Angling Trust Species Hunt

Angling Trust Species Hunt – sponsored by TronixPro

WHAT IS THE SPECIES HUNT?

The Angling Trust Species Hunt is a sea shore based competition designed to get anglers out fishing and enjoying catching a wide variety of sea fish of all sizes.

It’s split into two parts:

Species Hunt – split into three leagues Elite, Senior and Junior, your challenge is to catch as many different species of fish as possible from UK waters.
Specimen Hunt – we want you to catch the largest specimen you can. We’ve picked out 38 sea species for you to target – the bigger the better!A new Junior prize bundle will also be award for Junior catch of the month. All Junior captures for the month will be reviewed and the catch of the month will be awarded by the panel.

WHO CAN TAKE PART?

Species Hunt is open to all.

We have two categories: Senior (16 & over on 31^st March of competition year) and Junior (under 16 on 31^st March of competition year).

You Can Register Here

When you’ve registered you’ll receive a welcome pack through the post which includes a laminated Species Hunt card, a full set of competition rules, a guide to the specimen sizes and a TronixPro retractable tape measure for measuring your catches. We’ll also send you information on how to handle and measure your catches safely for the benefit of the fish and yourself.

WHEN DOES IT START?

This year’s competition runs from Tuesday April 1, 2025 and runs to Tuesday March 31, 2026 but you can enter at any point during the competition.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO?

It’s simple – go out and catch a sea fish! Once you’ve caught a fish, place it carefully next to your laminated Species Hunt card and measuring tape (preferably on a soft surface), snap a picture, and then carefully return the fish.

You’ll then need to submit your picture to us via the Species Hunt email address. All entries must be sent to specieshunt@anglingtrust.net with the subject “Capture Report”.

For the Species Hunt the email must include the following:

Name & UPN of participant
Name of species caught (please be specific e.g. rock goby, not just goby).
Date & location of capture
Photo with clearly visible fish & clearly visible Species Hunt card.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Our team of experts will keep a running tally of your catches and judge specimen-sized fish. Multiple captures of a species will only count as one, but if you’ve caught a bigger one than you have previously then you can enter it into the Specimen Hunt via the same email address including:

If you are submitting a fish for the monthly Specimen Hunt, please title the subject “Specimen” and also include:

Photo with tape measure clearly shown. You may use a measure other than the Tronixpro tape measure provided that it is accurate and visible on the photograph. We need to see the whole fish in the photo.
Tactics used to catch the fish e.g. hooks, tackle, bait, etc.
Weight of the fish (optional)
Photo of you holding the fish – we love to publish lovely photos of our anglers! (optional)

We also request that photos show unbloodied fish as we want to promote a good image for the sport. This is especially important for the Specimen Hunt where pictures will be published online in various media.

TRONIXPRO PRIZES!

Thanks to TronixPro there will be monthly and yearly prizes across all three categories worth over £3,000.

All Specimen catches are judged by our panel of experts for monthly prizes. If you’re selected as our Specimen Hunt Fish of the Month winner, you’ll receive a £35 TronixPro tackle bundle which will be sent out at the close of the competition.

For Species Hunt, the winners are crowned by who catches the most species during the competition year, and there are great tackle prizes up for grabs.

The prizes will follow the format that the prize value highlighted is that of Tronixpro fishing tackle. This will be selected from the Tronixpro/HTO catalogue. Winners will be contacted via email when the competition closes.

Yearly Prizes

Each year everything resets, so for anglers who competed last year – try to catch all the fish you caught again! The top five anglers of the Senior League will be promoted into our Elite League to compete with the very best Species Hunters!

GO FOR IT!

So, what are you waiting for? Get your registration form filled in and get catching! We’re looking forward to seeing your fish.

Don’t forget we’ve got an active Species Hunt Facebook page too where we will announce the monthly league table, you can share your catches or stories, and pick up some great advice too.

Find it at https://www.facebook.com/groups/specieshunt.