Long live rockling Saviour of our hardy band of anglers (From Barry And District News)

Long live rockling Saviour of our hardy band of anglers

FISHING is still slow and without the ubiquitous rockling, few anglers would be weighing in at all.

A few notable exceptions have included the efforts of seasoned veterans, like Mickey'Lamprey' Langford and Steve'Clipboard' Doble, who have brought bass and ray to the scales recently.

Boat angling has improved, though, with Spurdogs showing in numbers along with the long-awaited arrival of some spring and summer species.

A well-attended match on April 10, saw 17 anglers fish with only just over half weighing in - small bags being the order of the day.

On Sunday, April 17, a hardy band of anglers braved the most appalling conditions to fish a competition fixed on Sully Island.

A strong south-easterly wind along with driving rain and drizzle combined to frustrate and punish a bedraggled bunch, whose reward was limited to just a few bags of small fish.

Mickey Langford proved persistence pays off when he hooked a fine bass of over 5lb on his final cast, long after many had given up and packed their rods away.

Steve Doble included a spotted ray in his second place weight.

Other than this, the main highlights reported by the marooned anglers included a series of barbecues competing with each other.

Honours in the chef stakes apparently went to the Dark Destroyer Dean Carter for an inventive mix of king prawn, rice and snapper.

A full boat report will appear in next week's paper.

RESULTS

April 10, 2005:

1st R Lougher 2lb 15oz

2nd M Langford 2lb 8oz

3rd R Green 1lb 13oz

4th N Grant 1lb 9oz

5th W Taylor 1lb 4oz

6th A Harris 11oz

April 17, 2005:

M Langford 6lb 13oz

S Doble 6lb 6oz

A Harris 3lb 7oz

P Coles 3lb 4oz

D Carter 3lb 3oz

P Crook / R Lougher 2lb 4oz