All hail Mr Hale, winner of the National Championships on the River Teign

Two days of wet and windy conditions saw 126 hardy anglers, including seven juniors, fish the River Teign Estuary battling it out to become National Flounder Champion.

Local angler and part of the organising committee, Dan Hale, emerged victorious with his fish of 2lbs 11oz. Not only did he get the trophy but also the £1000 first prize and 50% of the pool money. A good weekend.

Proprietor of Anyfish Anywhere, Torquay’s Julian Shambrook, took the prize for the best fish on Saturday, his catch weighing 2lbs 8oz. Sunday’s best fish was won by Simon Cockram with a fish of 1lb 7oz.

Unfortunately, no junior landed a Flounder but there was some consolation for the winner of the last two years, Sophie Cockram, who took the prize for the best Bass by a junior.

As expected, many Bass were landed during the course of the event with at least six fish over 5lbs and two over 7lbs but the one that took the prize was a specimen of 9lbs 15oz falling to the rod of Chris Mason.

This year, a total of 32 Flounders were weighed in with many smaller ones being released before being brought to the scales. All weighed-in fish were kept alive and then released after being weighed, which is fantastic for the conservation of the species.

There were not the same numbers of the past caught over the weekend but the numbers were up on the previous couple of years, could this be the beginning in the resurgence of Flounder fishing in the River Teign?

The organising committee would like to thank Teignmouth RNLI for the use of the station for the weigh in and all the sponsors who make this event possible. Everyone is looking forward to next year’s event and I will publish the dates as soon as I have them.

Because of the competition, angling has been quiet elsewhere around the coast, however Dylan Harris fished a shore rock mark in Torbay and found a Bull Huss of 5lbs and Chris Hawkes took his dad fishing with the surprise catch being a sizeable Lobster.

When the boats have managed to get out, Pollack and Bass continue to be the Target species and the best Pollack I have seen for a couple of years fell to the rod of John Bovey and tipped the scales at exactly 17lbs. Now is the time to target the big ones on the wrecks.

The results of the Fish of the month Competition will be announced next week, so there is still time to get me a picture of your catch. A prize pack from Sidewinder Lures or a couple of day-tickets from Newbarn Angling Centre could be on their way to you.