Holt SAC North Norfolk National Sea League Round 2 and H Mack Cup (Report)

Sunday 10th November 2019 - Gt Yarmouth

Holt SAC’s Round 2 of the North Norfolk National Sea League was held at GT YARMOUTH on SUNDAY 10TH NOVEMBER fishing 10:00-3:00 LW 1:36 4.5m. Draw for this match was in the Monument parking area just south of the Pleasure Beach. Six full teams and 6 Individuals assembled there nice and early with a few new faces, welcome to the league challenge! After the serious wet stuff over the previous days and the last few matches everyone was hoping for a dry one as forecast. This forecast was in doubt as ominous dark clouds were observed in the north and west with rainbows appearing over Brittania Pier as the match progressed. Thankfully they threaded themselves inland and south mercilessly sparing us apart from a spate of drizzle at the end. Although the deluge that met us homeward bound demonstrated that it could have been a different story.

Pegging for this one was four zones on the South Beach, south of the Wellinton and zone A on the Central Beach just north of the Wellington. Was informed by Freddie England that Jubilee had fished there previous week and all was fine apart from a snag just behind Sea Life Centre, guess who found that one, thanks Freddie for all your info. After the same match last year produced some amazing bags and the Jubilee reporting plenty of quality Whiting the previous weekend everyone was optimistic of a cracking match and a Whiting fest. The optimism was so high that extension cards were handed out at the draw to record more than 52 fish, big big mistake.

It was then off to finding a close parking slot but with access restricted with the Pleasure Beach gates shut meant a bit of a hike for those in the middle of the stretch, many apologies! Once on the beach it was a short hop across the soft Scrobie sand and down the small 2ft sand cliff somewhat reminiscent of our last league match at Bacton although slightly more dramatic of 4-10ft cliffs there but still Scrobie sands. The sea was flat calm with a very slight swell rollng in on the very light chilly northerly and very little colour, not good!

With multiple traces baited up everyone was more than prepared for the Whiting onslaught at the whistle. Well that was the plan but rods remained eerily silent, none of this dramatic twitching as Whiting after Whiting threw themselves on to the baited hooks, just nothing. Well not quite, after the customary 10 minute wait found scrawny Dabs being brought up the beach, a few decent ones in the mid 20cms but the rest small. Not particularly exciting but at least it meant points on the card and for some in zone A treble shots a time. With a good tide pull there was not much indication of a bite from the Dabs so it was a matter of continually reeling in, cast out and bait up.

A small ebbing tide at Gt Yarmouth means not much chasing the tide so it was a lazy day unlike the previous round at Bacton. This also gave time for communications to start up along the stretch and it soon became apparent after a couple of hours that all but Zone A were struggling for numbers of fish but everyone was carding. Even though the Dabs were more prolific Whiting were still being recorded but not particularly large. However, at the back end of the match they started to appear in numbers and those that found them could dramatically improve their score with specimens up to 33cm and plenty in the mid-20cms.

Slack water saw activity quieten off but the return of the flood woke up the Whiting even more although nothing really serious. As the storm clouds started to encroach with fine drizzle the whistle was blown and for some it could not have come soon enough as for them it was back to the drawing board. For others with a full card it was satisfaction of a job well done. In particular, the Individual winner ADRIAN BORDIANU (Angling Direct Norwich) (Peg 3)with a sterling steady performance who took full advantage of his end peg to register 11lb 10oz from 48 fish which included 28 Dabs and 19 Whiting. Runner up was at the other end of Zone A in HENRY RANDELL (Big Catch Tackle) (Peg 10)and after recovering from a slow start recorded 11lb 3oz from 51 fish comprising of 26 Whiting, 24 Dabs and 1 Flounder. Final podium position went to another Zone A angler in TOM GIBBS (Angling Addicts) (Peg 9)with 8lb 1oz from 36 fish comprising 26 Dabs, 9 Whiting and 1 Bass.

The team on the day was NORTH NORFOLK LADS with a perfect score of 4 penalty points from 4 team zone wines. Runners-up were ANGLING DIRECT NORWICH with 11 penalty points from a zone win, two zone 2nds and a zone 4th. Final team podium went to CCFC with 13 penalty points from two zone 2nds, a zone 3rd and a zone 6th. Heaviest Flat on the day was a 34cm (1lb) Flounder taken by ROY CLARKE (Individual) (Peg 28) and Heaviest Round a 33cm (9oz) Whiting shared by ALAN DOY (Gorleston Tackle) (Peg30), JOE BETTINSON (Individual) (Peg 17) and ADRIAN BORDIANU (Angling Direct Norwich) (Peg 3). Altogether 518 fish (349 Dabs, 159 Whiting, 6 Bass and 4 Flounders ) were recorded weighing 110lb 11oz.

In the Zones, ADRIAN BORDIANU (Angling Direct Norwich) (Peg 3) took Zone A with 559 points from 48 fish followed by HENRY RANDELL (Big Catch Tackle) (Peg 10) with 536 points from 51 fish. Zone B was taken KEVIN GREEN (North Norfolk Lads) (Peg 19) with 276 points from25 fish followed by JOE BETTINSON (Individual) (Peg 17) with 202 points from 19 fish

Zone C went to ROY CLARKE (Individual) (peg 27) with 131 points from 19 fish followed by WILLY GROOMBRIDGE (North Norfolk Lads) (Peg 25) with 115 points from 9 fish. Zone D was taken by DYLAN MORGAN (Individual) (Peg 33) with 197 points from 21 fish followed by MIKE WATTS (North Norfolk Lads) (Peg 32) with 166 points from 16 fish. Zone E was taken by DAVE WRIGHT (North Norfolk Lads) (Peg 50) with 215 points from 20 fish followed by DAVE READ (Big Catch Tackle) (Peg 45) with 179 points from 19 fish.

A match where there was so much expectation but did not produce. A small tide, flat calm and shearing water certainly pushed those quality Whitings off. Have been told since that South Beach should be fished on the flood but unfortunately we are stuck with the tide whatever it is on the 2nd Sunday of the month. Zone A way out fished the other Zones with 5 of the 6 top weights coming from that Zone. We would have been better to have put all Zones on the Central Beach but hind sight is a wonderful thing. Anyway lessons learnt again but nobody blanked. Many thanks to Mike Watts, Paul Harvey, Tom Gibbs and Kevin Green for helping out at the end . Many thanks also to Mike, Kevin, Willy and Dave for doing the business for the team with a perfect score, I must do better next time if I haven’t got the sack.

Next Round 3 is at CLEY on SUNDAY 8TH DECEMBER fishing 10:00-3:00 HW 4:15 4.2m. Pegging for this one will be from just West of the Wreck right through past the Boats towards Blakeney Point. I will not be running the show this time and Mike Watts, Tom Gibbs and Kevin Green will have that role … Tony T

Top 10 Individuals (on the day) …

1...Adrian Bordianu.11lb.10 1/3oz.(48 fish) (Peg3)

2...Henry Randell....11lb.2 2/3oz...(51.fish).(Peg 10)

3...Tom Gibbs………...8lb. 2/3oz…….(36.fish).(Peg 9)

4...Bevan Self………….6lb. 1/3oz......(32.fish).(Peg 7)

5...Kevin Green........5lb.12oz........(25.fish).(Peg.19)

6...Tony Thomas.......4lb.15oz........(24.fish).(Peg 6)

7...Dave Wright……....4lb.7 2/3oz....(20.fish).(Peg 50)

8...Joe Bettinson........4lb.3 1/3oz....(19.fish).(Peg 17)

9...Dylan Morgan.......4lb.1 2/3oz....(21.fish).(Peg.33)

10.Dave Read...........3lb.11 2/3oz...(19.fish).(Peg 45)

Teams on the Day …

1...NORTH NORFOLK LADS…………..4 Points

2...ANGLING DIRECT NORWIC.….11 Points

5...CCFC…………………..……………….….13 Points

4=.GORLESTON TACKLE………………14 Points

4=.BIG CATCH TACKLE……………....14 Points

6…ANGLING ADDICTS………………..…15 Points

------..------