On Sunday 25th October, the 2015 Lyme Bay Boat Trophy took place. This year it was run by West Bay Sea Angling Club and the anglers fished aboard Dawn Mist. Lyme Regis, West Bay, Honiton, and Beer Angling Clubs, all put two anglers forward for the competition.
Anglers were targeting two of each species and the points were worked out on length for each species. The species were split into 3 categories: high scoring fish, medium scoring, and low scoring.
As Darren Herbert and Roy Shipway had come first and second in the 2014 LRSAC boat league they represented LRSAC this year.
The day started with drifting for Plaice in front of Seatown, and although the Plaice were thin on the ground almost everyone managed to get the pair. It was then off to some rough ground where the target was Wrasse, Bream, Conger Eel. Darren opted to try for Conger Eel while everyone else was catching Pout, Poor Cod, Ballan, and Cuckoo Wrasse. He hooked into a good sized Eel but as it pulled back into the rough ground his rig got snagged!
A few Bream had started to show, so Darren switched rods and managed to catch up with catching the Wrasse, etc. A quick add-on of a 3ft flyer 6ft above his two hook rig, baited with a large ragworm managed to bag him a Pollack 7-8lb. Meanwhile Roy was successfully hitting out two of each species and even managed the only Red Gurnard of the day! The boat finished the day drifting the Tennants Reef for Pollack and Cod followed by anchoring on the sand to try for Whiting, Rays, and Dabs, but only Dogfish were found.
The eight hour Boat Competition came to an end, so the boat headed back to West Bay the match officials calculated the final places as the score sheets were added up.
First place went to LRSAC with 88 points – second place went to Honiton with 78 points – third place went to Beer with 61 points and fourth place went to West Bay with 54 points.
Roy Shipway took the most points over the day with 57 and Darren scored 31 points. The competition was well run by West Bay S.A.C. and the measure and return policy meant only fish that were taken home to be eaten were killed.
Congratulations to Roy and Darren for winning the trophy which was incidentally the first time that LRSAC had won this trophy.