More than 80 anglers lined the tideline in Burnham-On-Sea on Sunday (September 6th) as they competed in a beach fishing competition.
The annual event, organised by Weston Outcasts, saw 83 anglers competing in sunny, calm conditions – and this event had the environment at its heart.
For while 114 fish were caught, the club has a strict conservation policy of requiring anglers to release their fish back alive into the sea after they’re weighed to preserve stocks.
James Madsen, Weston Outcasts Match Secretary, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “There were lots of good catches – we saw several Thornback Rays, many Dover Sole and Flounders, plus some good sized Conger Eels, but they have all gone back into the water to be caught another day – our club slogan is ‘catch and release’.”
Sunday’s competition saw more than £1,450 in prize money presented to the winners, pictured below, with top prizes of £250 in each of the three beach zones.
James added: “We had 83 anglers signed on to fish by 8am on what turned out to be a fantastic day’s fishing. We completely changed the format to how we usually run our competitions.”
“Working with a new ‘catch and release length to weight conversion method’ and splitting the beach into three equal zones, this allowed us to spread the prize money out.”
He added: “For those who fished at the event, we’re interested in getting feedback on what they thought of it and for those who didn’t fish we’re interested to know why and if they were put off by the changes. All feedback is gratefully received – it’s really important to the running of our future competitions.”
“The fishing today was really interesting as those taking part had two choices – going all out for Conger and Ray or taking their chances scratching around for flats and building a bag weight.”
“There were some super bags of up to nine fish, the bulk of those being Dover Sole but as it proved that wasn’t enough on the day, there was some great fishing all the same. To finish in the top three in your zone you needed that bigger fish and some of those who stuck it out were duly rewarded. However, we did see a fantastic Dover Sole just 1oz shy of 2lb picking up the flatfish pool – well done to Rich Edwards!”
“Congratulations also to all those framing in their zones, Paul Channing won A Zone with three Thornback Ray for 11lb 6oz. Darren Stevens won B with a Ray and a whiting for 5lb 7oz and C zone was won by Chris Stephens with three Rays for 12lb 6oz.”
“Well done and thanks also go to all The Outcasts, particularly Dan Palmer and Phytos, for another well run event. Keep an eye out for a new Burnham-On-Sea Summer league series that will be coming next year.”
Sunday’s winners in Burnham-On-Sea were:
A Zone
1st Paul Channing 3 Rays 11lb 6oz £250
2nd S. Dibble 1xConger Eel 1x Whiting 7lb 14oz £150
3rd Mark Nation 1x Ray 1x Conger 1x Whiting 6lb 3/4oz £50
B Zone
1st Darren Stevens 1x Ray 1x Conger 5lb 7 3/4oz £250
2nd Rob Marshall 1x Ray 5lb 4oz £150
3rd Joint – Richard Dorgan 1x Ray 4lb 1oz
3rd Joint – Steve Liddell 1x Dogfish1x Ray 4lb 1oz £50
C Zone
1st Chris Stephens 3x Ray 12lb 6oz £250
2nd Ian Davis 1x Conger 7lb 12oz £150
3rd Julian Shambrook 1x Ray 2x Whiting 1x Conger 4lb 13oz £50
Heaviest Flatfish
Nick Edwards – Dover Sole 1lb 15oz £100
