WFSA's PM's newsletter.

I've just received the WFSA's PM's newsletter, and I've pasted it below for anyone that wishes to read it.
Best
Aquarius


Personal Members Newsletter. September 2008

Potential Welsh Record...
April brought a cracking start to the WFSA Record list for Paul Whittle who is a member of the ABC Sea Angling club in Holyhead.
He has caught a potential Welsh Record Spurdog witch weighed in at 19lb 13oz; this will be 11oz heavier than the present record.
The fish was weighed and released to fight another day, well done Paul.
He caught the fish on “My Way” out of Holyhead skippered by Gethyn Owen in 200ft of water using double Squid bait on 4/0 Varivas Big mouth hooks with a double shot of Booby Beads above the bait.
Tackle was an ABU Uptider with a SL/30 loaded with 20lb Fireline braid.
The next NEC meeting of the WFSA should confirm its record status as all the appropriate and necessary forms have been sent to the National Fish Recorder of the WFSA. (Record Confirmed 19th July 2008)

The Forum...

As some of you may have realised the old WFSA forum has bit the dust, the site has been the subject of “spoofing” this means that an outside source has done everything in there power to scupper the forum. We were being bombarded with SPAM that was all porn related, we were left with no alternative than to give up on the old forum and create a new won this new forum can now be accessed via the main page on the WFSA website.
Sorry but you will have to reregister as a forum member to use it. But at least we have it up and running again as it has definitely proved a benefit to all members.

PM’s matches...
The 1st of this year’s WFSA East Region Personal Members match was fished at Ogmore on 11th April with a good turnout from across the region. All entrants had to contend with Speedboats and Paddle boarders but like true anglers they just got on with it.

The Weather was very hot with very little wind and bright sunshine which did not help matters but all anglers persevered and all caught fish, including Rays, Dogfish, Turbot and Whiting.
The match was fished as measure and release in the aid of conservation.

The top 5 places…

The results are as follows 1st place went to Gareth Davies with 217cm, 2nd place went to Steve Griffiths with 164cm, 3rd place went to Mike Dixon with 145cm, 4th place went to Andy Phelps with 139cm and 4th place went to Paul Thomas with 115cm.

Page 1.
WFSA Personal Members match 15th June.
The second leg of the WFSA Personal member’s matches took place at Cardiff Bay. The weather was not kind and all had to contend with high winds and very heavy showers.
The fish were slow to start obliging but once they put in an appearance everyone was kept on there toes. Fish caught were Dover Sole, Dogfish, Whiting and Flounder. The expected Bass never showed.
It was nip and tuck between Paul Thomas and Mike Dixon for the best part of the comp with Paul just edging Mike out with a good Whiting on the last but one cast.
It was good to see Nigel Hancock and Mark Thorne turn up as they have only joined recently.
The top 5 results are as follows....
Paul Thomas, 198cm. Mike Dixon, 189cm. Nigel Hancock, 178cm, Steve Griffiths 145cm.
Mark Thorne, 135cm.
PM Regional Secretaries,
The regional matches are to be run as per WFSA handbook whenever possible; however allowances are made for matches to be run in various other formats after permission was granted by the National Executive Committee. (NEC meeting 19th April 2008)
Please remember that when you are fishing you are an ambassador for your sport and should be aware that others are watching, so please consider other users of the area you fish and always return your catch safely unless it’s for the table.
WFSA is making angling cheaper…
The WFSA has on your behalf obtained these offers’s of discounts to be passed on to Personal members and Affiliated Club Members, some as high as 30% off well known branded fishing tackle.
There are some stipulations as you would expect regarding these offer’s but please allow me to explain.
Regarding the PM’s I have sent in a list of all named PM’s, all you have to do to take up any of these offer’s is to quote your name and that’s it. It will be checked of against the company’s list that I have sent them, to ensure these offers are not abused.
As for affiliated club members there Secretary has to send in the same i.e. Club Name, and a list of members and there designated membership numbers.
I should like to stress the point that no addresses or contact numbers are given out.

Home Internationals Dover…
The WFSA had a good result in the Home Internationals held at Dover in July in all sections.
Youth team takes 1st place (GOLD MEDAL), the juniors taking 2nd place (SILVER MEDAL) and the seniors coming 4th.
Thanks must go to Ivor Smith (youth), Joe Crowley (juniors) and Mike Flynn (seniors) the respective team managers for there continued support, guidance and dedication.
Don’t forget that you as a PM can if you wish, try out for any of the teams mentioned simply by attending the regional qualifiers or contacting the respective managers for more information.
Page 2

WFSA is to advertise in Sea Angling News.
At the last NEC meeting on July 19th the WFSA has agreed in principle to place adverts in the FREE newspaper, Sea Angling News not only to promote the WFSA but to keep all members up to date with what is happening with shore, boat, youth, junior trails and any other events or fund raisers that are taking place across the principality.
Angler of Wales Event 20th July 2008.
This event is the brainchild of Mike Flynn (WFSA shore team manager) it encompasses the West, East, South West and North regions and local club champions within the WFSA. It gives anglers from all over Wales the chance to fish together for a very worthwhile prize. This year it was a complete sea fishing outfit kindly donated by Julian Shambrook of “ Anyfish Anywhere”.
This year’s winner was Dewi Hughes from Caernarvon who took top honors, not bad considering that he has only been fishing for three years and it just goes to prove that anyone has a chance of winning this event, which is set to become a major part of Welsh Angling for the years to come.
For 2009, it has been agreed that the top five Personal Members from each region shall also be entitled to enter this event.
The venue has been set for Borth beach just outside Aberystwyth in 2009.
PM’s match 27th July.
The match took place at the Black Pipe Peterstone, what a great day everyone caught…… (THE SUN) but only two anglers caught fish. In the last 5 min’s of the comp Steve Griffiths and Paul Thomas bagged a green Eel each to tie for 1st place. Still you can’t fault the weather on the day and all who attended enjoyed themselves. The topic’s we chewed the fat over on the day were the recent Angler of Wales competition and the recent Home Internationals.
A New Format for East Region Matches.
In the past the cost of entering these matches was £7.00, after consulting with the members of the East Region it has been decided to delete this cost in favour of a £2.00 charge that will be paid out on the day as prize money on the day of the match.
With rising fuel, bait and living cost’s it seemed only fair to attempt to reduce the expenses for theses matches in an attempt to keep the numbers of members attending from falling.
This East Region change does not override the way matches are or should be run as laid down in the PM administration guidelines it is just a way of reducing the charges to suite the east region members.
Another potential Welsh Record…
A Wreckfish of 7lb1oz has been caught of Milford Haven by Mr J Martin. He stated…
I have a 'Certificate of Identification of a Species of Fish for a Welsh Record' signed by a consultant to the WFSA from the Biological Sciences Dept at Swansea University, also I have another witness who saw the fish on the day of capture, Phil Marshall who is a sea fisheries officer based in Milford.
If you’re going to get witnesses they don’t come much better than these. (It should be ratified at the next NEC meeting in July.)
(This fish was confirmed as a Welsh Record 19th July 2008.)
The fish now has a new home at the National Aquarium in Plymouth with free board and lodge and four square meals a day.

Page 3.


The WFSA Boat Section.
The WFSA Boat Team Manager “Rob Roberts” is also an active PM member in North Wales.
As seen from the Dragons Eye.
The venue of Milford Haven was not chosen at random; neither was squad or our "Game plan"!
A lot of time and effort was put into the planning and execution, hence why both 2009 qualifying weekends were held out of the port. This gave the squad the best possible preparation and firsthand knowledge of how the venue was fishing, a month then fortnight prior to the main event - along with our extra practice days. Even prior to this we had held 1 qualifying weekend out of the port in the month of July for the last 3 years!
As all anglers know, you can never guarantee anything, but you can cut the probabilities down. We broke each discipline down, concluding the two most productive rigs for each format and more importantly that "bait conservation" could give us that all important edge - Ragworm in particular for drift and rough ground fishing.
Although the squad could be deemed somewhat "in-experienced" as it contained 4 new caps (NC), I had faith their ability and character would not buckle under pressure. Which is the reason I selected them in the first instance, along with Colin and Rod.
On DAY 1 -
England took the honours, with Wales just 21% behind them (not far off our game plan), Ireland in 3rd position and Scotland 4th.
DAY 2 -
We had this as our strongest day; we took the day with 3 boat wins, 2nd England,
3rd, Ireland and Scotland 4th.
OVERALL
1st WALES - 887.09%, 2nd ENGLAND - 874.47%,
3rd IRELAND - 681.41%, 4th SCOTLAND - 628.04%
Congratulations to Rod Adamson, Phil Clarke (NC), Byron Jones (NC), Colin Orme Thomas,
Liam Williams (NC) and Jon Law (NC), you worked as a team from start to finish and it was an honour to see the squad develop into GOLD MEDALISTS!
(NC) denotes New Cap.
Report by Robbie Roberts, WFSA Team manager.


Page 4
Home Internationals 2009
The WFSA are to host the Home Internationals in 2009 and they will be held at Aberystwyth’s Borth and Towyn beaches.
PM’s Match 7th September 2009.
We were lucky and the match took place on Cardiff Barrage when there was a lull in the weather so we escaped the rain that had been forecast. A number of us had decided the brave the forecasted weather. When we got there we had found that space was going to be a premium as the barrage was increasing in popularity.
We had presumed that the fishing was going to be slow due to the amount of flood water coming through the sluice gates but we were proved wrong from the first cast onwards as the fish were there biting at the baits straight away. Paul Thomas was in first with a whiting followed by Mike Dixon and then Gareth Davies. The first couple of cast’s were nip and tuck between these three but it was Mike’s Tenby Mackerel that came into it’s own with him running in to 1st spot where he stayed.
As the match progressed there was a lull in the action when the sluice gates were opened for about an hour before the fishing picked up again.
As mentioned there were a few fish to be caught at the end with Steve getting in the action and Paul finishing with a double shot to make a dent in Mikes huge lead at that point by cutting by over a half a meter but left it late to have any effect. The Final result was Mike Dixon 1st spot with 419 cm Paul Thomas with 363cm, Gareth Davies 297cm and Stephen Griffiths in 4ths spot on 245cm.
This result now leaves Paul Thomas leading the lead by a narrow half a point from Mike Dixon and Stephen Griffiths just a bit further behind with a point difference on Mike.
The match as always was fished on measure and release.
Anglesey Charter Fishing.
A big thank you is order for Mel and pearl Smith for offering reduced rates for mid week charter’s to all WFSA personal and affiliated members, please contact Pearl on 01407 769214 or Email, admin@angleseycharterfishing.com
There son Aaron has completed the trails for the boat internationals and is now part of the Welsh Squad. Well done, this is no mean achievement.
They have also pledged there support to Robbie Roberts, the Welsh boat team manager.
Latest news…
Literally just in there has been a 63lb 7oz Tope caught from the shore in Holyhead by local angler Alan Hughes the fish was returned alive after weighing. If this is verified as a new Welsh record it will beat the old record by over 11lb.


Mike Dixon.
PM Secretary.