niggle Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Can I have a PM Colin? Kingfisher 126 and Stuie 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Fox Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Well the day arrived, and it was park at the Thistle Hotel, register at Weatherspoon's with coffee, then on board Pescary for 7.30 to 8.00 where places were drawn. I was drawn in position 1, starboard side, up forward by the side of the cabin, with 2 anglers per side, and 3 across the back. We left at 8, and we were then given individual bait packs of 3 frozen mackerel, 1lb of squid, a pack of rag, and 10 medium frozen sandeels. My Kraken 4.2m heavy match rod with quiver tips was choice of the day, capable of handling 2lb of lead, and the bigger fish species needed for the most points. My spare lighter Artico was out, and accessible, but not rigged up. As soon as we left, I started doing bait prep, the way George had taught me following the World Championships, processing one mackerel into about 40 baits, keeping bits for more baits if I ran out later. I processed half of the squid as well, and got my bait box organised with individual pots. We went down harbour with white water and breaking waves, and about 20 knots of wind. The skipper explained half the battle would be staying on station, avoiding the worst of the weed, and detecting the bites, and gave us target species for each mark we fished. First drop was drifting by Brownsea Castle. Home territory advantage, and I started quickly on the Ballan Wrasse, catching 5 for the full scoring marks before switching tactics for pollack (catching 2), plus 2 bream. By now I was winning the boat, with others catching corkwings, baillons and goldsinny which didn't count. I also had a couple of gobies, which rattled the sensitive tip clearly. We moved back into the harbour for a drift for plaice, but after 2 drifts I had a dab and one more small bream, and the rest of the boat blanked, so we had a couple of more drifts at the Castle. I had 4 more wrasse (1 point after the scoring 5) another pollack (which didn't appear to be registered - losing me 4 points), and one chap at the stern had the full 10 wrasse permitted, bagging up totally. We had over 30 wrasse, with one angler blanking. We moved to a mark beyond the Swash, where an astonishing total of 21 rays came in at anchor. I had a good start with 3 of them including an undulate of about 10lb, plus two small-eyed and a doggy, but as the tide slackened and wind freshened, I found myself fishing under the boat, and all of the fish coming downtide. Uptiding just got the line and gear festooned with weed, so I had no choice but to try to trot downtide and try my best. I had another bream, but one chap Gill on the port side had 6 rays (at 10 points each), including a double shot of 15lb undulate plus a nice small-eyed about 7-8lb. The last hour there I couldn't buy a bite, and Gill had a high-scoring smoothound (15 points, plus 5 for an extra species) which I had been targeting. The tide slackened, the bites for all anglers stopped, and we moved into the lee of Old Harry, hoping for gurnard, smoothound and other species. Again I ended up fishing around the corner of the hull based on zone rules, and weed prevented effective uptiding. I had another hour without a fish, but only 2 or 3 came in - one small bream, and two doggies. The 6 hours permitted fishing time was suddenly over at 2.30, and while we were all keen to continue, the comp was done. I finally had time for a proper coffee and a bite to eat. Scores were totted up as we steamed back in, and Gill beat me by 10 points, with his 130 to my 120. That smoothound clinched it. I was comfortably 2nd on the boat, and had I continued my earlier pace I would have squeaked it. Boat winners all had 100%, and other anglers on the boat got a percentage of that, based on their points scored. When we reassembled in the car park, it was quite clear Gill had done well, and the other boat wins were allegedly between 124 and 129 points as well. He won it overall with 130 points, World No 1 Colin Searles and No 2 Ray Barron were 3rd and 4th. I came 5th with 120 points - with just one fish between the top 5 scores. Overall, watching George had taught me a huge amount. The kit, organisation, preparation, and techniques all played a part, but I can't help but think if George had been able to fish, he'd have had something (anything!) in those last 2 hours, and clinched it overall. Mike Reel Wizzard, niggle, gaffa and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niggle Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Brilliant Mike,very good result Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Well done! Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve S Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Good result Mike, well done. Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Martin Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Very well done Mike, to come 5th in such a field is a great result Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfisher 126 Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Great result Mike, podium next time. Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggcol Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Good effort Mike well done Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicester Fisheagle Posted June 13, 2015 Report Share Posted June 13, 2015 Very interesting read and all part of the learning curve. You were certainly knocking on the door! Allan. Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuie Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Very well done Mike - the hard work and preparation really paid off.... Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iansimpson63 Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Good result Mike, congratulations Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reel Wizzard Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Well fished Mike. Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coddy Posted June 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Well done Mike Great report and great result for you, I can see you and George will be the ones to beat in the future Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlieannear Posted June 15, 2015 Report Share Posted June 15, 2015 Very well done! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lofty Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 Great skills Mike Mike Fox 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Posted June 16, 2015 Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 Well done Mike, I agree great skills especially being under pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coddy Posted June 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2015 A report of the champs has been posted on Wessex AT web site http://anglingtrustwessex.com/angling-trust-wessex-boat-championship-2015/ for those interested. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich185 Posted June 17, 2015 Report Share Posted June 17, 2015 Well done mike, good result. rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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