It’s three for George

England international bags trio of league victories

Popular Lincolnshire match angler George Smith has become the first Englishman to win the Penn Sea League three times, and only the third to do so since the annual, year-long event was launched in 1999.

The England international, who has fished at World Championship and Home Nations events for his country, follows in the footsteps of Welsh internationals Alan Price and Joe Arch in topping Britain’s most prestigious event for shore match anglers on three occasions.

His Penn Sea League Premier Division win earns him a £1,500 tackle voucher from sponsors Penn. With a consistent performance in matches all year, George really made it count in the last two months of 2018, finishing with 89 points from the maximum 12 allowable matches.

One of the League’s most consistent anglers over many years, he was fifth in 2017 and third in 2016, and won the Penn Sea League final in 2017 at Kelling, which featured the best anglers from the 2016 PSL.

GOOD START

The angler, from Grimsby, kicked off 2018 with seven points for joint third place in the Ashbridge Memorial New Year’s Day open, fished on the coast of East Yorkshire. Picking up several smaller batches of points, his next big win, and a personal highlight, was winning the SAMF Masters for a second time, where he collected 17 points to put himself in fourth place in the Premier Division by May.

During the summer he picked up four more batches of points, and by early November was still holding fourth place with 60 points, having added 18 points for third in the Kent Classic fished on the Isle of Sheppey.

He then surged to the top with another 18 points for third in the JE Williams memorial at Otterspool, seven points for winning an East Anglian Team of Five open in Suffolk and finally rounding off with four points at the Holt SAC Christmas open in Norfolk.

The 55-year-old fish filleter has represented England since 1992 when he won a team gold medal in the Home Nations, which he followed up a year later with individual gold and team silver. He fished in the World Championships four times and won a team bronze medal.

“To win the Penn Sea League is probably one of the hardest things to do as you're competing against every angler in the country. You moslty need a top three result to get points, so you need to be on your game throughout the year,” he said.

“A big thank you goes out to all the match organisers who register in the PSL, another goes to Sea Angler because I think running this is nearly a full-time job, plus Penn for their sponsorship.”

BEST FINISH

Second was Ben Arnold, who had his best placing in the League with 84 points, made up of 10 lots of Penn points. He led the league in May with 44 points.

A joiner by trade, the 25-year-old angler, from Worthing, fishes the majority of his matches in Hampshire and Dorset, particularly the popular and highly competitive Southern Sea Angling League, where he has learned and improved his match skills in recent years.

“My highlights of 2018 would be winning the Southern League with its £1,000 top prize, getting selected for the England Home Nations shore team to fish in Scotland, in which we won silver, and now being runner-up in the Penn Sea League,” said Ben.

Besides winning the Southern League, he was third in the Irish Winter Beach Festival, and caught the biggest cod in the Chesil Cod Championships. He earns a £1,000 tackle voucher from Penn.

Third was the consistent Geordie matchman Steve Williams, who was second in 2017 and won the Penn final at Bossington in 2018. He finished with 76 points from eight events. Fourth was Gareth Griffiths, from Cumbria, with 72 points from 10 matches, and whose best finish was second in 2016.

QUALIFIERS

The top 35 in the Premier Division and top five in Division One qualify for the 2019 Penn final, details of which will be circulated to qualifiers when completed.

The Penn Sea League is a free-to-register annual event, launched by Sea Angler in 1999, where anglers gain points in designated open shore matches. Points are based on entry numbers at each match and mainly for the top three and section winners. Anglers have to register their name, address, phone number and email once with Sea Angler to compete and be eligible for prizes offered by sponsors Penn.

The top eight in each division get £9,000 worth of Penn tackle vouchers ranging from £1,500 to £100.

DIVISION ONE

In Division One, the winner was Swansea angler Carl Campion with 46 points from five matches. Forty-year-old Carl sealed top spot by winning December’s Country Stores fur and feather open on the Loughor Estuary, which saw him gain 10 points and jump from third place to first.

Carl, who works for supermarket company Tesco, had started his campaign early in the year with a win in the Air Ambulance open at Amroth. He wins a £1,500 Penn tackle voucher.

Stephen Common and Kenny Bowen were second and third with 39 and 38 points respectively, both from the 41st Amble open held in January 2018.

Fourth was Matt White with 34 from four matches, including nine valuable points at December’s Hornsea SAC HCF Cup open in East Yorkshire.

In fifth, and qualifying for the final in 2019, are Billy Foster, of Newbiggin, and junior angler Keane Greenhow, of Sunderland, both with 29 points from one match.

Keane becomes the first junior to qualify for the Penn final. The 10-year-old’s points came for second place in a Seaham open when he had the heaviest fish and heaviest bag, in a match won by Penn Sea League stalwart Steve Williams.