Club Members'Achievements.
Paul Hollyoake Strikes Silver on International England Debut.
Paul was one of five anglers selected to compete in the SALC Home Nations at Milford Haven, Wales. The team comprising of six anglers included Paul Hart (captain), Garth Croft, Dave Cogger, John Wright and Pete Bailey. As this competition was cancelled in 2021 due to Covid, the team was eager to get back afloat after the long break spending several days together practising methods, before travelling to Milford Haven for a few days before the main event to assess their final game plan.
Unfortunately, the weather conditions played a big part in the practice days, as low pressure set in for the week. As practising was mainly restricted to the Haven, the decisions was made to fish within the boundaries of the Haven for the first day. The day was divided into three different disciplines, fishing three two-hour sessions. The first was fishing sheltered headlands targeting wrasse, pollack and cod. The second was fishing rough ground for dogfish, bull-huss, rays and gurnards. Then thirdly fishing clean ground looking for rays, smooth-hounds and dogfish with the possibilities of catching gurnard and maybe the odd dab.
Day one of the official competition saw the teams battling the weather conditions in a south-westerly 5-6 gale, making conditions extremely difficult. Day one was won by the Welsh team (478%) commanding a lead of 53% over Team England in silver position with a score of 425%, followed by Ireland with 390% with Scotland in last position with 305%. Team Wales dominated the day utilising their home knowledge and catching larger bonus fish.
With no let-up in the weather day two was fished in similar circumstances. After assessing day one, Team England had a plan from the start. The drift fishing was far more difficult as many of the marks had already been fished the previous day. But England held their own, before moving to the rough ground fishing mark, targeting small bull-huss in between the dogfish on boom rigs taking them into the lead. With just one more venue to go on clean ground, catching the odd ray, smooth-hound, dogfish and gurnard Team England came out on top for day two was it enough for Gold? Beating Wales by 48% on the day, left them in silver position by 5%, a margin of one dogfish for Gold.
Congratulations to Paul and Team England for their excellent team performance in testing conditions securing a creditable Silver, and nearly pulling off an amazing Gold.
I'm sure you all congratulate Paul for his contribution to Team England and wish himmany more medals fishing for his country and Club.
Final Scores: Wales 915% England 910% Ireland 823% Scotland 734%
Paul was one of five anglers selected to compete in the SALC Home Nations at Milford Haven, Wales. The team comprising of six anglers included Paul Hart (captain), Garth Croft, Dave Cogger, John Wright and Pete Bailey. As this competition was cancelled in 2021 due to Covid, the team was eager to get back afloat after the long break spending several days together practising methods, before travelling to Milford Haven for a few days before the main event to assess their final game plan.
Unfortunately, the weather conditions played a big part in the practice days, as low pressure set in for the week. As practising was mainly restricted to the Haven, the decisions was made to fish within the boundaries of the Haven for the first day. The day was divided into three different disciplines, fishing three two-hour sessions. The first was fishing sheltered headlands targeting wrasse, pollack and cod. The second was fishing rough ground for dogfish, bull-huss, rays and gurnards. Then thirdly fishing clean ground looking for rays, smooth-hounds and dogfish with the possibilities of catching gurnard and maybe the odd dab.
Day one of the official competition saw the teams battling the weather conditions in a south-westerly 5-6 gale, making conditions extremely difficult. Day one was won by the Welsh team (478%) commanding a lead of 53% over Team England in silver position with a score of 425%, followed by Ireland with 390% with Scotland in last position with 305%. Team Wales dominated the day utilising their home knowledge and catching larger bonus fish.
With no let-up in the weather day two was fished in similar circumstances. After assessing day one, Team England had a plan from the start. The drift fishing was far more difficult as many of the marks had already been fished the previous day. But England held their own, before moving to the rough ground fishing mark, targeting small bull-huss in between the dogfish on boom rigs taking them into the lead. With just one more venue to go on clean ground, catching the odd ray, smooth-hound, dogfish and gurnard Team England came out on top for day two was it enough for Gold? Beating Wales by 48% on the day, left them in silver position by 5%, a margin of one dogfish for Gold.
Congratulations to Paul and Team England for their excellent team performance in testing conditions securing a creditable Silver, and nearly pulling off an amazing Gold.
I'm sure you all congratulate Paul for his contribution to Team England and wish himmany more medals fishing for his country and Club.
Final Scores: Wales 915% England 910% Ireland 823% Scotland 734%