Salthouse Thursday 27th December 2012 – Janet Waller Cup & Rocket House Open
With strong to gale force NW winds forecast for Thursday afternoon everyone was apprehensive that the Rocket House Open would be fished as planned and that a contingency was put in place to move to Friday. As it happened the predictions changed closer to the date giving us light SW in the morning and moderate NW in the afternoon so we stuck to our guns and fished Thursday. This turned out to be the right move as the small Low that was going to produce all the wind problems never materialised, instead a ridge of High pressure gave light SW winds throughout the whole match. In addition, whilst the rest of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire were getting drenched the North Norfolk shingle never had a drop. A bright but cool morning met the usual club regulars and not so regular club members along with guests Gary (M), Mark (G) and Paul (C ), thanks for their support. It is traditional that the Rocket House Open is a length only match where everything counts. This did put a few of the circuit regulars off but there, match angling is all about winning under different circumstances and you certainly had to have a different mind set for this one.
With a 9:00a.m kick-of it was a crack of dawn start for Mr Organiser, never had to peg this beach in the dark before. Pegging was on our usual stretch from the west end of Great Eye (what is left of it) to the Iron Works giving comfortable spacing for the pegs. We were fishing the last 3 hours of the ebb and the first 2 hours of flood so in theory we would have tide throughout the match and no slack water which is exactly what we got. The sea was flat calm with just a hint of a swell with plenty of colour, these were perfect conditions for an excellent session. With 3 hours of the ebb gone this left plenty of flat shingle and sand to set up on and none of this hiking up and down mountainous shingle to cast and retrieve. With pegs drawn all were soon doing just that as well as sauntering around and engrossed in pre-match banter. Non more so than Gary (M) who got caught out and was hastening back to his buddy to bait up as the whistle was about to be blown.
For most it was the Salthouse lob that got them started but Paul (C ) just could not resist trying to make it to the wind farm. There were one or two who had to investigate the gutter from the off but it was soon apparent that the fish were everywhere. Everywhere except out on the bank as Paul (C ) (peg 14) was soon to find out as the heap of weed started to build beside his buddy. For the majority there was at least a fish or more a chuck comprising dabs and thankfully a lot more whiting. At last the whiting were playing ball as a good head of them kept flowing through. Although fish were everywhere it was the low order pegs that were doing the business with Dene (C ) (Peg 5) and Richard (E ) (peg 6) off like a train and were soon into a contest of their own which lasted all match. Out on peg 1, James (P) was also doing the business with doubles and trebles of dabs along with a few reasonable whiting. Likewise John (N) (peg 4) and Andy (T) (peg 9) who were mainly into small dabs. Not quite the same for Paul (T) (Peg 3) and Ivan (Allen) (peg 10) who were struggling to get started.
Further down the field Tony (T) (Peg 12) was getting dabs and/or whiting a chuck and was soon locked in battle with Gary (M) (Peg 13) who was doing likewise. Peter (L) (Peg 16) was soon on a dab fest as he found a splendid 29cm dab to be followed shortly afterwards by a similarly sized flounder and then 2 fish later a monster 38cm whiting. On peg 17 Sam (A) was finding a mixture of fish but not the numbers he is renowned for although for once he had a significant number of cm scoring whiting. In contrast Ivan (A) (Peg 18) could only find small dabs with the odd couple of whiting to keep his score down. In between these two, John (C) (Peg 17) was struggling to find numbers of fish although he was finding the whiting. Having a relatively quiet day for change in this part of the stretch was Mark (G) who was finding a lot of small dabs but his number of whiting was down and the majority of these were not of his usual significant size. For once the fish were not at his usual range which kept him back in the pack.
With tide throughout the match there was fish likewise and it was a matter of keeping a steady flow of fish being added to your card which was the name of the game. With battle royal raging between Dene and Richard seeing them 100s of cms ahead it was time for a subtle change in tactics for Paul (T). After using up all his ancient blacks he switched to fresh blow lug, mackerel tipped and clipped down for an extra bit of distance. This did the trick as treble shot after treble shot of whiting came ashore and he was soon catching and overtaking a faltering Dene and Richard. Whilst all this was going on it was John (N) on next peg who thought he was fishing one of those summer matches and just managed to bring a nice 45cm bass through the ‘waves’. In contrast James (P) on peg 1 had a similar experience but lost it coming through the ‘waves’.
At the whistle it was the charge by Paul Thorburn that made him top man on the day with 920cm from 37 fish. The battle royal finished with Richard Ellis taking second place with 740cm from 30 fish and Dene Conway having to be content with third place with 712cm also from 30 fish. The longest flat was shared by Peter Loke (29cm dab & Flounder) and Andy Turk (29cm Flounder) and longest round of course to John Neave for his 45cm bass. The club and Super Pools results were the same as the overall match as was the longest flat & round club points.
Another excellent match where the weather and whiting for once played ball. Fishing this part of the tide certainly paid dividends as we had some tide throughout and no real slack water. Fishing to length is certainly a different ball game and as can be seen from the winner you can quickly catch up if you can find the fish. This makes it an interesting competition but maybe only for the odd match for a change.
The next club match is on SUNDAY 30TH DECEMBER for the Matthews Cup at CLEY fishing 10:00-3:00. Normal club rules and fees will apply here. The match will be followed by a Committee Meeting to primarily determine the final fixtures for the season.
The final match of this festive season will be for the Nelson Shield and New Year Open at KELLING on TUESDAY 1ST JANUARY 2013 fishing 10:00-3:00. The Open will have the usual £12 fee for overall, section (if sufficient no.) and heaviest fish (flat/round) plus £1 access and there will also be a £5 Option Pool on overall position. Please bring a raffle prize and please let the committee know if you are attending. Members may also fish this match as a club match for club points where there will be no match fee just the £1 access fee.
Full Match Results
1st Paul Thorburn 920cm (37 fish) - club
2nd Richard Ellis 740cm (30 fish) - club
3rd Dene Conway 712cm (30 fish) - club
4th James Pearce 634cm (30 fish) - club
5th Gary Medler 624cm (25 fish) - guest
6th Tony Thomas 606cm (27 fish) - club
7th Mark Gooch 570cm (25 fish) - guest
8th Andy Turk 525cm (25 fish) - club
9th Sam Attew 502cm (21 fish) - club
10th Peter Loke 472cm (20 fish) - club
11th John Neave 462cm (23 fish) - club
12th Ivan Allison 434cm (21 fish) - club
13th John Carter 430cm (18 fish) - club
14th Ivan Allen 247cm (11 fish) - club
15th Paul Carter (no card) - guest
Please use this link for full set of club match results … Holt SAC Match Results (27Dec12)
Please use this link for current league table… Holt SAC League Table (27Dec12)
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