Penn Sea League 2016
Convincing win for England international Saul Page
Who won the prize in this prestigious event.
Soon after Saul Page was ranked as the world’s top shore angler, the England international finally achieved another ambition of winning the 2016 Penn Sea League.
With only an angler’s best 10 results counting, the 38-year-old civil engineer from Deal was the only angler to amass more than is permitted, having to drop one result, his lowest, but still finished a comfortable winner with 94 points.
His two biggest scores were both 17 points when winning the British open and getting fourth in the Llandudno two-day match, a Penn Plus event giving points to the top 10.
After coming so close to winning the league in recent years, having been third in 2015, and second in 2014 and 2012, he has finally topped the prestigious year-long contest and scooped the prize of £1,500 worth of Penn tackle.
“I have been competing in the Penn League for a number of years and think it is a great event and a very good indication of how all the match anglers around the country are fishing each year,” said Saul.
“I have been runner-up in the league a couple of times and it is great to have won it at last. It has been a goal of mine to win it because some of the best anglers in the country have their names on the list,” he added. “I never chase points because I think the competition is so fierce that you never know when it will all come together and result in a win.”
ANGLING WISDOM
As a youngster Saul cut his teeth in the competitive environment of the Kent match circuit, honing his skills against some of the nation’s best anglers, such as Alan Yates, Steve Allmark and Peter Owen. Learning from the best, he was soon in the England junior team and eventually progressed to the seniors, where he is now rated as the world’s No 1.
He won team and individual gold medals in the World Junior Championships and has been part of the senior set-up since 2006 when he was reserve, being selected to fish in 2008 in France. He has since won team silver in 2009, bronze in 2013 and individual bronze in 2015.
The 2016 Penn champion also shared a piece of angling wisdom: “There is a quote that one of the greatest anglers, if not the greatest, once said to me, and that is ‘Well done, boy, great result, but remember you’re only as good as your next match’. This has always stuck in my head.”
Leading the chase was Gareth Griffiths, of Barrow, with 72 points from the maximum 10 results to finish second; he was 11th in 2015.
In this free-to-register annual event, launched in 1999, where anglers gain points in designated open shore matches, no-one can ignore the consistency of England shore international George Smith, who finished third. League winner twice, in 2012 and 2015, he was second in 2013. This time the Grimsby angler bagged 68 points from 10 events.
Penn 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.
There was a tie at the top of Division One, so the main two prizes, totalling £2,500, are shared between Tomos Wyn Hughes and Jeff Walker, both with 42 points from three events.
Having represented Wales at junior and youth international level since the age of 11, Tomos, from Bangor, has collected four gold medals and hopes to qualify for the senior team. He was second in the 2016 Irish Winter Beach Festival.
The 23-year-old, who works at Anglesey Bait Centre, has switched to Continental tackle and says: “I feel I have improved a lot after adapting a few years back to the light side of fishing.”
Sharing top spot, Middlesbrough angler Jeff Walker’s points included a third in the Amble open. Jeff, 47, has been an angler for 30 years.