Rising stars sparkle in 116th Scarborough Angling Festival junior match

The Mick Hillaby Memorial Trophy cod only bag shore match was fished on Saturday on a slack low water with a flat clear sea and a stiff breeze.

Cod proved hard to find for most but Ben Birch managed to put together a nice 11lb bag to take the trophy and also had the heaviest cod.

Juniors in their section could weigh in any fish, Jammie Binnie took the honours with a 1lb 12oz pollock edging out his brother Jack who had a 1lb 7oz wrasse.

The Junior Parr competition was won by eight-year-old Rio Ellis, who earned 409 points, well clear of second-placed Oliver Bennett, also aged eight, who finished up with 207 points.

Rio won the Pearson Trophy for the Greatest Number of Points, George Ferry the Festival Junior Cup for the Longest Single Fish, a wrasse 410mm, Rio Ellis also won the Ken Wigg Trophy for Greatest Number of Fish (23), and Theo Darlo won the Alonzi Trophy for the Greatest Number of Crabs(15).

Faye Jennings, one of the festival secretaries, said: “One angler caught 23 fish in total which was amazing as they had to sit through a gruelling two hours of fishing on the piers through 30mph wind and brutal rain!

"All children received a prize and many even went back on the pier after the match to crab!”

The Knight Trophy, which goes to the angler with the Greatest Variety of Fish Species, was won by 11-year-old Teddy Stringer who claimed five species.

The first event, the Festival Committee Silver Challenge Trophy (greatest weight of fish boating competition) was won by Martin Eves with 48-2, Mark Fenton second on 27-4 and Keith Johnson third on 26-8.

The latter also won the Greatest Variety of Fish Species with six, while the Greatest Weight by an angler over-65 went to Stewart Latham with 4-4.

Saturday’s results

Event 1 – Festival Committee Silver Challenge Trophy (greatest weight of fish boating competition)

1 Martin Eves 48-2

2 Mark Fenton 27-4

3 Keith Johnson 26-8

4 Barry Woolass 7-8

5 S Prew 7-2

6 Stewart Latham (65+) 4-4.

Greatest Variety of Fish Species: Keith Johnson (6).

Greatest Weight by an over 65: Stewart Latham.

Superpool: Keith Johnson Ling 12-4.

Event 2 – Junior Parr Competition (Greatest number of points)

1 Rio Ellis (8 years old) 409 points

2 Oliver Bennett (8) 207

3 Teddy Stringer (11) 198

4 William Baird (7) 101

5 Tommy Bayes (6) 91

6 Jaxon Clarke (7) 74

7 George Ferry (11) 41

8 Ivy France (6) 28

9 Harley Jackson (3) 16

10= Evie Baird (11) 15

10= Theo Darlo (9) 15.

Greatest Number of Points, The Pearson Trophy: Rio Ellis 409 points.

Longest Single Fish, The Festival Junior Cup: George Ferry wrasse 410mm.

Greatest Number of Fish, The Ken Wigg Trophy: Rio Ellis 23 fish.

Greatest Number of Crabs, The Alonzi Trophy: Theo Darlo 15 crabs.

Greatest Variety of Fish Species, The Knight Trophy: Teddy Stringer (5).

Event 3 – Mick Hillaby Memorial Trophy (Roving competition greatest weight of codling)

1 Ben Birch 11-10-6

2 Craig Dalton 4-0-6

3 Dave Bielby 3-1-2

4 Dave Turnbull 2-12-2

5 Steve Gyte 2-11-2

6 Andy Crowe 2-3-0

7 Mark Thomas 2-1-6

8 Dave Sayers 2-1-0

9 Ian Thompson 1-15-2

10 Pete Dunn 1-9-2.

42 + 2 fished, 12 weighed in.

Greatest Weight taken by a Junior & Junior Trophy: Jamie Binnie – pollock 1-12-6 & Jack Binnie – wrasse 1-7-0.