Saltwater Boat Angling — December 2017

(Barry) #1
Germany, Italy, Ireland, Nederland,
Scotland, Sweden and Wales to
compete in this unique event.

MONDAY – Five and Five
The first day was the species points
day, where the first five of any species
count for maximum points and the
next five count for one point each.
Ten bonus points are awarded for
each species caught. A strong
Westerly wind generally kept the
boats inshore, but catches were still
good. There were good quantities of
black bream, ballan wrasse, pollack,

red gurnard, pout, mackerel, garfish
and dogfish. Other fish were landed
including conger, bull huss, smooth
hound, poor cod, scad, john dory,
rays and an allis shad. The day was
won overall by Kevin Preston with
256 fish points.

TUESDAY – Bank and Reef
Most boats opted to fish the banks
for rays, turbot and brill. Despite
problems finding fresh mackerel,
catches were generally good. The
majority of fish caught were blonde
rays but small eyed and undulate rays
were also caught, together with
turbot and brill. The largest fish was a
25lb blonde ray caught by Paul Roper.
Matt Osborne won the day with a
record score for the day of 195 points
and at this stage was the only
competitor with 200%, having had
two boat wins. Catch of the day was a
7lb 8oz brill caught by Paul Roper and
this proved to be the specimen fish of
the week at 166%.

Five separate challenges
The Weymouth International Boat
Angling Challenge (WIBAC) is an
annual competition organised by
Andy and Charlotte Selby from the
Weymouth Angling Centre. It is a five-
day competition with large prize
money and is sponsored by the
Weymouth Angling Centre, Fladen
Fishing, and Ammo Baits. The total
prize money is £11,000, with the main
prizes being awarded to the first,
second and third places and the day
winners. There is also £500 available
to whoever breaks any of the
competitions record fish sizes. Each
day is fished to different rules namely;
a species points day, a species hunt, a
banks and reef day, a wrecking day
and a lure only day. On the first four
days bait is provided to the anglers.
This is a two-hook event except for
the two big fish days when only one
hook is allowed. Competitors have
come from all over Europe including,
Belgium, Denmark, England, France,

32 Saltwater Boat Angling


INTERNATIONAL


Anglers from Wales, Scotland and Belgium take the top three places


in this truly international competition fished out of Weymouth.


A strong Westerly


wind generally


kept the boats


inshore


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