Xmas Fayre & Town Team Challenge Open
Sunday 21st December 2014 - Kelling
Town Team Champions 2014
HOLT (minus two)
Mike Watts, John Neave, (Henry Randell, Peter Simmons)
The Town Team Challenge is now an annual event that was originally contested for between the old Cromer, Holt, Mundesley and Sheringham sea angling clubs and was last fished for with them in 1985. In 2012 Holt SAC resurrected this match as one between Towns rather than clubs with the original Shield as the winner’s trophy. No prize money at stake, just bragging rights and the first team to take the honours in 2012 was Kessingland and then Gorleston in 2013. The number of anglers per team would be that of the smallest team and this year this was four with teams from Dereham, Gorleston, Holt, Lowestoft and Woodbridge entering the event.
Everyone had been apprehensive on Saturday as the wind had switched to very strong NW and had seriously whipped up the sea but an overnight switch to SSW had certainly done the business and flattened off the sea as young Henry said it would. So all were eagerly anticipating serious numbers of fish, well nearly all. Unfortunately, the Sabre clan had decided to get back to their roots on the sand at Mundesley after their experiences with mini dabs on the shingle at Cley the previous week. However, it did not go as planned with those dabs being replaced by mini whiting but they still had a good competitive match, well done lads and see you at the next one.
Even with their absence there was still a healthy quorum of other quality anglers from Norfolk and Suffolk along with a smattering from Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. On the Individuals front the locals were certainly trounced by the Tractor Boys just like in the Championship at the moment although you couldn’t say the winner was a Tractor Boy as if he stretched his arm out at home he would certainly be a Canary. Enough of these frivolities with the match stretch being from the edge of the radar towards the wreck finishing well short of that hot spot. Young Henry was master of this activity on this day and insisted on doing it continental style although he did promise to add one extra stride next time round, well done Henry!
Anyway, with plenty of wind off your back there were plenty of options where to put the bait and in this match it was certainly the dilemma. There were plenty of fish there but finding them was the real challenge and then continuing to find them was the next. This can be best described by Mr Watts’s “Strange match …” comment where both ends on the whole stretch were doing the business whereas the centre of the pack were getting sporadic bursts of fish. Not easy to comment on everyone’s performance with so many fishing but some are worth a mention or two. Peter Loke had a memorable rod bending bite on a bunch of silvers at the star and was devastated when it came to nothing but shortly afterwards was rewarded with a stonking 34cm flounder on a similar concoction which was the heaviest flat (1lb) of the match as well as only flounder. Unfortunately, although finding other fish he could not keep this up and rapidly faded.
Matt Frost in the middle of the pack stormed away notching up 100 points in the first 3 casts with Ivan Allison and Mike Watts floundering with just a small dab apiece in the same period. However, Mike eventually got his act together with a bit of distance and eventually caught him up with an hour and half to go. This situation was short lived as Matt then found a 44cm Codling, a big pout and a 26cm sole, yes sole! just to rub it in. A late run by Mike saw him get close to Matt but was just 4 points short at the end. Henry Randell kicked off well with a treble shot of sizeable whiting and he was having his own personal battle with Paul Tovell matching fish for fish. Paul took the initiative by finding a 38cm whiting worth 40 points only for Henry to find a 32cm dab also worth 40 points. As happens so often here the fish then just dried up for both towards the end leaving Henry to take the honours in this skirmish by 11 points.
Another notable performance was from Martin Waters who found some reasonable dabs from the off along with some good whiting but like Henry and Paul his action just died in the last 90 minutes but he did manage to overcome Henry by 20 points. Not quite the same for the likes ofKevin & Tony Seeley, Jeff Stannard, Richard Ellis, Ivan Allison, John Carter, Peter Simmons, John Neave, Keith Morley, Gary Medler and Keiran Waters who although having some quality fish just could not find the numbers. Then there was poor old Ian Gedney who wished he had gone back for the cod in the Humber and Skeggie way Jim Robinson who probably would have joined him although his performance was never measured as his card never appeared, mind you he was only down to use up his spare bait anyway.
This then leaves the two that really did the business and remarkably were at either end of the match stretch. Lee Caley on peg 2 was into the good mid to late 20cm dabs from the off giving him a healthy start and this continued throughout the match with the odd reasonably whiting thrown in for good measure. At the other end on peg 27 Mark Gooch was doing likewise but for him it was whiting into the 30cms that was his quarry which were supplemented by some good dabs and a couple of big pouts. Consistent catching was the name of the game here and it was this that took these two to the top of the pile.
In the end it was Mark Goochwho took the honours with a healthy 7lb 4oz from 21 fish with Lee Caley second with 6lb 14oz also from 21 fish. Final podium slot went to the cod man Matt Frost with 6lb 8oz from 15 fish. The top two were the Zone winners with Peter Loke taking Heaviest Flat with his 34cm (1lb) flounder and Matt Frost the Heaviest Round with his 44cm (1lb 13oz) codling. The Super pools was taken by the same top three anglers.
The teams score was the sum of the overall match positions of each team member. This result was very close with the top Town Team being HOLT on 34 points with WOODBRIDGE second on 35 points and GORLESTON third on 36 points.
On the club front, Mike Watts took the honours with 6lb 7oz from 17 fish followed by Martin Waters with 5lb 12oz from 18 fish and Henry Randell with 5lb 5oz from 15 fish. Peter Loke again took club Heaviest Flat points and Paul Tovell the club Heaviest Round points with his 38cm (13oz) whiting.
Altogether there was 226 fish recorded weighing just over 70lb with a welcome return of some quality whiting along with some really good size dabs. A very competitive competition with a really close result in both team and individual events. This all bodes well for the club’s next event, the Rocket House Open, at Salthouse on Sunday 28th December fishing 10:00-3:00 which is a length only match with no size limits. This is followed by the New Year Open at Kelling on Thursday 1st January fishing 10:00-3:00 which will be length to weight conversion where the usual size limits apply. Will club members please bring a raffle prize for this one.
Finally, with TT on hospital duty many thanks to Henry for pegging , Mike and Richard for the results and John and Ivan for organising the raffle and of course the photographer Peter.
Individual Result Top 5
1st Mark Gooch 7lb 4oz (21 Fish) - Lowestoft
2nd Lee Caley 6lb 14oz (21 Fish) - Woodbridge
3rd Matt Frost 6lb 8oz (15 Fish) - Woodbridge
4th Mike Watts 6lb 7oz (17 Fish) - Holt
5th Martin Waters 5lb 12oz (18 Fish) - Lowestoft
Teams Result
1st Holt 34 points
2nd Woodbridge 35 points
3rd Gorleston 36 points
4th Lowestoft 38 points
5th Dereham 67 points
Club Result Top 5
1st Mike Watts 6lb 7oz (17 Fish)
2nd Martin Waters 5lb 12oz (18 Fish)
3rd Henry Randell 5lb 5oz (15 Fish)
4th Paul Tovell 5lb 2oz (13 Fish)
5th Keith Morley 3lb 13oz (12 Fish)
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