Those of you that may have a nervous disposition about entering a popular fishing competition and being beaten by a couple of 11 year olds, I suggest you turn your computer off now.
We have taken part in Dog Fish Dave's competition for many years and this year Brad wanted to
invite his school friend Tom to take part who had never fished before. I agreed and we picked him up from his home 07.30 AM Saturday morning and set off for Cobbs.
On the journey down to Cobbs I resigned myself to the fact that I would have to take a back seat
this year and become a Gilley for the day. But as there were not many Juniors taking part in the competition I thought I was doing my bit in boosting the numbers. So the pressure was off. Or so I thought!!!!
Leaving the Birth at 08.15 for the 08.30 bridge lifts we saw Mike and George on Frisky Fox. It
was nice for the kids to see George in the Basin catching a Goby.
Upon leaving the quay I decided that this year we would do something different and fish the harbour first for a Bass and possibly a Flounder. I knew this was going to be a tall order as we
hadn't had a Flounder on board this year.
We arrived at our mark by Brownsea Island at 09.00AM and I baited up Brad's rig first for him to cast out. I then turned to Tom and said 'right lets get you fishing'. I hadn't even got the bait on his rig and at 9.05AM Brad said 'I got a fish on'. Up came a Flounder (10 points) at this
point I then thought perhaps we might have a slight chance in the competition.
I showed Tom how to cast the rod and he was soon Fishing. At 09.20 Brad then brought in a Bass.
Job done within 25 minutes we had 15 points.
We then set off for Shore Road to ease tom into fishing for Wrasse. After setting the hook and
the boat swinging completely in the wrong direction we caught nothing but Ballan Wrasse. However, Tom was catching and it was good for him to cut his teeth on getting fish aboard. For a complete beginner he was doing very well.
Knowing that were beginning to lose time I said to the boys that we would go to Bmth Pier and try for Smoothound, Plaice and Gurnard.
Within in minutes we Brad had caught a plaice and Tom had caught a Tub Gurnard. The points were then beginning to mount up. Unfortunately, we could not get a Smoothound so we set off to
Bournemouth Pier for a Red Gurnard. As we motored off I probably made one of the most important decisions of the day. It was 11.15 AM and in the back of my mind I knew that the tide was ebbing out of the Harbour, so I suddenly did an about turn and set off for the Swash Channel.
After anchoring I set up the heavy gear for the Rays. Tom was first in with a Small Eyed Ray and Brad followed shortly after with an Undulate Ray. The boys were getting hungry at this stage and they went inside for lunch. At last I was left alone with my rods and soon had two Smoothound on Board. We hade gained 45 Points in less that half an hour. For once my decision had paid off.
The seas were chopping up at this stage and we could not get round to Swanage Bay to try for a
Spotted Ray as I knew it would be too uncomfortable for the boys who were beginning to tire.
So we set off for the patch. Soon after setting the anchor Brad was bringing up the mini species.
Goldsinney Wrasse, Corkwing Wrasse, Gobby, Tompot Blenney and a Rock Cook Wrasse. Tom managed a
few wrasse too and I finished our tally with a Black Bream.
As a boat we had achieved 16 Species, Brad caught 11 of these, Tom caught 2 and I caught three including a Baillons Wrasse that was not mentioned.
Our best ever result for this competition was 15 species about three years ago, we then came 5th in the competition. So on our way into Cobbs I was quietly optimistic that we may have a chance of being in the top five again. Not knowing that this was a record turn out with 19 Boats entered and approximately, 70 Anglers. I had forgotten about the Junior section of the competition.
Dave Wilson began the presentation by announcing the Top Junior Prize. With 49 Points scored Brad deservedly won this prize ( a spinning fishing rod and reel) and well chuffed he was.
The Top women's prize was then mentioned ad it was the soon on to the Winning Boat Positions.
It was good to see Chris and his team on Kingfisher win for the fourth time as I know he puts a
lot of effort into the competition and I am a great believer that you reap what you sow.
Fred Smith's boat Sea Wolf was then announce in second position. After they had collected their prizes Dave Wilson then announced that the third place with 96 points was Marlin.
My jaw dropped and I looked to the kids and they cheered. I was in complete shock, all that was
going on in my mind was how could a couple of 11 year olds (including one that had never fished
before)come above at least 60 anglers in a competition. To say that I was a proud dad was a complete understatement. The boys had fished out of their skins and deserved the credit that was givento them.
One final nice and decent gesture was made by Fred Smith. In the line up of winners Photographs
(of which we were part of) Fred Smith could see that Tom was the only person without a rod.
So upon leaving the line up he turned to Tom and gave him his winning rod, a beautiful 6 to 12ld Shimano. What a great Bloke.
I know this is quite a long report but I hope it inspires juniors to take part in these events as you never know where Lady Luck is going to shine.
