Holt SAC 2015 North Norfolk Bass Festival, UK Ladies Championships and Juniors Tournament (Report)
Saturday/Sunday 9th/10th May 2015 - Cley and Kelling
Cley
Kelling
Holt SAC is pleased to report that the 3rd Annual North Norfolk Bass Festival over the weekend 0f 9th/10th May 2015 was an outstanding success. The Bass Festival was again sponsored by Kelling Heath Holiday Park and supported by Sea Angler magazine. This year the event was referred to as “A Norfolk Experience” as it included two support events in the Inaugural UK Ladies Championship sponsored by Tronixpro and the North Norfolk Juniors Tournament sponsored by Anyfish Anywhere and Sabre Tackle Cromer. Holt SAC would like to thank these organisations for their sponsorship and support of this event.
In total, 100 match anglers entered the event including a number of Internationals and top match anglers from around the country. Head Quarters for the event was the Kelling Heath Holiday Park complex which was just a short distance away from the match venues of Cley and Kelling. There were 50 pegs at each venue and each angler would fish one venue one day and the other the next day. Pegging at Cley was east of the east end of the wreck up to and past “East Bank”, a renown bass hot spot and was a significant walk. This stretch held Zones A & B and club members were very optimistic about what these pegs would produce as a club match in Zone A the previous Sunday on a similar tide had delivered 21 bass. Parking at this venue was in an area set aside by the Norfolk Wild Life Trust for the event and the club would like to thank the Trust for their support. Pegging at Kelling was west of the club’s Muckleburugh Collection parking area up to and well beyond the pillar box at Kelling and on to Kelling Hard with Zones C & D being at this venue.
Day 1 gave some interesting conditions with a testing strong south westerly but it remained dry and bright throughout . The sea was relatively calm with a slight swell but the appearance of brown May sludge algae earlier in the week certainly affected the numbers of round fish caught. Fishing from both venues was top of the tide down which made the walk to distant pegs rather tortuous for the late comers particularly at Cley. Surprisingly there was a lot of tide particularly at the start of the match when a combining wind and tide created problems for many when casting into the bowed line of others. This was not helped by the closeness of the pegs required to prevent serious walking to the distant pegs when numbers increase from 80 to 100. Many apologies for this and we will try avoid this if we continue to run the Festival.
Even with these problems 16 bass made an appearance on this day which was 8 more than in the whole 2014 Festival. Cley was the better venue with 10 bass being taken here but disappointingly only 1 was recorded in Zone A where there had been 21 from the same stretch the previous weekend. The remaining 9 bass came from Zone B and all but one came from the predicted hot spot at the end and just east of East Bank. These pegs also produced the top two heaviest bass of the day, one of 3lb and the other of 2lb 13oz. On the other hand, the Cley Zones fished poorly for other species with top total bag being just 10 fish and there were some notable blankers in these Zones. In contrast, the Kelling Zones fished poorly for bass with just 6 being recorded but extremely well for other species. Here just 2 bass were recorded in Zone C and 4 bass in Zone D with the heaviest being 2lb 7oz from Zone D. The other species especially dabs made up for the lack of bass in these Zones particularly Zone D where two cards recorded 29 fish. This Zone also produced the heaviest flat fish of the day and event in a 41cm flounder weighing 1lb 11oz. There was 704 fish measured and returned weighing 180lb of which the 16 bass contributed just under 26lb.
In the Bass Festival competition the “Bass” category winner on the day was Clacton man Rob Tuck with two bass at range from Cley for 5lb 8oz followed by Dan Eagle also with 2 bass for 5lb 6oz. Final podium slot in this category also came from Cley going went to Craig Buy with a solitary 2lb 6oz bass. The “All Fish” winner came from Zone D at Kelling with Ian Bowell finding 26 fish for 7lb 9oz which included a 65cm smooth hound. Runner-up in this category was Mark Sharman also in Zone D with 29 fish for 6lb 9oz followed by Dan Eagle in Zone B at Cley with 6 fish for 6lb 8oz. The “Non-Bass” category was also taken by Ian Bowell with Cameron Turner second with 29 fish for 5lb 12oz and John Smith third with 26 fish for 5lb with both also in Zone D. Rob Tuck had the heaviest bass of the day of 3lb and runner-up was Dan Eagle with his 2lb 13oz bass. Heaviest flat of the day was Becky Bulch’s 1lb 11oz flounder but unfortunately this was not eligible for the Bass Festival heaviest flat fish day prize which went to Paul Tovell with his 34cm (1lb) flounder from Zone A at Cley.
In the Ladies competition Zones A & B at Cley were treated as one Zone and Zones C & D at Kelling the other. Winner on the day was Kimberley Lawn with 15 fish for 3lb 5oz from Zone C at Kelling followed by Lorraine Perry with 8 fish for 2lb 11oz from Zone A at Cley. Final Ladies podium slot on the day went to Adele Smith with 14 fish for 2lb 9oz from Zone D at Kelling. For the Juniors competition Day 1 was all fished in Zones C & D at Kelling. Top Junior on the day was Danny Brown with 9 fish for 1lb 6oz from Zone D followed by Sam Bulch also in Zone D with 2 fish for 11oz. Final Junior podium slot went to Adam Molloy with 2 fish for 4oz from Zone C.
Day 2 saw the wind ease and turn to a more southerly direction with a slightly warmer bright day. There was still a slight swell which was more apparent at the start at high water and the tide was still rushing through. There was still that May sludge in the water but all in all the conditions were more applicable to shingle based tactics. This probably resulted in the increase in bass recorded to 31 over the two venues. Cley again was the better venue recording 21 bass with Zone A improving its score to 4 but the majority of 17 again came from the hot spot area in Zone B around the end of East Bank. Heaviest bass of 3lb 7oz at Cley was in Zone B but unlike the previous day was not the heaviest on the day. The number of other species at Cley was again poor with the highest number of all fish recorded being just 8. The heaviest flat of the day a flounder of 38cm (1lb 5oz) again came out of Zone A. Kelling improved its score of bass to 10 with 7 of these coming from Zone C which included the heaviest bass of the day and of the Festival in a 4lb 9oz specimen along with the 2nd heaviest of the day weighing 4lb 3oz. Surprisingly, this heaviest bass came from the identical end peg to the 2014 bass winner. Once again the other species score was far higher than Cley with a further improvement in numbers in both Zones C & D with the most fish recorded being 36 in Zone D. There were 832 fish measured and returned weighing 238lb of which the 31 bass contributed just under 53lb.
In the Bass Festival competition the “Bass” category winner on the day was again Clacton man Rob Tuck with four bass at range from Zone C at Kelling for 9lb 5oz followed by Ian Lambert in Zone B at Cley with 3 Bass for 7lb 5oz. Final podium slot in this category went to Malcolm Stote in Zone C at Kelling with 1 bass for 4lb 3oz. The “All Fish” winner was Rob Tuck again with 14 fish for 10lb 11oz with runner-up in this category being George Smith in Zone D with 36 fish for 8lb 3oz. Third place went Ian Lambert in Zone B with 5 fish for 8lb 2oz. The “Non-Bass” category was also taken by George Smith with 36 fish for 8lb 3oz followed by Richard Volley with 26 fish for 6lb 9oz and Lorraine Perry with 32 fish for 5lb 15oz. All were in Zone D at Kelling. Rob Tuck again had the heaviest bass of the day of 4lb 9oz which was also heaviest of the Festival and runner-up on the day was Malcolm Stote with his 4lb 3oz bass both in Zone C at Kelling . Heaviest flat of the day went to Ivan Allison a 1lb 5oz flounder from Zone A at Cley.
In the Ladies competition winner on the day was Lorraine Perry with 32 fish for 5lb 15oz from Zone D at Kelling followed by Adele Smith with 5 fish for 2lb 8oz from Zone A at Cley. Final Ladies podium slot on the day went to Nicky Frewin with 23 fish for 4lb 14oz from Zone D at Kelling. For the Juniors Day 2 was fished at Cley and top Junior on the day was Adam Molloy with 6 fish for 2lb 3oz from Zone A followed by Danny Brown in Zone B with 5 fish for 1lb 6oz. Final Junior podium slot went to Nathan Holden with 3 fish for 1lb 3oz also in Zone B.
North Norfolk Bass Festival 2015 Champion
Rob Tuck
Rob Tuck became the overall “North Norfolk Bass Festival Champion” with a Zone 2nd and Zone win and took the Kelling Heath Bass Festival Shield and trophy. Runner-up was Ian Lambert with a Zone 3rd and Zone win followed by Mark Sharman with a Zone 2nd and Zone 3rd. Rob Tuck also had the heaviest bass of the Festival of 4lb 9oz which won him a Kelling Heath “Short Break Holiday”. Kelling Heath also donated trophies for the top 3 anglers on each day which were the winners of the “All fish” category. A new trophy was added this year by Kelling Heath for the heaviest daily catch which went to Rob Tuck for his Day 2 result of 10lb 11oz.
UK Ladies Championships 2015 Winner
Lorraine Perry
The “UK Ladies Championship ” winner was Lorraine Perry with 2 Zone wins winning for herself the Tronixpro perpetual shield and trophy, a Tronixpro Vercelli rod and other Tronixpro goodies. Runner-up was Adele Smith with a Zone 2nd and Zone win winning a Tronixpro Iridium rod and goodies. Final Ladies podium slot went to Kimberley Lawn with a Zone win and Zone 4th winning a Tronixpro reel and goodies. The Ladies heaviest bass prize went to Adele Smith for her 12oz bass winning her a Penn Power Stick donated by Sabre Tackle Cromer. The Ladies heaviest flat prize went to Becky Bulch for her 1lb 11oz flounder for which she received a Daiwa rod donated by Sabre Tackle Cromer. All Ladies were presented with a Tronixpro UK Championships Tee Shirt but there appeared to be a bit of wishful thinking with the sizes. Many apologies for this and Ladies Organiser Wendy Metcalfe is trying to get this corrected.
The “North Norfolk Juniors Tournament” winner was Danny Brown with a Zone Win and Zone 2nd winning him a Sabre Tackle Trophy and goodies along with a Anyfish Anywhere rod for his Day 1 win. Runner up was Adam Molloy with his Zone 3rd and Zone win also winning him a Sabre Tackle Trophy and goodies along with a Anyfish Anywhere rod for his Day 2 win. Final Juniors podium place went to Sam Bulch with a Zone 2nd and Zone 5th winning him a Sabre Tackle Trophy and goodies. All Juniors received a Sabre Tackle goodies bag.
Many apologies for the rather late Presentation on the Sunday evening, if the Festival goes ahead in 2016 this problem will be eliminated. The presentation of payout, prizes and trophies was performed by who appears to be our resident tweed jacket (not wearing it this time) presenter in Bernard Bishop the Cley Nature Reserve Warden. Holt SAC would like to thank Bernard for is support and patience with this.
Another highly successful Holt Event commended by many of the participating anglers which is much appreciated by the club. The Festival demonstrates what can be done when you are thoroughly organised and if the Festival goes ahead in 2016 it will be run on the weekend of 7th/8th May. There are bigger tides on this weekend but earlier so the matches would start earlier and finish early allowing a more friendly presentation timing. If the Festival goes ahead then all 2015 competitors will be mailed as with this year. Finally, Holt SAC would like to thank all participants for their continued support of this event.
The following provides links to all the detail results of the Holt SAC 2015 North Norfolk Bass Festival …
A Norfolk Experience Overall Results
UK Ladies Championships Results
North Norfolk Juniors Tournament Results
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