Big match change of times.

26th February 2010

The organisers of the British Open which starts this Friday have caused mumblings amongst the competitors by altering the match times on Sunday. The match has been changed to 9am to 1pm. This is to allow for the horrendous weather which is forecast, and the higher predicted tides and also that no one gets cut off by the tide not being able to get back up the cliffs
This decision has upset quite a few anglers and I have heard that several have demanded their money back and will not fish the event. But if there is any danger of any accidents you have to take that in consideration. It may be glorious weather on Sunday but you have to go by the experts predictions. No fishing is worth risk to life. Anglers have had to be airlifted before from this area in the past, so if there are a lot of anglers it increases the problems there may be. If you did have any injuries I doubt if the competition would be run again so I think that this is a very wise decision.
The times of the match on Saturday have not been altered and at the moment the weather looks not too bad. There have been some decent fish reported especially around the Withernsea, Hornsea areas. If conditions are not too bad I expect that there will be quite a few fish caught.
On the Friday night there is something different this year a pegged flattie match on the Bridlington beaches. This I expect will attract more of the serious match anglers. I personally like fishing the South beach at Bridlington. It is a good spot and you can catch fish feet from the edge of the beach.
Last Sunday I was back at the creek for the flounder open organised by Humber SAC, it was not too bad when we got there but as we started to draw for pegs the heavens opened and the snow came down. There was an excellent turn out. And even anglers came from as far as Sunderland. I did not fancy their journey back home.
The anglers had a fair way to walk to their pegs as the main gate was closed. George Smith was in a good peg and first cast was in to a fish , so was Adie Cooper who had a double shot. My rod laid motionless as it did for several hours, and as anglers around me started catching the more frustrated I got
Ian Belfield changed to crab baits and casting further out , started to find the fish and also they were better quality. George caught a smashing specimen a flounder of 39cm but full of roe and I would expect that it would have weighed more than two pounds. I thought George would have got the biggest fish with that one but Chris Mack from Hull got a monster one at 42cms.
Back at the car park and it soon became obvious that the creek had not fished well, it has been a top venue for the past few week. Top man and worth the trek form Sunderland was Ian Belfield 5 fish for 3lb 11oz, next in was George Smith 5 fish for 2lb 11oz, third Jim Greer 5 fish 2lb 7oz. I was in the middle of these two and got two postage stamps. Fourth in was Gary Hutson again with 5 fish for 2lb 5oz.
The match was very well run , even though the weather was awful most of the anglers had a good time. The club is really coming along nicely with new anglers fishing each week and old members rejoining, if you are interested in joining please contact me or ring Georges shop.
On the boat scene Sea angler have announced they are joint sponsoring the big fish open on the 21st March with some very good articles in the latest edition which is worth a look at . They went out on the predator and caught quite a few fish. Hopefully there will be a few fish about in March there is certainly not much in the river at the moment.