Gibraltar Fishing Club held two competitions in April and May

The Gibraltar Fishing Club held their sixth competition of the year at the Detached Mole last Sunday, April 12, with their seventh competition taking place on May 10.

Notwithstanding the predicted strong northerly winds, which later veered to westerly, the April event saw the die-hard anglers who attended enjoy a day with plenty of fish, with white and saddle bream making up most of the catch. What was missing on the day were larger species such as gilthead bream.

The leagues are now starting to take shape, with the Under-18 category closely contested between Lee Licudi and Blaze Soanes. The senior leagues, both the Main and Beach, are also closely fought, with only one or two points separating the top three members.

The Main League is currently being contested between Charlie Carreras, Dylan Dalli, and Alfred Rodriguez. The Beach League is similarly tight, between Charlie Carreras, Dylan Dalli, and Trevor Dalli.

A special mention must go to Charlie Carreras, who managed 1,855 fish points, the highest so far this year, surpassing Alfred Rodriguez’s 1,795 fish points—both no mean feat.

The day trophy winners in April were as follows:

Heaviest fish: Jesse Triay with a 0.835kg white bream.

Most number of fish:
1st Charlie Carreras – 117
2nd Alfred Rodriguez – 47
3rd Martin Caruana – 41

Seventh Competition

May saw the seventh competition take place, also at the Detached Mole.

This time, the weather was far more favourable than the previous event, with 28 members turning up for what ended as an average day’s fishing, notwithstanding the few anglers who managed to land some quality species.

Trevor Dalli managed to land a 2.55kg soldier bream, which was short of the club record by a mere few grams—a record which is presently held by him with a fish weighing just over 2.60kg.

New member Kathleen Victory also landed one of the heaviest horse mackerel ever recorded during a club competition. Kathleen’s fish weighed 0.755kg.

Dylan Dalli also deserves a mention, as he is the only angler in the last few years to land another dentex bream, which weighed 1.03kg.

“It would be wrong of us not to mention our oldest participant, Charlie Carreras, who, regardless of what position he draws at the Detached Mole, keeps on coming first on the day and is presently leading the league. Charlie, amongst other fish, landed a 1.565kg gilthead bream—his fourth so far this season,” added officials.

“It is also very important we mention the fact that the club and its members, especially Trevor Dalli, who is in charge of our tag-and-release programme, continue to pay dividends. We are happy to confirm that a small hurta bream, which was coincidentally caught by Trevor and tagged, was recaptured a few months later. The fish had grown 1.5cm and had increased its weight. The fish was once again returned alive. All information, including a video, has been kept in the club’s records and passed to all interested NGOs.”

The day winners in May were as follows:

Heaviest fish: Blaze Soanes, one of our upcoming junior anglers, with a 5.106kg conger eel.

Fish point aggregates:
1st Charlie Carreras – 1,010 pts
2nd Dylan Dalli – 714 pts
3rd Stephen Roberts – 625 pts

The next competition was due to be held this past Sunday, June 7, with further reports to follow once results are available.

The club would like to thank their boatman Nicky Martinez and Andy Storey, the Midtown Small Boats Marina, and the Port Authority for their continued help and support. A very special thanks also goes to member Kristian Origo for his successful fundraising efforts, which are greatly appreciated.