1st Leg Doubles H.O.F.C 2015 Competition
This Competition was held on the 18th January 2015 at Boilers Wharf Senglea. Commenced at 07:00 & finished at 11:00. Originally this was meant to be held at Laboratory Wharf but there was a last minute notification on the Friday advising there was going to be a cargo ship unloading on the day. Boilers Wharf was the alternative venue agreed at the registration meeting.
This 1st Leg of the H.O.F.C Doubles League Match was the opening for the Club's 2015 Season with an impressive number of teams taking part a total of 22 teams have entered a very encouraging figure of 44 anglers. We all met up at 06:00 the usual chatting & jokes between all participants, especially for the early birds. Due to this was the first leg everyone eagerly awaited the draw on the spot to form the sections & the peg assignment. There was also the 'HOFC Jackpot' number drawn which was number 12 , this would of meant if the team that was assigned peg number 12 won on the day he would be also winng the Jackpot if not it just rolls over to the next match.
As soon as the signal sounded at 07:00 you could hear the sound of the ground bait hitting the water together with the sounds of the anglers first casts. There was some areas that had a few bites immediately but the majority of the fishing spots were not productive. There was quite a few different species of sea bream caught & a few wrasse. One of the very first casts that Miguel Cutajar he managed to land a small Grouper 'Fellusa' with a substantial weight of 690 grams. The weather was challenging as it was quite windy and some small spells of rain & was hindering the ability to cast. As there was not so many spots where fish was being landed you could see all the teams trying out all sort of techniques to try & achieve results. Persistence paid off for most as there was quite a few more fish caught at the latter stages of the competition mainly Common Pandora 'Pagell'. The so much anticipated presence of the Mullet, was all in vain due to there was not even one caught on the day where usually there is a tendency that you could catch some nice sized ones from this venue as seen in the past. Unfortunately there was not any around on the day. The Marshall's started the weigh in process as soon as the signal was given to end the fishing session. Anglers started rigging down the gear to follow the Marshall's weigh in process & see what fish was caught eagerly awaiting the results of each section to see how they all done on the day.
Wish to emphasise that all the fish caught where all released. The Club practices catch and release in order to ensure sustainability and to avoid overfishing of fish from our waters.
The usual gathering at the end of the match with everyone discussing what went on that morning, learning from each other knowledge experience & techniques used.
Winners of the match day where presented with Vouchers from our sponsor ‘Fishin Fever' Rabat
The winners of this H.O.F.C Doubles League 2015 1st Leg was team Sandro Zammit & Brian Farrugia with an impressive 2 Kilos 800 grams, in 2nd place team Clayton Spiteri & Miguel Cutajar with 1 Kilo 680 grams & 3rd place team Antione Theuma & Robbie Sciberras with 1 Kilo 470 grams. Total fish caught 14 Kilos & 460 grams
Section Wins : Jamie Bonnici & Gareth Farrugia / Jonathan Bonnici & Joseph Ellul / John Cardona & Miguel Grech.
Biggest Fish – Miguel Cutajar 0.690 grams Small Grouper 'Fellusa'