TWO Isle of Wight man who let last year's inaugural Sea Angling Classic get away, went one better when they hooked an impressive trophy and top prize — a stunning boat, engine, electronic system and trailer — worth a cool £135,000.
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Jason Lee Williams and Liam Smith, on Sea Raider, landed five species of fish, totalling 1,726cm in length — and the keys to an Extreme 745 Game King boat, paired with a Yamaha 300 HP engine, with Helm Master EX joystick control, a Lowrance Ultimate electronic fishing system and SBS trailer.
The boys crossed the water from the Isle of Wight for the recreational boat fishing competition in Portsmouth — edging out the Bad Boyz team by 53cm, the equivalent of a bass.
There was great suspense before the winner was announced at the presentation event, held at the Eden nightclub in Gunwharf Quays.
Competitors were called up in reverse order to receive their prizes, before Sea Raider crew was crowned Sea Angling Classic 2023 champions.
Jason said: “That’s up there in the top ten things in my life. We always fish hard together.
"We had fish disqualified last year and we felt we should have won, so we had a point to prove this year… and we proved it.”
The fisherman's friend, Liam, echoed his sentiments.
“There is no bigger buzz than that! We were confident, as we knew we had done well last year.”
But in winning, Jason and Liam also paid tribute to the late John Rackett, the longest-serving member of Bembridge Angling Club, which they are fellow members of.
John died at sea earlier this year.
On the second day, the lead changed hands countless times, as several teams vied for top spot and, when the leaderboard went ‘dark’ with an hour to go (to keep the competitors and spectators on edge), it was still anyone’s guess who would triumph.
In all there 798 fish caught, totalling 588.5m in length, with an average length of 73.8cm.
There was a total of 166 tope, 321 smoothhound, 104 rays, 195 bream and 12 bass caught.
Sea Angling Classic founder, Ross Honey, said: “The weather gods shone on us and there was a huge amount of fish caught once again."
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