |
| Comp 25th September: cancelled due to poor forecast |
| Conger Comp 11th September |
Despite excellent conditions last Sunday, only a disappointingly low total of 14 members entered their Conger Eel catch & release competition.
Club chairman Ross Staplehurst had a particularly successful day putting his crew on a Conger laden wreck well offshore resulting in all the top places being won by them having caught a high proportion of the overall total of 63 fish reported.
In the interest of conservation, the basis of the competition was the most Congers returned.
Matt Porter took first place with 13 conger returned.
Ross Staplehurst took second place with 12 conger returned.
Dave Peach & Mark Jones took equal third place with 11 conger returned.
Ross’s crew had some added excitement on the day when a large Thresher Shark decided to take the bottom gear of crew member Colin Hicks. Unfortunately the fight did not last long when the fish decided to head for the horizon & the line broke but not before it had leapt clear of the water a couple of times, as they often do.
| Comp on 28th August was cancelled due to poorforecast |
| Comp 14th August was made points : |
Having been previously forced to cancel a number of boat competitions due to forecasts of strong winds, members of Bembridge Angling Club were very fortunate that their most recent competition coincided with the only day of perfect conditions in a week of unsettled weather.
Despite the good weather & ideal tide, only a disappointing 17 members entered.
In the interests of conservation, the competition was catch & release with varying numbers of points being allocated to each fish caught according to the rarity of the species. Boats were able to fish over a large area with those going well offshore reporting Conger to 60 lbs whilst those closer in caught a good variety including Tope, rays, Conger, Bass & dogfish.
Matt Porter amassed 50 points to come out on top, closely followed in second place by Ian Mann with 47 points. Liam Smith was third with 33 points.
Martin Dye won the optional sweep for the best single Bass with a fish of 5 lbs 3 ½ ozs
| Comp 10th July : cancelled due to a poor forecast |
| Comp 26th June : cancelled due to a poor forecast |
| Bream Comp 12th June : cancelled due to a poor forecast for small boats. |
| Comp 15th May was made points : |
Having been forced to cancel their first scheduled competition of the year due to delays in annual boat maintenance, Bembridge Angling Club was hoping for a good turnout for its boat competition last Sunday.
Unfortunately the local weather forecasts, although indicating dry & sunny, also indicated south west winds progressively increasing to strong through the day & only 21 competitors eventually signed on. The strong winds materialised sooner than anticipated & most boats opted to find what shelter they could close in within Sandown Bay with some moving back to more sheltered waters off Bembridge as the day progressed.
In the interests of conservation, no fish were to be returned to the scales & instead a variety of numbers of points were allocated according to what species of fish was caught with a limit of 5 specimens of any one species applying.
Black Bream were a favourite target species on the day but they proved very localised with some competitors struggling to catch them in numbers. In order to amass a good number of points, other species were also needed but proved somewhat elusive for a lot of competitors.
Club chairman Ross Staplehurst was the eventual winner with 30 points.
Alan Deeming came a close second with 29 points
Third spot with 27 points was shared by Phil Lewis & Ian Mann.
| Points Comp 1st May : cancelled due to delayed boat lifts |
| Cod + Whiting Comp 28th Dec: cancelled due to poor forecast |
| Cod + Whiting Comp 20th Dec: cancelled due to poor forecast |
| Cod Comp 6th Dec: cancelled due to poor forecast |
| Open Cod Comp 22nd Nov: see details under "Open Results" |
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Open Cod Comp 8th Nov: postponed due to poor forecast
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| Comp on 20th Sept was made points |
Despite glorious conditions for fishing, only 14 members entered the competition.
In the interests of conservation, this was a catch & release competition with varying numbers of points being allocated to specific species according to their rarity.
1st with 38 points was Dave Gawn
2nd with 26 points was Phil Mason
3rd with 21 points was Andy Pocock
Cod seem to have moved inshore early this season with several specimens being caught.
Mark Jones won the sweep with a cod of 16lb 5 oz
| Comp shown as TBA on 6th September was made a Skate/Ray comp |
Taking advantage of a good weather window, 20 members entered the competition. This was a catch & release competition for any species of Ray with varying numbers of points being allocated to individual species according to the rarity of the species. In addition there was an optional sweep for the heaviest Bass.
Liam Smith extended his lead at the top of the championship leader board by coming first with a total of 52 points.
Steve Simmons was second with 42 points & Antony Stanyon was third with 29 points.
Steve Simmons also took the sweep with a Bass of 5 lbs 14 ½ ozs
| Comp shown as TBA on August 23rd was cancelled |
| Conger Comp on August 9th |
Unfortunately the weather forecast for the afternoon did not look too good for the smaller club boats so only the larger boats entered resulting in only 13 participants.
Despite increasingly challenging conditions as the day progressed, 53 Congers were recorded as having been returned.
Matt Porter was first with 12 fish returned.
Nick Ring was second with 10 returned
Mark Tutton was third with 7 returned
| Conger Comp 26th July Cancelled due to poor forecast |
| Plaice Comp 12th July Cancelled due to forecast of winds SW F5 to F7 |
| Bass Comp 28th June |
Despite a far from perfect forecast on the previous day, twenty two members of Bembridge Angling Club enjoyed very reasonable conditions for their recent boat based Bass only competition. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has advised the EU that current levels of Bass mortality due to both commercial & recreational fishing need to be cut by 80% to avoid a complete collapse of the stock in future years. In recognition of this, BAC imposed a bag limit of just 2 fish per angler which is one less that the legal bag limit of 3 fish recently introduced by the EU.
Given his considerable experience of fishing for Bass, it was no great surprise that Martin Dye achieved first place with a 2 fish bag of 13 lbs 2 ozs that included an excellent sweep wining specimen of 9 lbs 2 ozs.
Matt Porter was second with 2 fish for 9 lbs 5 ozs, narrowly beating his skipper, Ross Staplehurst, into third spot with 2 fish for 9 lbs 4 ozs.
Liam Smith’s single fish of 8 lbs 1 ½ ozs put him in fourth spot| Eddy Salisbury Comp 7th June |
Once the early morning breeze subsided, sixteen members of Bembridge Angling Club enjoyed excellent calm & sunny conditions for their recent boat based competition. This was in memory of Eddy Salisbury & was restricted to fishing within a 2 nautical mile radius of Princessa Buoy & was based on a list of various numbers of points being allocated to particular species with the fish being returned.
Phil Mason repeated his last year’s victory in this competition by once again coming out top with a mixed variety of species for a total of 40 points.
Liam Smith was second with 38 points & Gary Smith was third with 35.
Matt Porter won the optional sweep for the heaviest Bream with a specimen of 2 lbs 2 ½ ozs.
| Bream Comp 24th May |
Once the early morning fog cleared, members of Bembridge Angling Club enjoyed excellent calm & sunny conditions for their recent boat based competition for Black Bream.
Numbers of good sized Bream caught by anglers has severely diminished over recent years, prompting Southern IFCA to commence a monitoring programme of their local breeding sites.
In recognition of the need to conserve local stocks, BAC imposed a strict 3 fish limit per angler.
Despite boats fishing marks all over a large area, no really large specimens were recorded & some competitors failed to even record the limit of 3 decent fish.
Marcus Gawn achieved first place with a 3 fish bag weight of 7lb 3 ½ ozs
Mark Tutton included a sweep winning fish of 2 lbs 13 ½ ozs in his second placed 3 fish bag of 7lb
David Gawn was third with 3 fish for 6lb 8oz
Liam Smith was fourth with 3 fish for 6lb 2oz
| Smoothound Comp 10th May |
Members of Bembridge Angling Club benefited from better conditions than had been forecast for their recent boat competition for the most Smoothounds released.
Rather than the breeze increasing as had been forecast, the breeze steadily decreased during the competition which, combined with a good deal of sunshine, made for an enjoyable day although fish were less plentiful than had been hoped for.
Liam Smith maintained his winning way with this competition by once again coming first with 18 fish returned. Alan Deeming was second with a disappointing 6 fish & Gary Smith was third with 5 fish.
| Flatfish Comp due 19th April was cancelled due to a combination of a poor forecast & the fact that the adverse weather had prevented the final return to the water, the previous day, of the last batch of boats receiving their annual maintenance. |
| Cod & Whiting Comp Due 28th December cancelled due to adverse forecasts. |
| Cod & Whiting Comp Due 14th December cancelled due to adverse forecasts. |
| Open Cod Comp Due 30th November was held. See Open Results |
| Open Cod Comp Due 16th November postponed due to adverse forecasts. |
| Open Cod Comp Due 2nd November postponed due to adverse forecasts. |
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2013-4 season
(Starting 1st Nov 2013) Listed with most recent first
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| Conger Comp on 19th October was cancelled due to adverse forecasts |
| Comp on 21st September was cancelled due to adverse forecasts |
| Comp on 17th August was cancelled due to adverse forecasts |
| Plaice Comp on 3rd August was cancelled due to adverse forecasts |
| Comp on 20th July was cancelled due to adverse forecasts |
| Flatfish Comp 6th July was cancelled due to forecast of wind increasing during day. |
| Bass Comp 22nd June |
Perfect settled conditions resulted in 22 members of Bembridge Angling Club entering their recent boat competition for Bass. In recognition of the current national decline in Bass stocks, the club had decided to do its bit for conservation by imposing a 2 fish bag limit.
As it turned out, this was somewhat unnecessary as only 3 competitors weighed in a total of 4 fish.
1stwith 2 fish for a total of 11lb 2oz was Liam Smith
2ndwith a single sweep winning fish of 7lb 2oz was Joe Filipe
3rdwith a single fish of 2lb 10 oz was Steve Simmonds
| JUNE 20 |
| Points Comp 8th June |
17 members of Bembridge Angling Club entered their latest boat competition.
With conservation in mind, fish were not brought to the scales. Instead there were varying points allocated to different species that had been released with the winner being the competitor with the most accumulated points.
Absolutely perfect conditions combined with a favourable tide allowed boats to roam far & wide in search of a wide variety of species.
Not a single competitor failed to record a catch.
Alan Deeming took top spot with 47 points
Phil Lewis was second with 38 points
Matt Porter & Ray Lewis were joint third with 20 points each.
| Eddie Salisbury fixed area comp 1st June |
16 members of Bembridge Angling Club enjoyed excellent conditions for their recent Eddie Salisbury memorial competition. This is the only competition in the club’s fixture list where fishing is restricted to a fixed area. In recognition of Eddie’s favourite fishing area, competitors’ boats were restricted to within a 2 nautical mile radius of West Princessa Buoy off Culver.
With conservation in mind, fish were not brought to the scales. Instead there were varying points allocated to different species that had been released with the winner being the competitor with the most accumulated points.
The ongoing poor water clarity contributed to the fairly modest returns.
Amazingly there was a tie for both first & forth place.
Skippers Joe Filipe & Phil Mason tied for top spot with 27points each.
Geoff Jones was just one point behind in third spot with 26 points.
Darren Webster & Ross Staplehurst tied for fourth place with 22 points each.
| Bream Comp on 25th May was cancelled |
| Smoothound Comp 4th May |
20 members of Bembridge Angling Club recently enjoyed near perfect conditions of hot , calm weather for their boat competition targeting Smoothound.
There would probably have been an increased number of competitors had the tide time not dictated a very early morning start.
In the interests of conservation, the competition was for the most fish returned, some of which were tagged for research purposes.
12 competitors reported having released a total of 99 fish.
Liam Smith repeated his success at winning the last time this competition was held by once again coming first with 25 fish returned.
Alan Deeming was second with 17 fish & Gavin Jackson was third with 11 fish.
| Cod Comp Sunday 29th December |
Forecasts from the previous day that had indicated winds increasing during the late afternoon of the competition did not prove to be correct and those boats that did enter experienced reasonable conditions throughout.
Target species were Cod & Whiting with the best specimen to take honours whilst the single heaviest fish would take the optional sweep.
As a consequence of the dubious weather forecasts, only 21 members entered.
Despite favourable water clarity, only 9 competitors weighed in.
1stand also sweep winner was Derek Ohren with a cod of 21lb being 58.13% of the BAC record.
2nd Marcus Gawn with a whiting of 2lb 5½oz 49.34%
3rd Rob Grimaldi with a cod of 17lb 1½oz 47.32%
4th Gavin Jackson with a cod of 16lb 5oz 45.16%
| Cod Comp Sunday 22nd December was cancelled |
| Cod Comp Sunday 17th Nov |
In consequence only 25 entered despite a very favourable weather forecast.
The normal inshore grounds had been heavily fished by large numbers of boats on the day before as a result of near perfect weather conditions and this probably accounted for why only 4 cod were weighed in from only 3 anglers
Alan Deeming opted to fish a less exploited mark and was rewarded with a winning bag of 2 cod for 23 lbs 6 ½ ozs which included the sweep winning heaviest cod of 16 lbs.
Phil Mason took second spot with a cod of 7lb 6 ½ oz
Ray Ellis was third with one of 6lb 14 ½ oz
Due to unsuitable tide times for the next few Sundays, the next scheduled competition is not until Sunday 22nd December.
Members are reminded that their annual prize giving evening is on Friday evening 6th December in the clubhouse. Food will be provided.
| Open Cod Comp Sunday 10th Nov |
The recent capture by Bembridge Angling Club member Harry Haward, of a Cod of 27 lbs 8 ozs raised hopes that BAC’s Christmas Cod & Whiting competition would be productive.
Despite the thick fog of the previous day, the 18 competitors enjoyed good visibility & calm conditions. In the interests of conservation, the competition was for the best single specimen of either species, both being prime eating fish. Unfortunately target fish were hard to find with very few being brought to the scales.
Club chairman, Ross Staplehurst, opted to target Whiting & was rewarded with a competition winning specimen of 2 lbs 12 ½ ozs.
Martin Dye’s Cod of 20 lbs 12 ozs was very narrowly beaten into second spot but additionally won him the optional sweep for the heaviest Cod.
Dave Peach was third with a Whiting of 2 lbs 4 ozs.
| Flatfish Comp 29th May: Removed from fixture list due to delayed boat lift. |