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  • 09/2011 Fishing Report by Lyle Stantiford on Supanova II (Weymouth, Dorset)

    Sep 2011 by Lyle Stantiford

    Report on-board Supanova II

    Last week Weymouth and it's fleet along with a couple of visiting boats played host to one of the most prestigious angling events in the world, the european championships run by EFSA ( European Federation Of Sea Anglers).
    The five day competition was last in England in 2007 when Weymouth also played host to the event. 2011's event saw 160 competitors from countries all over Europe battling it out to be European Champion and European light line champion.
    The competition had two separate events, the European championship which was fished over 4 days (Mon-Thurs) and was based on species based competition. All anglers had limited bait supplied with a points system meaning each competitor was allowed to catch ten of each different species but with only the first five fish counting as maximum points. Bonus points were also on offer for the more species each competitor managed to catch.
    The first two days of this event saw pretty grotty conditions with all boats restricted to the east side of Portland, but the fishing didn't disappoint with a vast array of species landed by all boats. The following two days saw conditions vastly improve allowing boats to travel further afield.
    The results after these 4 days saw Englishman Ray Barron Crowned European Champion with an astounding 4 boat wins for 400%. In fact only 4% separated 1st-3rd with Heiko Dreier of Ireland in 2nd place and Colin Searles of England in 3rd.
    England were also victorious in the team event pipping the highly rated italians to the post.
    The final day saw all competitors issued with a spool of 8kg mono for the light line event. The target species for this day would be primarily Congers, Huss, Rays and Tope. With a minimum size of 60cm as a target. This event saw all fish estimated by the skippers and returned alive.
    Winner of this challenging event was Gareth Croft.
    At the gala dinner on Saturday evening some additional awards were made.
    One of which was for top boat for the European Championship and Light line Event.
    It was a great honour when Supanova was announced a Top Boat for the championships, especially when the quality of boats and skippers in the event was so high. To have beaten some of the finest skippers in the country was a great feeling!!!!!!!
    Congratulations must also go to Richard English of Lone Shark who was crowned top Boat for the light line event.
    Many thanks to all the EFSA organising committe for making the whole week run smoothly but most of all to all the 160 anglers for attending and supporting the event! Hope to see you all again soon!
    Pictured is Darren Lattimer battleing a conger on the light line event on board Supanova.

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