Kelling Monday 2nd January 2012 – Nelson Shield & New Year Open
For once the weather gods were with us bringing cool dry south westerlies but the sky looked too clear , oh too clear for one of the targeted species. Mid-week sessions at the same venue had brought buckets full of good whiting, would these bright skies push them off. An excellent turnout was expected with 50 booked in but disappointingly there were 8 no shows. Pegging nice and early we found ourselves groping round somewhat in the dark to find the tide lines behind which was a nice expanse of level shingle. After good reports in the week the stretch was surprisingly empty and with a nice flat flooding sea we were not going to have to move much all match. Ideal conditions for bagging up on flatties, were we in for a dab fest? Pegging with such a good turnout was from just to the right (East) of the wreck right through to the Kelling block house missing out the notorious radar stretch.
Back at the Muckleburgh Collection the gate was unlocked at 8:00 a.m. and everyone started arriving from locally and far afield. The Humber contingent, always good to see them, the Essex duo along with the Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire regulars all keen as mustard. Then to arrive was the mob from round the corner and Suffolk who repeatedly threaten to thrash the local lads, on the beach that is and joined shortly afterwards by the Dereham Boys who have certainly got the bug for this match scene. Plenty of banter and debate at the draw particularly when the organiser attempted to duplicate peg numbers, sorry about that lads and thanks for your patience. Everyone was off to the beach nice an early well all except young Henry whose machine could be heard negotiating Muckleburgh Hill half an hour from the start of the match. “Was out on Blakeney Marsh digging at 4:00 a.m. this morning” was his answer as he steamed through the gate.
With just 15 minutes to go all were at last ready for the off although some were still in their casual banter mood. At the off all the usual tactics were adopted but the majority seemed to prefer a medium lob, whatever that is but probably 60-80 yards. With one section around the wreck and up to the small cliff and the other under the small cliff up to the block house it was always going to be difficult to judge what was happening along the whole stretch throughout the match. Fishing over the top of the tide we were going to have tidal flow all match which is ideal for the rod rattling whiting. However, it was the small dabs that were making their presence felt for most at the start but some like John(L) (peg 2), Richard(E) (peg 6),Wayne(M) (peg 7), Clyde(L) (peg 23), Nick(H) (peg 31) and Jim(R) (peg 48) were into 1 or 2 good whiting at the beginning.
However, dabs seemed to be the main species as cast after cast for most seemed to bring in 1 or 2 cardable specimens. Well, all except Gary( M) (peg 39) who was doing his usual comfortable cast to Sheringham Shoal only to bring in double and treble shots of undersize dabs. With no real chance of slack water fish were there or there abouts throughout so having a flounder walk was for most off the agenda well all except for Mike(W) (peg 43). For once his 10 minute cast/bait up routine was not paying dividend as the fish were just not infront of him so there he was looming up the beach, he for once was having a torrid day. Also struggling, a winner of many matches on this venue was Humber ace George(S) (peg 46) who had prime peg right on the wreck. He was obviously targeting the elusive codling with his vast array of baits but his many excursions into the wreck resulted in not one solitary specimen. In contrast, and to the frustration of those around him young Henry(R) (peg 47) was doing his usual trick of scratching around and was again carding some reasonable fish to be well in contention for the Section.
As top of the water past the weed started to come on, not a lot but just a nuisance. The dabs, in particular, were still there being hauled in amongst clumps of weed. Nobody was really moaning as everyone was catching but the majority of the dabs were small and the whiting had not appeared as in the previous week, the sunshine had pushed the shoals off. High number pegs were fishing well with one or two into 300 or more points but the message soon flowed along the line that to the left of the cliff and around the block house were fishing extremely well with cards into the 500 points category. The real match battle was being fought around the block house by Mark(T) (peg 1), John(L) (peg 2), Mark(P) (peg 3), Mark (G) (peg 4) and Paul(C) (peg 5) who had turned over their cards which meant at least 25 fish. This stretch was certainly producing the whiting as predicted and some of these were cracking specimens up to 40cm.
At the whistle it was this grouping that produced the winner from right on the block house in the form of John Lacey with 11lb 14 1/3oz from 38 fish very closely followed by his neighbour Mark Pinder with 11lb 13oz from 36 fish. Final podium slot went to Stephen Boyce (peg 19) who was on the edge of the radar zone a renown hot spot with 11lb 7 2/3oz from 42 fish. Heaviest Flat on the day went to Steve Durrant with a 34cm flounder (1lb) and heaviest round to Jim Robinson with a 41cm Whiting (1lb 1 1/3oz).
Yet another excellent match at this consistent venue. No codling this time but some good whiting, plenty of dabs and plenty of competition. Section A up to the block house by far fished the best which seems to be establishing a pattern where this end fishes best on the flood and the wreck end on the ebb but who knows it could all change next week with this fishing lark. A long stretch to peg so many thanks to “inspector” Morse or Fred as he is known locally for assistance with pegging and results.
Next club match is at Cley on Sunday 8th January 2012 fishing 9 – 2 but with the forecast not good please check club mobile for any cancellation. The following week, 15th January, is the teams of 5 at Salthouse fishing 10 – 3 so if you are in a club team please ensure you make it. The week after this , 22nd January, is the North Norfolk Team Challenge at Kelling fishing 9 – 2 which will also be an Open match. The top team on the day will take the North Norfolk Team Challenge shield which is being donated by Avenue Angling and the team will hold it for a year. The top 10 results from each team will count so please come along and support our club. There will also be a raffle where the proceeds will go to club funds so a raffle prize would be much appreciated. Please note that the final fixtures for the season are now on-line under Match Fixtures.
Open Match Result Top 5
1st John Lacey 11lb 14 1/3oz
2nd Mark Pinder 11lb 13oz
3rd Stephen Boyce 11lb 7 2/3oz
4th Mark Gooch 10lb 6 2/3oz
5th Mark Taylor 9lb 7oz
Open Match Sections Result (Winners excluded)
Section A
1st Paul Carter 8lb 7 2/3oz
2nd Trevor Elliott 8lb 1 2/3oz
Section B
1st Steve Durrant 7lb 13oz
2nd Henry Randell 7lb 4 1/3oz
Club Match Result Top 5
1st Stephen Boyce 11lb 7 2/3oz
2nd Trevor Elliott 8lb 1 2/3oz
3rd Henry Randell 7lb 4 1/3oz
4th Sam Attew 7lb 0oz
5th Peter Loke 6lb 4oz
—— … ——
Comments are closed