Holt SAC 6th Leg Summer Accumulator (Report)

Sunday 29th May 2016 - Kelling

This match was to be in complete contrast to the Club’s match the previous weekend at Bacton but it was still yet another cracking Club match. This one was played out on the shingle at Kelling instead of the sand and rather than the quality of fish it was the quantity of fish that was the differentiator. With this one the hounds had gone and replaced by a carpet of dabs and a handful of those seemingly indestructible whiting who just keep on hanging around. An amazing 445 fish were recorded compared to 95 the previous week but surprisingly the total weights were almost identical of 87½lb v’s 89lb which conveniently describes the difference between these matches.

Forecast for the day was fresh to strong NNW which they got right with an early dull sea mist which would burn off to give us 18 degrees which they got wrong. However, it did give us a smashing bass sea with a good swell but someone had forgotten to tell them although not surprising they weren’t there with all that May sludge still in the water. Pegging for this had taken a leaf out of the Bass Festival success and this was from the westward end of the small cliff near the Club’s Muckleburgh Collection parking area eastward towards the wreck and the results showed it to be spot on. In contrast to the Club’s normal match times on the shingle, this one was to be over High Water and with a small tide this meant setting up once and no chasing the water, what luxury from the sand.

A good turnout was soon assembling for the draw, the usual hard core along with a few early morning deciders like the “Brownies” and few who decided not to make ‘cause the weather looked like being just a bit to uncomfortable for a long drive, they missed a good one! Also welcome aboard to yet another new member from Suffolk way in Andy “sparks” Smith who made his debut and long journey worthwhile. The shingle from Muckleburgh is so easy to reach and even the usual close peggers didn’t require special treatment which makes a change. All were quite quickly on their allotted spots and it was interesting to see that everyone had opted to set up well behind last tide’s shingle bank. A very fortuitous decision as the water was topping the bank a high water as he swell picked up.

For once there were fish from the off and rods were rattling immediately from when the bait first hit the water and continued almost throughout the whole match. With yet another end peg “asian ace” Loke (peg 1) he was determined to put to rest the Humberston debacle and he certainly did this in style. With 6 fish in the first 2 casts it was reported his little legs were getting red hot as he managed to find 40 fish for 422 points by the end. A possible podium contender but he rued the fact that his was taken away from him as his special Waitrose squid being sent down the line ended up with “Luke” and not “Loke”. A quieter day for “silver fox” Neave (peg 2) with just 19 fish for 179 points whose attempts to record a worm failed dismally. Back at last was “taxi” Kendrick (peg 3) who is in dire need of some match practice. He could not understand why everyone round him were bringing in treble shots whilst he had next to nothing, big baits and size 8s just don’t mix Paul! Ending up with just 7 fish for 98 points, mind you he did get a 27cm Bass and biggest round fish of the day.

In total contrast was young “dabber” Brierley (peg 4) who was at it again giving some of those hardened match anglers a run for their money with 40 fish for 410 points. His score could have been even better when not so young now Henry spotted that he was using rather seriously bent hooks. “super sub” Brown (peg 5) was struggling to find fish of any real size and ended up with 28 fish for 215 points. The same could be said for “youngster” Brown who between naps in his buddy managed to find just 11 fish for 113 points but he did find a Bass although I was rather small. Small was the optimum word that would describe “yoda” Thomas’s (peg 7)bag of fish although he did manage 48 of them they could only muster 368 points. “consultant” Allison (peg 8) was a little more fortunate finding a good treble shot of Dabs on his first cast including one of 27cm. He was finding a steady flow of good dabs until he crossed swords with “take it easy” on next peg or should we say crossed lines which interrupted his steady flow of fish finishing with 39 fish for 352 points. “ take it easy” Tovell was in top form in this match belting out at just the right distance his 3 hook clip down loaded with juicy blacks for the whole 5 hours resulting a frame winning 47 fish for 424 points.

His old sparing partner on next peg 10 “the boss” Morley was unusually in a quiet mood and although he was finding fish there was not enough on his card to make an impression, ending up with 35 fish for 330 points. The final slot in the Gorleston trio was “steady” Carter (peg 11) who also was suffering from the lack of big numbers of fish although he did find a 30cm flounder and a small Bass ending up with 23 fish for 254 points. With a few empty pegs “last cast” Watts (peg 14) had plenty of scope to roll around but he didn’t need it. In his usual metronome fashion he found 59 fish including a 31cm Flounder for a match winning 591 points. End peg 15 was taken by new member “sparks” Smith who was on an almost identical peg to where he did some damage in the Bass Festival a few weeks back.   That magic returned as he managed to find 47 good fish to give him 446 points and a shot at a podium finish.

In the end it was metronome Mike “last cast” Watts who took the honours with 12lb 5oz from 59 fish. Runner-up was Alan “sparks” Smith on his club debut with 9lb 5oz from 47 fish. Final podium slot went to Paul “take it easy” Tovell with 8lb 13oz also from 47 fish just fending off the “asian ace” by 2 points. Heaviest flat fish was Mike’s 31cm (12oz) Flounder and heaviest round Paul Kendrick’s 27cm (7oz) Bass. Altogether 445 fish (365 Dabs, 61 Whiting, 15 Flounders and 4 Bass) were recorded weighing 87½lb.

Another very interesting club match with good weights and yet again those whiting are still hanging around. Suspect the late winter and relatively cold sea temperatures is playing havoc with those sea creature’s clocks as we haven’t seen any real vermin yet. Suspect that in 4 weeks time that will all change as the water warms and clears but we’ll take all this for now.

Next club match is on Sunday 5th June at Salthouse fishing 9:00-2:00 HW 7:09 LW 2:06 4.9m. Draw from 7:30 on the Salthouse beach road.

Club Match Result Top 5

1……Mike Watts…..…12lb..5oz………..(59 Fish)

2……Andy Smith…..…9lb..4 2/3oz….(47 Fish)

3……Paul Tovell……….8lb..13 1/3oz..(47 Fish)

4……Peter Loke……….8lb..12 2/3oz..(40 Fish)

5……Luke Brierley..…8lb..8 2/3oz....(42 Fish)

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