Catch Reports: British Cod Championships 2009

Mid November and the cod fishing has really got going and its time for the British Cod Champs on the Isle of Wight. Day 1 and the weather was good enough to allow us to fish South of the Needles. We managed 3 fish with best just under 17lbs falling to Rene van Oevelen that turned out to be third heaviest of the day. One boat had 9 fish so we were somewhat off the pace. Day 2 saw strong Southerley winds and we were confined to the Solent - not our favorite grounds for sure. Only one fish for Pete "Geeze" Bailey up to lunchtime a monster just short of 30lbs (well about 28lbs short to be precise!). We had a move and Geeze joked that he only needed another 4 to win! In the last hour geeze so nearly did it catching 3 and dropping one! His 4 cod with the horrible weather, copious weed and scarce bites rates as the finest angling achievement we have seen on Silver Spray. Max Everrett also got on the score sheet giving us 5 fish on day 2. Geeze ended up in third place overall with 5 fish to 37lbs while the 1st and 2nd placed anglers also had 5 fish totally 44lb each. Silver Spray ended up 3rd on number of cod with 8 fish. Winning boat was Becky M.