Weybourne Sunday 20th January 2013 – 3rd Leg Winter Accumulator
A rather tardy report but there was not too much to report anyway. The week leading up to this match predicted that rather than Holt SAC against Fish it would instead be Holt SAC against Weather. On that fateful Tuesday when Norfolk ground to a halt and Norwich was put into grid lock the weather deployed its forwards in a steady flow of snow; Holt SAC 0 Weather 1. Although on the following days Norfolk was slow to get started “class act” Thorburn was hard at work on the flat roofs of West Norfolk much to the concern of their occupants, “mobility” Morse was negotiating the treacherous A47 to achieve his daily goal and “sandy coke” Loke had abandoned his trusty motorised steed to hike the not so short distance Captain Scott style to Tesco on the A140. Life at least continued in Norfolk unabated; Holt SAC 1 Weather 1.
However, as the week wore on the weather had another trick in the wings by converting all its soggy rain into snow and once again dumping it on Norfolk during Friday evening; Holt SAC 1 Weather 2. Undeterred by these underhand tactics a quick call from “new gear” Vertigan saw a switch of venues from Kelling to Salthouse to avoid being bogged down in the burrows of Muckleburgh, the match was still on; Holt SAC 2 Weather 2. The next 24 hours after this event saw the club stalwarts feverishly scanning all the Met, XC, Accu and other associated sites to select the one that gave the best prediction for Sunday. Unfortunately, all were forecasting that weather would bring in its big guns in the form of strong easterlies veering north but at least the roads were clear and for the majority the snow remained in the fields. In such circumstances the worst case scenario is always the one to take and Sunday morning proved this to be the case as the sea driven by a strong to gale force ENE wind pounded the shingle at Salthouse; Holt SAC 2 Weather 3.
Although the sea was still just fishable particularly as we were fishing a flooding tide, it was the wind direction that was becoming the deciding factor. With a seriously depleted turnout gathering at Salthouse beach car park decisions had to be made about “on” or “off”. First impressions of the sea concluded that it was definitely “off” but “young” Henry and “captain” Ellis had second thoughts and just maybe under the cliffs at Weybourne could give us just enough shelter. “new gear” Vertigan was informed and decided maybe not but long distance traveller “last cast” Watts on route from Ely was contacted and decided to stack up on a layby at Fakenham whilst the final venue was evaluated. Scrambling over the shingle at Weybourne it was soon apparent that the wind was still there but there appeared to be some deep water between the boats and the cliffs and the cliffs did give a little shelter. The match was on but before the weather could bring on its subs in the form of mid-afternoon snow it was decided to fish until 1:00p.m. and not 3:00p.m.; Holt SAC 3 Weather 3. “young” Henry was soon out with his pegs and “last cast” was duly summonsed from the layby stack at Fakenham.
With pegs drawn all were soon off to their respective slots on the beach with a rather disillusioned “young” Henry setting up as end peg behind one of the boats but he had set his heart on the other end peg under the cliffs, maybe next time Henry! The rest managed to find a little shelter from the cliffs although “captain” Ellis was a little short of cliff. At the whistle the initial challenge was to cast and then to hold bottom. All were using their extreme range tactics and those with a little more ‘extreme’ were faring better than others and managing to hold bottom. “yoda” Thomas (peg 3) and “last cast” Watts (peg 4) were managing to avoid being swept round but they did have the benefit of some rough ground, probably chalk to hold their leads. “captain” Ellis (peg 2) was not quite so lucky but a crack-off and change of lead tactics enabled him to start fishing. No such luck for “red stuff” Randell (peg 1) who was repeatedly being swept round, his extreme range was not good enough to overcome this on the rather clean ground in front of him.
With rigs coming in untouched all were contemplating whether all the effort had been worth it although “captain” Ellis had found other ways to amuse himself. After retrieving and casting out a fresh rig “yoda” was trying to find that retrieved rig without success but did notice “captain” doing a bit of seagull kiting. At the time it appeared that the hungry bird had tried to make off with his baited trace but not quite so as “captain” deposited the said lost trace at “yoda’s” buddy after retrieving it from the unfortunate bird with help from “red stuff”. It appears the clever creature had nicked “yoda’s” trace complete with 6oz weight but could not negotiate past “captain’s” line with the trace becoming entangled and the unfortunate seagull becoming a kite in the strong wind. Thankfully it was only lip hooked and was soon off again on its scavenging missions.
Well that was a bit of a break from wind dented extreme casting although “red stuff” had found a few more metres and was at last holding bottom. Weed then started to play its part as top of the tide approached, not much but just enough to move some leads. As the short match wore on it looked as though all our efforts were in vain as “last cast’s” line went round again with what he thought was more weed. Not so as the “spawny git” had connected with a 29cm whiting which immediately took him to the top of the leader board. There were fish there but finding them was becoming more difficult as the wind decided to increase a notch or two. At this stage, youngsters “red stuff” and “captain” had given their all and decided to call it a day. Not so for “last cast” and “yoda” who stuck it out for the last ½ hour with “yoda” finding a 24cm whiting on his last cast but sadly undersize and thus not counting.
So it was the man from Ely Mike “last cast” Watts who took the honours on the day with that single 6oz whiting to scoop club monies, Super Pools and heaviest round club points. Not a very productive match but a least the club demonstrated that it can accommodate these extreme conditions. Not certain how I managed to produce such a long report from such little activity but it keeps the interest going and we beat the weather; Holt SAC 4 Weather 3.
The club’s next match is the 4th Leg of the Winter Accumulator at Cley on Sunday 27th January fishing 10:00 to 3:00.
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