1st Leg Summer Accumulator
Sunday 6th April - Kelling
As one can see contrary to the recent reports on social media sites Holt SAC has not folded. In contrast, the club continues to thrive and has an extensive programme of events and activity for the coming season so it would be useful to mention these at this stage. All this kicks off on 17th/18th May with its 2nd Annual Bass Festival on the North Norfolk Shingle Ridge which again is being sponsored by the local Kelling Heath Holiday Park and supported by Sea Angler Magazine. Following the outstanding success of last year's event bookings are already high and if you are interested please check the booking procedures in Open Events on this website, please note bookings close on 4th May. This event is closely followed by the Annual West Norfolk Challenge League on the estuary at Kings Lynn. This is a series of 4 matches in June, July, August & September for which a number of bookings from around the country have already been received so if you are interested follow the booking instructions under Open Events.
During the Autumn and Winter the club will again be running the North Norfolk Sea League which is a teams of 5 event. This comprises of 6 rounds of matches being run at venues from Gorleston through Bacton to Cley in the west and new teams are welcome. The club is also responsible for organising the National Sea League Final at which the North Norfolk Sea League teams will be participating. The 2014 Final is in North Norfolk on the weekend of 22nd/23rd November and we are expecting around 30 teams from around the country to attend. To add to these events the club will be running its Annual Open in October, Xmas/Town Team Challenge & Rocket House Opens in December and New Year Open in January. In addition to all of this the club will be running its weekly club matches which will yield a Summer Accumulator champion, Winter Accumulator champion, Overall league champion and a raft of cup and shield winners. And if this is not enough the club is embarking this summer on a series of 6 matches on the Gt. Yarmouth estuary in the form of a Tuesday Night Evening League. All this demonstrates that Holt SAC in its 61st year is seriously active in the promotion of club and match angling in North Norfolk and one should never believe the rumours spread through a self-regulating social media. Lots and lots of action so if you wish to join Holt SAC and be involved at whatever level in this activity please email holtseaanglers@gmail.com or contact one of the committee members.
Well that's all the advertising done so now down to the club's first match. With the club's new website emerging we can confidently say that the regular club match reports will be back as requested by members and many non-club members alike. In a change to tradition the club decided to run its first summer match at Kelling instead of Sathouse and exercise its newly acquired Muckleburgh Collection access licence. After 4 weeks off the withdrawal symptoms had kicked in and with a rather late 11:00 start the usual hard core of club regulars gathered nice and early on the small cliff overlooking one of our favourite venues at Muckleburgh. To swell our numbers this year we have been joined by Keith "the boss" Morley and Paul "take it easy" Tovell, welcome aboard lads.
The weather forecast was for a change almost spot on with a slightly overcast sky with a hint of rain and a brisk South South Westerly. With a small tide a latish start meant ½ hour of last of the flood followed by a lot of ebb which meant some tide throughout most of the match. The sea was flat, very flat with lots of colour but expectation were not too high except for a few fllatties and maybe, just maybe one or two codling or bass. Pegging was from the wreck west towards the small cliff to try and capitalise on NAC's dogs and ray experience on this stretch the previous Monday night but that was a long shot without darkness and big tides.
All pegs were soon drawn and memberships paid and everyone was soon scampering to their allotted slots, well all except Dick "bigger baits" Ellis who had had a few problems in the upper and lower reaches over-night but he was determined to fix this and be there for the 11:00 kick off or should it be cast off. Uncharacteristically for Kelling the shingle bank had been built up significantly particularly near the higher numbers near the wreck making it more reminiscent of the old Salthouse, was this a sign of more changes to come. All obstacles were soon overcome with buddies erected and traces prepared and even "bigger baits" Ellis (peg 4) had made the cut after his over-night ordeal and was joining in the action.
At the whistle all were soon into their game with the usual Kelling chuck for most except for "last cast" Watts (peg 6) and "take it easy" Tovell (peg 8) who had to exercise their muscles towards the wind farm and "lucky" Loke (peg 2) who did the opposite with his gutter bashing techniques and rolling lead. With the tide still flooding there was a reasonable flow and rods soon started twitching but it was immediately apparent that the twitching was soon those pesky pin whiting, they were still here! "silver fox" Neave (peg 1) and "lucky" fish were soon in pin whiting mode along with "bigger baits", "the consultant" Allison (peg 4), "ex-captain" Ellis (peg 7), "take it easy", "off duty" Gibbs (peg 10) and "the boss" Morley (peg 14). Bucking this early trend was "last cast" who picked up a nice 27cm points earning dab and "yoda" Thomas (peg 12) but poor old "steady" Carter (peg 13) was failing to even find a pin.
The flood was soon over but the ebbing tide still had a good flow and the pins were still throwing themselves on the hooks. At this stage scorecards were showing poor points except for those finding multiple dabs, in particular "the consultant", "last cast" and "yoda" with "the boss" finding a nice 28cm flounder. "steady" at last found a fish so everyone in the first hour had fish. However, it was at this point that the shingle erupted on the low numbers as "lucky" and "silver fox" realised they were still in winter mode and wondered why their scorecard looked rather barren. A hurriedly convened "committee" meeting by "ex-captain" soon resulted in a solution and peace was quickly restored.
The tide was now ebbing fast but with a small tide there was no need to decamp to the lower reaches as one could easily work from the top of the shingle although "silver fox", "bigger baits" and "lucky" with the shorter legs decided to operate their rods from the small stretch of sand exposed infront of their pegs. The pins started to wane in numbers but "the consultant" did his summer campaign no harm by finding a nice 35cm coallie to go with his earlier 27cm dab. However, it was "last cast" who was doing the business with his 3 hook flappers at reasonable range stuffed full of lug and fresh squid "rings" as he was finding dab after dab along with a few sizeable edible crabs thrown in. Both "yoda" and "the boss" were keeping themselves in the hunt with a few dabs and "the boss" also had some reasonable pins.
With the tide slackening the vermin in the form of shore and edible crabs started to up their ante as bent rod after bent rod brought them ashore. This also included a small lobster to "the boss" with most the edibles surprisingly coming from the gutter. At this point the green peril appeared over the Muckleburgh horizon, it was Holt SAC protégée and England Youth International Henry "red stuff" Randell coming to see how the "boys" were getting on. For once he was having a work/sleep/roast dinner dilemma and was unable to support the club on this occasion, hope it does not happen too often Mr Henry as "lucky" will get upset. Anyway on his way along the stretch advising and gleaning knowledge "ex-captain" hatched a plan with him, ‘tell that "yoda" guy we are all on over 200 points at this end' was the request. This he duly did and advised "yoda" that he needed a big fish and clip-down at range was the answer. So loaded with silvers and other tasty morsels a clip-down was launched towards the wreck - NO big fish and probably a few small fish missed was this a mistake, this will be remembered!
The tide was slackening fast and the fish were beginning to dry up for most except for those crabs. You could tell this was happening as the level of banter and wandering about had increased significantly. With the pins becoming less active the dabs were again given a chance with "the consultant", "take it easy", "yoda", "steady" and "the boss" all finding some but it was still "last cast" who was filling up his card with them using his original techniques. "lucky" thought he was also back in business as he carded a 30cm coallie but it was all too late.
In the end it was the consistency of Mike "last cast" Watts (peg 6) that took the honours by a fair margin with 5lb 5 1/3oz from 28 fish. Followed by Ivan "the consultant" Allison taking advantage of his 2 big fish with 4lb 1 1/3oz from 21 fish. Final podium slot went to club rookie (he'll like that one) Keith "the boss" Morley with 3lb 9oz from 22 fish and just one small fish away from Tony "yoda" Thomas (One small fish Henry!). Heaviest fish points went to Keith for his 28cm (8oz) Flounder and Ivan for his 35cm (10 1/3oz) coallie. The super pool result was the same as the club match.
A very close, interesting and relatively relaxing match where the pin whiting were a nuisance but the dabs were there to save the day. The mild winter may well have had its effect on the species appearing at this time although the dabs were on cue. The continued appearance of pin whiting is probably a result of last year's cold winter rather than this year's mild one and we are wondering just how long they are going to hang round. The bass should start soon but surprised we did not find a single codling of any size or even a doggie.
Next club match is at SALTHOUSE on SUNDAY 13TH APRIL fishing 9:00-2:00.
Club Match Result Top 5
1st Mike Watts 5lb 5 1/3oz (28 fish)
2nd Ivan Allison 4lb 1 1/3oz (21 fish)
3rd Keith Morley 3lb 9oz (22 fish)
4th Tony Thomas 3lb 7 2/3oz (20 fish)
5th Paul Tovell 3lb 4 2/3oz (20 fish)
