Four boats and eleven anglers turned out for this one and it did not look at the start that it was going to be a dry one as when the boats left the port of Douglas the rain was pelting down and the forcast was for the night to get worse and not better. How wrong could you be by the time we arrived at the Port grennaugh area on our quest to find the nights quarry, the Ling the rain had dissappeared and the wind which was supposed to come from the ssw dissappeared and although over cast it was a very warm evening.

All boats were getting fish but not at a rapid rate as the state of tide was still flowing fast and drifts were short and sweet. Both Kirsty III and Merit I did not fish far from each other all night and both had the lions share of the fish by te nd of the competition.

New species champions E.V.GRACE with skipper Stevie Quilliam and Chief "Netter " David Christian decided to fish at the far end of the port Grennaugh Mark with little luck on the Ling front BUt when they came back to fish along side the other boats they were soon in to Ling.

Trampie had only just got out of the Harbour at the start and had to retur as one crew member was taken with sea sickness which was a shame with the weather easing for the rest of the night.

With the nights already starting to draw in i text everyone to tell them that we would stop fishing at 9.30 instead of 10pm and that we would wiegh-in at 10pm back in Douglas.

Starting to return to Douglas was like a mini scene from the old frontier days as all boats started to race home in the calm conditionswith Merit I leading the way while Trampie trying to prove a point after being made to look very slow by Bones in the 3 day festival shot past Kirsy III which made Skip emmo put the throttle down and pull back along side before all boats just backing off a little on the approach to the outer harbour where the wiegh in took place on the Battery pier.

The winner at the scales and keeping up their good run was E.V GRACE with a Ling of 6lb.00.375ozs, with Merit I in second place with a Ling of 5lb.6.375ozs and Kirsty III in third with a Ling of 4lb.1.5 ozs. Although no monsters were caught on the night it was nice to at least get the comp on as it looked dodgy at the start. Just a final thought and warning would you all take extra care when moving in and around the outer harbour it has been known for some boats to get mooring ropes around their propellers, which in the dark could cuase damage to your boat is that not right Gary Bridson.Paul Graham fishing on Merit I caught a very nice Cod wieghing in at 5lb 15ozs weldone Paul.

Here are a few photos of the nights fishing














Admin316

Great photos Jimbob. Here are a few more :



Paul with an early ling and near 6lb cod while the hapless jokers on Krusty III wonder where they're going wrong :



Trampie in action :







E.V. Grace :





Kirsty III :









I think they've got us surrounded skip :

Now for the 'race for home' at the end of the night

Here are a few, mainly blurred photos, and hopefully a video at the end although I'm not sure whether that will work

Trampie led the way early on



before being hauled back



and overtaken















Back home again



Fingers crossed video footage of the boats making for home :

By the way it's Paul Graham not Bridson. He aint Gary's dad, although I can see the similarities

good stuff michael who was the last boat ?

some cracking pictures there mike,did anyone get a picture of steve,snapping his rod lol..

I think the setting must be wrong on your camera jamie, the pictures always seem darker than everyone elses

Never said i was good with a camera ,but some great shots all the same and a nice bit of video at the end, at least you got some action shots of your boat Stevie.

i appologise to Mr Paul Graham it was a simple mistake.

Admin316

We did leave after the rest of you and keep the boat at around 20kts. We did however open the throttle right up across pt soderick bay and it touched just over 25kts so not bad for a semi planing boat. Built for comfort and not for speed