Fifth & last League Match of the Doubles H.O.F.C 2015 League.
This was held at ' Xaghjra' on the 1st May 2015, due to concerns that the weather was not going to be favourable we advised the members to met up at 5:30 just in case we had to go for an alternative venue. Once everyone arrived at the Venue we were monitoring the sea state , were the decision was made to use this Venue as the weather was good enough. It was time to start marking up all the pegs which was quite time consuming due to this venue is a rocky area , not as easy as when we are on a quay or concrete. The other difficulty that we were faced with was slippery areas & quite allot of high reefs that would of proven very difficult to fish. with some delay we managed to fit in all the 16 teams that were going to fish this very important match. Important match it was as this was the last leg that decided who wins the League and it was a close one to call and well balanced.
As soon as the pegs where marked all participants gathered very eager to see which assigned swim they would be fishing by means of a draw. The H.O.F.C Jackpot was also drawn but this was not won this time. All the anglers started to go to their assigned peg & preparing their tackle , ground bait & bait , you could also hear them discussing amongst each other of what techniques they were going to use & trying to predict what species of fish they would be trying to attract to their swim. On the signal of the starting horn sound you could hear the lead when casting & ground bait hitting the surface for the ones that decided to fish with reel type rod & some started off with hand poles only closer to the shore. It was straight away evident that there was going to be a good number of fish caught as you could see all the competitors managing to land some bottom fish like wrasse , bream & parrot fish. There was a couple of spots that nice sized boxlip mullet was at presence later in the competition, these two spots were being fished by two teams that had a very good chance to win the League. They managed to keep the fish interested at their swim & managed to catch a considerable amount too which could help in winning the League. There was a few pegs that the fish were not biting but still you could see some fish caught. Something that everyone enjoyed for sure was around 10:00 a Hot Dog was being prepared for all the members present courtesy of our Club which were cooked on the spot by the marshalls on the day. One the signal to end the match was sounded you could see all the participants easing off due to when you fish in competitions it is not the same as to when you go fishing by yourself as it takes quite allot of energy & concentration , due to every fish landed makes a difference so there is no time wasting & trying out as many techniques possible to land as many as possible.
The Marshalls of the match day started the weigh in process of the fish caught by the participants. Whilst every one was eager to find out the results to see how far they came in is League which is determined once the classification has been updated & who was the winner.
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 & awaiting to find out the League Winner. Winners of the match day where presented with Vouchers from our sponsor ‘Fishin Fever' Rabat. There was raffle tickets also being sold with a chance to win a Killer Trout II Rod sponsored by ‘Tubertini Malta' Peter Paul Azzopardi was the winner for this draw. Refreshments were made available by Raymond Farrugia .
The Winners of this 5th Leg ‘Doubles’ H.O.F.C 2015 were as follows with Josef Cassar & Luke Bonnici in 1st place with 5 Kilos 150 grams , in 2nd place Clayton Spiteri & Miguel Cutajar with 5 kilos 10 grams. In 3rd Place Brian Farrugia & Sandro Zammit with 2 kilos 740 grams.
Section Wins , Jonathan Bonnici / Joseph Gower Ellul, John Cardona / Miguel Grech , Lawrence Pulis / Joseph Pulis. A total over 32 kilos of fish were caught on the day.
Once all the pegs where weighed in the Classification was updated and for the second year running the winners were Brian Farrugia / Sandro Zammit with 22 points followed by Josef Cassar /Luke Bonnici in second place with 21 points & in third place Clayton Spiteri / Miguel Cutajar with 19 points. The leagues biggest fish winner was– Alexander Spiteri 0.810 gramma (Moray Eel ) which was caught during the third leg match.
As you can see this Doubles League was too close to call, it wasn't till the final weigh in before it was clear whom won the League after every point won by each team in the competition that made this count with various teams that were in the running for the first three places in this tight , sportive league with a high attendance of the Hooked On Fishing Club family.
Would like to congratulate all the Winners & all the Competitors, and looking forward meeting all as one big family for the Trophy Presentation at the buffet being organised for all members & Friends. At the presentation there is no less then 15 teams that managed to win a trophy.