Yes folks the squid comp was yesterday ! It has been on the home page for over 2 weeks. Will there be another ? perhaps, will chat too Mark and see what he thinks.
Ok lets start with the comp and results followed by a bit of a blog catch up so be warned this may be a long read if I go into waffle mode.
Right, so, after a bit of delay the sign in got underway about 10 past 5pm for adults it was £5 rod fee and £5 into a prize pot for 2 cash prizes for the Juniors who are not eligible(by law) too compete for cash prizes Mark paid for 2 spin rod & reels and I added a few Jigs
21 Adults signed in and 4 juniors giving £85 too be split into two separate cash winner prizes. Past events have seen one person do a clean sweep of prizes so format was changed a while back in that only 1 prize per person too be won.
My initial concerns for setting the date was that all past events had been on and over a high tide but with a lack of suitable tides matching possible dates the comp was moved onto the higher east wall bays with a tide dropping off the high water mark.
My other concern was the squid, with recent blows and choppy waters over the last 4-6 days the squid had gone into deep more calmer water. Wed & Thurs had seen breezes over forecast keeping the water a bit choppy and fairly coloured, Friday though settled and was much calmer giving conditions more suited and importantly a day or so of time for the squid & cuttle too come back inshore.
Saturday daytime I checked in with warden John too hear that there had indeed been squid and cuttle caught on the morning tide and I will admit to a sigh of relief, conditions looked blob on over on the east wall(thank F***!)
Yes yes yes get on with it the mrs said … At the draw entrants erm obviously drew a bit of paper with a chalked peg number with peg one being on bay 60 in reverse numbering down too the steps at bay 29 or 30 on the chalking.
6pm things were underway and with a lesser number entered it was agreed that come 8pm anyone wishing too move around onto alternate pegs could do so as they wished.
The first catch of the evening went to Joe Virgo within minutes of the start and I suspect 3-4 had been caught within the first 10 mins, not bad going especially as I hadn’t seen or heard of any squid catches for 5 days prior!…
Catches continued through the night and I suspect most would agree that the lower level of lighting again this year worked well and as a bonus for me in a way it was also good too see from the east wall a much lower level of light coming from the west wall. I firmly believe the lower lighting is for the better and no doubt creates better conditions for night fishing on the wall when it doesn’t resemble Blackpool seafront and its illuminations.
On the Squidding front there were plenty coming up and one or two were being plagued by pebble sized cuttle that were being rapidly put back. I swear that Mike was catching the same suicidal baby cuttle for half of the night.
There were plenty of squid being caught and towards the end of the night lots of speculation on who may have the largest squid and the most although there wasnt a prize for the highest number caught but there was one for the longest combined length of cuttle & squid which was creating some interesting speculation.
Come 10pm I called a halt too the night and moved too the Café tables too sort who had caught and won what.
A quick word re juniors in the comp, we had 4 enter and three stayed too the end with one heading off a little after 9pm.
Id like too say well done too all 4 of them, spending a big chunk of the night in near dark jigging for squid I recon can get a bit boring after 2-3 hours especially on a Saturday night and an England footy game on TV so too spend 4 hours that late at night IMO is pretty good going so parents, if you are reading this please say well done too them.
So prize money was split into 2 pots for 2 individual winners although The squid chose too have a say in the end result.
Overall winner with 18 Squid and Cuttle that added up too a combined length of
253.6cm or in old measures 99.8 inches or 8 foot 3 of squid body so a huge Well done too
CHRISTIAN HEBA who ironically also had the longest single squid of the night at 30cm.
Now as said, it was one prize per person and so the next largest squid went too
JOE VIRGO with a squid of 29cm.
Both received £42.50 and Christian also won a set of squid jigs from myself.
With regards too the Juniors 3 stayed until the end of the event with one a clear winner with 2 squid caught. I wont name the lads here as firstly I forgot too ask permission of their parent and being juniors I think we we should be mindful of youngsters privacy.
the lad with 2 squid automatically won one of the 2 rod & reel sets of the other 2 who stayed until finish a draw was done for the 2nd rod & reel going too one and a set of squid jigs too the other.
Thankyou all who attended, lesser numbers than past events but it all seemed too go without any problems so a big thank you for those who attended.
Back on the blog bit and catch report some may have guessed things over the last week or so had been fairly quiet with shut downs and choppy waters but there have been a few fish out there too be had.
We are still seeing plenty of GAR fish, yesterday saw bait balls of sardines on the east walls morning tide. Bass continue too tick over and a fairly decent turbot was also landed on the east, not the biggest Ive seen over there but very close too it and no doubt made a cracking meal for the catcher. Over the last 2-4 days there have been a few mackerel and some but not many horse mackerel, yep they are still out there even if that are making hard work of being caught. As said earlier squid and cuttle made a return too the east wall and no doubt a few on the west as we get into a calmer patch of weather. Adding too the species lists you can add plaice, bream and hound pups keeping things a bit varied if not very prolific in numbers.
Thats it for today folks, so im gonna sign off and until the next one , I will bid you all ADIEU
F
