Cold winds test anglers

The Angling Trust Wyvern region annual championship on Slapton Sands brought anglers from as far as Hampshire and Wales, with a strong Easterly wind chilling the bones.
After an hour or so, it seemed that this was not going to be a day when the scales were not going to be overused as very few fish were beached. As darkness arrived, anticipation increased again with a few decent-sized whiting being landed.
At the weigh-in at Stokely Farm shop, I watched as anglers weighed in their catches and it became apparent that not many anglers had caught the required two species, meaning the lower places would be separated by parts of an ounce.
The winner was Malcolm Stote from Lymington with a small Eyed Ray and a whiting, he won the Brixham Bowl and £200. Second spot was taken by Shaun Moore of Cardiff SAC and Third John John Johnson of West Coast and Watchet SAC. Prizes from a great prize table went to 13th place.
The Team Shield was won by the Chesil league team of Till Hall, Jeff Frisk, Malcolm Stote and Dave Lane. Adam Slack took the pool money with a whiting of 126%.
Thanks go to the organisers for making the day run as smoothly as it did but the biggest thanks to all the sponsors. Special thanks go to the main sponsor Julian Shambrook of Torquay rod building company Anyfish Anywhere Ltd for his continued support.
Elsewhere, we saw Jud Lascelles boat a stunning Ballan Wrasse of 7lbs 4oz to land himself a new Honiton SAC club record. Dan Patrick changed his venue and targeted Whiting finding a couple of good fish weighing 1lb 7oz and 1lb 4oz. Rich Burton fished the Plymouth shore league and found a great Flounder of 3lbs 11oz.
The latest matches for Newton Abbot FA saw Sam Powell take top honours in the Bradley Saturday League rover with a bag weight of 12lbs 10oz, followed by Duncan Arnold and Mark Cousins and the members Rover Sweepstake, also on Bradley, was won by Gary Webber with a weight of 15lbs 10oz, Mick Hadley and Duncan Arnold took the next two places.
There is still plenty of time to email your pictures and catch details to johnsherlockfish@gmail.com for the January fish of the month competition, kindly sponsored by Sidewinder Lures and Newbarn Angling Centre.