Salthouse Sunday 26th February 2012 – 7th Leg Winter Accumulator
At last it was a weekend to look forward to with the winds dropping and the temperatures well above freezing forecast. A good turnout was expected even though some of the regulars had opted to go for the money at Gt. Yarmouth in the Gorleston Tackle Open and others for a touch of rockling bashing on the wall behind Birds Eye. Even so, such is the depth in the club these days a strong contingent soon gathered at Salthouse beach car to watch the sun rise over Muckleburgh Hill. With some heat in the sun for a change there was plenty of competitive banter particularly from “yoda” and “class act” who had spent the week in their respective garages plotting how to try and defeat the newly dubbed “better booms” Beeton. With such an inviting sea all soon had their pegs drawn and were on their way including “rocky” and “three pairs” Carter complete with trolley to transport stove, sausages, bacon, baps, you name it … they really do like their sarnies.
Pegging was west on our usual stretch in front of “little eye” mound. Fishing top down with a 2-3 foot swell gave us a perfect sea for a good match and a gently dropping off shingle beach for easy set up and casting. Most opted for parking themselves at the top of the shingle with the rest risking their luck by following the tide. At the whistle all soon had their baits skyward, well almost all except “class act” Thorburn on peg 1 who was slow out of the blocks due to his intricate bait preparation and lack of nicotine, keep at it Paul! The first couple of casts would tell us if we were in for a repeat of the previous poor match and we were soon all relieved as Dab after Dab started to come ashore. On the low pegs “class act” Thorburn, “yoda” Thomas, “silver fox” Neave, “better booms” Beeton and “smooth” Conway were all into fish. Not particularly large fish and a lot undersize but good rod rattling specimens and handy points on your match card. The odd one out here was “new gear” Vertigan and current Winter Accumulator leader who was struggling and couldn’t find a sizeable fish.
At the other end “inspector” Morse, “no hat” Attew and the “Carters” were all seen returning fish so for once the whole stretch was producing. It was rumoured that “rocky” Carter on peg 12 was filling his card but his mind was on other things as he began setting up ‘Carter’s Café’ along with “three pairs” Carter. They soon had the burner going and their favourite sarnies were coming off the production line. Even with this distraction “rocky” was still reeling in the Dabs and “3 pairs” was also getting in on the act to show that she’s not lost her touch on the shingle. With the ebb starting to pick up a gentle right to left tide gave us an ideal sea for tempting even more flatties. This proved to be the case as everyone continued to bring in the Dabs although a large number were still very small but still good sport.
As slack arrived everyone noticed that the Dabs had gone off the feed, well everyone except “yoda” who still managed to find a few treble shots of Dabs although plenty were now undersize but at least his card was being filled. This quiet period gave everyone the opportunity to bring their rod rests down to the water’s edge and for some to decamp from the top of the shingle bank. Most unusually, this included “smooth” who normally sticks to the high shingle, maybe he had a subtle plan to go with his ingenious baiting table as the Dabs started to come on. With the tide picking up again the Dabs started to reappear but “new gear” Vertigan was still having a torrid time with just a single Dab. He could not understand how a couple a weeks ago using the same tactics he was reeling in fish after fish and today nothing whilst all around were storming away. Well boy that’s match fishing for you, each day is different and a little coaching from those around soon helped him to improve his score slightly. With the tide now pushing nicely “class act” and “better booms” were soon into the Dabs again and were on a late charge. So was “smooth” who after an uncharacteristic walk checking out the opposition was observed cantering to record and return fish, would he suffer later for all this exertion was in the mind of others.
As the last hour came and went Tony “yoda” Thomas continued to find the fish and took the honours with 4lb from 27 fish. A rapidly improving Paul “class act” Thorburn managed to find some bigger fish for 3lb 1 1/3oz from 18 fish followed by Bill “better booms” Beeton who had at last got his act together to record 2lb 7 2/3oz from 17 fish. The heaviest flat went to John “silver fox” Neave with his 26cm Dab and there were no round fish caught. Altogether there were 131 sizeable Dabs recorded weighing a total of just over 20lb.
After the experiences of previous weeks this was a most enjoyable and competitive match. A very relaxing session although the shingle took its toll on some particularly “smooth” whose extreme activity meant his “moto maint” was soon seen heading Dereham way at the “weigh in”. Next match could be interesting as the penultimate match of the season is at Kelling on Sunday 4th March 2012 fishing 12:00-5:00 which is later than normal to allow us to fish over HW which is 3:46 p.m.
Club Match Results Top 5
1st Tony Thomas 4lb 0oz
2nd John Carter 3lb 11/3oz
3rd Bill Beeton 2lb 7 2/3oz
4th Sam Attew 2lb 3oz
5th John Carter 2lb 2oz
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