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Bluefin, the winners of the past two Sea Angling Classics made it an unprecedented three in a row as they claimed top spot once more in Portsmouth, England after an audacious gamble paid off.

The Scottish crew of Stuart Cresswell, Steven Toner and William Kennedy, leading overnight, went into day two with a similar plan as day one – go all out for tope at the start.

But the gamble nearly cost them, as it took them almost three hours to land their first fish, during which time they dropped down to seventh as other boats took advantage.

The leaderboard on the Angling Hive app continued to change every few minutes throughout the morning and, even when the scoreboard was switched off at 1pm to keep the suspense, the Scots still looked out of it.

But, under cover of the ‘dark’, they produced a run of rays then smoothhound before landing some last-ditch bass to storm back into first place at the death.

Boating an impressive 1,679cm of fish, they collected the first prize of a £10,000 Lowrance voucher for marine electronics, £4,000 cash plus Crewsaver lifejackets and a boat, YETI Tundra cool boxes, engraved Marttiiini knives, Mermaid gin and a sMRT AIS DSC Man Overboard Beacon as well as lifting the trophy for the third time in a row.

Sea Witch 2, from Wales, claimed second place, having landed 1,486cm of fish. The crew of Robert Shefford, Gareth Protheroe and Ray Eyers picked up £2,000 cash plus YETI Tundra cool boxes, Crewsaver lifejackets and a boat, PENN rods and reels, Mermaid gin, engraved Marttiini knives and a sMRT AIS DSC Man Overboard Beacon.

Summing up how close the competition was, just 8cm behind in third place was Black Bridge, skippered by Jack Coombes and crewed by Shane and Marcus Coombes and Harvey Coles. The quartet – who had led at the halfway point on day two – scooped £1,000 cash plus YETI Tundra cool boxes, Crewsaver lifejackets and a boat, PENN rods and reels, Mermaid gin, engraved Marttiini knives and a sMRT AIS DSC Man Overboard Beacon.

The 2023 champions, Jason Williams and Liam Smith– now on board Double Or Quits – finished fourth, with 1,385cm while Thresher finished fifth, with Wayne Comben and Dan Sissons on board; the latter duo also won the Best Boat under 6.5m, having boated 25 fish for 1,556cm.

After lifting the trophy aloft for the third time, Bluefin skipper Stuart Cresswell revealed: “We had a plan on day two but it nearly backfired. We decided to go for tope at the start but we were still blanking by 11am (three hours in).

“Fortunately, just we thought we had made a mistake, we caught one, then another almost straightaway on the same rod. But we knew we still had plenty of work to do as we had four hours to catch the remaining four species of fish.

“With just 20 minutes or so to go we were still chasing bass. We followed some seagulls hoping that would lead us to them but by the time we got there, they had gone. Luckily, we spotted another team fishing for them so we headed for that mark – it was a close thing though and made for a frenetic afternoon.

“It’s always hard fishing this competition; there are some really good anglers out there and competition is always tough – they pushed us hard, as they do every year.

“The Sea Angling Classic is a brilliant competition, a great spirit, fantastic camaraderie and brilliant teamwork.”

Runners up Sea Witch 2 said: “Well done to Bluefin, we were the first to congratulate them. They fished really well. We still haven’t got all our marks sorted but it was very close and we all support each other whenever we land a fish.

“We’ll aim to be back next year and see what that brings; we love fishing together and this competition is so much fun.”

The Best Overall Lady honour went to Pauline Wilson on Gone Ballistic for landing 12 fish for 866cm while Calvin Longstaff on board Socttish boat Grumpy Mick was the Best Junior, with 21 fish for 1,909cm

Meanwhile, Caroline Mckell on board Squidward 3 landed a superb longest overall ray of 73cm, Charlie Gattrell on Banshee boated a 119cm best smoothhound while the longest bass of 75cm was taken by Wayne Comben from Thresher.

Danny Brind on board Nana T landed the longest tope at 1404m while Ollie Mead’s 40cm bream on Well Plumbed was enough for top individual honour in this category.

Individual species length prizes included a fantastic engraved Okuma Makaira 3011 reel, Mermaid Gin and YETI tumblers.

The first bass caught in the competition was by Darren Mckell on Squidward 3, winning him a ParkIt Eclipse Recliner chair.

Black Bridge won a range of Yamaha Pro Team clothing and a 275 Air inflatable boat as the best with a Yamaha engine in the event.

For a full list of results visit www.seaanglingclassic.com