The second Harry’s fishing match took place on Thursday 21st February.

Again, it was a night best spent in front of the fire with a cup of cocoa -unless you are as keen as the Brid fishermen! Braving the cold, damp weather, Paul Adams won the cash prize with a 1lb whiting. Neil Batty won the first prize in the raffle, a Shimano tackle box, and four others won either a Shimano thermal mug or a hat. We were able to make a contribution to the RNLI too.

Thanks to Shimano for their generosity and to the Parade pub for their hospitality and excellent food, which rounded off the evening nicely.

On Wednesday 13th February, the first Harry’s fishing match was held for adults. It was freezing - but a hardcore turned out to fish from Sewerby Steps down to Macckies.

 The competition was particularly hard. Lots of fish were caught but they were all slightly under the match limits. No-one wants to take out under sized fish, and our fishermen and women returned dabs, whiting and bass.

The competition was won by Nick Simmonds with a 1lb 5oz whiting, with Neil Batty coming second with a 14 oz whiting. The evening was sponsored by Fladen and the free raffle included a Warbird beachcaster rod, Fladen hats and polo shirts, feathers and a large tin of biscuits, with their compliments. We’d like to say a huge thank you to Fladen. It is truly great to see the big manufacturers supporting our sport locally.

After the fishing, everyone was grateful for the piping hot Yorkshire pudding and stew provided free by The Parade pub. It was a really sociable night - and is now a regular fixture.

Look out for new matches every Thursday evening, with raffle prizes from our sponsors, free food and great company. Who knows - next time we may even get warmer weather!

Saturday 16^th February saw the first Harry’s of Bridlington under 16’s fishing match on the pier.  First prize for this special inaugural match was a day’s fishing with Dave Barham, the Editor of Boat Fishing Monthly.

Even though it was a bitterly cold day, eight boys turned up and fished hard. It was a catch and release competition, with points for each fish caught. The match was marshalled by volunteers from Bridlington’s fishing community, all gladly giving up their time to encourage the children.

Amanda, a full-time student at Hull University and one of the marshalls said ‘These boys were amazing – they concentrated so hard and were so knowledgeable. I learned a thing or two!’

The eventual winner was Jamie Desborough aged 14, who caught five fish and earned a total of 176 points. Jamie was thrilled to win and very keen to take up his prize of a day’s boat fishing. Second and third places were taken by Chris and Isaac but all the boys were a fine example to the sport, fishing in a spirit of friendly competition.

The following Monday, Jamie and his dad Paul fished on Striker with Dave Barham and Steve Ellis from Harry’s. It was a beautifully clear day and Skipper Palmer Cockrill struck fish for them every time he anchored.

Between them, they caught 39 stones of fish - whiting and coalfish aplenty. Jamie filled a box by himself, more than holding his own against the experienced adults.

Steve said of the day ‘It was fantastic. It’s given Jamie a real day to remember and we’d like to thank Dave, Palmer and everyone who helped.’

It’s getting closer by the minute now. Time for your last minute preparations, working out the best gear, and what bait you’ll need. We’ll be stocking live big fat juicy lug and rag, as well as live crabs. We’ll also have a full range of frozen bait - razor fish, peeler crabs, squid, black lug, mackerel and mussels.

But it’ll go fast, so why not give us a call to pre-order yours?

84 anglers competed in the annual Seabirds open and congratulations to winners Alaster Spendlow, Michael Smith (juniors) and Vicky Douglas (ladies).

We were happy to donate one of our Harry’s-branded coats as a prize, and applaud everyone who took part at the weigh in.

It’s a great sign that fishing in our region is healthy when the club scene works so well. It takes a great deal of effort to run a club and we’d like to pay tribute to the organisers.

Well done, everyone.

Why we don’t believe sea angling licences will work

 The Consultation on a Recreational Sea Angling Strategy for England has just been released by the Government.

The main purpose of the strategy is to enhance the recreational sea angling experience in a sustainable, responsible way. One of the main measures it is considering is the introduction of a sea angling licence, as well as a voluntary code on bag limits and the size of catches.

Sea anglers are very concerned about the implications of this paper for our sport. We do not see that a sea angling licence will do anything to promote better marine conservation or improve facilities for anglers.

Portugal recently introduced a similar scheme. As a result, sea fishing has dropped off dramatically and the sport has lost 500,000 anglers in the first year. According to the Government’s own statistics, sea angling is worth £538M annually, contributing almost as much to the UK’s economy as commercial fishing. Our economy could take a considerable hit if this number of fishermen retreated from the sport and it cannot be in the national interest.

By contrast, we see the activities of commercial fishermen going unchecked year after year, with trawlers and factory ships regularly fishing closer and closer to the shore. We see the Government rejecting the opportunity to increase the catch size of bass after the lobbying of the commercial sector, even though it flies in the face of sustainable fishing policies. The cynics among us may believe that this measure has more to do with raising revenue and placating the commercial fishing lobby than promoting marine conservation and enhancing our sport.

But our main concern is that it will actively drive people away from fishing, one of the oldest open access sports. It is the UK’s most popular sport, enjoyed by young and old, male and female alike. It can be practiced with a £1 handline or a kit worth hundreds.

Please vote against this proposal. As anglers, we are more than happy to work with the government on conservation issues, but the introduction of sea licences is not the way.

It does not tackle the bigger issue of how the commercial sector operates, particularly in inshore waters. It does nothing to promote the replenishment of stock by imposing sensible catch sizes on popular species. And it will be expensive, cumbersome and bureaucratic to police, so that the benefits it promises in better facilities for anglers will not materialise. More importantly, it will deny the pleasure of fishing to vast sectors of our community, hitting the young, elderly and poor the hardest.

We look forward to your support.

I recently sold a K2 Red Metal 16 footer. The young man was out with his father who was also impressed enough to order one. They came back to see us last week and told me about their casting experiment.

Taking the Red Metal out into a field, they set about a few practice casts. Then they cast the same set-up with their usual rod, followed immediately by a cast with the Red Metal. And they measured each cast.

Same angler, same set-up, same conditions.

The difference? A whopping 100 meters!

At last! The good old days are back with a 17.5lb cod off the beach at Aldborough.

That’s HUGE by anyone’s standards and it’s not a one-off. You’ve told us about regularly catching 12 pounders all up the east coast, and bagging 4-5 pounders off the pier. As one angler told us, big bait is catching big fish.

But keep it quiet. We don’t want the trawlers coming in and scooping up our fish. There should be a restriction to give the fish - and the sports anglers - a chance. When there are restrictions on catches left right and centre, it seems the most obvious move to make to preserve the fish stocks and a retail angling industry that is an important part of the UK economy.

In the meantime, keep fishing with big bait and keep telling us about it. We’d love to publish your photos here too.

What a week!

We’ve had a great first week. Lots of people coming in, lots of compliments on how the shop looks - thank you for those - and lots of suggestions from you about what you’d like to buy. And thank you for your support and encouragement. We really appreciate it.

We’d love to hear from you. Let us know what you think ought to be in stock and we’ll try to get it in as a regular line. Or if it’s a special order, we can get it for you in a couple of days, provided it’s in stock with our suppliers.

It’s getting closer and the early bird gets a discount. Buy your tickets by post from us,
or call into the shop. With £25,000 prize money, you’d be mad not to.