Life’s a beach as Arch takes a second win in succession
DARREL Barnes has had a poor run in the Newport Summer Series but bounced back to win the final match at School Pool. He was on peg 61 in the back bay and caught 45lb 2oz of carp on feeder and pellets.
Chris Barrell was two pegs away and runner up with 40lb 12oz while by weighing in 40lb 8oz for third place Dennis O’Leary, from Ebbw Vale, made sure of first place in the six match series.
Section winners were Andis Schneider with 34lb and Mark Guerra with 22lb 8oz.
Over the series Dennis collected 29 penalty points while Chris Barrell finished second with 32 points and Rob Sims third with 50 points.
Sirhowy AS member Neil Daniels did well on all three lakes at Holgan Farm as he put together an aggregate weight of 227lb 14oz to win the three day festival.
Thomas Kehoe totalled 194lb 2oz for second place and fishery owner Ian Heaps was third with 192lb 12oz.
The Sunday open at the fishery saw Ian Heaps top the catches on the Carp Lake with 162lb 8oz caught on maggots over groundbait.
Well beaten in second place was Gordon Smith with 89lb and then came Colin Bates with 79lb.
Small fish kept everybody busy during the Rhymney AS match on the club’s stretch of canal at Llanfoist where club Secretary Jesse Pugh again demonstrated his float fishing skills with a winning 7lb 3oz mixture of roach, gudgeon and perch.
A 2lb bream proved useful for Terry Moss as it boosted his small roach catch to a second best 4lb 11oz and in third place was Elwyn Parfitt with 2lb 7oz.
The Wednesday open at White Springs was pegged on the Match Lake and won from peg 2 by Ben Hicks with 106lb 4oz of carp and bream.
Rob White’s 96lb 3oz was enough for second place while Alan Godrich made his regular appearance in the money with 75lb 15oz and third place.
Newport father and son Les and Dave Turberville made their mark on the open match at Somerset venue Viaduct Fishery.
Les won the match with 193lb 3oz of carp while Dave, who is having his best ever season, finished in fourth place with 178lb 4oz. CONDITIONS were perfect at the start of the WFSA Aberavon Open Competition, the final qualifying event for next month’s Garry Evans Seamaster final, with fish showing in the shallow water.
However little was caught during the first hour of the pegged down, measure and release competition.
Things quickly improved as the flooding tide brought the mullet and Joe Arch quickly targeted the fast biting fish to win his second major beach open in a row. The Cardiff builder and former World Shore Fishing Champion caught 12 over the 20cm minimum limit and they added up to a total fish length of 344cm to give him the £300 first prize put up by the WFSA and 20 points to add to his collection.
The £150 put up by the WFSA along with 19 Garry Evans Seamaster points was Dai Davies’s reward after the Swansea competitor caught seven mullet with a total length of 191cm.
Anglers had travelled from well out of the area to take part and Axe Valley SAC member Paul Curtis came from Somerset to win £70 and 18 points with six mullet measuring up to 168cm.
Chris Stephens, from Porthcawl, targeted dogfish and rays to finish a fraction behind in fourth place.
His four rays and a dogfish gave him a total length of 167cm but the 57cm dogfish that included was the longest round fish and gave him an extra £50 to go with the £50 fourth prize and 17 points.
The top junior was 10-year-old Oliver Jenkins who received a £50 voucher donated by Paul Osmond Haulage.
Rory Jenkins has finished at the top of the Garry Evans Seamaster points table with a total of 91; Roy Tapper is second with 72 and Mike Mather third with 56 points.
The lowest points total to make the top 20 and qualify for a chance to be the 2018 Seamaster Champion is 26 and these will fish against each other during the Barry Festival on Sunday, October 7 with the title going to the qualifier with the highest weight on the day.
As well as the trophy and coveted title the Seamaster Champion will receive a £250 tackle voucher while vouchers for £150 and £100 go to the finalists in second and third place.
The open to all Festival will be fished from 10am to 3pm along the stretch of beach from Cold Knap
Point to the steps at Fontygary and the weigh in is at Rhoose Social Club where the scales close at 4pm.
The Barry Festival winner will pocket £500 put up by the East Region WFSA and there is £250 waiting for the runner up followed by 18 prizes including rods, reels and angling luggage.
The entry fee is £10 but juniors fish for free to win £50, £30 and £20 vouchers donated by Paul Osmond Haulage.
Booking in is from 8am to 9am at Cwm Ciddy and it is possible to book in at some tackle shops tomorrow.
The fifth round of the East Region WFSA Shore League takes place at Sully and Bendricks on Sunday from 11am to 4pm.
Teams book in by 9.30am at Cosmeston Park; fishing limits are from Lavernock Point to Bendricks Rock and match HQ at the end is Sully Sports and Social Club.
A pleasant Autumn day encouraged members of Newport and District SAC to turn out in force at Sudbrook and the fish also showed up and gave Dave Leader a profitable few hours fishing. The two conger eels he caught weighed 3.80kg and along with the first prize he also scooped the pool money and a share in the most fish prize money.
Two congers also made up the 2.49kg that made club Secretary Tony Hart the runner up and Ryan Poole also had two for 1.26kg and third prize.
Ryan’s young son Scott Poole got in the action by catching a 0.10kg silver eel and taking the junior prize.
The club fish from 5pm to 9pm at St Brides tomorrow after the 4pm booking in at the Lighthouse carp park.
A 1lb 11oz conger that Joe Deandrade caught from the pier was the only fish when Penarth SAC opened the club’s autumn competition programme. Alan Wilmott did have a chance, but the much larger conger he hooked bit through the trace and escaped before he could bring in to the drop net.
Penygraig SAC didn’t have much luck at Aberavon where the only catch after five hours fishing was the 1.40kg bass beached by Jason Lewis.
A mullet trio weighing 1.11kg caught by Cardiff member Mike Mather was the best effort from the Gwent and District SAC members lined up on the beach at Aberavon.