Holt SAC 11th Leg Summer Accumulator (Report)

Saturday 2nd July 2016 - Kelling

The Club’s final summer shingle match was played out at Kelling under some quite threatening skies at the end. As forecast, blue skies to start with a stiff west south west wind which soon changed as the thunderstorms started to roll in giving us quite dramatic lightening displays. Thankfully we had parked ourselves on the edge of each of these storms and just got a sharp drenching from each. Unperturbed by these predictions a good turn out soon assembled for the draw particularly as this was second match in a row at Kelling.

For a change fishing was fishing bottom up on a small tide with an early afternoon start . To compensate for the previous match’s long hike pegging was from the east end of the small cliff towards the wreck. On a small tide not too much following the water with everyone deciding to park at the top of the last high water bank. Some were a bit apprehensive of this, did they go far enough? but thankfully everyone was spot on.

As predicted the water had started to shear quite dramatically and certainly had helped to move the flat fish out. However, this then opened the door for other species such as gars and mackeral with the latter being reported in numbers at Weybourne. As mackeral are now on the club’s menu these were allowed to be recorded when caught on a bait trace. They duly arrived at this match much to the disappointment of some who were not prepared for this eventuality. Although not at the start but we certainly knew they were there with the activity of the terns a few hundred yard off and the flood tide soon brought them in shore.

It was soon apparent from the off that it was going to be a difficult match and finding where the fish were feeding a real challenge. Not really much of a challenge for poor “old” John “silver fox” Neave on peg 2 who couldn’t find a fish all day. In contrast John “steady” Carter managed to find a few with his sticky blacks bringing ashore a couple of small dabs, a couple of small bass and a nice 29cm plaice for 1lb 7oz but no mackeral. Also with no mackeral was Keith “no mackeral” Morley (peg 4) who could only find 3 good dabs at range for 14oz. Not quite the same for Tony “yoda” Thomas (peg 5) who after only finding just one small dab decided to deploy his gar rig resulting in 5 mackeral for 2lb 15oz.

Jake “the dog” Cooper (peg 6) decided to strike out his gar traces from the off and although he had a quiet start he managed to find 7 mackeral for 3lb 6oz. An early morning flight home from hols hadn’t dampened young Luke “dabber” Brierley’s (peg 7) enthusiasm with a small dab, bass and then a monster 39cm mackeral (his first ever!) on his card for 1lb 4oz. A slow start for Peter “asian ace” Loke (peg 8) but a strategic move to closer to the water’s edge and in the gutter produced a small bass but then could only find a small dab for 7oz. Continuing with his range tactics Paul “take it easy” Tovell (peg 9) finally recorded a small flounder and bass after 10 hours of blanking for 5oz. Ivan “consultant” Allison (peg 10) was soon into previous match mode with a nice 29cm flounder on his card but could only find two more small dabs and no mackeral for 14oz.

In the end it was the mackeral that did the business with Jake “the dog” Cooper taking the honours with 3lb 6oz from 7 fish. Runner-up again with mackeral was Tony “yoda” Thomas with 2lb 15oz from 6 fish followed by conventional fishing John “steady” Carter with 1lb 7oz from 3 fish. Heaviest flat was shared by John and Ivan with a 29cm(9oz) Plaice and Flounder respectively. Heaviest round was Luke’s 39cm (15oz) mackeral. Altogether just 31 fish (13 mackeral, 10 dabs, 5 bass, 2 flounders and 1 plaice) were recorded weighing 11½lb.

Another interesting match which indicated that we are at last getting into summer mode with the fish disappearing rapidly as the water clears. This was the first Club match when mackeral were prominent and dictated the final result and a number of Club members were uncomfortable with this. With this being the last summer shingle Club match it will not be a problem for the remainder of the season so we will debate this further at the AGM in 2017 and come up with an acceptable resolution for all.

Next Club match is the final summer match on the sand at Bacton on Sunday 10th July fishing 1:00-6:00 HW 11:13 LW 6:16 4.6m with the draw at Castaways from 11:30.

Club Match Result Top 5

1……Jake Cooper………3lb..5 2/3oz……..(7 Fish)

2……Tony Thomas….….2lb..15oz………..(6 Fish)

3……John Carter…………1lb..7 1/3oz……(5 Fish)

4……Luke Brierley........1lb..4oz………...(3 Fish)

5=.…Ivan Allison………….0lb..14 1/3oz..(3 Fish)

5=.…Keith Morley………..0lb..14 1/3oz..(3 Fish)

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