This year, the weather, though blowy and unseasonably warm again, was dry for the two legs of the EFSA Wales Shore Championships fished on Saturday, January 7 at Dale beach in Pembrokeshire and at the Mumbles on January 21.

The first leg would have been in 2022 but for the intervention of Covid as a few went down with it. The entry consisted of most of the usual regulars.

It seems that no time of the year is ideal to get maximum attendance at these events, a shame really or, like most other outdoor pursuits interest is waning, especially among the younger brethren for whom social media and indoor computer activities can sometimes seem to be the order of the day.

The first day, at Dale, into the dark, fishing 2 up 2 down over high water saw most anglers catch, over the 20cm minimum size being measured and released.

They were mainly Whiting, Lesser Spotted Dogfish, or Cat Sharks to give them their new official name and Pouting with most being undersize, but Andrew Skeels managed to bag a 49cm Coalfish virtually guaranteeing him the longest round fish pool considering the venue to be used for the second leg.

However, no flatfish were caught leaving that pool wide open. The leader after this first day was Andy Young with 11 sizeable fish narrowly pipping Stan Kucyj who had 12 fish but for less points due to Andy’s being longer on average.

The second leg at Mumbles, also in the dark fishing 2 up 2 down over high water, but in bitterly cold weather, again saw numbers of fish, mainly Whiting and Lesser Spotted Dogfish and a couple of flatfish in the form of Dabs, enough to alter both the first 2 places and those further down.

So, at the final whistle, Phil Lustig the chairman won it with a surge if fish late on the night winning him the coveted Gold pin from Andy Young and Paull Curtice who tied with same points and numbers of fish, who both took a Silver, relegating Stan to give him the Bronze pin.

As expected Skeelo, who couldn’t fish the second leg picked up the longest round fish pool with his Coalfish of 49cm and the flatfish pool for the second time in succession time on his own outright and the third time in the last three years went to Matthew Lustig with the longest flat a Dab. How does he do it?