Morecambe Dinghy Angling Club

As a club we try to schedule a few matches throughout the year. The match itself is intended as more of a social occasion and there is always some cracking banter on the day, with a few quid to be won. But the bragging rights that come with a win, are worth all the effort alone.

To give new and prospective members a taste of what to expect on a club match day, here is a report from one of last years matches.

With the first match being called off due to bad weather, anxious eyes were cast over the weather websites hoping for good news
Most of the sites gave similar forecasts, 6-8mph NEasterlies ......definitely fishable so the decision was taken that the match was definitely ON



The match was a Bass, Plaice, Flounder and Dab species hunt, with prizes for the best fish in each species. The winning species were to be drawn at random, so any of the chosen fish was in with a chance of top prize



A decent turn out of 8 boats arrived at the slip, armed to the teeth with every bait and rig under the sun The match was scheduled to start at 7.30am, and despite the fact that we were down to two tractors, the sterling efforts of Ross and Rodney made sure everyone was in the water on time.
A big thanks to you two

click on picture......



Most of the boats decided to stay local (this side of Heysham harbour) as all the target species were in the vicinity....including Colin 'the bassmestier' on King Kaj, keeping his cards close to his chest.....






Danny and Paul on 'Flying Fish'.......last to launch as usual






Me and Bill on 'Pisces Fisher' snaffled an early small insize bass to calm the nerves






Rodney cruised past on his recently restored Seahog Hunter, very nice it looked too.......




Whilst we were chatting to him he pointed at my rod, which was dancing about like Michael Jackson in a kiddies home
A quick, expert strike and a professionally executed tussle later resulted in a decent bass being netted aboard...........







There was a definite odour of chocolate coming from Danny and Paul's boat......






We tried sneaking up on Martin on 'Lu-ann' from behind to see what bait he was using (crab-no surprises there!!!)





We'd already managed a dab so with two species down two to go we decided to head to our 'TOP SECRET' plaice mark........only to find Danny and Paul smugly ensconced there damn those pesky kids

Virtually first cast Bill pulled in a stonker of a Plaice..





He's pleased about it really...and no photoshop Mitch





We were only there maybe an hour and landed some quality fish......








After filling our boots with Plaice we shot back down to Heysham for the rest of the match, where Bill managed a quality bass of his own....

(He doesn't like his picture being taken!)


Soon enough it was time to haed back in for the all important weigh in and p!ss taking



Chris and Tony retrieving.......





Rodney the superstar








TerryG (male model) had managed to persuade his old man (emphasis on the old!) to take him out......





Terry Malone and 'Pie Eater'........





Gary Young and 'Up yours'.......





Paul fished aboard Danny's 'Flying Fish'






Steve and 'Morning Dawn'...."put the chain down Steve and nobody will get hurt"






Once all the boats were safely back on top...........





...............the weigh in could begin













Results

The species drawn for First Prize of £25 was.........FLOUNDER! this made a few members groan and a few ears prick up
The winner was Paul Calvert with a fish of 1lb 2oz



Species for Second Prize of £20 was.............DAB
The winner of this category was Danny Howard with a weight of 7oz




Third Prize of £10 was.................. PLAICE
Winner Bill Donovan with a fish of 1lb 6oz



Fourth prize of £10 was ...............BASS
Winner Dave Rushworth with fish of 4lb 7oz...........just pipping Martin Somers by 2oz

Special mention to Phil Gibbins who didn't intend to fish the match due to work commitments, but launched late and pulled in a 5lb bass fair play to him, he stuck to his original intentions and didn't enter the fish


Winners of the optional pool prize of £16 was the boat Pisces Fisher owned by Bill Donovan and Dave Rushworth



The Winners..............and some bloke tagging on the end!!


(l-r Paul, Dave, Bill, Danny....and Martin


An excellent, well attended match day for the club....a big thank you to everyone who took part, and another big thank you for Ross and Rodney for launching and retrieving all the boats
Well done all