ANGLING ADVENTURES
Planning is well underway for the forthcoming European Open Beach Championship, including a Christmas Day film
Looking forward to the European Open.
Not long until Christmas now and here at Sea Angling Adventures we’re putting the finishing touches to our festive production to promote the European Open Beach Championship, being held from March 6-8 on the coast of East Yorkshire. It gave the team a great excuse to head back to the East Riding of Yorkshire and get together with the top anglers of the 2019 event – overall champion Chris Fisher, first-day winner Glen Wilson and best junior Josh Wilson – to put together the EOBC Christmas online video production, which hits your social media at 6pm on Christmas Day.
To give us some good filming conditions, we had to choose a time when the weather would be a lot finer and when we could target a few different species. Joining me for the trip was our photographer Nick
Panther, alongside Josef Raynsford who was running the main production cameras, while the SAA guys doing some fishing were Rob Yorke, Adam Slack and Dan Bassett. Big smoothhounds were on our minds because this coast is capable of producing 20lb fish.
SPECIES TIME
We left Devon on a Friday afternoon and headed up the M5 northbound, but, unfortunately, the traffic congestion meant it was a long journey to the EOBC headquarters at Sand Le Mere holiday village. So much so, in fact, that it was about 1am when a security guard had to let us into our caravans. We were due to meet Chris, Glen and Josh at 7am for breakfast before a full day’s fishing and filming.
Our plan was to fish a mark chosen by Josh and Glen, where we could expect a mixture of species, including spotted rays, which are unusual on the Holderness Coast, and smoothhounds. Soon we were off to the mark and after a short walk and a safe climb down over the muddy cliff banks, we were ready to set up the cameras as the fishing team started to send baits out for the first time.
Weather-wise it was perfect – the sea had flattened off and the wind had dropped overnight. With the sun shining it was a great day for filming. Josh Wilson was the first to hit into a fish and after a short battle he landed a spotted ray, which was followed by Glen Wilson landing a school bass.
I sat down with Chris Fisher and talked about his preparations for the 2020 European Open.
After a brief interview for the cameras, Chris returned to his rods and managed to pull out a spotted ray on his first cast.
By this time, we really had to pull the Wilson lads away from their rods to hear their views on bait, the best marks and general approach to fishing the EOBC event.
IT’S A CRACKER
Meanwhile, on the SAA front, Dan had managed to catch a few fish and Rob and Adam were awaiting a screaming reel bite from a big hound. While the production crew got on with their work, the lads certainly played their part as they brought in fish after fish; it was fantastic to see so many being caught and released.
All we needed for the main Christmas production was a big smoothhound, and soon Rob was into a fish that he thought was a codling. It turned out to be a nice fivepounder, very light in colour.
The tide was just approaching high water and it was all or nothing in our attempt to capture the moment with a big hound. I stuck all my eggs in one basket and placed the camera crew around Adam Slack, who was fishing all out for a hound. Fresh peeler crab baits from Devon were attached to size 4/0 Cox & Rawle Chinu hooks, which were attached to a pulley rig.
Luck was with us too. Almost as soon as we’d set up the cameras, line poured off Adam’s reel and we knew it was the fish we wanted. Adam got straight to his feet, picked up his Anyfish Anywhere Tournament Match Pro rod and tightened the drag on his reel. Suddenly the rod tip arched over. Fish on! The hound stayed deep all the way in and, as it reached the shoreline, we could see it was well into double figures. It weighed 14lb 3oz, a fantastic specimen from any coastline. We were all over the moon. The Christmas production would be a cracker.
As the fish swam off to fight another day, we congratulated ourselves on achieving our mission. What a fantastic day – lots of species including the target. What more can you ask for? Yes, a pint to celebrate! ■