Tasty specimen in Mike’s bass catch

1:33pm Friday 11th July 2008

SOME excellent fish have again been recorded with Mike Howell taking four bass while fishing from the Poole charter vessel Sea Jay skippered by Matt Rowe.

Howell, a café manager in Wimborne, used a large mackerel bait presented on a 6/0 hook to catch his first ever bass with the best fish, a mouth-watering specimen, tipping the scales to 11lb.

TASTY TRIO

DARREN Slater from Bournemouth also got among some decent bass when he went afloat in his own small boat Sea Dune which he launched from Mudeford.

The 37-year-old sales manager used fresh mackerel presented on a long flowing trace to tempt a trio of bass with the best fish tipping the scales to 9-14.

The same trip also produced several black bream and a decent pollack.

SMOOTH ACTION

SHORE anglers have also been sampling some hectic sport on the local scene with Jason Bates taking five smooth hound during a single session at Southbourne.

Bates, a 40-year-old fitter from Southbourne, was using ragworm presented on size 1 Aberdeen hooks that were cast around the 100-yard mark when the hounds put in an appearance. His biggest smooth hound tipped the scales to 9-3 which is a personal best.

Slightly further afield, Norman Fields beached a 12-5 smooth hound during a night session while fishing from one of the rocky groynes at Highcliffe. Peeler crab was the successful bait

VARIETY THE KEY

VARIETY was the key during the Lymington and District SFC open boat species and specimen competition, which saw Steve Rickman carry off the £250 top prize for the day's best specimen with a 2-12 ballan wrasse.

Rickman, a 32-year-old gardener from Lymington and a member of the host club, was fishing from his own boat Bluefin over Black Rock just off Yarmouth when he caught the valuable wrasse on ragworm. It narrowly beat a 7-8 small-eyed-ray caught by Glen Grieves also from Lymington while fishing from his own boat Predator.

A fair number of bass were also recorded during the event with the best fish, which tipped the scales to exactly 6-0, being caught by Dave Masterman who is a member of the Ashlet club.

Other species caught during the event included thorneback rays, tub gurnard, dogfish, black bream, pollack, mackerel and lots of smooth hound which were below the 42-inch size limit set for the event. Anglers were only allowed to weigh one fish of each species.

Jane Hopkins from New Milton ran out the winner in the points section with 57 followed by Andrew Hopkins (45), Glen Grieves (44), Gary Withers (43) and Eddie Taylor (34).

The pairs section was won by Jane and Andrew Hopkins with 112 points followed by Gary Withers and J Masterman from the Waterside club with 64 points Lymington's next open fixture is their summer open shore competition, which doubles as the Wessex NFSA heat for the Guernsey National Championship, takes place on August 30 around the Lymington and Pennington sea wall. Fishing will be in two zones from 7pm to midnight. Full details will be available shortly.

KING REIGNS

BALLAN wrasse, corkwing wrasse, plaice, bass, pout and flounders provided the action during the Swanage and District AC open held along town beach where Scott King, a junior member of the host club, won the catch and release event with 104cm. The runner-up was John Rulton with 97cm followed by Billy Langton, another junior member of the host club, with 81cm