RNLI Open West Bay

AFTER having to cancel last year’s match due to the severe flooding that affected most parts of England, all were hoping for some great weather this time.

Just a few hours before the start heavy rain appeared, although it did not put the competitors off.

Twenty one entered the competition, including three juniors and three ladies. The anglers could fish anywhere in West Bay or travel to Eype beach if they preferred.

Thankfully, the rain stopped at about 7pm and even though some of the anglers were soaked through they persevered to the end. At 10pm the competitors returned to the Salthouse for the weigh-in.

The first lady back was Lynn Mudford who had caught a small pouting in the last few minutes of the competition which weighed 75g – not a heavy weight but on the night a possible winning weight.

As the fishermen came back from Eype they reported that someone had caught a conger eel but were not sure of the size.

At last the competitor came in with the conger in his bucket and it turned out to be West Bay SAC member Adam Cullingford. This gave him the win, the heaviest round fish and first in the super pool.

In all, eight competitors weighed fish in with species including dogfish, pout, rockling and conger eel.

Result: 1 Adam Cullingford (Crewkerne Somerset) 1kg 980g 2 Rob Marshall (Taunton Somerset) 1kg 710g 3 Simon Skinner (Axminster Devon) 1kg 245g

Top Lady: Lynn Mudford 75g Top Junior: Connor Hallett 960g

Heaviest Round Fish: Adam Cullingford 1kg 735g conger eel

Heaviest Flat Fish: No flat fish was entered so the competitors decided the prize money should be donated to the RNLI.

West Bay Sea Angling Club would like to thank all those who donated prizes for the competition, including West Bay Water Sports and Style Tiles.

They would also like to thank all the competitors for turning out to support the event which raised a total of £170 for the RNLI.