The last shore match of the year took place at Arbroath on Wednesday in some very difficult conditions .... With the severe winds forecast there were a few call offs, however six members braved the elements and had a decent nights fishing.
The match was to be the Christmas Hamper event run in conjunction with other clubs in the West Of Scotland region, however the Firth Of Clyde guys called off with the weather and the five Ardrossan guys and I decided not to run the match as the clubs wanted to fish different areas.
Our members decided to head up to the cliffs to try and get some shelter from the severe winds ..... because boy was it blowing !!! We split into two groups of three and hreaded off ....... Sandy Wason, Nico Wilson and myself headed to the area round Red Head whilst Jamie Soons, Stuart Cresswell and Robert Edmund headed to Rumness.
Our group got off to a great start when we climbed down the cliffs only to find the tide to far in to get through a cave to the fishing area ...... so it was a climb all the way back up and walk along half a mile and then all the way down again. We walked back along the shoreline and fished a coupled of gullies getting a few fish out. The westerly which was coming from behind us above the cliffs was managing to come round the headline only yards away in an easterly direction straight into our faces and was so strong you could hardly stand and keeping the rod rest from blowing over was a nightmare .......... I have never seen such conditions in all my years fishing --- still we caught a few fish.
After a struggle back up the cliff and then across the fields straight into a force 8 or 9 wind we were absolutely knackered to say the least ........ 12 rounds with Tyson would seem like a walk in the park to the way we felt !!
We all met back at Vicky Park for the weigh in ... When we arrived the other guys were already there and had a couple of Cod lying out for the weigh in ........ Yeah that'll be right >>>> Mr Cresswell then produced his bag of Cod and a bloody good bag it was ..... 9 Cod for 49lb is a cracking bag of fish in anyone's book with his best going 9lb 12oz.
The overall results were :
1st Stuart Cresswell - 49lb 6oz .. 9 Cod biggest 9lb 12oz
2nd Sandy Wason - 17lb 7oz .. 5 Cod
3rd Willie Kennedy - 16lb 8oz .. 4 Cod & 1 Rockling biggest 7lb 15oz
4th Robert Edmund - 8lb8oz .. 2 Cod
By all accounts Jamie was actually fishing .... And using bait !! .... Just don't know if he actually cast the bait out into the sea or not ?
The final results for the year will be pulled together very soon and these will be updated on the website, blog and forum.
Unfortunately there are no pictures .... we only realised this when we had gutted the fish anyway it was getting late and all of our bodies were stiffening up and hurting in places that that we didn't know could hurt.
Stu, Jamie & I stayed overnight at the travel lodge at the north end of Dundee and fished Usan for three hours the following day ..... The sea was pretty calm by then and we only managed a couple of Cod of about a pound n half each.
I think the fishing could be damn good over there when we get some easterly winds ..... Although the forecast is saying that won't be in the next week or so.
Have a great New Year
Willie
