Author Archives: kjthorpe

Beach Match – Aldeburgh Dirty Wall – 18th July 2020

Five of us went to Aldeburgh, dirty wall end, for our latest evening match.  Fishing was very slow with just the occasional fish caught, most on the ebb.  Paul continued his winning ways catching a 57cm dogfish at the end of the match to give him first place.  Unfortunately Chris Leonard didn’t find a fish. Barrie Senior caught an unusual  fish an eelpout of 25cm.

1st Paul Drake – 117 points, 3 whiting, 1 smoothhound, 1 dogfish

2nd Barrie Senior – 94 points, 1 flounder, 1 bass, 1 whiting, 1 eelpout

3rd  Chris Bull – 37 points, 1 whiting, 1 eel

4th Robin Joy – 35 points, 1 bass, 1 whiting

Beach Match – Aldeburgh – Martello Tower 22nd June ’20

The match scheduled for Sunday was moved to Monday at the request of those fishing. The venue was Aldeburgh, Martell Tower end. The match was fished in bright sunshine and a wind that ended up sideways on instead of over our shoulders.  The fish obviously didn’t like the conditions although no one blanked only Paul managed two fish to win the match and the Alf Reed Cup.

1st Paul Drake 68 points – 1 dab and a 36cm bass

2nd Barrie Senior 43 points – 1 bass

3rd Graham Nash 37 points – 1 bass

4th Chris Leonard 31 points – 1 bass

5th Robin Joy 10 points – 1 bass

Boat Match – Out of West Mersea onboard Enterprise

Braintree Sea Angling Club members boarded charter boat Enterprise at West Mersea for the second of their Bolduc Cup matches.  The skipper Chris Mole took them out in search of bass and smoothhounds.  At the first mark the anglers were plagued with lots of weed forcing a move after half an hour.  Fishing was slow with very few fish caught.  Paul Hart consolidated his lead from the first match with another win catching a last minute smoothhound to overtake Alan Porter and Barrie Senior who were in joint first place until then.  Paul had a further 2 smoothhounds, a whiting and a rare catch of a 23 ½lb stingray to win with 50 points.  Alan and Barrie shared 2nd  place with 45 points, Alan having 2 dogfish, 2 smoothhounds and a whiting and Barrie the only thornback ray and the only bass plus a smooothhound. Third spot went to Colin Crocker with 15 points.  Chris Bull was the only other angler to catch with a single dogfish.


23 ½lb stingray

2019 Cup Presentation

Presentation of the Cup Winners at The Eagle in Coggeshall Road. 

It was a good night for Paul Drake who took home the majority of the trophies including the Senior Points cup awarded to the most consistent match man over the year. 

Paul accumulated 105 match points with runner-up Graham Nash only managing 56 points.

Barrie Senior took the Bolduc Cup with 23 match points from the three club boat matches over the year.

The Mick Allen Shield fished for over two night matches went to Paul Drake with 16 points. 

Paul Drake also won the Summer League series with a total of 18 points.  

Other cups presented were:

Alf Huit Cup, Graham Nash, 289 fish points Aldeburgh 7 June

Braintree & Witham Times Cup, Paul Drake, 606 fish points Denge Marsh 4 February

Jimmy Turner Shield, Paul Drake, 660 fish points Shingle Street 7 October

Bert Finch Cup, Barrie Senior 229 fish points Pevensey 15 April;

Alf Reed Cup, Paul Drake, 764 fish points Holland-on-Sea 9 December;

Solly Brewer Cup, Paul Drake, 46 fish points Aldeburgh 28 July;

Roker Cup, for the biggest thornback ray, Robin Joy and Barrie Senior both having caught rays of 60cm across the wings;

Barnard Flatfish Cup, Chris Leonard with a dab of 30cm, Denge Marsh 4 February;

Cod Cup, Paul Drake, 40cm fish Holland-on-Sea 1 December;

Whiting Cup, Chris Leonard and Barrie Senior 34cm fish;

Bass Cup, Barrie Senior 31cm fish Holland-on-Sea 1 December.

2019 Cup Presentation

Beach Match – Dunwich

Braintree Sea Angling Club members headed to Dunwich for their latest evening match in the Summer League. With a light drizzle and offshore winds when they arrived thing didn’t look to bad but as the evening progressed heavy rain descended and made the fishing uncomfortable. To add to their discomfort the fish didn’t like the rain either and the first couple of hours saw only a couple caught. Despite a variety of baits being used they were not tempted and It remained slow until the end of the match. Paul Drake took the first place with 149 fish points from a catch of 4 sole, 1 smoothhound and an eel. He also had the best fish a sole of 34cm. Second place went to Barrie Senior with 5 sole and 2 smoothhounds for 108 points. Third spot went t Robin Joy with 2 sole for 46 points. The other anglers failed to find sizeable fish.

Beach Match Report – Aldeburgh – 14th July 2019

The latest match in the Braintree Sea angling Club summer league was fished at Aldeburgh.  The fishing was poor even when the sun went down the fish didn’t come on the feed and it was a struggle to catch counting fish.  At the end of the evening it was Barrie Senior who took first place with a small bass, 3 whiting and a sole for 91 fish points.  Graham Nash was second with 42 points, 2 whiting and a sole and in third spot with one sole was Robin Joy with28 points.

Beach Match – Summer league – Aldeburgh 15th June 2019

Braintree Sea Angling Club’s first summer league evening  match took place at Aldeburgh.  Although there was a strong wind it came along the beach so didn’t interfere with casting too much.  The first three hours up to high tide were very slow with just a few pin whiting being caught.   When the tide turned and it got dark the whiting really came on to feed with some larger specimens caught along with a few sole.  At the end of the match it was close with Paul Drake taking top spot from a catch of 28 whiting, 1 sole and a small smoothhound for 362 points.  Barrie Senior took second place with 325 points, 24 whiting, 1 sole and an eel.  Third was Chris Leonard with 22 whiting, 1 sole and a smoothhound for 315 points.  Best fish was shared between Paul and Chris both having a 44cm smoothhound.

Boat Match – Out of West Mersea

Nice day out from West Mersea fishing was steady from the start but the amount weed on the ebb forced a move to a venue further inshore but still a few more fish were caught. Thornbacks, smoothhounds and a few bass were caught together with some baby tope. Best fish was a smoothhoud of 4.10kg caught by Brian Grundy.  Paul Hart had a bass of 1.71kg.

1st Paul Hart 96 points, 1 bass,4 dogfish, 1 smoothhound, 4 thornbacks

2nd Barrie Senior 83 points, 2 dogfish, 5 smoothhounds, 1 thornback

3rd Brian Grundy 57 points, 3 dogfish, 2 smoothhounds, 1 thornback

4th Robin Joy 35 points, 3 thornbacks,

5th Colin Crocker 32 points, 1 bass, 3 dogfish

6th Alan Porter 25 points, 2 smoothhounds,

7th Chris Leonard 24 points, 1 dogfish, 1 thornback

8th Graham Nash 15 points, 1 tope.

Beach Match – Pevensey – 7th April

Braintree Sea Angling Club members went to Pevensey for their latest match which turned out to be a good decision.  The weather was ideal with a light breeze and a calm sea making the fishing easy.  From the start the fish were feeding and a constant trickle of fish took the anglers baits.  By the end of the day all anglers had a good number of sizeable fish in this catch and return match.  Barrie Senior came out on top with a catch of 5 plaice, 3 flounders, 6 whiting, 2 rockling, 2 dabs, 1 bass, 1 silver eel and a smooth hound for 342 fish points. He also had the best fish a 32cm plaice.  In second place was Chris Bull with 173 points from his catch of 1 plaice, 13 whiting, 1 dab and 1 rockling.  Robin Joy took third spot with 3 plaice, 4 whiting, 2 flounders, 1 pout and 2 rockling for 160 points.