Holt SAC North Norfolk Bass Festival
Saturday/Sunday 17th/18th May 2014 - Kelling
Holt Sea Angling Club is pleased to report that the 2nd Annual North Norfolk Bass Festival over this weekend was an outstanding competitive event. Unfortunately, unlike last year only a few bass made an appearance but this was more than compensated by other species. The Festival comprised of two separate matches with each being fished at Kelling. This year 72 match anglers fished the Festival which included 4 top Lady anglers. Head Quarters for the event was Kelling Heath Holiday Park who were also major sponsors for the weekend. Holt Sea Angling Club would like to thank Kelling Heath along with Sea Angler magazine for their support in making the Festival a big success.
Day 1 provided bright conditions throughout the day with a gentle South Easterly interspersed with the occasional sea breezes as the day progressed. The sea was flat calm, very flat and lake like and full of that nasty brown May sludge and not really conducive to big catches. The whole match was fished high water down which with a big tide gave a good strong flow throughout apart from a short slack period. Sections A & B were at Kelling towards Salthouse and sections C & D from Kelling towards the wreck and Weybourne. Unfortunately, the bass did not make an appearance as last year with just 6 being caught throughout the whole match. However, there was sport to be had with the reliable Dab and some good flounders coming to the rescue in healthy numbers. In addition, the whole scene for the match was set after just 2 minutes of the start with the landing of a nice 88cm smooth hound weighing around 7 ½ lb followed by a 60cm specimen and from that point everyone was playing catch up. The continued appearance of whiting helped to top up everyone’s card along with a nice tub gunnard and a few small codling. Section A fished relatively poorly in comparison to the other sections with B & C producing the most fish and D the heaviest weights. On the day 798 fish were recorded weighing just over 174lb.
“Bass” category winner on the day was Essex man Andy Gallacher who managed with his light gear to winkle out a nice 3lb 10oz specimen from the gutter. Next was Suffolk’s Paul Carter who was putting his pleasure techniques to good use to find a 2lb 1oz bass. Final podium bass spot went to Humber’s England International George Smith finding a 1lb 7oz after changing tactics when the hound appeared 7 pegs away. The “All Fish” winner was Ely’s ex-Norfolk man Mike Watts with 11lb 30oz from 20 fish which included the smooth hound. Next was Suffolk man Steve Adams with 6lb 12oz from 33 fish followed by Andy Gallacher with 6lb 10oz from 17 fish. An additional category of “non-Bass” had been added this year and the top two here were the same as the “All Fish” category. Final “non-Bass” podium spot went to that Suffolk stalwart Dave Cook with 6lb 7oz from 33 fish. Top two heaviest bass were the same as the “Bass” category. Heaviest flat went to the Clacton legend in Richard Burt with a stonking 1lb 7oz flounder (39cm) on his very last cast.
Day 2 saw identical conditions to the first day. Fishing the same times meant almost fishing from the top rather than from an hour down . For some this was important as it gave better chance of catching more fish at that early state of the tide. Those who had fished Sections A & B had drawn pegs in C & D for day 2 and vice versa. Pegging was identical to Day 1 particularly around the wreck area to give those drawn on those pegs the opportunity to target the bigger fish in that part of Section D. As with day 1 the contest was almost over in 5 minutes when a 4lb 6oz bass came ashore on peg 1 in Section A. With plenty of dabs and small whiting around there was a lot of opportunity to overhaul this bass points in the other competition categories. This indeed was the case with Sections B, C & D all recording large numbers of fish particularly dabs with Section A fishing relatively poorly as in Day 1. Section D also produced a number of small codling on two pegs in the wreck area .
“Bass” category winner on the day was another Ely man in Paul Harvey with his first cast bass of 4lb 6oz which was his only bass. Next yet again as in Day 1 was Suffolk’s Paul Carter with his pleasure techniques again paying dividend with a smaller 14oz bass. Final podium slot here went to a surprised Essex man in Rob Tuck with his 5oz bass and these 3 fish were the total sum of bass caught on Day 2. The “All Fish” winner was Norfolk’s regular top rod in Paul Tovell with 9lb 0oz from an astonishing 42 fish. He was followed by Suffolk’s Dave Cook with 7lb 13oz from 34 fish to go with his 35 fish of Day 1. Final podium slot went to Blythburgh’s Nick Haward after beginning to show some form at this venue with 7lb 11oz from 19 fish which included 5 of those codling. The “non-Bass” winners were identical to the “All Fish” winners. Top two heaviest bass were the same as the “Bass” category with Paul Harvey’s 4lb 6oz fish being best bass of the competition and scooping him a “Short Break” holiday at Kelling Heath Holiday Park . Heaviest flat went to the Dave Cook with a cracking 1lb 4oz flounder (37cm).
With a number of Ladies participating a Ladies trophy was donated By Kelling Heath for the Lady angler with the highest aggregate weight over the two days. The trophy was taken by Suffolk’s England International Adele Smith with 3lb 7oz from 22 fish. Next was another England International in Kay Brown with 2lb 7oz from 15 fish followed by her sister and England manager Wendy Metcalfe with 1lb 5oz from 9 fish although Wendy was unwell for most of Day 1 and unable to compete in all the match. The final lady was local lass Ally Barnes who was in here truly first open match. Well done ladies for pitting your skills against the men.
As an addition to last year Kelling Heath had donated a perpetual trophy called the “Kelling Heath Shield” for the “North Norfolk Bass Festival Champion” and would be retained at Kelling Heath. To complete last year’s event this shield was presented to Ian Bowell last year’s champion prior to this year’s presentation. Two anglers had 2 Section wins this year with Mike Watts taking the honours from Dave Cook on Fish Points count back of 783 to 684. Norwich’s Scottish International Joc Goudie was third with a Section win and a 3rd place.
This was again an outstanding event where although the bass did not show in numbers the true skills of match angling had to be deployed to harvest the other species that were there in abundance on a number of pegs. This event is rapidly becoming an annual fixture for the match calendar on the North Norfolk Coast and the 2015 competition has been provisionally set for the weekend of 9th/10th May 2015.
Holt Sea Angling Club would like to thank all those match anglers for supporting and participating in the event and hopefully see you at the 2015 Bass Festival.
Day 1 Results …
Bass Only
1st Andy Gallacher 3lb 10oz (1 Fish)
2nd Paul Carter 2lb 1oz (1 Fish)
3rd George Smith 1lb 7oz (1 Fish)
All Fish
1st Mike Watts 11lb 3oz (20 Fish)
2nd Steve Adams 6lb 12oz (33 Fish)
3rd Andy Gallacher 6lb 10oz (17 Fish)
Non-Bass
1st Mike Watts 11lb 3oz (20 Fish)
2nd Steve Adams 6lb 12oz (33 Fish)
3rd Dave Cook 6lb 10oz (35 Fish)
Day 2 Results …
Bass Only
1st Paul Harvey 4lb 6oz (1 Fish)
2nd Paul Carter 0lb 14oz (1 Fish)
3rd Rob Tuck 0lb 5oz (1 Fish)
All Fish
1st Paul Tovell 9lb 0oz (42 Fish)
2nd Dave Cook 7lb 13oz (34 Fish)
3rd Nick Haward 7lb 11oz (19 Fish)
Non-Bass
1st Paul Tovell 9lb 0oz (42 Fish)
2nd Dave Cook 7lb 13oz (34 Fish)
3rd Nick Haward 7lb 11oz (19 Fish)
Overall Results …
Ladies
1st Adele Smith 3b 7oz (22 Fish)
2nd Kay Brown 2lb 7oz (15 Fish)
3rd Wendy Metcalfe 1lb 5oz (9 Fish )
Festival Champion
1st Mike Watts 2 points (783 Fish points)
2nd Dave Cook 2 points (684 Fish points)
3rd Joc Goudie 4 points
Paul Harvey Richard Burt
Biggest Bass (67cm) … Day 2 Biggest Flounder (39cm) … Day 1
