Flounders love them or hate them they are annualy the first thought for nearly every club and leagues first fixture of the season, the funny thing is how we always look forward to this fixture but within an hour in we all wish we were some where else. Hythe was are chosen flounder spot and with talk of a bit of a drought of the species in recent weeks it was nice to see a few fish returned at the weigh in, with even an elusive two pounder putting in an appearance for angler Andy Rogers. you couldn't of asked for better conditions with a lovely settled day and early morning frost.

The aforementioned Andy Rogers took the days honours with a bag of five flats for 4lb 12oz coming back after blanking for over half the match well done mate.

Ben Phillips took runner up with 4lb 2oz finding all his fish in the first half of the match funny how Andy was but a few yards away.

Third place was Dave Stenson who used light tackle to get more sport from his four fish weighing in at 3lb 13oz.
A big thanks to all who attended hope to see you at the next fixture where hopefuly parking will be less of an issue.

With a cold north wind forecast it was set to be a chilly evening with most members seeking sanctuary by fishing the deep water section. With slight sea conditions and a frost, pout dogfish and the outside chance of a ray were on the cards. The dogfish failed to show but pout were available and Paul Thomas managed to land a solitary Thornback ray of 7lb 7oz.

Paul Thomas finished the event in first place with a total weight of 10lb 6oz. Ben Phillips came in second with 4lb 2oz followed by Jay Bowditch and Simon Cook both finishing with 2lb 9oz.

Thanks to all who braved the cold conditions.

April showers were certainly apparent at the forth league fixture of the year although the rainfall was only sporadic giving way to reasonably calm evening. The fixture was the trial run for the groups new five dog limit which is hoped to allow among other things ,other species to be fished for and allow more fish to be returned alive and kicking. As can be expected Dogfish were ever present and quota’s filled quickly ,the shame was that other species were at a premium, Pout ,Poor Cod and the odd Dab were the only other species returned to the scales.

Jay Bowditch took the prime place taking Dogs and Pout weighing ten pound in total.

Mark Plowman came in runner up with the nights only Dab together with Dogs and Pout for a weight of eight pound eight ounces.

Paul Dorey closely followed with eight pound exactly.

Shaun Bowditch took the evenings heaviest fish a Dog of two pound four ounces.

Round five saw members arrive at the former army firing ranges at Browndown and with fair conditions and all hoped the dreaded Solent weed would not be present. As it turned out the weed failed to show in any significant amounts but the spider crabs did make there presence felt. The expected small smooth hounds showed during daylight and dusk as the weather conditions changed to a very still smooth evening, calm enough to hear anglers joking on a small boat a fair distance from the shore. Once darkness fell members continued to catch the odd smooth hound and pout and the weed remained manageable.

Mark Plowman landed himself a sizeable bass and a silver eel just short of two pounds to add to his catch of smooth hounds for a respectable weight of 11lb 4oz.

Andy Rodgers also found a couple of smooth hounds and pout for a total of 9lb 13oz

Jay Bowditch landed the nights heaviest fish in the form of 4lb 4oz smooth hound to add to his bag for a total weight of 9lb 11oz.

Round six was a match with promise as it was the clubs first summer match but instead of the sun beating down on us we had force 4-5 south easterly winds and sporadic rain. My first thought on arrival was we should of bought a surf board rather than beach casters. With Milford being a medium size beach and the reports of smooth hounds turning up on the south coast and Solent there was a worry of it being busy in the evening but as it happens it was fairly quiet probably due to the prevailing winds and sporadic rain so all members got to fish where they wanted to. During the evening the patchy rain disappeared and the wind eased off. It was pleasant fishing but would of been a lot nicer with more sizeable fish. Even though there was a lot of small stuff members still managed to catch smooth hounds, bream and pout even a good Dover sole made an appearance.

First place went to Paul Thomas with a weight of 8lb 15oz, which was made up of 2 smooth hounds, pout and bream

Second place and Heaviest fish honours went to Paul Dorey with a weight of 7lb 6oz Heaviest fish being smooth hound 5lb 8oz.also some bream and pout

Third place went to Andy Rogers weighing in at 4lb 15 oz also managing to catch a smooth hound and pout.

Round 7 was to be an interesting match due to some members worried of the fact that there would be no water at the time the match was due to start- lucky for us they couldn’t have been more wrong, there was plenty of water to fish into straight away. It turned out to be a pleasant evening with the sun setting nicely on a warm & dry night.... Until the last hour of the match when the heavens opened!

We knew the target species for this match would be eels, smooth hounds and if lucky a sizeable bass. Plenty of smooth hounds were caught but the majority were all under size so it was a good thing that the reliable eel turned up as predicted, although only in small numbers.

First place and joint Heaviest fish goes to Ben Phillips with a bag of eels weighing 3lb 8oz. Heaviest fish (which was an eel) weighed in at 1lb 8oz.

Second place and joint Heaviest fish went to Shaun Bowditch with a mixed bag of smooth hound and eels at 2lb 10oz. His heaviest fish being a smooth hound of 1lb 8oz.

Third place was Mark Plowman with a smooth hound weighing 1lb 6oz.

Hythe was the venue for round 8, we couldn't of asked for a better evening with the weather being hot all day. Eels would be the main target fish with smooth hound and bass hopefully making an appearance too.
It turned out to be a very pleasant nights fishing with catches coming evenly throughout the night- never a dull moment. On the night eels turned up as expected so did the smooth hounds and bass, even pout were caught. The only annoying thing of the night was the appearance of micro bass all of about 3 inches long.
One funny note was member Mark Plowman made a match anglers mistake of showing us his big eel for a second time, after it had already been weighed and before everyone else had a chance to weigh in. Because club member George Harrison pulled out an even bigger one -we think Mark must of fancied his eel.


1st place went to Jay Bowditch with a mixed bag made up of eels, bass and a smooth hound weighing 9lb 2oz.

2nd place was Mark Plowman with a mixed bag of eels and pout with a weight of 3lb 10oz.

3rd place was Paul Dorey with a bag of eels weighing 3lb 5oz.

Heaviest fish went to George Harrison which was an eel weighing 2lb 4oz. Also a specimen claim.

This match always has the potential of being one of the best matches of the year because you still have summer fish around and you also get the winter fish turning up, most anticipated being codling. Theres an old saying when the wind is in the east the fish bite least (what a croc of s***) this may be true in some venues but not Chesil. Even on a bad day Chesil fishes well.
To start with during the day members were targeting garfish and scad with float, during the night members would be looking to catch dogfish, pout, poor cod, smooth hound, codling and bream. With all these fish hoping to be caught Chesil did not disappoint -even with the wind in the east.
Also with new club rule of 5 dogfish limit at Chesil this would give club members a better chance of targeting other species but as it happens only some members filled their dogfish limit anyway.

1st place was Mark Plowman with a mix bag of all of the above mentioned species and heaviest fish being a 3lb codling all totalling to 19lb 6oz.

2nd place Jay Bowditch with a mixed bag of pout, poor cod, dogfish and bream weighing 17lb 15oz.

3rd place was Paul Dorey with a mixed bag of pout, poor cod, dogfish, smooth hound and bream weighing 14lb 8oz.