The 20th Wales Air Ambulance open beach fishing competition, organised by members from Pembroke & District Angling Club and Osprey Sea Angling Club, was held on Sunday January 14 on Amroth beach.

The weather on the day was cold and mainly dry with a northerly wind, although the sea was very calm with virtually no surf, which did not augur well for a bumper catch.

However, the turnout and support was only one short of the previous event with 64 anglers - including four ladies and two juniors – taking part.

Flounders fill the bag

Eighteen anglers brought 21 fish to the scales - 14 flounders, two dabs, two five-beard rockling, one whiting and two lesser spotted dogfish, which have recently had a name change to cat sharks.

There were other fish caught, but they were undersized and returned.

Winners weigh in

The winning angler - who managed to land two cracking flounder, for a winning 1kg 495gms - was Neyland club angler Phil Evans, netting him the first prize of £200.

Second was another local from the Saundersfoot club, Andy Young, who has supported these events for years with some success.

He pulled in a lesser spotted dogfish (or cat shark) of 1kg 85gms, netting him the £100 second prize for the heaviest any single fish.

Third prize went to another local, Brian John from Pembroke with a flounder of 795gms.

Pairing up

In the pairs competition, first were Andy and his partner, another regular from Saundersfoot, Franco Attanasio, who added a flounder to Andy’s dogfish for a bag of 1kg 395gms.

Second were Brian and his partner, event stalwart Hughie Sweeney, also from Pembroke, who had a flounder to make their bag 1kg 35gms.

Third were another local and one of the organisers, Leigh Rogers, and his partner Dorian Harries, with two flounders for 645gms. Leigh also won the stewards’ draw.

Grand total

However, the most important result on the day was that the event raised £1,115 for the Wales Air Ambulance, pushing the total raised over the 18 years this competition has been running to well in excess of £25,000.

Western Telegraph: The competition has raised over £25,000 for the Wales Air Ambulance charity since it began 18 years ago,The competition has raised over £25,000 for the Wales Air Ambulance charity since it began 18 years ago, (Image: Wales Air Ambulance)

A spokesman for the event said: “To thank for this sterling effort, we must first congratulate the anglers from the organising clubs, together with Ian Wilkinson of the Temple Bar Inn, Amroth, who put his premises and support at this event’s disposal as well as providing the prize for the stewards’ draw.”

Sponsors thanked

The sponsors were: Oriel Johnson, Millforge, The Cove, East Llanion; Altrad Engineering, Pembroke Dock; Osprey SAC, Darren Jones, Shane Tucker, Dai Fricker, Andrew Skeels, John O’Connor, Liam O’Connor, Leigh Rogers, Peter Kraus, Haydn Cole, Chris Wynn, Kirsty Culley and Alison George.

The event repeats itself for other good causes on Sunday February 11 with the 15th RNLI Annual Fishing Open, in aid of the local lifeboat stations at Angle and Tenby.