Grimsby angler George Smith won the 2011 SAMF UK MASTERS on the beaches of Orford Ness in Suffolk on the 11^th and 12^th November.

64 anglers from England and Wales competed for the title and even though there was a strong onshore wind on Friday, calming down for Saturday, conditions were good for both matches. The anglers had to leave and return at staggered times to cross to the island by boat, this operation ran smoothly using two boats, the normal one and one supplied by the Natural trust.

Orford Ness is a 10 mile long shingle spit between the River Alde and the North Sea, located just South of Aldeburgh.  Orford ‘Island’ is famous for its deep-water fishing. Orford Ness is a SSSI and is a very important nature reserve for rare species of plants and strict rules have been requested by the National Trust who have agreed to our access to this fantastic venue. We are grateful to Natural England who granted us permission to use this venue.

The venue did not fish as well as it can do and some of the areas were very snaggy with competitors loosing several sets of gear. Also disappointing was that none of the large fish that this venue is famous for put in an appearance. However there were enough fish on both days for competitors to target. The species caught were mainly codling, whiting, dabs & dogfish. On the first day competitors needed between 11 and 23 fish to come in the top two in their sections. Local angler David Cook from Leiston had the best overall catch with 23 fish for 10lb 2oz. There were two heaviest fish caught on day one, of equal weight, codling of 2lb 8oz caught by Tony Thomas from Sheringham and Alan Doy from Beccles.

The zone positions on day 1 were:-

A zone 1st    Colin Carey                    9lb 10oz.      

A zone 2^nd    Nick Haward                             5lb 1oz.           

B zone 1^st     Tony Thomas          7lb 6oz.

B zone 2^nd     George Smith                   7lb 4oz

C Zone 1^st David Cook                          10lb 2oz

C Zone 2^nd Michael Emery                    8lb 1oz

D Zone 1^st Saul Page                            8lb 12oz

D Zone 2^nd Ian Reynolds                      6lb 12oz

ALL SAMF MATCHES ARE FISHED ON A CATCH AND RETURN FORMULA, THE FISH ARE MEASURED AND THEN IMMEDIATELY RETURNED. A CONVERSION CHART THEN CONVERTS THE LENGTH TO WEIGHT. THREE YEARS AGO SAMF INTRODUCED SIZE LIMITS IN THEIR MAJOR COMPETITIONS ON COD, WHITING AND BASS TO TRY AND ENCOURAGE MORE ANGLERS TO FISH MATCHES. AS A RESULT THIS REDUCED THE ACTUAL NUMBERS OF FISH COUNTING TO AN ANGLERS SCORE BUT GAVE EVERY ANGLER THE POSSIBILITY OF DOING WELL EVEN ON THE LAST CAST BY CATCHING A LARGE FISH.

Day 2 again saw good conditions and anglers needed 10 and 20 fish to score well. Top catch was made by Richard Yates from Dover with 14 fish for 8lb 9oz. Once again the biggest fish was a tie – two bass of 2lb 9oz caught by Glyn Savin of Lymington and Christopher Spall.

Day 2 zone winners

A zone 1st    Richard Yates                  8lb 9oz

A zone 2nd   Christopher Spall             7lb 5oz

B zone 1^st     Keith Morley                   7lb 10oz

B zone 2^nd     Martin Waters                5lb 0oz

C Zone 1^st Matt White                         7lb 4oz

C Zone 2^nd Paul Stevens                       6lb 14oz

D Zone 1^st George Smith                      8lb 2oz

D Zone 2^nd Neville Charlesworth          7lb 12oz

FINAL POSITIONS

1        George Smith                   3 pts           

2        Richard Yates                  4 pts (748 fish pts)                  

3        Keith Morley                   4 pts  (674 fish pts)       

4        Paul Stevens                    5 pts

5        Colin Carey                      6 pts  (760 fish pts)       

6        Matt White                     6 pts  (540 fish pts)       

7        David Cook                      8 pts  (646fish pts)        

8        Tony Thomas          8 pts  (590 fish pts)

Unfortunately there were no Ladies or juniors fishing this year.

A pairs competition was run within the match and winners were:-

1                     Colin Carey  & Paul Stevens both from Worthing

2                   Gary Hutson (Cleethorpes) & George Smith (Grimsby)

3                   Nick Haward (Blythburgh) &Mark Sharman(Lowestoft)

George was overall champion with a 1st place and a 2^nd place in his zone giving him 3 points.  George is a successful match angler who has represented England on numerous occasions. He has fished the masters for as long as I can remember and he is a popular winner having been beaton into 2^nd place twice in recent years by a countback on fish points. 

Richard Yates from St. Margarets near Dover ran him close also with a zone 3rd and a 1^st giving him 4 points.  

Cash prizes down to 8^th position overall and section pools for 1^st and 2^nd places giving a total cash prize fund in excess of £4400, plus tackle prizes and trophies. SAMF is grateful in particular to our member Julian Shambrook of ANYFISH ANYWHERE who donated many of the zone, and individual prizes including a top of the range rod for the winner’ We are also grateful to ULTIMA and SEA ANGLER MAGAZINE for also donating items for the prize table

Everyone who attended agreed that once again the event had been successful, and this venue will be used again for major events.

Next years final is scheduled to be fished at Otterspool in the Mersey estuary in October/November. Qualifying matches are already being run around the country. Contact Andy Steele, 01772 611597, for details of local events and how to organise qualifiers.

Click Link for Full Results …

http://www.seaanglersmatchfederation.com/SAMF%20Masters%20Results%202011.HTM

SAMF is pleased to announce that the masters at Orford Ness has now been allocated Penn points

As you will be aware to boost numbers fishing the Masters last year we allowed people who haven’t qualified in the usual way to send me the qualification money of twenty pounds to enable them to enter the competition. This resulted in a large increase in numbers and we are doing the same again this year.

Qualifiers should have already received their invite by now, and I am now asking if you would like to fish the Masters. If so please send me a cheque payable to SAMF for £54. This covers the qualifying money of £20, entry money of £20 and the fee for the boats to get to Orford Ness £14. I will then send you info, itinerary etc. If you are aware of anyone who might like to fish the masters and has not qualified please let them know. Because of the overall costs SAMF will offer NEW members a temporary membership of £5 for the weekend to cover insurance etc. Send to SAMF, 18 Town Lane, Much Hoole, Preston, Lancs, PR4 4GJ

The following is information on the competition that has already been sent to qualifiers:

There will also be optional pools for zone prizes and pairs on the day of registration.

HQ for this event is the Carlton Meres Country Park, Carlton, Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 2QP. Telephone – 01728 603344. Luxury 5 and 3 berth caravans are available to hire at approx £100 per person, self catering but a limited hot food menu will be also be available

Registration will start at approx. 7.00 p.m. on Thursday. The boats will be leaving from 7.45 am. and fishing times varying depending on which section you are in. There is also a trailer available to take anglers to a drop off points. The successful running of this competition will depend on anglers being on time to catch their particular boat which will be taking individual sections at a time. The prize presentation will take place on Saturday 12^th after the competition, the time dependant on how long it takes to produce the results but will be approx 7.30 p.m. It is extremely unlikely that we will get bad weather conditions that will cause us to cancel the event on Orford Ness but if this should happen we would have to consider moving the competition into the river.

The competition will be fished to measure and release rules, converting length into weight. Zone results will be calculated using the older system i.e. not the continental system. Please note, the same as last year, size limits will be: cod – 35 cms. whiting – 27 cms and bass – 36cms. Everything else will still be 18cms.

There are no bans on any fishing methods or baits.

Local organiser is Mark Sharman mobile 07853218380. Local bait dealer (who might be prepared to deliver bait to the HQ) James of Angling Mad 01502 531111 or mob 07766083307

Local tackle shops are: Saxmundham Angling Centre, Tel. 01728 603443. Southwold Angling Centre, Tel. 01502 722085.

Entries must be sent to me by the 22^nd October at the latest.

PLEASE NOTE, THE 22nd OCTOBER – NO LATER!!!

Soon after this date I will be issuing entry tickets, which must be produced at the registration, and the Itinerary which will include more details of the weekend and the competition.

Disabled or junior anglers please note that I will be able to accommodate you for any necessary special arrangements but I will require details prior to the event to be able to plan for your participation.

The 2011 Masters in Anglia will be held over the weekend of 12th November. Subject to getting the necessary permission the venues are Orford Island and the ‘Dirty Wall’

FORMER WELSH WORLD CHAMPION WINS 2010 SAMF UK MASTERS AT CHESIL

Welsh angler Joe Arch won the 2010 SAMF UK MASTERS on the beaches of Chesil in Dorset on the 23^rd and 24^th October.

94 anglers from England and Wales competed for the title and even though the weather conditions were variable i.e. strong onshore winds on Saturday and offshore winds on Sunday, conditions were good for both matches. As you would expect on Chesil there was a variety of species caught including 2 red mullet of 1lb 14oz and 1lb 8oz.

The venue did not fish as well as it can do but there were enough fish on both days for competitors to target. There were 14 different species caught, the main ones being dogfish, codling, whiting, pouting & pollock. On the first day competitors needed between 7 and 10 fish to come in the top four in their sections. Colin Carey from Worthing had the best overall catch with 7 fish for 10lb 3oz. mainly whiting and flatfish. The heaviest fish was a tremendous whiting of 3lb 2oz caught by Gary Strange from Clacton on Sea. Second heaviest fish was a Bass of 2lb 9oz caught by Mike Groves from Kingston Upon Thames

The zone positions on day 1 were:-

A zone 1st   Darren Newland              3lb 12oz.       

A zone 2^nd    Joe Arch                        3lb 10oz.         

A zone 3rd   Hugh Rathbone               3lb 5oz

A zone 4th   Mark Allanson                  3lb 2oz

B zone 1^st     Nick Haward                             3lb 13oz.

B zone 2^nd     Orry Turner                    3lb 1oz

B zone 3d     Chris Snow                      2lb 8oz

B zone 4^th    Richard Burt                             2lb 7oz

C Zone 1^st Stuart Littlewood               5lb 9oz

C Zone 2^nd Steve Martin                     2lb 13oz

C Zone 3^rd Peter Corker                     2lb 11oz

C Zone 4^th Eddie Painter                     2lb 11oz

D Zone 1^st Colin Carey                         10lb 3oz

D Zone 2^nd Dave Lane                          7lb 14oz

D Zone 3^rd Robert Tuck                      6lb 0oz

D Zone 4^th Tony Thomas                      5lb 8oz

ALL SAMF MATCHES ARE FISHED ON A CATCH AND RETURN FORMULA, THE FISH ARE MEASURED AND THEN IMMEDIATELY RETURNED. A CONVERSION CHART THEN CONVERTS THE LENGTH TO WEIGHT. TWO YEARS AGO SAMF INTRODUCED SIZE LIMITS IN THEIR MAJOR COMPETITIONS ON COD, WHITING AND BASS TO TRY AND ENCOURAGE MORE ANGLERS TO FISH MATCHES. AS A RESULT THIS REDUCED THE ACTUAL NUMBERS OF FISH COUNTING TO AN ANGLERS SCORE BUT GAVE EVERY ANGLER THE POSSIBILITY OF DOING WELL EVEN ON THE LAST CAST BY CATCHING A LARGE FISH.

Day 2 again saw good conditions and anglers needed 5 to 11 fish to score well. Top catch was made by Michael Groves from Kingston upon Thames with 7 fish for 5lb 9oz. The biggest fish was a codling of 2lb 5oz caught by Darren Phillips of Lee On Solent, 2^nd heaviest fish was a mullet of 2lb 1oz caught by Stuart Dewhurst from Preston

Day 2 zone winners

A zone 1st   Steve Martin                   4lb 15oz

A zone 2nd   Stuart Dewhurst             4lb 8oz

A zone 3rd   Robert Tuck                     3lb 7oz

A zone 4th   Steve Durrant                3lb 5oz

B zone 1^st     Michael Groves                5lb 9oz

B zone 2^nd    Keith Morley                   5lb 3oz

B zone 3^rd    Paul Stevens                    3lb 9oz

B zone 4^th    Les Trish                        3lb 8oz

C Zone 1^st Richard Cleal                       3lb 13oz

C Zone 2^nd Orry Turner                      3lb 5oz

C Zone 3^rd Paul Tovell                          3lb 3oz

C Zone 4^th Richard Burt                      3lb 1oz

D Zone 1^st Joe Arch                            4lb 4oz

D Zone 2^nd Darren Newland                 4lb 1oz

D Zone 3^rd Matt Brook                        3lb 3oz

D Zone 4^th Bill Lindfield                      3lb 2oz

FINAL POSITIONS

1        Joe Arch                        9 pts          

2        Steve Martin                   10 pts                  

3        Darren Newland               11 pts         

4        Orry Turner                    15 pts

5        Colin Carey                      18 pts                  

6        Robert Tuck                    19pts          

7        Michael Groves                30 pts                  

8        Keith Morley                   32 pts        

9        Richard Burt                             32 pts                  

10      Billy Lindfield                  35 pts                  

11       Steve Durrant                39pts         

12      Dave Lane                       42pts

13      George Smith                  50pts

14      Alan Price                       55pts

15      Hugh Rathbone                57pts

16      Paul Stevens                    58pts

17      Les Trish                        58pts

Ladies Winner was Heather Lindfield from Greasby

Junior Winner was Henry Randell from Holt

A pairs competition was run within the match and winners were:-

1              Pete Corker (Holywell) & Darren Newland (Isle of Wight)

2             Keith Morley (Kessingland) & Paul Tovell (Gorleston)

3             Steve Durrant (Felixstowe) & Mark Pinder (Ipswich)

Joe was overall champion with a 1st place and a 2^nd place in his zone giving him 9 points.  Joe is a 49 year old from Cardiff who was individual world champion in 1997 and member of the welsh team that took team gold that year. He was 2nd in zone on day 1 with 5 pollock and a bass,  all caught at short range He was 1st in zone on day 2 with 2 pout a dogfish, whiting and a garfish (caught in the last 5 mins). He is sponsored by Julian Shambrook of Anyfish Anywhere and the tackle he used was : 

rod  - Anyfish Anywhere big beach

reel – Daiwa 7HT

line - Ultima F1 platinum, powerflex shockleader,memorex snoods 

hooks  -kamasan

He regularly fishes chesil and is very experienced on the venue. His garfish was caught on the “washing line” rig !!

 Steve Martin from St. Leonards on Sea ran him close also with a zone 2nd and a 1^st giving him 10 points.  

Cash prizes down to 17^th position overall and section pools down to 4^th place in each section each day giving a total cash prize fund in excess of £4800, plus tackle prizes and trophies. SAMF is grateful in particular to our member Julian Shambrook of ANYFISH ANYWHERE who donated many of the zone, and individual prizes including a top of the range rod for the winner’ We are also grateful to DAIWA & ULTIMA for also donating tackle for the prize table.

Everyone who attended agreed that once again the event had been successful, and this venue will be used again for major events.

Next years final is scheduled to be fished at Orford Island in October/November which is already proving to be a popular venue. Qualifying matches are already being run around the country. Contact Andy Steele, 01772 611597, for details of local events and how to organise qualifiers.

ANGLERS RECORDING A FISH

Gurnard for Junior - Henry Randell

Garfish for Rob Tuck on a floaty contraption!

Whiting first cast

Steve Martin double shot - dogfish & scad

Paul McIntyre with a red mullet

Pauls' red mullet - 1lb 14oz

Paul Fenech with a dogfish - first cast - see, it's not true he can catch fish!!Junior winner - Henry Randell with secretary Andy Steele

Ladies winner - Heather Lindfield with secretary Andy Steele

Organiser Hugh Rathbone with his prize

Winner - Joe Arch with secretary Andy Steele

U.K. MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND FINAL

 CHESIL OCTOBER 2010

ITINERARY

H.Q. 

Littlesea Holiday Park, Lynch Lane, Weymouth, DT4 9DT. Telephone 01305774414

FRIDAY 22^nd OCTOBER

6.00 p.m. registration & draw, provision of information and sale of raffle tickets etc.

SATURDAY 23^RD OCTOBER

Day one match 10.00 a.m. to 15.00 p.m. Low water 12.59 p.m.

8.00 p.m. AGM, raffle and day one results

SUNDAY 24^TH OCTOBER

Day two match 11.00 a.m. – 15.30 p.m. Low water 13.29 p.m.

Approx.7.00 p.m. prize presentation (dependant on producing results)

Zone sheets will be displayed as soon as possible after the matches on both days in order for competitors to check their results. 

The competition is being fished in line with SAMF’s catch and release policy. The successful return of unharmed fish to the sea is mainly down to the way they are handled and returned to the water. This means having a bucket of fresh sea water ready in which fish must be immediately placed after reeling in. They must then be taken in the bucket to the next angler for recording, and returning to the sea. The committee are going to clamp down on these rules and anglers are asked not to sign in any fish unless they are brought in a bucket of sea water. This means you must have a bucket!!!  Let us all set a good example to the public and other anglers on this matter. Most members will by now be familiar with this type of match but competitors will be given a set of rules and guidelines which must be adhered to. It is each anglers responsibility to make themselves aware of these rules otherwise disqualification is possible. In the last few years the standards have been good but in the past some competitors have been disqualified for breaking these rules, mainly forgetting to have a bag search undertaken or forgetting to rule off match cards at the end of the competition, DON’T LET IT BE YOU!

Match cards will not be collected at the venue and it is each anglers responsibility to ensure that their card is returned to the H.Q. within one hour of the end of the competition on each day. You must ensure that these are ticked in to verify that we have received them.

Anglers must measure fish on an official type of measure and these will be on sale at the registration, priced £5.00, or longer measures at £10.00.

The match venue is at Chesil Beach car park which is about 3 miles from the HQ, please be aware there is a daily charge of £5 so sharing of cars will keep costs down.  Getting onto the beach is up and over a steep shingle bank.

There will be at least 4 sections, dependant on the number of anglers, and competitors will fish a different section each day, further details of which will be given at registration. The beach is steep, loose shingle onto mud and sand, it is mainly a clean bottom however there are odd patches with clumps of clay. From a safety point of view it is not recommended to go down to the water level especially when there is a large swell. Also please be aware of the strong tides on this venue.

Chesil beach is the kind of venue where many species can be caught, but mainly whiting, cod, pouting, dogfish and flatfish. However competitors need to be aware that if there are calm conditions then garfish and scad can become the primary species and tactics will then vary. There are no bans on any methods of fishing or baits, but anglers must conduct themselves within the spirit of the sport and be mindful of the rule 27 about ‘fair play’ and ‘conducting themselves within the spirit of the sport’ e.g. do not let floats drift into neighbouring swims.

In the event of bad weather the committee will endeavour to switch the match to Preston beach, however you need to be aware that this will mean a change of match times, Information on this will be posted at the HQ. The SAMF committee still reserve the right to cancel the match in the interests of safety or organisational problems. Anglers will be notified at registration of any possible changes.

Fish caught will be recorded and converted to points which relates to the fishes weight. Size limits are: cod – 35cms, Whiting – 27cms and Bass – 36cms. Everything else is 18 cms. Anglers will be given a conversion chart and instruction on how to do this, and you are responsible for recording this information accurately on your match card. The results will be calculated from the total points of fish recorded, no extra fish points are being given. For a tie on fish points in zones the anglers will get equal points, but for a tie on overall places fish points will count, then number of fish and then the largest fish.

The zone results will be worked out using the continental system, as last years event. This cuts down on a lot of ties and helps produce the results faster.

There will be heaviest fish pools again this year awarded to the 2 heaviest fish each day. However it must be pointed out that it is each anglers responsibility to claim this prize by marking their heaviest fish points on the appropriate place on the match card. There will only be one prize per person, per day, in this category.

Every year there are a number of prize winners who do not bother to turn up for the presentation, not only is this disappointing to the organisers, it also causes the secretary a lot of extra work after the event. If any winner fails to turn up to claim their prize it will be up to them to claim the prize and to make arrangements for it to be forwarded. 

Every angler is expected to clear litter away from their pegs. Any angler found to have left litter, or thrown it into the sea will be disqualified from the event on that day.

Anyone who needs an easy access peg, or any assistance, please let me know prior to the event and you will need to attend at the start of the registration to draw your peg first.

Local contacts:

Local Organiser – Hugh Rathbone – 01308 863161, mob 07891 529 604

John Amery – Tel. 01995 61211.

Myself – 01772 611597. Mob 07850 982437

Local Tackle Shops

Weymouth Angling Centre, Tel. 01305 777771. West Bay Angling Centre, Tel. 01308 421800. Dennings Tackle, Wyke Regis, Tel 01305 783145.

Wanting to fish the Masters this year but havn’t qualified yet? Don’t worry we are trialing for the first time ‘pay to qualify’ For each qualifier SAMF gets £20 which covers the 5 entrants at £4 each. If you are prepared to send this £20 qualifying money you will be added to the list of qualifiers. All qualifying money is paid back in prize money. Send a cheque payable to SAMF for £20 to 18 Town Lane, Much Hoole, Preston, PR4 4GJ