Saturday is the Junior Open, always an event I like to attend. The enthusiasm, banter, and competitive tension stands out and the support from organisers and parents very impressive.
I dabble a bit, where beach fishing is concerned, and I didn’t like the look of the conditions. I wondered how the juniors would cope with the big waves which were powering in, pushed on by quite a strong northerly wind. I started to walk along the beach chatting to some of the juniors. There were 26 taking part, ranging in ages from 4 years to 15 years old and as I suspected some were struggling with the conditions, but this wasn’t stopping them trying.
I dodged the odd big waves and managed to get some pictures of the juniors in action, and despite the conditions a mix of whiting, cod and flatties were being caught.
The 4-hour match passed all too quickly and it was time for us all to retire to the Northfield Club for the results and presentations.
Results …
Winner … Leon Hope (5 fish for 164cms). Leon won a Daiwa Rod/Reel combo.
2nd Place … Mason Banks (5 fish for 155cms). Mason also won biggest fish, a 40cm Cod and he won a Daiwa Rod
3rd Place … Kai Fisk (2 fish for 60cms). He won a Daiwa Fixed spool reel
Under 11 Winner …Blake Banks (2 fish for 52cms).
After the presentation I was able to thank everyone for taking part particularly the organisers (Paul Jefferson ably assisted by Rob Neale and all the other stewards), from the Withernsea Commercial Sea Angling Club and the parents who always support those taking part helping to make this such a successful event.
I left after listening to Paul, Rob and the Commercial team discussing prospects for the senior event the following day, but it’s best to let Paul tell us all about Sunday’s Senior Open.
Sunday 12th November (The Senior Open) …. Paul Jefferson.
Well as Brian has already said, Saturday was just fishable for the Juniors, and a sterling job they did too. Sunday, well that was a different kettle of fish. Over night the wind built up to a minimum 25 mph gusting regularly to 40 mph supported by constant rain, sleet and hail. Atrocious does not say enough about the conditions. My cause for concern was, who in their right mind would come out to fish today? Well miraculously 408 men, women and juniors did so, and they must all give themselves a big slap on the back for doing so. Having opened up the boundary to the Humber Bridge, this enabled more Anglers to get the wind at their back for a little bit of respite. On returning to the scales some anglers were almost hypothermic, particularly the ones that had ventured the 3.5 miles down the Spurn Point peninsula having to walk all the way back into the teeth of the wind and hail.
But there is always a result on this day. So please read below.
1st Steve Lemm Skate 3.56kg winning £1750
2nd Neil Robinson Cod 3.25kg winning £850
3rd Graham Precious Cod 2.62kg winning £400
4th Andrew Cressey Cod 1.86kg winning £250
5th Lee Smith Cod 1.825kg winning £150
Junior Winner. Josh Russell - Cod 0.695kg. Winning £50 plus Daiwa rod and reel
Junior Runner-up. Taylor Fisk - Whiting 0.46kg. Winning a Daiwa rod
There was no Lady winner on the day
Biggest Whiting. George Smith. 0.63kg. Winning £50
Biggest Flat fish. Peter Fenby. 0.42kg. Winning £50
Just a few statistics from the weigh-in ……. 1 Skate, 39 Cod, 38 Whiting and 15 flat fish were brought to the scales.
Finally, I would like to thank Daiwa for continuing to support these matches as they are always eagerly awaited and enjoyed by all participants. Also, a big thanks to Brian for his regular attendance on the Saturday. Also, once again for this year’s anglers who withstood awful conditions. (Paul Jefferson)
Thanks Paul. Yet again another great weekend on the East Yorkshire coast. One of these years we will get perfect weather and perfect sea conditions, but it doesn’t seem to matter, and each year I’m so impressed with this event ... Thanks again for the invite.
Brian Skoyles (Nov 2017)
