THERE was a certain irony at Dover Sea Angling's Wednesday Species open.

With all the mumbling about conspiracies keeping the ferry boat off the Southern Breakwater wall the venue was blown off anyway because of the gale that morning and the boat would have been ruled out anyway.

This forced the competition to be switched to the Prince of Wales pier and nothing changed there.

A total of six fish were landed after five hours. No angler got two, with Leigh Chapman, of Herne Bay, winning with a 20 point smoothhound.

John Wells, of Saltwood, was second with a plump 15 point flounder and third place was a toss-up between two mackerel, a whiting and a wrasse.

The best fish reported this week came from Folkestone beach where local angler Alan Biggs got a specimen bass of 5.50kg (12lb).

Alan, a disabled boxing coach from Hawkinge, hooked the fish from a favourite spot near the Leas Lift on a fillet of frozen mackerel fished on a 1/0 hook just as the tide turned to ebb.

The bass is the first sign than autumn is on the way with some bigger bass like this specimen expected in the coming weeks.

Around the club competitions the fishing has been difficult.

The Folkestone Sea Angling Association event fished in the Warren saw just five anglers weigh in with newly crowned Penn champion Nathan Elliott, of Dover, winning with a dogfish and two pouting for 1.020kg.

It was slightly better for the Fountain anglers with the Folkestone rocks turning out a few dogfish.

Winner there was Barrie Dilnutt, of Folkestone, weighing in a top weight of 3.070kg and he included a club record silver eel of 1.05kg.

There is some confusion about the legality of retaining eels because the Environment Agency has proposed a ban on landing the species.

Some regions and some angling clubs have a self imposed ban but at present I have no knowledge of an eel ban in Kent.

The Martin Walters SAC match on Folkestone pier was won by Barry Uden, of Folkestone, with three dogfish for 3lb 12oz with the top three winners coming from peg 1 to 6. The anglers fishing the inshore section only landed pin whiting.

The Martin Walters SAC specimen event was won by Rowan Lee, of Folkestone, with four species including pouting, whiting, Dover sole and smoothhound.

Coarse results include news from Nickols Leisure Lake at Palmarsh which show a big improvement. John Pullinger, of Hythe, banked 16 carp to 11lb 12oz, Tony Clark, of Winchelsea, landed 6 to 11lb 2oz and 16-year-old Paul Fagg, from Seabrook, banked carp to 11lb plus a best eel of 6lb 2oz.

The latest competition was won by Andy Lewis, of Densole, with 20lb 2oz of rudd and roach.

Sea angling competitions coming up include the second Deal 1919 Angling Club junior pier festival on Sunday, fishing 11am until 3pm.

It's open to all junior anglers under 16. The event is safe with supervised fishing from the Deal pier stem, sweets, drinks and crisps and plenty of prizes.

Entry is £1 and is collected on the pier from 8.30am. It includes membership of Deal 1919 angling club and the pier fishing ticket.

Folkestone SAA's next event is an open pier competition on Friday, August 20 on Folkestone pier. Meet at pier steps for 6.30pm.

Other competitions coming up include the Dover SAA Wednesday open on September 18, fishing 3.30pm until 8.30pm.

The availability of the breakwater remains subject to the weather and the ferry boat repairs being completed - phone 01304 206809. The reserve venue is the Prince of Wales pier.

If you have caught a big fish, won a match fresh water or sea, why not let us know about it. Contact Alan Yates on 01303 250017, 077901 32656 or email alankyates@aol.com