Holt SAC 4th Leg Summer Accumulator (Report)

Sunday 3rd June 2018 - Bacton

Holt SAC’s 4th Leg Summer Accumulator was held at BACTON on SUNDAY 3RD JUNE fishing 12:30-5:30 on a good 4.9m tide with HW 9:57. This was the last Club match on the sand this summer (if you can call it that!) and continued the story of the Hounds on the North Norfolk Coast. Booking in was Castaways Cliff Top Inn so with a late start there was plenty of time for bacon butties and a touch of warm coffee for some and for others a tiresome drive up the A11 or picking up bait. Many thanks again to Anna and Richard for allowing the Club to use their premises.

A very quiet morning weather-wise and it promised to stay so throughout the match with a very slight breeze off the sea and the occasional bank of sea fog rolling in which is exactly what happened. Pegging for this one was 5 pegs east of the first pipe (close) and 10 west of the pipe and although it was a biggish tide there was no real swell so for a change pegging was in-front of the revetments, well only just. By the time everyone had had their sustenance and made it down to the match stretch the tide had receded enough for a leisurely set up in-front of the revetments and a bit of that usual pre-match banter. All except the Bury and Ely contingent who were slightly behind schedule along with as usual Mr Organiser but all were just about ready for the 12:30 whistle.

The sea was a flat calm with thankfully very little weed and just a whiff of slightly cool air wafting onshore giving prospects of a very pleasant session. Unfortunately, for those on the lower end pegs this for a while was to change as the heavens lit up. Well not exactly everywhere just the end of four flu pipes on the edge of the Gas Site where they were burning off spurious gas from the Inter-Connector. Not to say it was hot but you could feel the heat on your back sort of like being in a toaster and when you saw the sprinklers dowsing the grass at the base of the pipes you realised there was some real heat there. They must have seen us on the cameras as a pair of red overall Shell Workers came down to let us know what was going on and when asked if it will get any hotter they said yes and if you we saw a load of red suited guys heading for the exit do likewise. Very reassuring, they do say if the place goes up it’ll take North East Norfolk with it, very reassuring!

Back to the fishing which in contrast was not hotting up during the early stages. Not having fished this venue for a few months we did not know what damage the “Beast” had done to the nice stretch of sand that we normally fish on and across but we were to find out later. Uncharacteristically, the tide was taking a while to drop and even 3 hours after HW there was no real sand appearing in-front of us. Everyone was therefore using their previous experience at this venue and their usual Bacton chuck, just short of the end of the pipe. This was producing a few Flounders and the odd Dab but nothing really serious at this stage. As the tide dropped further the water started to break (if you can call it that on less than 1ft wave) 50-60yards out at the end of the short groynes particularly in-front of Pegs 1 & 2 and a sandbank started to appear at this distance along the whole stretch with deep water shore-side of it.

This was a clue to what was happening with most casting onto the shallow bank and of course no fish and explained why bait was being retrieved untouched. This was also a clue to where to fish and casting just behind the bank on Peg 2 produced the first serious Hound of the match of 70cm (3lb+) and set the scene for the remainder of the match. Pegs 1 & 2 were fortunate as the in-shore gully petered out infront of them and they were soon taking advantage of being able to get on the sand bank. Whereas, those on Pegs 3 to 10 at the pipe still had deep gully water in-front of them and had to wait to take advantage of being on the bank. The same was for Pegs 11 to 14 on the other side of the pipe who had to wait to move out but did find more Dabs than the others during the first half of the match.

Once on the bank Peg 2 soon took advantage of his position by reeling in Dab after Dab as slack water came and went, totting up a respectable Flatties score. By this time everyone was onto the bank and were ready for whatever was to ensue as the tide picked up again. First of all the weed started to appear nothing serious just a nuisance and a lot of this stinky May weed stuff. Then Peg 2 was into the Hounds again a smaller version of 44cm and then a double shot of cracking fish of 77 and 98cm of around 4 & 10lb worth 736 points. Flatties were now definitely no longer the target and everyone had to go for Hounds. Some were successful in finding at least one Hound but others had to be content with the Dabs and Flounder along with the odd Whiting.

East of the pipe were less productive on the Hound front with just two being recorded where West of the pipe produced the majority and the most further away from the pipe. The majority of the Hounds came immediately the tide picked up but they were there right until the end. During all this activity everyone had forgotten about the burners on top of the cliff although that is not surprising as the typical unpredictable British weather had brought in some untypical banks of sea fog. This masked and took away the heat from the burners turning an originally bright and clear day into one that was rather very murky.

At the end it was obvious that even a bucketful of Dabs was not going to overturn a solitary Hound and it was that man on Peg 2 MIKE WATTS who took the honours with the Hound double shot along with 5 other Hounds recording 34lb 6oz from 26 fish which also included 18 Dabs. Runner-up was DAVE BURR (Peg 4) some distance away on 19lb 3oz from 9 fish with 3 Hounds which included one on his very last cast which had being hauled in and immediately recast. Final podium place went to JOHN CARTER (Peg 5) with 12lb 4oz from 18 fish which included a raft of Flounders at the start and one solitary Hound. Heaviest Flat was a 34cm (11oz) Flounder taken by CHARLIE FRARY (Peg 7) and heaviest Round that 10lb 11oz Hound taken by MIKE WATTS (Peg 2). Altogether 136 fish ( 93 Dabs, 19 Hounds, 14 Flounders and 10 Whiting) were recorded weighing 113lb 6oz.

An interesting match showing that the Hounds really now seem to like the whole stretch of the North Norfolk Coast whether it is the late peel or whatever but it’s the second year they have been here in numbers. It will be interesting to see if they move across to Skeggie in the next couple of months or remain here although suspect the May weed and likes will determine this. Bacton has certainly changed along our match stretch with the “Beast” tearing away the sand close in leaving big flints along the whole stretch. Never seen this here with the sand that was left far more coarser and it could take a while to fill in all these gullies. It appears that all the Hounds were away from the Pipe hot spot which has not fished well for some time now although that may have been different without the Hounds and just the Flatties. We’ll now have to wait until October to find that out.

Next Club match is the SUMMER OPEN at KELLING on SUNDAY 17TH JUNE fishing 11:00 to 4:00 HW 9:39 4.9m. Draw is from 9:00 in the Muckleburgh Collection Café with breakfasts being served from 8:00. Anyone wishing to fish this match please text 07780793141.

Top 10 Individuals (on the day) …

1...Mike Watts......34lb.6oz .......(26.Fish).(Peg 2)

2...Dave Burr........19lb.2 2/3oz..(9.Fish)..(Peg 4)

3...John Carter.....12lb.4 1/3oz..(18.Fish).(Peg 5)

4...Tony Thomas...11lb.4 2/3oz..(7.Fish) .(Peg 3)

5...Paul Tovell.......9lb.6 1/3oz...(14.Fish).(Peg 12)

6...Alan Doy..........7lb.11oz.......(6 Fish)..(Peg 6)

7...Mark Miller........4lb.3 1/3oz...(3.Fish)..(Peg 1)

8...Charlie Frary.....3lb.6 2/3oz…( 9 fish)..(Peg 7)

9...Bevan Self........2lb.15 2/3oz.(15 Fish).(Peg 13)

10.Peter Loke.........2lb.14oz......(10 Fish).(Peg 9 )

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