Tom Brock with his overall winning bass of 12-12-7. (0831460)
THE catches in the Guernsey Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society’s Open Bass Festival’s boat section were possibly the best ever.
No fewer than 55 bass were entered, well up on last year’s 23, and the high standard of the catches was quite remarkable.
In 2008 four double-figure bass were caught in the whole festival. On this occasion there were 19, and a further 12 over 9-0-0, all in the boat section.
Richard Blackwell started the ball rolling with a 10-11-9 specimen at the first evening weigh-in on Friday.
He must have thought he had a chance of top honours but eventually this catch could only finish in 11th place. Even Blackwell himself beat it with a 11-2-1 fish at the last weigh-in on Monday.
The winner was Tom Brock with a 12-12-7 fish, just nine ounces clear of Martyn Denning in second place, who boated one of 12-3-7.
Third was Mark Addlesee 11-14-12, fourth Mark Page 11-6-6 and fifth Mark P. Fletcher 11-5-7.
The top woman angler in the boat section was Davina Fallaize who had an 8-8-6 fish. Although it was a good fish, the high standard of the catches meant she finished in a lowly 37th place overall.
The surprise of the festival was the lack of entries in the kayak section.
Interest in angling from kayaks has rocketed in recent years and there were high expectations that this special section would produce many good fish.
Sadly only one entry was received, Mark Le Prevost with his 4-13-0 bass.
It was a similar story in the dinghy section, Jean Prout’s 4-5-4 specimen being the only entry.
In complete contrast the shore section was very disappointing. Only 23 bass were caught over the four days compared with the 32 in 2008 and none were double figures.
The winner of the section for the second year in succession was Paul McLaren with a 8-14-13 fish.
Second was Mick Damarell on 7-15-5, third was Shane Toms 7-9-9 and fourth Mark Fletcher 7-8-7.
Dawn Marley was the top woman in the shore section with a 7-6-6 fish, which was good enough to give her fifth spot overall.
GBASS and their many sponsors must have been delighted at the festival’s success. The weather was superb and the 244 anglers who entered were the highest for any Bailiwick open event since 1997.
GBASS must be congratulated on the organisation of the event for it ran well throughout, even when, at all four of the evening weigh-ins, they were almost swamped by the competitors bringing in a continual stream of superb fish.
THERE has been a rush of entries for both the August Fish of the Month competition and the Phoenix Fish Bass competition as a result of fish caught in the GBASS Open Festival.
All were boat-caught entries for bass, with all being caught on sandeel baits on various marks to the east of Sark.
Practically all the bass were entered in both competitions.
The entries were Tom Brock 12-12-7, Mark Page 11-6-6, Mark Addlesee 11-14-12, Martin Mourant 10-13-14, Martin Denning 12-3-7, Jon Romeril 11-2-0, Richard Blackwell 10-11-9 and Mark P. Fletcher 11-5-7.
Visitor Dave Page submitted two, 9-14-1 and a 11-4-8 specimen caught later in the weekend.
Away from the bass festival, Dave Phillippe caught a gilthead bream on a west coast shore mark.
It took legered verm and weighed 7-4-13. It will be judged against the 8-8-8 shore record.Guernsey Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society Open Bass Festival
Article posted on 26th August, 2009 - 2.29pm
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