Salthouse Sunday 3rd February 2013 – 5th Leg Winter Accumulator
With strong northerlies hitting the North Norfolk shingle on Saturday reminiscent of 60 years ago to the day but from personal experience of this event in 1953 there was no real comparison with the weather on that fateful day. Members were no doubt concerned that the northerlies would snooker Sunday’s match but the forecast predicted that they would swing to WSW and the swell reduce from 8 to 4 feet. For once they were spot on and the weather allowed us to continue with our sport but it was chilly and windy although nice and dry. Normally members are nice and early at Salthouse but only PT and JP were there at the crack of dawn with the others enjoying an extra half hour of kip. With young Henry into serious hard core reed cutting it was down to TT to do the pegs from Great Eye westward in front of Little Eye mound. With everything ready the usual regulars were soon arriving plus Robin “flounder man” Self for his first club match, welcome aboard Robin! The trolley dollies were also out in force and were readying their machines for the short “trot” across the shingle.
Fishing 1 hour up and 4 down on a small tide meant not too much hiking up and down the shingle but even so “consultant” Allison was soon questioning the extent of shingle infront of him as the match wore on. All were soon parked on top of the last high tide bank although “consultant’s” woes had already started as metal fatigue snookered his buddy so he had to settle for a rather draughty session. For once no one was really keen to get going but all soon got into their customary Salthouse chuck at the whistle. The man to watch, “better booms” Beeton (peg 7) was soon into his 10 minute rhythm and was straight into a sizeable whiting and then a nice 31cm version on his next cast. At least the whiting were still there as “class act” Thorburn (peg 6) was into a dab and whiting double shot as was “yoda” Thomas on next peg 5. Further along the stretch to peg 2 the freshening chilly wind was thankfully drowning the sounds of “peep peep’s” 5 minute metronome and he looked as though he was having a quiet start. However, his actions were deceiving as he was busily making amends for his previous week’s poor start by finding a succession of 4 good whiting given him an early lead. Next door on peg 1 “silver fox” Neave was also finding some good whiting but not quite at the same rate as “peep peep”.
Further down the stretch the action was not quite so hectic but “captain” Ellis (peg 9) was off to a flier and soon had 3 whiting and a dab on his card. Up to his usual tricks was club stalwart “no hat” Attew (peg 14) who was also into 3 whiting and a dab (could make a film about this!) but at a more sedate pace. Rookie “flounder man” (peg 12) was also into a couple of good whiting but he struggled for the rest of the match and in the end that was his final score, it will come Robin! Whiting were the obvious target fish in this match as many small dabs were required to overcome one good whiting and for some all they could find was small dabs. Like “chig” Mushroom (peg 13), “steady” Carter (peg 10), “mobility” Morse (peg 8) and “sandy coke” Loke (peg 11) who were really struggling to find any whiting. Also in this grove was “consultant” Allison (peg 4) who could not even find a single fish whilst all around him were pulling in whiting after whiting. His fortune did at last change as he managed to find a couple of small dabs as the tide started to ebb more seriously and these were followed by a succession of dabs for the remainder of the match but no whiting. In the flattie brigade, “sandy coke” Loke’s strategy for this match was back to basics and out came his faithful wrigglers rewarding him immediately with a points sapping 34cm flounder and the only one of the match, well done Mr Lokie!
With the ebb well established it was soon apparent that the whiting in numbers were certainly at the very low order peg numbers where “peep peep” Conway was really into them. However, he did notice a subtle change in this as the tide dropped as they seemed to move down the stretch with first “class act” Thorburn hauling in stonking whiting after whiting and then “yoda” Thomas doing the same. “better booms” Beeton was initially getting into this action but his whiting flow abruptly ended as all he could find was small dabs. Likewise “captain” Ellis’s train hit the buffers as his whiting dried up with only small dabs taking his bait. “steady” Carter and “mobility” Morse did manage to find a couple of whiting but no such luck for “sandy coke” Lokie who ended up whitingless but he did have that big ‘dinner plate’. End peg “no hat” Attew was also reduced to just dabs after his initial whiting flurry but the real action was being contested at the other end. “class act” Thorburn was storming it with a couple of hours left but he ran out of his special blows and switching to replacement blows produced just one whiting in the final hour, well that is what he says. It was then left to “peep peep” and “yoda” to fight it out as they continued to bring in good whiting helped by both getting a stonking 36cm specimen apiece.
However, a few more double shots and some good dabs at the end enabled Dene “peep peep” Conway to take the honours with 6lb 10 1/3oz from 24 fish demonstrating that you can certainly do the business with fresh blacks at this venue in contrast to his previous bad session without them. Next was Tony “yoda” Thomas with 6lb 2oz from 17 fish, not with fresh blacks here but good old local yellas and Morrisons mackerel. Final podium slot went to Paul “class act” Thorburn with 5lb 5oz from 14 fish and he now knows that in future he’ll bring more than just a handful of blows. Heaviest flat club points went to Peter Loke for his 34cm (1lb) flounder and heaviest round club points to Dene and Tony for their 36cm (11 1/3oz) whitings. The Super Pool result was the same as the match.
Another excellent close match for most with 153 fish being recorded (92 dabs, 1 flounder and 60 whiting) weighing a total of 39lb 3oz. For once the whiting made a good showing but you do needed the right bait to catch the stonking specimens in numbers. As we said after the last good match at Salthouse, let’s hope they hang around for a little while longer and move just a little way down the coast to Kelling.
The club’s next match is the 6th Leg of the Winter Accumulator & Teams of 5 at Kelling on Sunday 10th February fishing 10:00 to 3:00.
Club Result Top 5
1st Dene Conway 6lb 10 1/3oz (24 Fish)
2nd Tony Thomas 6lb 2oz (17 Fish)
3rd Paul Thorburn 5lb 5oz (14 Fish)
4th Bill Beeton 4lb 8 1/3oz (19 Fish)
5th John Neave 2lb 13 2/3oz (13 Fish)
Please use this link for full set of club match results … Holt SAC Match Results (03Feb13)
Please use this link for current league table… Holt SAC League Table (03Feb13)
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