Salthouse 29th January 2011
It was weather back to the norm for the regulars as they met at Salthouse beach car park with ice and a -1 C temperature from a stiff cool North Easterly. Fishing Saturday for a change to allow the regulars to support the Gorleston Tackle Open on the Sunday. Everyone was again apprehensive with the drop in temperature but the sea had a nice movement, plenty of colour and with the distinct chance of the odd codling as they had been appearing under the cliffs at Weybourne.
Pegging to the west of the car park in our usual spot, in front of the “Little Eye” hillock giving everyone a spot in a stretch of slightly deeper water. Fishing from bottom up on a neap tide meant minimum walking and a more relaxing session. As with previous matches everyone was at the water’s edge ready to cast minutes before the whistle and craving to get started; how addicted have we got!
As usual everyone was full of expectation of a good catch but really knew it was going to be a tough match with the first couple of casts dictating what was going to happen. As with previous match Tony “yoda” Thomas was first to register on his first cast with a small dab and this was to set the scene for the rest of the match along with those pesky pin whiting. Moans could be heard all along the match stretch as those pin whiting started rolling in along with the odd small dab. However, ripples of excitement started to flow when it was rumoured that Sam “no hat” Attew from peg 1 was picking up treble shots and had already carded a 33cm flounder.
With Sam continuing to catch small dabs everyone then knew that they had to land a specimen whiting or flounder to be in contention. Fishing bottom up meant about 2-3 hours of tide before slack water and this is precisely when everything switched off. It soon became apparent that this was happening with the increased strolling and banter along with disappearance of Dene “smooth” Conway for his shot of caffeine from the beach car park.
The tide was now making and rolling up and over the shingle bank in front of the club members. With still 2 hours to high water this prompted Paul “class act” Thorburn to decamp and move to the higher shingle bank as he had not brought his life jacket. You might say this is nothing to do with the match but with the lack of decent fish our entertainment had to come from somewhere. Like watching the frustration growing from certain accomplished members of our merry band where all tactics like, short, long and medium distance were just not yielding results.
Even when slack water passed the fish were just not responding and it was down to the odd small dab generally accompanied by an even odder pin whiting that won the day. In the end, the specimen flounder turned out to be the match winner with Sam “no hat” Attew taking top spot with 2lb 3 1/3oz from 11 fish followed by Tony “yoda” Thomas with 1lb 9 2/3oz from 15 fish. Final podium slot went to Paul “class act” Thorburn with 0lb 15oz from 8 fish. This match demonstrated that you need big flounders to get in the frame as they give serious points once you get to 30cm versions. It also showed that at this venue you need the ebb and a good tidal flow if you are to contact those true specimen fish and this beach can certainly produce them.
Match Result Top 5
1st Sam Attew 11 Fish 2lb 3 1/3oz
2nd Tony Thomas 15 Fish 1lb 9 2/3oz
3rd Paul Thorburn 8 Fish 0lb 15 1/3oz
4th Dene Conway 7 Fish 0lb 13 2/3oz
5th John Neave 8 Fish 0lb 12oz
Although weight and fish numbers are not good it does show that the North Norfolk shingle has been consistent with its catches over the last few weeks. It’s a pity this could not be repeated Gt. Yarmouth way where an excellently run Gorleston Tackle Open with 96 anglers could only yield a winner with 4 sizeable dabs which appears to be the norm for this venue at the moment.
Please note that the club’s Winter Open scheduled for the 6th February 2011 has been moved to 6th March at Kelling. This is due to a significant number of local match anglers competing in the Fountain Open in Kent although there will still be a club match at Kelling on that day.
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