LYNTON CARRE made a claim for the £1,000 prize for a new record fish at the first weigh-in of the Specimen Fish Hunt. He already has one pending for a shore-caught Couch’s sea bream of 2-15-1 from August and now he has landed a 2-7-0 fish which narrowly beat the existing 2-6-9 record.
Whether he will still be able to lay claim to all the money at the end of the competition remains to be seen for it is highly probably more big Couch’s bream will be landed in the remaining two legs.
The hunt got off to a great start.
More than 100 anglers entered, which is up on last year and between them they found 55 qualifying fish from 13 different species.
The weekend was dominated by black bream with 16 being weighed in. The heaviest, a 3-0-10 specimen falling to Pete Taylor.
The biggest was the 33-14-0 conger landed by Steve Huxster, the best of the four that were caught.
The most unusual fish was the
5-5-13 small-eyed ray hooked by Mark P. Fletcher.
Only six ballan wrasse were caught, the best being a 6-2-4 by Stuart Tostevin.
Other outstanding fish to top their categories were a 5-5-4 grey mullet by Gary Le Page, an 11-9-4 bull huss by Colin Patch, a 3-2-1 sole by Mike Weysom and a 1-12-9 golden-grey mullet by Andy Fallaize.
The hunt is decided by the number of different species landed by each angler.
The results are subject to confirmation, but at the end of the first weekend, Dave Saunders has four for 143.16% to lead.
John Holdaway also has four but with a slightly lower percentage score, 141.61%.
Five anglers are on three species: Steve Huxster 142.66%, Andy Le Lerre, last year’s winner, 137.88%, Billy Forman 131.98%, Scott McMillan 129.86% and Shane Huxster 102%.
It’s all building up to an exciting contest over the other two weekends of 27 to 29 October and 10 to 12 November.
One angler is still uncertain whether his fish can be included.
Mark Gillson caught a 1-14-4 smooth hound. It is notoriously difficult to identify whether it is a common or starry variety. If it’s a starry, it would be under the qualifying weight, if a common it would be eligible. Further detailed investigation will be undertaken to enable its identification to be confirmed.
n JASON SANGAN has won the Guernsey Sea Anglers’ Club’s all-day match on Herm. He landed three black bream and three ballan wrasse for a total weight of 13-5-0.
All his bream were over the club’s specimen fish size limit and the extra bonus points he gained pushed his total up to 161.25. The match attracted 14 members and all but two found fish.
The best fish of the day was the 4-4-9 gilthead bream landed by Bill Le Billon. It was a new club record, beating the 3-5-12 fish caught by the late Bert Pike way back in 1973 and also the heaviest fish of the competition, giving him the match kitty.
Dave Tostevin was runner-up with the heaviest bag of the day. His 22-1-0 haul was made up with six ballan wrasse and three black bream.
Peter Frise finished third on the day, his catch consisting of three black bream, two ballan wrasse and 17 garfish for 147.25 points.
But it was enough to take him to the top of the overall championship and consolidate his lead at the top of the shore list. John Hatton, the previous overall championship leader, could only finish fifth in Herm and has dropped to runner-up spot.
Article posted on 27th September, 2006 - 12.00am
Loading ...
Most Commented: