SHANE BENTLEY, winner of the West Coast Sea Angling Club’s Specimen Fish Hunt, went home with an armful of prizes from the presentation evening held at the Half Moon Restaurant. He won the Peter Perrio Specimen Hunt Trophy, a miniature, a 2007 gold sovereign in a presentation box, a Daiwa reel donated by Western Tackle Supplies, £250 cash and £250 in tackle vouchers. He also won £60 for the best sole on the competition’s third leg.
He was one of three anglers who had caught nine species, only their percentage scores deciding on the final order.
Squeezed into second spot by just 15.45% was Marc Eppelein, who won £150 cash, a £150 tackle voucher, 100g silver bar and an Abu Garcia reel from WTS.
Paul McLaren had held top spot right to the last weigh-in but finally had to accept third place. His winnings were £100 cash, £100 tackle vouchers, an Abu Garcia reel from WTS and a 100g silver bar.
Eppelein and McLaren also won awards for the top fish in each weekend of the event. Eppelein won a further £220 for landing the best overall sole (2-7-2), a 1-15-15 golden grey mullet and a 6-7-1 ballan wrasse.
McLaren supplemented his winnings by £160 for the best overall grey mullet 6-6-7 and a 9-5-15 bull huss.
The top three had even more prizes to come from the team event, for the awards to the members of the winning ones included cash, tackle vouchers, Shimano reels donated by Mick’s Fishing Supplies and 100g silver bars.
The winning team was Bentley, McLaren, Simon Fletcher and Mark Gillson, second was Dave Saunders, Marc Eppelein, Jason Le Noury and Steven Torode and third Andy Le Lerre, Tim Froome, Scott McMillan and Mark Le Page.
A new prize was added this year, the Boatworks+ award, going to the captor of the best percentage fish.
This went to Lee Vaudin for a lesser-spotted dogfish at 2-13-10, which was just one dram below the Bailiwick record and scored 99.86%.
The £150 prize was some consolation, bearing in mind Vaudin had missed the £1,000 award for breaking a record by such a small margin.
The evening was compered by Geoff Le Page, who reported on a highly successful competition, which had attracted 102 anglers.
It was the closest fish hunt ever, with three anglers finishing on nine species and four on eight.
A total of 212 qualifying fish were weighed in, almost certainly a record for the event, covering 19 different species.
The biggest surprise was the number of trigger fish caught - 40 - making them the most prolific species.
Conversely, no Bailiwick records were broken so the top prize of £1,000 was not won and in addition no new fish hunt records were set.
There was a record level of prizes, the total value being in excess of £7,500.
This was due to the excellent sponsorship being received from a number of local financial institutions and tackle manufacturers and dealers.
A special word of thanks was given to Paul Rowe for arranging the use of the Brock Road Youth Centre as the control point for the event and his brilliant record keeping throughout the three weekends of the competition, which kept all the competitors up to date with the latest positions.
Each year the money raised from the sale of unwanted fish is given to charity. This year it was decided to support the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. The Specsavers Optical Group had kindly agreed to match the anglers’ efforts and as a result Dr Peter Standring from the trust was present to accept a cheque for £800.
All the prizes were presented to the winners by WCSAC president Sam Robins.
ANY problems you have in the selection of your Christmas Day dinner menu are easily solved. All you need to do is to take part in the Northern Trust Fur and Feather competition organised by the Guernsey Sea Anglers Club.
You can win turkeys, meat joints, Christmas puddings and many other items of festive fare.
The open annual event will take place on Sunday from 9am to 4pm.
Registration and the subsequent weigh-in and presentation of prizes will be held at the St Peter Port Services freight sheds at Bulwer Avenue.
The competition has been designed to cater for all types of angler, from the most fanatical specimen hunter to those who just want to take the wife and kids out for an enjoyable day’s fishing.
There are senior, junior, women and three-man team awards, with the prize list covering the heaviest bags and the top specimen fish, including awards for the best fish of each species.
Registration will commence at 8.15am and it is suggested that entrants arrive in plenty of time, so as to allow the event to get away on time.
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