Wirral Sea Anglers

recent match reports

Kinglake 15/12/24

Kinglake Promenade played host to the final encounter of 2024 – our Christmas match, which, as tradition dictates, is based on total bag length with no Clubman Points.

All competitors recorded fish, but there was a marked contrast in the final results, with some anglers having plenty of success while others had to settle for one or two fish.

With an absence of cod, dogfish, and ray, it was, once again, the usual Mersey stalwarts, mainly small whiting and dab, that contributed towards the totals.

With the results counted and verified, (continental style) the winner was Phil Simpson with a total of 493 cm. Jim Morris took second, with Dave Ostler third and Mike Flanagan fourth. Longest flat went to Phil Ord and longest round to Jim Morris. Mike Flanagan had the shortest fish.

See the table below for a round-up of the results.

Thank you to all who have supported the club throughout another successful year. Congratulations to this year’s league winner, Steve Bonner.

Take a last look at the Points Table before it is wiped clean in readiness for our 2025 campaign, and to see your results from 2019 to date, click here.

Egremont 15/11/24

Our final league match of the year took place along the Town Hall section of the promenade, with the format based on the total bag length of each angler's best three whiting measuring over 25 cm.

Given the time of year, this appeared relatively straight forward. However, results proved otherwise early on with only undersized whiting and small flatfish were being landed.

As the match progressed and high water approached, some better-sized whiting came on the feed, helping anglers meet the requirements. At the conclusion of the match, the winner was Steve Bonner, whose best three whiting totaled 92 cm. Roy Watterson and Mark Allanson came second and third respectively after countback, with Dale Glass taking fourth.

The winner of the longest round fish (excluding whiting) was Mark Allanson , with a dogfish measuring 52 cm, while Phil Ord secured the prize for the longest flatfish with a 31 cm flounder.

Congratulations to Steve, whose skill and judgment throughout the match not only earned him the win but also crowned him the league champion for 2024.

Thank you to everyone who participated this year in our friendly yet competitive league. The final standings can be found on the Points Table.

Guinea Gap 14/10/24

This was a total-length match based on each angler's best flat and round fish combined. Given recent catch reports, it made sense to target dogfish alongside a flat. While a decent volume of fish were caught from some of the pegs, the expected dogfish invasion failed to materialise. Instead, the ever-faithful whiting and dab made up the bulk of the catches.

At the conclusion, Phil Simpson, being the only angler to land a dogfish, emerged as the clear winner, with his combination giving him a total of 81 cm. Dale Glass took second place with 60 cm, and Mark Allanson was third with 57 cm. With many fish of similar size, countback was used to determine some of the remaining places.

The shortest flat was caught by Paul Bonner, while the shortest round was shared between Peter James and Gary Tull.

See the Points Table for the latest league standings. Thank you to all who took part.

Vale Park 21/09/24

It certainly proved to be an exercise in good judgement to classify this event as a species hunt, while there weren't large numbers of fish, a total of ten different species were caught.

Clubman Points were awarded based on the total length amassed from each angler's longest fish of each different species.

As is customarily the case, the lead changed frequently as the species list grew and some better fish were caught. However, several pegs failed to record any fish.

At the conclusion, it was Gary Ritson who emerged the winner, having 5 species giving him a total length of 179 cm. Steve Bonner was second, with his 5 species culminating in 142 cm, while Nigel Conlon took third.

Gary also claimed the payout for the longest fish, having a smooth hound measuring 88 cm in his bag, plus a 15 cm fish for the shortest. Gary’s success continued as he shared the prize for most species with Steve.

See the Points Table for current Clubman League positions. Thank you to all who took part.

Guinea Gap 30/08/24

As the transition from summer to winter fishing begins, the outcome at Guinea Gap was going to be hard to predict. The format was based on the bag length made up of each angler's best three fish.

However, in the event, seven different species were recorded, with some pegs producing relatively good numbers of fish, while others showed only one or two. The majority of the catches were small fish, with just a few bucking the trend.

After a volatile chase for the lead, the final whistle saw Ian Griffiths come out on top, his best three fish totaling 87 cm. Only a few centimetres separated Phil Ord, Steve Bonner, and Andy Sothern, who came in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respectively.

The shortest fish was 11cm with Paul Bonner and Phil both having the said length, while the longest fish, at 32 cm, resulted in a tie between Andy and Ian. See the Points Table for the current Clubman standings.

Thank you to all who took part.