The Big Lerf Fundraiser 2026 Weekend

I was lucky enough to take the win for Most Species on Unscented Lures 🏆, and was 4th place overall 🏅 (Left to right, Ben, Rich, & Gimli me).

 

With the Weymouth fundraiser on the horizon, Huw and I wanted to make a full weekend of it, filthy bait fishing before and after the competition like last year, as there were still several species up here I've had, which Huw hasn't. Outside of comps, for our personal species tallies, we like to catch on bait first just to tick the box, and then try to tempt them on lures afterwards for the challenge. Our plan was to drive up to Portland after work; fish until dark for Black-faced blenny, then sleep in the van; get up early in the morning, try for Golden-grey mullet (or Black-faced blenny if Huw still hasn't had one); then fish the comp during the day; try for Leopard spotted goby at night; then on the Sunday, blitz it to Swanage for a Baillon's wrasse; then Brixham for Rockcook wrasse; and if we have time, Haldon Pier for anything else Huw might need—a mission, I know, and things didn't quite go to plan.

 

 

Friday 

 

Huw picks up some ragworm for the Friday night and Sunday from Lowen Chy, which I hear Fletch lovingly hand selected the smallest ones, sprinkling in some fun, colourful language along the way. "Betrayed by someone whose name sounds like a baby's sneeze" is a line that'll stick. 

This species hunt business is a laugh.

Atishuw and I finally get on the road once I finish work, and would've made good time, if we didn't get caught in traffic during the last third of the drive. The satnav was saying 40 minutes left, for ages! Though, thankfully we get to Portland with just over an hour before dark and bump into gurtlerfer and alfiedyke, and chat about all things fish. We spot a tiny female or immature male Black-faced blenny, so Huw drops down my tanago rod with a spec of ragworm, after a few minutes of trying, it takes the bait, but the fish drops off, then it loses interest completely. A couple of males make an appearance under the red light of our head torches, but all of them seemed to have switched off as it got dark, so we trundle off to the van to get some sleep. 

 

Cosy on the bedchair and matress (shh, he doesn't know I've posted this).

 

Saturday (Fundraiser) 

 

I wake up just before 5am, ready to get out and help Huw onto his Black-faced blenny, that were screaming to be caught, but the call of his bed was louder, so we give them a miss and have a slow morning before making our way to Weymouth Angling Society to sign in for the comp.

 

After the briefing, me and Huw head straight for the Pleasure Pier where we have a slow hour on different colours of Isome; just one Pollack for Huw, and one Corkwing wrasse (#1) for me. Huw takes advantage of the quiet spell, and opens up a Pokémon Pitch Black ETB for his Pack with a View series on his YouTube channel—ha, nerd! (please subscribe). Thinking a change of spots will solve the issue, we fish the south side of Pavillion—not even a nibble. I switch over to white Uneune sticks, which have served me well in Falmouth when Isome hasn't. Lee from How To Trick A Fish recommended them in one of his videos, and they caught me some of my first LRF species. When the Isome isn't producing much, sometimes I think its stiffness is hindering more than the scent is helping—and those Uneune sticks have so much more wiggle in them. Changing seemed to work, as when reeling in from the deeper water in Pavillion, a large fish follows me up (I thought probably a flounder); I persisted a while longer, but couldn't find it again, so headed back to Pleasure thinking the lure change might've made a difference. The tide still being low, we see a few small wrasse chasing each other and one beelined straight for my lure, only my second ever Baillon's (#2)—to the frustration of Huw, who was on the same rig and same lure, with our lures mere feet apart, it just happened to be mine in the path of the fish. The wrasse were still pecking away, so I managed to upgrade a Corkwing to unscented. It felt a bit like the right place at the right time, as I was able to sight fish out a Tompot (#3), and a Ballan (#4) which took a little more work. By this point Lee and Nathan wander by, and Nathan says I'd be in for a good chance of winning on unscented. I never expect to win any prizes, as I don't consider myself particularly good in short form comps, so I'm normally here for the social side of it— but I've got to give it a go now! The way The Big Lerf have decided it, is that scented soft plastics (like the Uneune Sticks I was using) are counted as unscented lures, provided they're not liquid-stored baits, like Gulp or Isome. Ben later expanded, that if it doesn't shrivel when left to dry out, then it counts as unscented—in a nutshell, if it shrinks, it stinks. 👀

 

"When the Isome isn't producing much, sometimes I think its stiffness is hindering more than the scent is helping—and those Uneune sticks have so much more wiggle in them." 

 

We then take a slow walk up to Westwey, fishing down the wall with a sliding dropshot as we walked along. I saw some Goldsinny high up and tight to the wall which were having none of it, but the Pouting (#5) were, and another, and another... (at least it wasn't like the pout plague of 2024). Huw brings up a Goldsinny on unscented, and made it look easy though! I'm getting goby-like bites, so slide the snood down more and bring up a female Black goby (#6); we saw plenty of smaller ones at the Pleasure Pier which weren't interested at all, so I'm glad they didn't end up being a write-off. I switch the white Uneune to clear blue, as Nathan and Lee reappear, hoping at least one of those Goldsinny will take something different, and pretty quickly one was ripping the tail up, before it hooked itself (#7). Something like "Oh f*ck off" I jokingly hear from Nathan. 😆 I think I would've been there for hours if I didn't make that switch! 

 

Species left to right: Corkwing wrasse, Pollack, Tompot blenny, Ballan wrasse, Pouting, Black goby (female), Common blenny/Shanny, Bass, Sand goby, Goldsinny wrasse, Baillon's wrasse.

 

As we near Westwey, we meet with Jack for a social, and spot a shoal of micro mullet in an inch of water, but as usual, they spook as soon as you get near them, so I whip on a tanago with the tip of some pink Isome, and lower it into the shoal, they dart off, but the shoal fills back in and I get the odd peck. I hook and drop two fish, thinking it's over, but a third time was the charm—turns out they were tiny Bass (#8). Using the same set up, I drag along the bottom, looking to see if any gobies were following; I winkle out a Common goby, and eventually a Sand goby, but on closer inspection, they were both Sand gobies (#9), though Huw gets himself a Common goby, which is a lifer, but absolutely gutted to find he's lost his card! The Gilthead bream were showing nearby too, so we gave them a go for an hour, and have a good catch up with the gent that is Paul Egginton, but the gilts weren't to be for Huw and I. Good timing I thought, as the nearby outflow started turning the water an opaque brown as we were leaving. 

 

Huw and I spend the penultimate hours on a very slow going Stone Pier with Leigh. I catch a Tompot on Isome, followed by a Pollack (#10) which has somehow eluded me all day, but I'm thinking I could upgrade the Pollack to unscented, so I swap back to Uneune, and I get a few 'pollacky' or 'pouty' nibbles, but nothing connecting, though Huw gets himself his Pouting and Corkwing wrasse! Leigh kindly points me to where he's seen some Shannies, and there were plenty down the side of the wall. I manage to get two to follow which got them competing, and the larger of the two got there first (#11), followed by a separate, smaller one which Huw catches on a tanago.

Huw's tally; species left to right: Common goby, Pollack, Pouting, Goldsinny wrasse, Corkwing wrasse.

With minutes on the clock, I think a Rock goby is the only realistic target I had time to get. By chance, we bump into Will who kindly points to a corner where several have been coming out. I gave it two drops before our time ran out, and we needed to make our way back. It's funny how it's always a species you think you can get early, you trip up on at the end! We power walk back to the Angling Society, seeing Lucas' head a short distance ahead of us, soaring above the crowd, but we timed it a little off, as the bridge was lifting, just after Lucas, and before us, cutting us off for ten minutes. 

 

  

"This year we raised well over £2,000 for our two chosen charities Man Down UK and RNLI Weymouth Lifeboat Station" — The Big Lerf

 

 

My tally was:

1. Corkwing wrasse (unscented upgrade)
2. Baillon's wrasse (unscented)
3. Tompot blenny (unscented)
4. Ballan wrasse (unscented)
5. Pouting (unscented)
6. Black goby (unscented)
7. Goldsinny wrasse (unscented)
8. Bass
9. Sand goby
10. Pollack
11. Common blenny a.k.a Shanny (unscented)

Except for the Pouting, Black goby, and Pollack, all of my adds were sight fished, which in hindsight, I think helped massively with the unscented adds.

Huw's tally was:

1. Pollack
2. Goldsinny wrasse (unscented)
3. Common goby
4. Pouting
5. Corkwing wrasse 
6. Common blenny a.k.a Shanny 

Back at the angling society we have a few laughs with Jack, Leigh, and Paul over a pint before the winners were announced. I was lucky enough to take the win for Most Species on Unscented Lures 🏆 (8 species), and was tied with Adam Kirby, Max Goodwin, and Donny Midas for third place (11 species), but I had two double point species, which secured me 4th place overall. 🏅 Huge congratulations to Paul Egginton and Lucas Theocharides for their wins; first and second place, respectively. It was great to catch up with so many people, and meet some new faces too, and congrats to all of the other winners! I can't believe it was so close between so many of us! Thank you very much to The Big Lerf Tackleshop, FFSLures, and C.A.N Fishing Lures for the prizes; they'll be put to good use soon! 

I enjoyed chatting with some of the other TopRodz ambassadors too, Alan Shergold, Martin Gillett, and Tim Brewer—great to finally meet you, Alan! 

 

Saturday evening and Sunday (post Fundraiser) — back to the stinky stuff

 

Huw, Jack and I go for another celebratory pint, some Indian food, and many laughs, before parting ways, so I could hit the Pleasure Pier to get Huw his Baillon's wrasse, and maybe a Leopard-spotted goby for me too. We open the cool box and are nearly knocked over by the smell! We forgot the ragworm had been in the van under the hot sun all day, and was borderline fermenting. I managed to salvage a few dead worms which weren't completely liquid, and take a look under the pier to see what's about under the headtorches. Nothing really, so after catching waves of shrimp, and a couple of Pouting, we call it after an hour, and come back in the morning, just before the next low tide. 

A couple of rascals.

Sunday morning didn't start off promising, with heavy winds waking us up and lots of chop on the sea. Though for a couple of hours, the stone bollards under the pier, kept some calm pockets of ocean, which were like perfect windows to the seabed. There really wasn't much showing below, except for lots of little Black gobies, but Huw persisted with every wrasse he saw, hoping for that Baillon's (we were stretching that rag to an inch of its life). It wasn't to be, though he caught some stunning Corkwing, a micro-Ballan, and several Black gobies. We migrated to the shallower side of the pier, with the intention of getting him his first Tompot, and as he sight fishes one, a Connemarra clingfish bullies the larger Tompot off. I tell him to forget the Tompot, and point to the clingfish; immediately he moves the bait, and in a split second catches the conny! That was so cool to see, and as a bonus, he lands another Tompot not long after too. We give one last go above the pier for the Baillon's, but the wind picks up, as does the rain, so off down to Brixham we go!

Huw's awesome, little sight-fished Connemarra clingfish!

 

I knew the tide would be high, and there would be some swell by the time we got there, but having never fished this spot for the Rockcook wrasse, in anything other than flat calm conditions and low tide, I couldn't rightly say we'd be sh*t out of luck... well, we were. After only catching tens of micro-Pollack; Pouting; a handful of Corkwing; and strays from Leigh in the group chat about my definitely-not-ginger ginger beard; we grab some ice cream, fresh donuts, and hit the pub again. We call off the drive to Haldon Pier, and play some cards, and enjoy a taste of home—Rattler. 🍺

 

Huw was happy to get 4 lifers this trip: Common goby, Tompot blenny, Black goby, and Connemarra clingfish; taking his total to 55 species!