A gentle southerly breeze greeted Braintree Sea Angling club members when they arrived at Aldeburgh for their latest match. Fishing was slow and patchy with some finding more than a handful of sizeable fish others struggled. Chris Leonard had 14 fish for 107 fish points. Second place man Paul Hart also had 14 fish but only worth 97 points. In third spot was Paul Drake with 5 fish for 59 points he also had the longest fish a flounder of 30cm.

Braintree Sea Angling Club’s first match of the year took place at Sizewell in persistent rain.  The aftermath of the recent tidal surge meant large waves hitting this shallow beach and kept the fish offshore. All caught a few fish but it was Club secretary Chris Leonard that got off to a good start for the year with a win from his catch of 8 dab, 2 whiting and a large rockling. Second place went to Robin Joy with 90 points, 7 dab and 4 whiting.  Third place angler was Paul Drake with 10 dab and 1 rockling for 75 points.

Walton pier was the venue for the latest Braintree Sea Angling Club match.  Fishing in a cold easterly wind into dusk it was mainly small whiting that took the anglers baits in this catch and release match.  Fishing was steady once the tide turned with an occasional dab or rockling also putting in an appearance.  Barrie Senior took the top spot with 43 sizeable whiting, 1 rockling, 4 dabs and a pout for 555 fish points.  Second place went to Paul Drake with 346 fish points from his catch of 27 whiting, 2 rockling and 3 dabs.  Brian Grundy secured third place with 10 whiting for 137 points.  With just two matches left this year it is close at the top of the beach championships with both Robin Joy and Chris Leonard on 110 match points with Paul Drake lying in third with 105 points. 

Shingle Street was the venue for Braintree Sea Angling Club’s latest match.  Fishing an hour of the flood and the rest of the match on the ebb in sunshine and showers whiting were again the main fish caught. Chris Leonard took first place with 534 fish points from his catch of whiting, rockling, dab and a sole of 34cm.  Second place went to Robin Joy with 388 points and Paul Drake 347 points for third spot.

Braintree Sea Angling Club’s final charter boat match of the year was fished out of West Mersea on Chris Mole’s Enterprise.  Due to strong south westerly winds the match took place in the estuary where plenty of shelter could be found.  Plenty of whiting were caught with some good size fish in amongst the small ones but no codling or thornbacks which had been expected.  It was a close contest but with half an hour to go it was a battle between Paul Hart and Barrie Senior.  Paul caught a dab which gave him extra species points to put him in the lead Barrie fought back with a double shot of sizeable whiting followed by two more but at lines up he was still one point short.   Paul won the day with 16 whiting, 1 dogfish and a dab for 56 points. Barrie had 20 whiting and a dab for 55 points.  Third place went to Chris Bull with 42 points from his catch of 15 whiting and a pout.  However, Barrie’s second place was enough to put him top spot over the series of boat matches and win the Bolduc Cup with Chris Leonard the runner-up two points behind. 

Braintree Sea Angling Club met at Aldeburgh in rain and strong winds to fish the second leg of the Mick Allen Shield.  The adverse weather conditions did not put off the fish and plenty of whiting were landed.  Fishing with lug, rag and squid baits Paul Drake won the match with 1002 fish points from his catch of 82 whiting, 1 dab and a rockling. In second spot despite not fishing the last hour was Chris Leonard with 38 whiting and 3 dabs for 518 points.  Graham Nash was third with 487 points 41 whiting and a dab.  Chris Leonard wins the Shield having 18 match points from the two legs.  Graham Nash was the runner up with 15 points.

The first leg of the Mick Allen Shield was fished by Braintree Sea Angling Club members at Felixstowe.  This evening catch & release match resulted in an abundance of whiting being caught.  Chris Leonard took the top spot with 56 whiting, 1 sole and pout for 789 fish points.  Second place went to Graham Nash with 356 points with his catch of 33 whiting.  Robin Joy returned from a spell of injury to secure third place with 22 whiting for 251 points.  The second leg of this two match competition is due to be fished at Aldeburgh on 11 November.

Holland-on-Sea was the venue for the latest Braintree Sea Angling Club evening beach match. A warm balmy evening and an offshore breeze made fishing comfortable. Unfortunately the fish didn’t find the conditions good for feeding and they were hard to locate. Robin Joy was the most successful with two nice sole, three eels and four whiting to win the match with 171 fish points. Second and third places were closely contested with Barrie Senior just pipping Paul Drake for second spot with 94 fish points from his catch of three eels, two whiting and a pout. Paul Drake had eight whiting for 91 points.

Graham Nash followed up his recent boat win by taking first place at the latest shore match in Braintree Sea Angling Club’s summer league series fished at Aldebugh. The anglers were treated to a show of thunder and lightning all around but fortunately not over them which together with a firework display at Thorpeness gave them something to watch as the rod tips were certainly not nodding. Fishing was very slow with only an occasional pin whiting being caught. Graham ended the evening with 10 whiting for 98 fish points. Second place went to Barrie Senior with 59 points from his catch of 5 whiting. Robin Joy and Paul Drake both had 3 whiting apiece but Joy took the third spot with 35 points versus Drake’s 32.

Braintree Sea Angling Club held the first of their evening Summer League matches at Holland-on- Sea. Conditions were good with no wind on a balmy night and the fish beginning to feed as the sun went down. Small whiting made up the bulk of the catches with a few small bass, dogfish, eels and sole the balance. Barrie Senior came in first with a catch of 27 whiting, 3 dogfish and a nice 35cm sole for 423 fish points. Second place went to Chris Leonard with 238 points from his catch of 17 whiting, 3 eels, a pout and a sole. Paul Drake took third spot with 14 whiting, 3 eels and a bass for 188 points. The next match is scheduled for 18 June at Walton beach.