How excited do you get when you
know you are going boat shing? If,
like me, there is an eager inner-child
waiting to escape, and you like a
challenge (and a giggle), then the
annual Kiddy-Rod Boat Competition
might just be for you. The goal is
simple: catch the heaviest sh on a
bright pink, 6 foot spinning rod with
matching, tiny, pink reel, loaded with
6lb line.DON’T SCOFF
Now, before you sco and dismiss the
idea, when Darren Herbert from The
Tackle Box in Lyme Regis posted the
event on Facebook, he hoped to ll
one charter boat, but ended up lling
two, and could have lled a third.
Twenty-one experienced anglers
signed up paying the £55 entry fee,
which included the rod-and-reel
combo. Not only was it going to be
a fun challenge, but it was going to
be a serious competition too!The rules of the Kiddy-Rod Boat
Competition are simple. You are
allowed to attach a 12 foot leader
and use one hook. An un-baited
treble counts as one hook. There are
rst, second, and third cash prizes for
the heaviest sh, plus a charter-boat
voucher for the most number of
species caught during the
eight-hour trip.PINK FISHING RODS!
After collecting their pink combos
and bait from the tackle shop, much
to the amusement of bystanders,
the rugged, burly anglers carried
their luminous-pink shing rods to
the boats. To make things easier, lots
for both boat and position had been
drawn the previous evening, and the
anglers quickly found their spaces
before setting o from Lyme Regis
harbour. There were eleven anglerson Pegasus, skippered by Lewis
Hodder, and ten on Alice Rose,
skippered by Phil Hodder. Both boats
headed west from Lyme Regis for
some semi-rough ground/brittle-star
beds located a few miles o -shore
from Axmouth in Devon. This mark
proved to be reasonably snag free,
which is important if your rod is only
rated at 2-4kg and your main line is
only 6lb! Anglers expected to catch a
mix of species including congers, rays,
huss, gurnard, bream and more.SURPRISINGLY TOUGH RODS
No-one really expected to be able to
land a double- gure sh on the
rod-and-reel combo and the rst sh
to the boat was an impressive 1.5lb
mackerel. This was followed by a few
small pollack up to 4lb. However, after
an hour, Darren Herbert hooked into aSaltwater Boat Angling 19
Anglers on board Alice Rose ready to goJosh Chestney with a 19lb congerIssue 019 1-47.indd 19 10/11/2017 13:05: