Hastings angler Rex Palmer won the 2008 SAMF UK MASTERS on the beaches of Pevensey Bay in East Sussex 15th & 16th November.

98 qualifying anglers from England and Wales competed for the title, and unusually for this competition the weather conditions were just right for daylight matches. Even with light winds and a calm sea the water was cloudy helping to produce good catches.
On the first day competitors needed between 15 and 21 fish, to win their section, George Smith from Grimsby had the best overall catch weighing 10lb 5oz. including a cod of 4lb 13oz. Two further codling of 2lb 2oz were caught by Rex Palmer and Mark Rogers, from Aylespool, which helped them share the second heaviest fish prize.

The zone winners on day 1 were:-
A         Dave Read                8lbs 9oz
B         George Smith           10lbs 5oz
C         Mark Pinder              8lbs 9oz
D         Shane Russell         7lbs 2oz

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. THIS YEAR, AS A TRIAL, SAMF HAVE 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 calm conditions but once again anglers need double figure bags of fish to score well. Top catch was made by Neville Charlesworth from Withernhsea with 8lb 3oz. The only notable fish being a cod of 4lb 2oz. Caught by Colin Carey from Worthing. Brian Lawrence from Felixstowe had the second heaviest fish, a cod of 1lb 6oz.

Day 2 zone winners
A         Lee Milton                             8lb 2oz
B         Neville Charlesworth          8lb 3oz
C         Rex Palmer                           6lb 1oz
D         Paul Parsons                                    4lb 5oz

FINAL POSITIONS
1          Rex Palmer               8 pts                724 fish points
2          Dave Read                8 pts                699 fish points
3          George Smith           10 pts            
4          Colin Carey               17 pts
5          Colin Crosby             20 pts
6          Mark Pinder              25pts
7          Lee Milton                 28 pts 674 fish points         
8          Trevor Rooney          28 pts 601 fish points
9          Dave Wright              33 pts            
10        Mick Davies              34 pts            

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

1. Lee Milton (St. Leonards on Sea) & Rex Palmer
2. Richard Burt (Clacton On Sea) & Mark Pinder (Ipswich)
3. Mick Davies (Deal) & Mark Rogers

Rex was overall champion with a day 1 zone 2nd place and a day 2 zone win giving him 8 points. Dave Read, from Stowmarket ran him close with a day 1 section win and a day 2nd place also giving him 8 points. Rex won on countback on fishpoints 724 to Daves 699. 
Only one lady qualified to fish the championship this year, Heather Lindfield from Merseyside. Two juniors qualified to fish, Jamie Morgan from Westham and Michael Brookes from the Wirral. Jamie came out on top to take the junior prize with 18 fish for 407 points.
A total of 1668 fish were caught during the two days, mainly whiting and pouting with a few flatfish, codling and even a dogfish making up the catches.
A total cash prize fund of £4700 was paid out, plus tackle prizes and trophies. SAMF is grateful to the following tackle companies for donating tackle for prizes: ANYFISH ANYWHERE, DAIWA, ULTIMA, SONICK RODS, IAN GOLDS. 
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 will be fished at Skegness in November and there is a lot of interest already in this new venue. Qualifying matches are already being run around the country. Contact Andy Steele , 01772 611597,for details of local events.

WELSH WIZARD WINS UK MASTERS

Former world champion Alan Price added to his list of achievements by becoming only the 4th person to win the SAMF UK MASTERS more than once when he succeeded on the beaches of Pwllheli and Llandudno in north Wales on 7th & 8th December. The original Welsh Wizard, David Lloyd George was born in this area.

Despite atrocious weather conditions throughout the country for once the Masters jinx was beaten as the weather cleared enough to allow the competition to be fished..

And how well it fished ! The first match took place at Pwllheli town beach and fish were there in great numbers right from the start whistle. Triple shots of dogfish were quite common and 2 competitors, Irishman Dave Roe and East Anglian Andy Gallacher registerd 50 fish each during the 5 hour match. Dogfish were the target fish but there was also a good head of whiting to go for. As expected a couple of bullhuss also showed with a fish of 12 lbs going to Isle of Man angler Stuart Littlewood and one of 11lbs 4 oz to Mike Hughes.
Such was the quality of the fishing that in zone D the last in section recorded 20lbs 10oz.
The zones were all very even, day 1 zone winners were:-
A       Dave Roe               36lbs 6oz
B        Mark Pinder           37lbs 14oz
C        Alan Price              37lbs
D       Al Jones                41lbs 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.

A total of 2679 fish were caught over the 2 days, a fantastic number, giving an average of 21 fish per angler per day !!

Day 2 was fished at Llandudno which has a north facing beach giving shelter from the south westerly winds. This was a 4 hour match.Not so much a dogfish venue but holding a good head of whiting, with the occasional dogfish and as it happened some thornback rays…what were they doing there in December ?

Catches were therefore never to be as high as day 1 but some good weights were recorded.
Alan Price used up some of his Welsh luck when a 5lb 2 oz thornback helped him to again win his section and therefore take the title with a zone win each day.
Day 2 zone winners
A       Alec Harvey           7lb 3oz
B        Alan Price              10lb 14 oz
C        Rex Palmer            6lb 5oz
D       Stuart Littlewood  7lb 2oz

Best fish was a 6lb 1oz thornback to Al Jones.

FINAL POSITIONS
1        Alan Price              2 pts
2        Al Jones                3 pts           2522 fish points
3        Stuart Littlewood  3 pts           2047
4        Alec Harvey           4 pts
5        George Smith        5 pts
6        Paul Molyneaux       7 pts
7        Nev Charlesworth  9 pts           1848
8        Shane Russell         9 pts           1754
9        Jaymes Brown        9 pts           1664
10      Rex Palmer             9 pts           1662

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

1. Alan Price & Shane Russell
2. Alec Harvey & Bob Gascoigne

Not many ladies fished the championship, but the regular England International trio of Adele Smith, Heather Lindfield and Wendy Metcalfe all competed. This year success went to Wendy who totalled 43 fish and finished 13th and 7th respectively in her zone to total 20 pts overall. A very credible performance.

Everyone who attended agreed that the event was one of the most successful Masters that has ever been run. People who failed to attend for one reason or another missed a great competition.

Next years final will be fished at Eastbourne, November 15th/16th. Qualifying matches are already been run around the country. Contact Andy Steele , 01772 611597,for details of local events.

SAMF UK MASTERS SEA ANGLING CHAMPONSHIPS 2006

For once the SAMF jinx did not strike the 2006 Masters, fished on the East Anglian beaches of Great Yarmouth and Hopton on 18/19th November. Whilst the weather on the Friday had been horrendous the 140 competitors woke up to a dazzling bright day with not a cloud in the sky. Most unusual as the event has a history of being fished under rough conditions.
The competitors had been required to qualify to fish in the final by competing in qualifying matches around the country.
The match was split over the 2 venues, competitors fishing Grt. Yarmouth one day would fish Hopton the next and vice versa.
Target species were codling, whiting, dabs.

Fishing on day one was pretty brisk, with small codling and whiting showing in decent numbers in most sections but mid-way through the match reports came up the beach that a cod of about 15 lbs had been taken at Hopton by Wirral angler Bill Lindfield. This proved to be the basis of Bill’s zone winning total of 17 lb 4 oz, more than 10 lbs in front of his nearest competitor and making him the day winner as well. Many people had between 15 and 20 fish with Michael Sopp having 27 fish to his credit for 6 lb 5 oz.

Day 2 followed the pattern of day 1 but without any reports of large cod coming in. Fish were still there in reasonable quantities but not as many as day 1. Best result of the day went to local angler Paul Tovel with 19 fish for 4 lbs 3 oz. Merseyside angler Joe Perry had most fish with 22 for 3 lb 3 oz.

As usual in a 2 day competition some of the high flyers drop by the wayside on day 2. Local angler and one of the main organisers Mark Sharman won his zone on day 1 but could only manage 17th on day 2.
Meanwhile Bill Lindfield was putting together a good catch and ended up with 16 fish for 2 lb 11 oz to take 2nd place in zone C. Richard Holgate of Clacton has scored a second on day 1 and was to repeat the result on day 2, pushing Bill all the way.

Back at headquarters, Waterside Village at Corton, Tony Thomas was quickly inputting scores into the computerised results system.
Prizes went down to 20th and a points total of no more than 11 over the 2 days was required to get into the list. All in all it had been a most enjoyable weekend, facilities were excellent and the fishing was good enough for competitors to say they would support future events there. Indeed, Keith Morley, National Sea League organiser has booked their 2007 final at this venue.
SAMF would like to thank the following people for sponsoring this years’ event:
ULTIMA, who gave each competitor a welcome pack including a spool of their new power plus mono.
DAIWA, who provided rods for overall and day winners plus a new baseball cap for every competitor.
JULIAN SHAMBROOK OF ANYFISH ANYWHERE, who gave rig wallets for zone winners.
PAUL STEVENS OF ULTRAMARINE UK, who provided everyone with a packet of his new Fastclips and items for the prize table.

RESULTS

UK MASTERS 2006

1.             BILL LINDFIELD                              WIRRAL                               3 PTS                     £ 1500
2.             RICHARD HOLGATE                       CLACTON                            4                              £ 700
3.             RALPH CROSBY                               HASTINGS                           5                              £ 400
4.             REX PALMER                                     HASTINGS                           5                              £ 350
5.             COLIN PROVINS                               IPSWICH                              7                              £ 250     
6.             CLYDE LEGGETT                             GRT. YARMOUTH            7                              £ 200
7.             ALLAN LEWIS                                   FELIXSTOWE                     7                              £ 150
8.             ALAN PRICE                                       NTH WALES                       7                              £ 100
9.             KEVIL CHILVERS                            LOWESTOFT                       8                              £ 90
10.          GEORGE SMITH                                GRIMSBY                            9                              £ 80
CASH PRIZES WENT DOWN TO 20TH PLACE.

IN ADDITION DAY WINNERS AND RUNNERS UP RECEIVED A TOP OF THE RANGE DAIWA ROD EACH.
BILL LINDFIELD ALSO RECEIVED A DAIWA ROD AND QUALIFIED FOR THE NFSA GUERNSEY FINAL OF 2007.

LADIES COMPETION

3 MEMBERS OF THE ENGLAND INTERNATIONAL TEAM COMPETED, WITH ADELE SMITH OF IPSWICH COMING OUT ON TOP WITH A TOTAL OF 23 POINTS TO COLLECT THE CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY.

ZONE WINNERS

1                                                              2                                                              3
J SHAMBROOK                 W HARRIMAN                                   K CHILVERS
M SHARMAN                     T ADAMS                                             W PERRING
M SOPP                                 R HOLGATE                                        R CROSBY
S WILLIAMS                       R CROSBY                                           A PRICE
B CALVER                           M GOOCH                                            D BRIDGES
W LINDFIELD                    C CAREY                                             T CHIDWICK

P STEVENS                          G MEDLER                                          P HARRISON
G SMITH                              M HUTCHINSON                               C PROVINS
C LEGGET                           W LINDFIELD                                    R CROSBY
A SMITH                              R PALMER                                          R CLEAL
D WRIGHT                          R HOLGATE                                        R BURT
P TOVEL                               J PERRY                                               A LEWIS

HEAVIEST FISH
DAY 1                    W. LINDFIELD   COD 15LB 2 OZ

DAY 2                    R HOLGATE        SOLE 2 LB 5 OZ

WINNERS PROFILE

BILL LINDFIELD FROM GREASBY ON THE WIRRAL
51 YEARS OLD
Rod                 Greys 16ft t Triplex
Reel                 Abu 6500
Line                 Ultima F1 15 lb
Rig bodies       Berkley Trilene
Snoods                        Amnesia and Maxima Chamelion 15/20 lbs
Hooks              Sukuma Manta 4’s, Owner 2 & 4

The big fish was caught on 20 lb Amnesia with size 4 Sukuma, bait yellow tail. Fishing at 100 –150 yards.
Both days his catch was made up of cod, dabs, whiting.

Bill has been having one of his best ever years. It has been an ambition for some 16 years to get into the top 20 of the Masters.
Past successes include twice winning the Irish Winter Beach, runner up in the Daiwa Irish Pairs and various league and open matches around the country.
He has been running in the top 3 of the Penn league most of the year, and this year saw his selection into the England squad. ( he is hoping to emulate his wife Heather and make the England team)

If you require any additional information please do not hesitate to contact me.

WELSH INTERNATIONAL ALAN PRICE WINS THE 2005 SAMF UK MASTERS AT CHESIL

The 2005 SAMF UK Masters held at Chesil, Dorset was hit by bad weather, forcing the organisers to bring forward the first days’ match into daylight and to cancel the second day altogether for safety reasons. The first days result were used to calculate the overall winners.

Alan Price from Kinmel Bay, North Wales, was the winner winning £1500, a Daiwa rod and qualifying for the Guernsey championship. Alan made peg one work catching 11 fish for 412 grams. Second was Neville Charlesworth from Withernsea who caught 10 fish for 381 grams. Third was Joe Arch from Cardiff who caught 7 fish for 293 grams 7.

The competition was fished in line with SAMFs catch and release policy using the system that converts length to weight. Chesil is known for its variety of species and despite the heavy sea keeping catches down a number of different fish were caught, mainly dogfish, pouting and whiting. However the two biggest fish were Soles weighing 112 grams each caught by Mike Taylor from Southampton and Paul Jackson from Wigan, the third biggest fish was a codling of 110 gramms and the fourth place was taken by a Bass and a codling of 80 grams caught by Paul Phillips from Weymouth and Mike Kempster from Worthing.

SAMF would like to thank its main sponsors Daiwa, Ultima, Anyfish Anywhere, and Golds tackle.