The 15th RNLI Annual Fishing Open was held in February on Amroth beach, South Pembrokeshire.

It was organised by members from Pembroke & District Angling Club, Osprey Sea Angling Club and Neyland Sea Angling Club.

The weather was again good, with attendance only slightly down on last year at 60 compared with 66 which included four Ladies and one junior, another lady. In the very flat sea conditions, however, fish were caught but not lots, with only seven Flounder and two Lesser Spotted Dogfish, now to be known as Cat Sharks, weighed in by eight anglers - with others caught but undersize.

The winning angler, managing to land two nice Flounder for 1Kg 200gms, was Leigh Rogers from Milford Haven, who looks after the pairs competitions each year at the charity opens, netting him the first prize of £200.

Second, with the biggest fish, a Cat Shark of 885gms, which allowed him to pick up the runner’s up prize of £100, was Rob Collins from Saundersfoot, another regular for these competitions.

In third place was John O’Connor from Martletwy, who looks after the paperwork for these comps, with a lovely Flounder 865gms, winning him £50.

Although no ladies, including the junior, weighed in, it was decided to award these prizes as a way of encouragement and as they had been sponsored by another regular attendee and indeed usual helper with appointing stewards on the beach, Shane Tucker. So Winter Protheroe was awarded the junior prize and the Ladies prize was drawn in front of the four of them and Kirsty Culley’s name was drawn out, so she won the Ladies section.

However, the most important result on the day was that the event raised £1,019 for the local lifeboats.

In gratitude for this sterling effort the organisers are thankful to their sponsors. Firstly, Kirsty Culley and Peter Kraus for the huge amount of raffle prizes they managed to acquire, then, in no particular order: Oriel Johnson, Darren Jones, Sean Reynolds, Mike Rowe of J & M Tackle, Dimond St, Pembroke Dock, Shane Tucker, Andrew Skeels, Mike Mather, John O’Connor, Alison, Kristian and Joshua George, Leigh Rogers, Chris Wynn, Haydn Cole, together with Ian Wilkinson of the Temple Bar Inn who put his premises and valued support at this event’s disposal.

Also helping with selling and folding the raffle tickets - very efficiently, so we understand - were chairman Jennie McIntosh and two of her fellow members of RNLI Saundersfoot Branch. The organisers also thank Robert Varns for taking the photos. Finally, If there is anybody who feels aggrieved that they have been missed off this list, and we hope there isn’t, they are thanked, most warmly, for their continued support.