The first meeting was held with only myself being absent. A conspiracy theory as to why I wasn’t present soon surfaced when I found that I had my name against a vast list of jobs! Still, it was surprisingly fascinating (in an anorak kind of way) to research five venues in detail for the chosen date and having organised an annual meet for the last few years I had an idea of what to do on that side. Fortunately the skills of the others were targeted towards their own specialities and so finally, on the day before the competition I found myself heading down south to Swanage in Dorset.
As did half of the UK! A trip intended to see me there at lunchtime in time to catch some fish for the barbecue and do a recce of the bay saw me arriving instead at 4pm on the campsite at Herston. Bugger. Still, I fell into Piscator’s arms and along with Todaymueller, Alex and Lureman we cracked open some of San Miguel’s fine Spanish lager and toasted the glorious weather before heading down to take a look around, Amos following on behind having just arrived as well.
Well, what is there to say? It looked an excellent venue, far better and more suitable than the photographs had suggested. Satisfied, we headed to the supermarket for beer and meat (no girls were present so we pointedly dodged the veg side of the shop) before heading back to the site. I promptly turned around and went back down with Okreally and our press officer David to make final recces which resulted in my watching kids luring spider crabs from the weed on crablines. I have a short attention span you see. Fortunately Adam turned up and chauffeured me back to the campsite just in time to pass beer to the SWKA contingent and start cooking up some sausages and burgers. Some of the others had gone off to fish so like good housewives we got their dinner ready for them. Of course, like bad housewives we ate it all and drank their beer but that was their problem. Luckily we had more for when they returned home, more of the gang arrived and all of us got stuck in until past midnight...the scene was well and truly set...
...for my 05:30 wake-up! I hopped out of my one-man pop-up take-to-meets tent and saw a coffee freshly made by Amos sitting waiting for me – a much-appreciated repayment for all those thrown down his neck at Lowestoft during the cod season. Thus fortified it was off to the set-up point for 06:30.
I backed the van up nicely; it was clear I’d been practicing ;) We unloaded and set up the marquee. Tables, chairs, boats, paperwork and finally boxes and bags of untidy junk followed (we always have these as they are very important to convey atmosphere) to be followed by freshly bought bacon sarnies and coffees from the café down the road, delivered by our two beautiful assistants who deserve a round of applause ;D
People began to throw money at me. Paper too. I duly stashed the money my bra (which I secretly wore purely for this reason I assure you) while their names and details were noted. Pre-registered entrants lurked around Darnsarf smelling faintly of squid and attempting to bribe him with sweets while Starvin struggled valiantly to overcome his first hurdle of drinking a coffee that had to drop 5 degrees between sips which required absolute concentration and quiet. He sauntered back a while later when the work was done ;D The green was looking smaller now…
With registration closed it was time for an introductory talk followed by a safety briefing and clarification of the rules. None of this took long and, slightly ahead of schedule, the go ahead was given to launch. I had expected a mad rush down to the water but had forgotten to allow for how mellow kayak anglers are – those not hung over were happy to take their time which was probably for the best.
Within half an hour of hanging around the marquee I decided that I was bored and far too dry. I had purposely brought a Torque along as it is a superb kayak for photographing from with my proper camera – stable and dry like many of our range but with the added advantage of being hands off. I can photograph while moving and steering without having to put the camera down or splashing things with paddles. Darnsarf gave me a hand to get it down to the slip and off I went at a mellow rate of knots.
Some people even caught some fish:
What perfect conditions, both for fishing and for photography – the bay was flat calm, it was bright and warm but with thin cloud to protect us from direct sunshine so the temperature was far more bearable than the previous day. What’s more, I was on the water instead of the land ;D There were kayaks everywhere but without being overcrowded and as the day wore on the water was shared with jetskis, speedboats, yachts and other kayaks. Although the first two at times came a bit close and a bit fast to competitors there were no incidents but it did illustrate the reasoning behind the third party insurance.
It was easy to get plenty of photographs and some video as well but I really felt naked without a fishing rod. I returned ashore and with nothing much happening there I grabbed a rod and headed back out, trolling feathers and a lure in the hope of picking something up. I stopped here and there along the way and fished and chatted to a few participants before drawing alongside Dizzyfish where my rod bent over for the first (and only) time…a Mackerel, and a good one. I watched it shoot off into the distance with my treble in its mouth, the split ring on my Dexter having pulled. That was dinner.
I headed in and whilst en-route got a call that I was required back at the tent as competitors were starting to check in with their catches. I got to the marquee as the second prize and third prize winners were checking in, with 75 minutes still to go…5 minutes separated them. Then more came in and we started to suffer from dying laptops. It was bad enough that the extraneous light made the screens dull (leading to an important, and costly, misidentification) but we had to keep closing down to conserve what battery life we had left; photographs are power-hungry.
There was another identification that we wanted to clarify as it could have put Floydyboy in the lead…at the time there were a few people on five species. Could one of his wrasse have been a Corkwing or were they all Ballans? The variety of colours was what caused the suspicion as ever with Wrasse – always a fish worth photographing every time especially in a competition. The upshot was a long phone call to a Fisheries Biologist from CEFAS who was able to clarify it as definitely being a Ballan by going through various keys and characteristics. The major obvious one for future reference is that a Corkwing will have a distinct dark spot just in front of the tail and a dark crescent spot behind the caudal peduncle. Whatever one of those is ;D
With eight minutes to go Hungryfisherman wandered up to the table. Amos, in a borrowed Ultra 4.7 (after someone wrenched his roofbars from his car a few weeks back), who had helped us set up in the morning and who sleeps outside my house in the winter before early morning cod sessions had got SIX! Fishing circle hooks and a variety of baits he’d pulled first place out of the hat for a very deserving win.
With closing time for the weigh in finally passing it was time to tally up the results and get the details decided. This was done far quicker than we’d expected and we had to keep people waiting as the RNLI weren’t due to come and have the cheque presented to them until 5pm – all entrance fees were donated in full to them – a total of £470 - and David Morris from AnglersAfloat made it up to a nice, round £500.
The presentation to the lifeboat crew was followed by prizes to the first three:
In third place was John Elsdon, Todaymueller, who had brought in Dogfish, Pollack, Ballan Wrasse, Mackerel and a couple of Ray. This netted him a Carlisle Magic Plus paddle.
Second place was taken by David Lear with Ballan Wrasse, Corkwing Wrasse, Plaice, Mackerel and Pollack…he’d found those but now received a Humminbird 385ci fishfinder to help him find some more!
And finally, in first place, was Hungryfisherman, Amos Mak. He’d pulled up and photographed Pollack, Ballan Wrasse, Pout, Mackerel, Dogfish and Black Bream. He’d used an Ultra to catch an Ultra ;D I think he looks pleased…
Mind you, getting him out of it proved tricky:
We’d had a total of 17 species caught and registered and these were as follows:
Ballan Wrasse
Bass
Black Bream
Butterfish
Common Smoothound
Corkwing Wrasse
Goldsinny
Greater Sandeel
Lesser Spotted Dogfish
Mackerel
Plaice
Pollack
Pout
Smalleyed Ray
Smelt
Starry Smoothound
Undulate Ray
A final pic of our three winners was taken before we started onto the less serious ‘spot’ prizes.
Now, as I said when I stood up to take these, we at JO UK have a distinct corporate image amongst the kayak fishing fraternity. We like to take the piss and so awarded the following bits for the following reasons:
First person seen using an upside down paddle – Mark Freeman – Johnson Outdoors Safety Flag
Closest non-capsize to a speeding idiot – Mike Milton (Mick Dundee) – Johnson Outdoors Safety Flag
Most photo cards lost – Al Mundy (Exmouth Al) – Ocean Kayak Mug
First logged fish caught on a fly (Pollack) – Michael Tweed (Axor) – Carlisle Ausable Paddle
Throwing back a fish that counted to not land a fish that also counted – Lawrence Taylor (Lozz) – Carlisle Dry bag
Largest Specimen Wrasse (5.5lbs) – Stephen Sheppard (Shep) – Scotty Baitcaster rod holder
Largest fish caught – John Elsdon (Todaymueller) – 8-10lb Undulate Ray – Carlisle Thigh Straps
Angler the organisers felt most gutted for – Edward Gibson (Floydyboy) – Scotty Triple Mount
Person landing three different species on one trace – Ian Harris (Dizzyfish) – Scotty Compact Desk Mount
Smallest Species caught (Butterfish) – Patrick Banks – Tacklebox
Least fish weighed in (1) – Keith Wraight (KeithyG) – Ocean Kayak Safety Flag
Competitor that most resembles a fish (Ballan Wrasse) – Steve Johnson (Maver) – OK Classic Polo Shirt
With everything awarded and people drifting off it was time to load up the van and head for the campsite, via the supermarket for some cases of beer and packets of meat for the evening ahead ;D A very enjoyable one followed and needless to say none of us got an early night nor went to bed with clear heads! Some bream, mackerel and squid got barbecued amongst the meat and the craic was as good as it always is.
Sunday followed with a group of us heading for Kimmeridge and others fishing Swanage. This is for another thread however but I will say that we definitely chose the right day for fishing conditions as a Force 4-5 blew up.
Come Monday morning we discovered a problem though…we’d missed the fact that Todaymueller’s two rays were two distinct types – an Undulate and a Smalleyed ray. Oh! This came to light from his catch report even though they’d looked the same in the marquee…well, Darnsarf and I held our hands up to getting it wrong and John, to be fair, had also thought the same as us when looking at the pictures at the time. Clearly on a proper screen in a proper room though we’d made a big mistake…so what to do? Naturally he deserved the Ultra that was first prize; he’d beaten Amos in by an hour, he’d caught six species…yet Amos couldn’t really have the Ultra taken back from him, that wouldn’t be in the spirit of things nor something we could live with. There was no argument and so I eventually I got hold of John…we had a chat and then:
“Are you doing anything on the 16th?”
“No, I’m off”
“Fancy coming up here to fish the first day of the coarse season with me, Amos and a few others – troll the river for pike, stop at a real ale pub and have dinner etc?”
“yes, I fancy that”
“Okay, you won’t need to bring your Elite though, you can fish from the Ultra you won!”
Following an explanation John’s first words were “but what about Amos?” If ever it was deserved more…
As ever there are thanks to be dished out. Apart from the usual thanks to all the helpers – Starvinmarvin, Darnsarf, Tinasarf, Richi, and the lovely lady who always brings me coffee ;) – and to the boss Okreally for signing the cheques and making it happen there are others to thank too. Often you hear the term ‘behind the scenes’…well these people truly are so a public thank you from me must go to Amber, Beth, Max, Elaine and Kay in the office helped loads with everything from printing and laminating the cards to helping with photocopying, printing, telephone assistance and admin…they always do so much before any event, often at the last minute but never get seen. There’s also thanks due to Rich, Mally, Barney and Tony who’ve had to put up with me disappearing from the warehouse to deal with the admin side of things over the last few months. And lastly, of course, a pat on the back to all of you who came and participated. A competition is only as good as its competitors and I reckon it was a bloody good competition!
OK Classic 2010 Leader Board
Names and rankings (decided in order of check in time)
6 Species
Joint First Place: John Elsdon (Todaymueller) – Dogfish, Pollack, Ballan Wrasse, Mackerel, Undulate Ray, Blonde Ray
Joint First Place: Amos Mack (Hungry Fisherman) – Pollack, Ballan Wrasse, Pout, Mackerel, Dogfish, Black Bream
5 Species
Second Place: David Lear – Ballan Wrasse, Corkwing Wrasse, Plaice, Mackerel, Pollack
Third Place: David Harrison (Fishboy) – Corkwing Wrasse, Dogfish, Mackerel, Black Bream, Ballan Wrasse
Fourth Place: Edward Gibson (Floydyboy) – Starry Smoothound, Dogfish, Ballan Wrasse, Mackerel, Common Smoothhound
Fifth Place: Ian Harris (Dizzyfish) – Pollack, Ballan Wrasse, Corkwing Wrasse, Mackerel, Dogfish
4 Species
Mark Leake (Dogsandlandys)
Mick Beardmore (Mickbe)
Adam Sibbald (Adamsi)
Alex Stevens (Alex)
Mark Freeman
Patrick Banks
3 Species
Stephen Sheppard (Shep)
Richard Johnston (Luckyrich)
Iain Cheyne
Adrian Saunders (Phatbuoy)
James Ruffell (Overrun)
Jim Marsh (Marshy)
Andy Bryant (AndyB)
Paul Stapleton (Sprinter)
Stephen Henry (Lureman)
Simon Eastmond (Fatflyfisher)
Andrew Parry (Piscator)
Alan Mundy (Exmouth Al)
2 Species
Ian Leadbitter (Nurseshark)
Brian Morris (Gosling)
Steve Johnson (Maver)
Paul Chase (P21HB)
Andy Benham (Pugwash)
1 Species
Keith Wraight (KeithyG)
Michael Tweed (Axor)
Sean Henry (Seanus)
Eleven competitors did not register their catches on the day.
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