The first FOM entry of 2009: Steve Greenway with his 10-5-8 shore-caught bull huss. (0697901)
AFTER four years of finishing second or third in the Guernsey Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society’s shore championship, Brian Montgomery has finally taken the top honour.
It was, however, a very close finish, with the result in doubt right up to the last days of the month.
At the beginning of December, Paul Clark led the championship with an aggregate weight of 99-14-13. This was 1-8-6 ahead of Montgomery, who held second place with 98-6-7.
It all came down to the catches made during December.
Clark found two fish – 4-15-0 and 4-9-0 – for a total weight of 9-8-0.
Montgomery replied with four of 5-5-0, 4-4-0, 4-0-0 and 3-14-0 for a total weight of 17-7-0, enough to give him victory by 6-6-10.
There was some consolation for Clark for he had already had a runaway victory in the boat championship and also won the boat-shore aggregate trophy.
Other fish weighed in during December were a 6-12-0 specimen by Billy Forman and one of 3-2-0 by Andy Hockey.
Forman’s fish gave him the Mick’s Fishing Supplies prize for the heaviest of the month.
It was a mixed year for the society. Fishing was sporadic, only one double figure bass was caught – one of 10-0-0 by Tom Brock – and they failed to win the Interclub Challenge with the Bailiwick Bass Club.
There was good news on the membership as numbers have risen consistently throughout the year, with many of the island’s top anglers being among the new members.
Any further anglers wishing to join should attend the society’s annual general meeting, which will be held on Thursday 15 January at the Wayside Cheer Hotel at 8pm.
The presentation evening will take place on Friday 20 February.
SHANE HUXSTER has added to his considerable successes of 2008 by winning the West Coast Sea Angling Club’s highly competitive Winter League.
It was a very tight finish. Four anglers had gone into the last month of the competition on 13 species, their positions being decided on their aggregate percentage scores.
During December Huxster only entered one fish, a 5-8-9 ballan wrasse, which was a bigger specimen than one he landed earlier.
It did, however, increase his percentage for his 13 species, to 779.93%.
Second-placed Shane Bentley had a blank month and finished on 13 species for 743.53%.
Billy Forman took third spot. He had a 6-12-14 bass, which was bigger than a previous catch and gave him a final score of 13 species for 682.39%.
Steve Greenway had four qualifiers, one an additional species and three were improvements on previous catches.
Although they gave him the highest total of species, 14, the league is decided on the percentage scores and as a result he had to be content with fourth place on 597.01%.
Glen Cortez completed the top five, his 1-15-0 lesser-spotted dogfish taking him up to 12 species and 597.01%.
The pairs competition was won by Shane Bentley/Steve Greenway, who had 27 species for 1,387.08%. This was 97.27% clear of Steve and Shane Huxster in second spot.
In December, 19 qualifiers were entered by 15 members. Over the whole six-month competition no fewer than 41 members submitted entries.
The club has confirmed that the date of its annual general meeting is Wednesday 21 January at 7.30pm at the Wayside Cheer Hotel.
The annual dinner and presentation night will be held on Saturday 21 February at the Peninsula Hotel at 7.30pm.
PETER FRISE has regained his Guernsey Sea Anglers Club’s championship title.
In 2007 he relinquished it to Stuart Tostevin, but returned to his winning ways to amass 1,792.25 points, 476.25 ahead of runner-up Mike Weysom.
Ten members entered the club’s last match of the year, a six-hour roving shore event.
Fish were hard to find, to the point where four of the competitors failed to make a catch.
It was almost an all garfish match, with 78 being landed, but club president Adie Sarre prevented the clean sweep by landing a 3-10-0 grey mullet, which gave him the competition kitty.
Frise won the match by three points in spite of catching four garfish fewer than Weysom, as he had 20 bonus points for landing a specimen fish, a gar of 1-1-3.
Joe Gomez finished third and consolidated his third place overall finishing 164.25 points behind Weysom.
It’s no surprise that Frise also won the shore championship with 1,132.50 points.
Once again Weysom had to be content with the runner-up spot, being 432.50 points behind Frise.
Sue Le Billon finished 15th overall, but won the women’s overall championship.
Esther Hatton won the women’s shore championship.
LIZ DEWE won the Sark AC’s December competition and has consolidated her lead at the top of the club’s championship list.
The six-hour roving shore event attracted seven members and they all found fish.
The total catch consisted of seven black bream, five garfish, two ballan wrasse and one pollack.
Dewe’s winning catch was two ballan wrasse and two black bream for 7-2-0 and 38.5 points. Her nearest challenger, Glyn Williams, finished third in the event, with one pollack and one black bream for 2-8-0 and 21 points.
Dewe is now on 465.25 points, 91.25 ahead of Williams in second place.
There are three more competitions remaining before the club season ends on 30 March.
YOUNG angler Toby Patch has entered a ballan wrasse in the December Fish of the Month competition, hoping to win the junior prize.
It was caught on a west coast shore mark on a legered crab bait and weighed 5-4-9.
It will be judged against the 8-10-13 Bailiwick shore record.
The first entry in the January FOM has come from Steve Greenway.
He cast out a squid bait on a running leger on a south coast shore mark and hooked a 10-5-8 bull huss.
The big doggie will be judged against the 13-14-0 Bailiwick shore record.
The year’s first boat-caught entry has come from Trevor Morris.
He was out with Richard Keen, fishing a wreck mark off Guernsey’s west coast, when his legered sandeel bait was taken by a 3-4-5 pout.
It will be assessed against the 3-8-13 boat record.
Article posted on 7th January, 2009 - 2.29pm
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