Gorleston Sunday 9th December 2012 – Lloyd Durham Shield & Teams of 5
With gale force west/north westerly forecast for Sunday afternoon the committee decided to move the Lloyd Durham Shield match from Cley to under the cliffs at Gorleston. As it happened it was the right decision as the shingle was no way fishable with white water on the foreshore and extremely strong winds and tide. Meeting on the car park just above the wreck at Gorleston meant no serious walks for anyone and no soft shingle to negotiate. The usual ‘Teams of 5’ contingent were there nice and early particularly Holt Crack Offs who were sporting their new bright blue livery emblazoned in their rite gear printed team logos. Specially tailored for previous weekend’s finals so all you need to do now lads is win, probably shouldn’t have said that! With everyone there early there was plenty of good humoured banter and the trials and tribulations of that tough Final weekend were confined to history. Even John (N) and Sam (A) made it and were on form particularly after the disastrous weekend events for them.
With Tom (G) taking the rise out of Ivan (A) insisting he had gone to Cley, Richard took up his now usual mantle to peg the beach, westward from the second groyne from the wreck. Once again many thanks Richard! Fishing the last hour of the ebb and then the flood on a small tide meant not much walking for cast and retrieve and none of this steep shingle incline to negotiate as back ‘home’. However, we did have that horrible sand, gets everywhere and when the wind blows not much fun, can’t beat the good old shingle. For once the trolley brigade were left in the garage apart from a couple of trolley stalwarts and all were soon off to select their sandy hollow. Big dilemma then set in, where to park the buddy? – high up or closer to the ebbing tide. Those that chose the latter were soon to rue their decision as the fast flooding tide pushed them over the top.
For most this was an unfamiliar beach so at the whistle it was decision time of where to put the bait. Apart from on the hooks, half decided on their usual gentle lobs and others some distance work where they felt comfortable. It wasn’t long before we all realised that it was not going to be a barren match as the good old reliable dabs were soon coming ashore. It was Sam A (peg 11) who was first to show, leaving all his tails of woe of the previous weekend behind him and landing a good treble shot of dabs. Even at this early stage this was to show were the majority of the fish were feeding. It was this final hour of the ebb that was to be the most productive with the majority picking up small dabs. In particular, Dick E (peg 7), Peter L (peg 8), Tony T (peg 9), Paul H (peg 13), Mike W (peg 14), John N (peg 16),Ivan A (peg 17), John C (peg 18), Bill B (peg 19), Ray C (peg 22), Peter M (23) and Paul T (peg 24). In contrast slightly bigger fish were coming to Richard E (peg 2) with 24 & 30cm dabs, Henry R (peg 3) with a 27cm whiting, Tom G (peg 12) with a 27cm whiting, ‘Mushroom’ P (peg 21) with 25cm dab & 27cm whiting.
With action all along the stretch ‘catching’ was the main focus of attention that is for ‘fish’ but it was Sunday morning and we were on a stretch notorious for the doggy walkers and their regular constitutionals. The majority stayed at the top of the beach well away from us or had their mutts restrained on leads but there were some who just let them run wild and others with mini packs that were going through everything. Poor old Richard and Henry were out on a limb and became targets with Richard having his buddy broken by a marauding mutt. When confronted with this action the dog owner simply said we should not be on that part of the beach, no apologies. Similarly, another pooch when into Henry’s buddy and cobbled up 25 lug which he had painstakingly dug that morning in the dark and again no real apology. Most dog owners are responsible but you always get ones that have no respect for others and you know who they would blame if their sniffing dog got hooked!
Anyway back to the fishing! As the ebb finished fish were still coming ashore but Peter L was having a torrid day, first hefted and then bird nested so really felt sorry for the guy. Big mistake, shouldn’t do that in a match as he soon got his act together and within no time he was pulling in dabs and points building treble shots. As slack water arrived the dabs slowed up but unlike the shingle slack is over quickly here and the dabs came back again as the tide started to flow. Fish were being found at distance as well as close in which created its own contest between adjacent members. At the high end Paul T was doing some usual range stuff and was picking up the odd dab but a couple of pegs down Ray C was doing a 30-40 yard chuck and hauling in double & treble shots of small dabs. At the other end Richard E was getting a few quality fish at range whereas next peg Henry R was coming in short and picking up numbers of small fish to match Richard’s points. This continued throughout the match with both recording 200 points at the whistle.
Although small dabs were the order of the day it was whiting that would score big points and Bill B was finding a few at range as the tide started to flood. A few 27cm versions at first and then 34cm and 31cm specimens to really notch up his points, his sticky frozen Welsh blacks were working a treat. His old adversary Mike W, not quite that old was also finding the whiting at range, not with blacks but with his usual concoction of blow lug and Waitrose squid. In fact, he had been getting the whiting the whole match interspersed with his dab collection which had helped him to build up a healthy score. The tide was now flooding seriously and it was soon apparent that those adventurous members who had camped further down were soon on the move along with a few who had tried to accurately place their buddies on the edge of the last High Water mark. Always worth double checking where to pitch in a 5 hour flooding tide match.
As the match drew to a close everyone was frantic with their casting to ensure the very last fish is caught where ‘just one more’ fish could make a huge difference in the placings. Anyway it was his consistent performance throughout the match that gave Bill Beeton the honours with 6lb 5 1/3oz from 25 fish. Runner up who was doing likewise was his team mate Mike Watts who amassed 6lb 4oz from 26 fish where ‘just one fish’ would have done the business . He may have lost his card in the Final but there’s no stopping Sam Attew on whatever Norfolk beach he fishes by taking the final podium slot with 5lb 6oz from 26 fish. A mention should also go to Ramon Camilleri who finished 4th by finding the most fish on the day (29) for 5lb 2 1/3oz. Heaviest club flat points was shared by Richard & Sam for their 30cm (10 2/3oz) dabs and heaviest round points to Bill for his34cm (9 1/3oz) whiting. The Super Pools winners were Bill, Mike and Ramon respectively.
On the teams front there was a tie for top spot between HOLT CRACK OFFS and NORTH NORFOLK LADS both on 7 points followed by THE GUTTER BASHERS on 10 points in third place. After 3 Rounds NORTH NORFOLK are in pole position on 23 points, followed by HOLT CRACK OFFS on 26 points and THE GUTTER BASHERS on 28 points.
It was pretty obvious when we returned to North Norfolk with its howling wind that we had made the correct decision to go round the corner, no wonder they’ve sited a wind farm up here. All had good sport and bags all day with a total of 315 fish being registered weighing a total of 69lb 7oz. This particular match shows that the club has another venue option when there is serious winds from the north.
The next club match is for the FOREMAN CUP at SALTHOUSE on SUNDAY 16TH DECEMBER fishing 10:00-3:00.
The following weekend sees the club’s XMAS FAYRE OPEN & NORTH NORFOLK TEAM CHALLENGE at KELLING on SUNDAY 23RD DECEMBER fishing 10:00-3:00. The Team Challenge will be between teams of a minimum of 5 members. If all teams have more than 5 members then the scores of the best number of members in a team where the number is equal to the number in the smallest team. For instance, if the smallest team has just 7 members then the top 7 scores in each team will count. There is no team monies at stake just bragging rights unless monies is organised separately. The club will attempt to obtain a trophy for this challenge and try and make it an annual event.
Club & Teams Individuals Match Result Top 5
1st Bill Beeton 6lb 5 1/3oz (25 Fish)
2nd Mike Watts 6lb 4oz (26 Fish)
3rd Sam Attew 5lb 6oz (26 Fish)
4th Ramon Camilleri 5lb 2 1/3oz (29 Fish)
5th Peter Loke 4lb 14 2/3oz (23 Fish)
Teams Result Top 5
1st= North Norfolk Lads 7 points
1st= Holt Crack Offs 7 points
3rd The Gutter Bashers 10 points
4th Holt SAC A 12 points
5th Holt SAC B 20 points
Please use this link for full set of club match results … Holt SAC Match Results (09Dec12)
Please use this link for current league table… Holt SAC League Table (09Dec12)
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