4th Leg Summer Accumulator
Sunday 4th May 2014 - Cley
After a few months away it was back to our current most westerly beach venue at Cley. Thankfully the Norfolk Wild Life Trust have got their act together and reinstated the car park, well done NWLT! Unlike the current incumbents of our favourite Salthouse stretch, can you please give us back our car park. That’s enough of the politics for one day so it’s back to the grind to tell you what happened on this interesting day. A late 11:00 start for us but that didn’t stop one or two still being late although the Ely contingent did have a valid excuse with traffic and car boots. The majority of the healthy turnout were well on the beach when the stragglers arrived including two new members Jeff “small hooks” Stannard and George “the pump” Hoolhouse, welcome aboard Jeff and George! As usual, the match stretch was west of the boats keeping well clear of “birdman” Bishop and his entourage who were out for a bit of pot dropping on the chalk reef.
A slightly overcast sky and a light to moderate southerly gave comfortable conditions for a five hour session. Fishing all the ebb meant we also had a comfortable gentle sloping shingle/sand beach to follow the tide not like the “mountainous” banks at our other shingle venues. Just perfect for “the boss” Morley who had been finding the shingle rather tortuous after the rebuild of his knee last year. The sea had a slight lump on it but not really enough to give the seabed a stir and the colour in the water was our usual May algae at this time of the year and not very palatable to the mid water species which we were hoping to target. Anyway it was the same for everyone and time would soon tell if there was cause for any despondency.
All were soon ready with crab the preferred bait for the majority with a few old “stick in muds” preferring to stick with their favourite worm baits. At the whistle the usual Cley chuck was used by all with everyone using their own interpretation on exactly what this should be. For some it was a bit of distance but not extreme and for others it was a gentle lob into the gutter. It is surprising these days how many are adopting the latter, maybe it’s the influence of “the protégée” Randell who again could not make it as he was on SAMF duty beating the Scots in Newcastle (2-17-3), well done Henry! With such calm conditions any movement on the rod was soon spotted and all were eagerly waiting for that irresistible first nod. For “the boss” Morley (peg 11) the wait was not long, just 5 minutes as he was soon seen hobbling to the water’s edge playing in a nice 47cm bass in through the small surf. Well done Keith! and the expectations of the whole stretch were raised 10 fold and a cracking session was on the cards and probably was where it stayed.
Fish started to appear all along the stretch with “the consultant” Allison (peg 1) finding a nice 27cm dab but that was expected from an end peg man. Back at the other end “last cast” Watts (peg 13) manage to find a reasonable flounder at some distance and “steady” Carter (peg 14) a customary small whiting. Then the knee job man was seen back at the water’s edge playing in yet another bass but a smaller, lot smaller version. Not to be out done by this action, “lucky” Loke (peg 8) soon was into a nice 32cm flounder slipping it in out the gutter, he doesn’t fish for the “Gutter Bashers” for nothing! This could have been contender for biggest flat fish until flounder man “ex-captain” Ellis (peg 15) got his act together and found a nice 36cm specimen. Things were very quiet for the likes of “silver fox” Neave (peg 2), “take it easy” Tovell (peg 4), “the pump” Hoolhouse (peg 6), “small hooks” Stannard (peg 7) and “yoda” Thomas (peg 10) who were without a fish well into the 2nd hour of the match.
Things then improved for “take it easy” as he found a dab, flounder, whiting treble shot at his usual good distance. It was the same for “yoda” who managed a small flattie but all the rest were still struggling, However, not so for “the boss” as he was now on to the flatties including a nice 32cm flounder. Not to be out done , “the consultant” was hauling in dab after dab and starting to accumulate a serious score. Even more impressive was the fact he was using just straight lug which were being stripped by vermin in minutes for others whereas he was finding a bucketful of dabs. As the tide eased all went quiet except for “the consultant” whose dab haul continued and much to the disgust of “ex-captain” he landed a nice 37cm flounder beating his flounder by just 1 cm. Then “silver fox” on next peg, why do these two always get adjacent pegs? started to get his act together by recording a number of decent flatties.
The tide at last started to turn and those in the middle of the pack were on a species hunt with “lucky” finding a Scorpion fish and “yoda” a Dragnet. However, it was the rookies who were seriously blanking with nothing except the odd nod on the rod but then “the pump” found his fish a nice 47cm bass which really made his day. Not to be out done “small hooks” then found a slightly smaller 36cm version and at last he had recorded his very first North Norfolk bass. Although these were the only fish the pair were to catch both were more than than satisfied that they had had a result on the day. Whilst all this was going on “the boss” was back at the water’s edge guiding in another bass of 45cm followed shortly afterwards by one of 36cm. “last cast” had also found a small bass as did “ex-captain” but all he was concerned about was the big bass he had on that leapt out of the water and disappeared and the big flounder he lost in the gutter. All this was much to the amusement of “steady” on next peg who could only find small flatties to add to his small whiting.
“the consultant” continued hauling in the dabs until the end but he needed a bass and it was Keith “the boss” Morley who did the business with 7lb 3oz from 8 fish. Ivan “the consultant” Allison was next with 5lb 5 2/3oz from 20 fish and late starter John “silver fox” Neave taking up final podium slot with just 2lb 6oz from 8 fish. Heaviest fish points went to Ivan for his 37cm (1lb 4oz) Flounder and Keith and George Hoolhouse for their 47cm (2lb 3oz) bass. The super pool result was the same as the club match.
At last the bass have started to show in better numbers and a bit of rough just might help the cause. With the Bass Festival just 2 weeks away things are beginning to look good for this event and even better if we do get that rough. Cley is a still potential venue for the Festival but the chances are that the whole event will be run at Kelling. Bookings are now closed for this event and we have around 70 booked in which is slightly more than last year. The event is being well sponsored by Kelling Heath Holiday Park with trophies, prizes and discounts as well as being supported by Sea Angler Magazine who have provided serious rod, reel and tackle prizes. Many thanks to these organisation for their genuine support of this event which is much appreciated by the club.
Next club match is at KELLING on SUNDAY 11TH MAY fishing 8:30-1:30.
Club Match Result Top 5
1st Keith Morley 7lb 3oz (8 fish)
2nd Ivan Allison 5lb 5 2/3 (20 fish)
3rd John Neave 2lb 6oz (8 fish)
4th Peter Loke 2lb 4oz (5 fish)
5th= Richard Ellis 2lb 2 2/3 (4 fish)
5th= George Hoolhouse 2lb 2 2/3 (1 fish)
