Salthouse 18th April
17 anglers turned out for what can only be described as a perfect summers day, with bright sunny skys and flat calm seas, needless to say expectation from many were not high although the conditions could prove to be perfect for Smoothhound if they were starting to show and the rumour mill had suggested the possibility of one or two.
The match was pegged further to the left than normal,with peg 1 being a good 50 yards past the beginnings of the iron works, this far end is well known for producing some of the better flounders due to the shallower waters and mud and sand mixture.
As the draw was made everyone headed off to their pegs very early to enjoy setting up in the warmth rather than freezing cold and wet conditions we have all suffered over the last few months.
Fishing started off quite slow with just the odd fish here and there, and the crab activity was proving to be a real problem with bait stripped in minutes.
Simon "Tacklewhore" Farrow started off well with a nice sized Dab and several others managed to pick up the odd one or two fish but again it seemed to be very patchy with certain spots being much more productive than others. Peter "Sandy Coke" Loke was managing to catch Dabs and Flounders at regular intervals and seemed to be striding ahead of the pack towards the half way point. Most other anglers had also managed a few fish each and word spread that Peter "Inspector" Morse had a couple of small Turbots recorded, an unusual species for our coastline but not unheard of.
At the far end the first person to catch was Chris "Runningman" Burgess on peg 2 who found a small 17.5cm Dab close in, next to him on peg 3 was Paul "Scoop" Fenech, who decided to use the tactics from the week before and go for distance to find the fish, this proved to be a wise decision and durng the latter half of the match he was once again consistently catching single shots of Dabs and a good flounder of 28cm. Dene "Smooth" Conway decided to chance his luck every two or 3 casts by using some fresh peeler crab on a pennel to see if the rumours of Smoothhound were in fact true, one of these fish could have won the match outright, but perhaps we are a week or two away from catching these fine fish. Tony Thomas on peg 5 was also struggling as were the majority of anglers in the lower numbers.
Back to the action, and it was Dick Able who had found the fish on peg 19, effectively using his experience on the end peg to catch some good sized Dabs and Flounders and slowly close the gap Peter Loke had created, also in the mix was Simon Farrow who had managed to stay within shouting distance of the leaders. But it was Dick Able who secured top spot with 8 fish for 1lb 10 1/3oz, second place went to Peter Loke who managed 7 fish for 1lb 9 2/3 , next was Paul Fenech who although away from the main battle area plugged away at distance to grab third place with 6 fish for 1lb 5 2/3 closely followed by Simon Farrow with 5 fish for 1lb 4 1/3oz.
In total only 60 fish were recorded and returned alive which shows how poor the sport was for the majority of anglers,BUT with crab activity, namely edibles on a par with two years ago, I feel confident the Smoothhounds will apear in good numbers very soon along with some crackng Bass action.
Next match is at Cley on SATURDAY 24th April fishing from 9am till 2pm, all members please be aware this is a Saturday match!!!
Full Match results
1st Dick Able 8 fish for 1lb 10 1/3oz
2nd Peter Loke 7 fish for 1lb 9 2/3oz
3rd Paul Fenech 6 fish for 1lb 5 2/3oz
4th Simon Farrow 5 fish for 1lb 4 1/3oz
5th Peter Morse 4 fish for 1lb 4 oz
6th Sam Attew 4 fish for 0lb 13 2/3oz
7th Paul Thorburn 5 fish for 0lb 13 oz
=8th John Neave 4 fish for 0lb 11 oz
=8th Tony Thomas 4 fish for 0lb 11 oz
10th Sherry Murray 3 fish for 0lb 7 2/3oz
=11th Dene Conway 2 fish for 0lb 6 oz
=11th Henry Randell 3 fish for 0lb 6 oz
13th Russell Barber 1 fish for 0lb 4 oz
14th Jock Goudie 1 fish for 0lb 3 1/3oz
=15th Ian Lambert 1 fish for 0lb 1 oz
=15th Chris Burgess 1 fish for 0lb 1 oz
17th Ivan Alan 0 fish for 0lb 0 oz
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