Source: Angling Trust
After the successful establishment of the Bexhill Sea Angling Festival in 2012 the event has now expanded to incorporate more competitions over a longer time period. For the first two years the competitions were held across ten days in September – in 2014 the whole of September will be devoted to angling competitions and events.
Run in conjunction with local clubs and tackle shops and supported by the Bexhill Sea Angling Club, the Angling Trust and Sussex Angling Media, there are now 14 events (and counting) each once catering for different aspects of angling in the area. The sea angling events will be hosted by the Bexhill Sea Angling Club, who are also sponsoring one of the competitions.
Angling village
During the Festival weekend on 06 and 07 September the Metropole Lawns at the De La Warr Pavillion will host a much expanded angling village with the presence of a number of local tackle shops and clubs with masterclasses, coaching from the Angling Trust, fly dressing, rigs, tackle and much more.
Charter boat challenge
The most spectacular new addition to the event will take place on Monday 15 September 2014 and is the Eastbourne-based ‘Charter Boat Challenge’, featuring all of the Marina-based charter boats. The competition format is a team species hunt – all fished within a specified area of six miles of the coastline. The boats Deep Blue, Misty Blue, Katrina, Panther, Aladard and Excalibur are all taking part with a total of 13 teams participating.
The winning team will be the one with the most species caught and the prize pool will be £1000 plus tackle prizes, with a trophy for the winning boat skipper.
New freshwater competitions
Wylands International Angling Centre has also joined in holding a series of angling events throughout the month including a special species hunt and a parent and child match. There are ongoing discussions with a number of other clubs and venues to hold events and competitions during the month. In addition the Angling Trust is planning to run a bass fly fishing masterclass.
Angling festival committee chair, Barry Bertin, said of the newly expanded festival:
“We wanted to offer more competitions for anglers and, in order to accommodate everything, we felt covering the whole month would give angling in Sussex a massive boost.
The committee is particularly delighted about the charter boat competition and our thanks go to angling writer Jim Whippy and local tackle shop owners Kevin and Glyn Morgan for organising it. The Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club is also involved having agreed to allow their facilities to be used before and after the event.
We are also pleased to introduce coarse and game angling events with the help of Wylands International Angling Centre”
For more information about the angling events and how to book click HERE
The full provisional calendar of events is as follows:
06 – 07 September Angling Village on the sea front at the De La Warr Pavillion
06 September kayak competition – Bexhill
07 September young anglers’ pegged match – Bexhill
08- 12 September Rother beaches species hunt
08 – 30 September Wylands IAC species hunt
13 September pegged beach open
13 September open pegged match – Wallers Haven*
14 September bass specimen competition
14 September Wylands pegged open competition
15 September charter boat challenge species hunt
20 September Wylands carp competition
21 September species hunt – private and club boat match
28 September Wylands parent and child pairs competition
*Not confirmed – provisional date
