2011 Smutt meet. The report

[Greenheart]

After two fruitless attempts at organising this years Smutt meet at Hayling Island, both of which were foiled by the weather, we eventually managed a mini meet at Town Quay Southampton. Only four forum members managed to make it, Myself, Jerry Two Jackets & Geejay & Hartley along with their familys.

Weather reports for Hayling warned of 25mph winds & rain, & even in the relative shelter of Southampton water, things were a little rough.

Jerry & I turned up at around 11am after stopping at Poindestre's for some bait & a new drop net for Jerry. Geejay & hartley arrived around 7pm & Cuckoo paid us a visit to deliver some frozen peeler crab that would hopefully tempt some Smutts. The Quay was fairly crowded with a local club holding a match for their juniors. Bites however were very slow. Fortunately there was lots of things to watch with six luxurious cruise liners departing for sunnier climes.....

We were all hoping that things would improve with darkness. As evening arrived, the wind dropped & we had a beautiful sunset....

We heard about one Bass being lost & a Dab caught further along the quay, then Hartley managed a small schoolie Bass....

Shortly afterwards, Geejay had a slightly larger Doggie.....

This was followed by a plump little Flounder....

This brace of fish was enough to Win Geejay this years trophy (Well done Gordon ) The only other fish we saw caught was a small Eel further along the quay.
All in all, it had been a hard day / night. Jerry & I had fished for 15 hours with nothing more to show than a couple of rattles of our rod tips. We eventually called it a day at 2am & headed home. Not a great turnout this year, but hopefully we will have some better weather next year. Still it was a nice little social & once again, well done Gordon on winning under some very difficult conditions....

[MRG2000]

Well done chaps , a few fish ,good cpmpany ,mission accomplished , well done Gordon on the bagging the trophy ....

[pingu]

nice one gordon
looks a comfey enough place to fish, were you in cuckoos fave spot or went for the yomp

dave

BTW..works fete is july 21st next year so anything but that date please

[geejayy]

Originally Posted by pingu

nice one gordon
looks a comfey enough place to fish, were you in cuckoos fave spot or went for the yomp

dave

BTW..works fete is july 21st next year so anything but that date please

i went to the distant mark,
shouldered all my gear and staggered 3feet right after parking 12feet right of where i think cuckoo used to fish .
its not that comfy with just hard pavement to lay on and no beach to bed a bivvy into.
as i've said b4 TQ ain't my favorite venue , but its not because quallity fish don't show there.
unfortunately they didn't last night.
i still can't work out why my wife is happy to get dragged to some godforsaken beach or dock and get left with a hoard of kids sort out for the night while i aledgedly try to catch a fish, but i'm glad she does
after the false start to the match in june at least it was up and running of a fashion in july albeit scuppered by weather again which kept us off the better marks
i've had my eye on a smutmeet win since the event started & i'm chuffed i've finally got a trophy but it still seems a bit of a fail for me as i didn't actually catch a smothound , just sort of won by default.

but then again the smut meet has always been less about winning or actually catching a smoothy and more about a social get together cheerz guys cu @ the 2012 meet if not b4

[geejayy]

BTW, a smoothy was caught, just after hartley left about 3am the guy fishing on his left caught a 6" pup,
what puzzled me was - where the hell are all the pouting?

[fishypaul]

well done on the victory gord,shame the smutts didnt show

[cuckoo]

Sterling effort in that weather chaps , i must admit to laughing my nutts of when i pulled up and saw you were accostied by the local nutter , seemed the fish just werent playing ball for you , ill be down there very soon after mr bass and mrs sole and as soon as they start showing in numbers ill give you a shout and maybe meet up well done gord on the win in very tough times .

p.s i think either you ian or gerry paid me £20 too much for your rods and reels lads , i know its top quality gear but come on no need to over pay me let me know which it was and ill get it back to you

[Greenheart]

Originally Posted by cuckoo

Sterling effort in that weather chaps , i must admit to laughing my nutts of when i pulled up and saw you were accostied by the local nutter , seemed the fish just werent playing ball for you , ill be down there very soon after mr bass and mrs sole and as soon as they start showing in numbers ill give you a shout and maybe meet up well done gord on the win in very tough times .

p.s i think either you ian or gerry paid me £20 too much for your rods and reels lads , i know its top quality gear but come on no need to over pay me let me know which it was and ill get it back to you

LOL I wondered why I was £20 light when I went to get the Fish & Chips. I had to go to a garage to draw out another £20. Bl@@dy link cashpoint charged me another £1.49 for the privilege...
P.S. It's not very nice of you to accuse Jerry of being the local nutter. We have all heard his reputation, but i'm sure it's not his fault.....

[tjnorton]

Looks like a good time had by all. Shame the weather couldn't play ball.

tj

[Rob M]

At least you guys got out, I bet you still had a laugh despite the smutts not showing.