Ramsey Angling Festival 2012

At the start of Ramsey Angling club’s 3 day Festival conditions were ideal with the sixty eight anglers split between the Dogmills and the Vollan hoping to pick up the £1,000+ first prize on offer. From the start dogfish and the odd flounder showed with some landing double and treble shots to establish early leads. With an even split between local and visiting anglers, it was Ramsey angling club members who took the honours by winning all four zones. Mark Quirk, Andrew Dugdale, Marc Corlett and Orry Turner all claimed easy wins with Quirk taking the biggest bag of the week with a total of16 metres of dogfish and whiting, with defending champion Corlett well over 4 metres ahead of his second placed man. With an excellents night fishing only one angler had the unfortunately blank. Result Zone 1 1, M. Quirk 1600cms; 2, S. Durrant 1201; 3, J. Perry 1077. Zone 2, 1, A. Dugdale 1273cms; 2, N. Charlesworth 1083; 3, T. Fagg 1032.  Zone 3, 1, M. Corlett 1182cms ; 2, L. Chapman 728; 3, S. Quilliam 630. Zone 4, 1, O. Turner 802cms; 2, B. Sharpe 648; 3, M. Reid 585.

On day 2, the club tried a new format of using the same two areas but in reverse, but from the offset it proved a poor decision with a lack of fish throughout the four zones being reported. In the normally productive zone 1 only a quarter of the fish were weighed in from the previous night. Former winner Saul Page started his challenge with a win ahead of locals, Brian Davies and David Walls. There was a clean sweep for the top five places by visiting anglers in zone 2, Martin Reid adding a win to his first night third.Blackpool’s Ashley Sampson had a narrow 3cm win over Ramsey’s Colin Skillicorn, who redeemed himself from his first nights nerves. Regular visitor, Karl Nangle claimed zone 4 ahead of Quirk who found himself the overall leader after two nights, this zone was the poorest on the night with four blankers, most saving face by a late flurry of whiting in the dark.

Result , Zone 1, 1, S. Page 324cms; 2, B. Davies 270; 3, D. Walls 266. Zone 2, 1, M. Reid 552cms; 2, A. Underdown 511; 3, R. Yates 503. Zone 3, 1, A. Sampson 268cms; 2, C. Skillicorn 265; 3, G. Hutson 239. Zone 4, 1, K. Nangle 432; 2, M. Quirk 265; 3, J. Green 116.

A strong easterly wind met anglers at Manx Match on the final day’s fishing and contrasting catches were seen between the top two zones and the bottom two. With a catch of sixteen dogfish, Nev Charlesworth pushed his way into contention knowing his nearest rival was in the dreaded zone 4. Alan Underdown continued his fine debut with a second place, Nangle again took a top three place, with another of Quirk’s rivals, Reid down in sixth. Colchester’s Craig Buy finally found some form with a win in zone 2, ahead of Ramsey’s Colin Quayle and Marc Corlett. The third zone didn’t fish as predicted, only Gary Hutson of Cleethorpes finding any fish of note with an emphatic win, the heavier dogfish seperating the next three positions. Saul Page completed another zone win, the only angler to do so, in zone four with three dogfish and a flounder ahead of Quirk’s three dogs. Another three anglers had to be split by weight for third, Rob Tuck taking the laurels. That second place was enough for Mark Quirk to claim only his second overall win of this three day event, surely a long over due deserved win .

Result Zone 1, 1, N. Charlesworth 1320cms; 2, A. Underdown 1200; 3, K. Nangle 960. Zone 2, 1, C. Buy 880cms; 2, C. Quayle 640; 3, M. Corlett 604. Zone 3, 1, G. Hutson 541; 2, A. Sampson 160; 3, S. Quilliam 160. Zone 4, 1, S. Page 272; 2, M. Quirk 240; 3, R. Tuck 160.

Overall 1, M. Quirk 5pts; 2, N. Charlesworth 7pts; 3, A. Sampson 7pts; 4, G. Hutson 8pts; 5, K. Nangle 9pts; 6, M. Reid 10pts; 7, A. Underdown 10pts; 8, M. Corlett 10pts; 9, D. Walls 11pts; 10, S. Page 11pts.

Thanks to the many sponsors including the Isle of Man Tourist Board, Ramsey Town Commissioners, Allround Tackle, and Jim and Gill of the Trafalgar.