Open Beach Fishing Competition raises over £1k for Blood Bikes Wales

The third Blood Bikes Wales Open Beach Fishing Competition, organised by members from Pembroke & District Angling Club and Osprey Sea Angling Club was held on Amroth beach in South Pembrokeshire.

The weather on the day, October 23 was, once again balmy, warm and dry, dissimilar to that which had been experienced locally in the run up to and following the competition, so the weather gods really smiled on the day with only a gentle breeze but with a good surf, as can be seen in the picture, due to the windy and squally weather experienced prior to the competition.

Turnout and support was not as good as for the inaugural one in 2019 but on a par with the last one, with 47 anglers including seven Ladies and one Junior turning up and they are very much thanked for their support. Thirteen anglers, including two Ladies managed to weigh in sizeable fish with 16 flounder along with one bass and one mullet. Other fish were caught, mainly undersized and a few in size but not weighed in; Andrew Skeels managing to catch 13 bass but all undersize!

Winning angler, who managed to land three decent sized flounder, for 1Kg 920gms was Marc Hagan (Pembroke Dock), netting him the £200 first prize. The winner of the second prize for the heaviest any fish was again Peter Taylor (Penally) with a Bass of 1Kg 300gms netting him £100. Third prize of £50 with the second heaviest bag of flatfish was Franco Attanasio (Saundersfoot) with two flounder for 925gms. The pairs competition, in which both anglers had to weigh in, was won by Peter and his partner John O’Connor (Martletwy) with one bass and one flounder for 1Kg 935gms. Second with two flounder, one Mullet for 1Kg 655gms were Franco and Andy Young (Llannon). The winning Lady was June Howell (Tavernspite) with a flounder of 425gms.

However, the most important result on the day was that the event raised £1001.40 for the Blood Bikes Wales. This included the collection made during the day by Blood Bike Wales members who leant their support to the competition on the day. To thank for this sterling effort are the anglers from the organising clubs, together with Mr Ian Wilkinson of the Temple Bar Inn who put his premises and valued support at this event’s disposal. Lastly, thanks go to the multitude of kind and generous sponsors of the event, who donated cash, together with those donating prizes for the raffle which will hopefully ensure the continuation of the event.

Main sponsors were Tom Banner of TJB Refrigeration in Clydach, Philip Davies, JD Metals and Johnny Oak. Others, in no particular order, were Shane Tucker, Chris Plank, Andy Young, Mark Bennett, host Ian Wilkinson of the Temple Bar Inn, John O’Connor, Leigh Rogers and Alison George. Peter Kraus, big thanks on the day for all his help, also came armed with a myriad of prizes he collected from various contacts of his.

One final thing, look out in the New Year for the 19th Annual Wales Air Ambulance Open, this time sponsored by Valero, postponed from 2021 due to weather and the 13th RNLI Open, postponed from 2020 due to Covid 19, for which anglers now pray for at least the equivalent or better weather and as good or better turnout and catch of fish.