Holt SAC North Norfolk National Sea League Round 2 (Report)

Sunday 13th November 2016 - Kelling

With Holt SAC hosting the TronixPro National Sea League Final this year on the North Norfolk Shingle Ridge in 2 weeks time it was appropriate that the penultimate club match and round 2 of the North Norfolk National Sea League on the shingle should be contested at Kelling. Such practice at an event venue can be invaluable which prompted the East Anglia League to also run their 2nd round match at the other shingle venues of Cley and Salthouse. However, I believe for all, the experience created more questions than answers and although we shall be fishing a similar state of tide it really did highlight how fickle this stretch of shingle can be.

For the North Norfolk League it was an early 7:30 kick off at the Muckleburgh Collection for a 9:00 start to try and exercise as much of the ebb (LW 11:59) as possible. Although early, 8 teams participated in this round with 35 anglers fishing. Early forecasts of atrocious northerlies for the Sunday were soon extinguished and we were greeted by a fresh North Westerly with 3-4ft swell. Ideal conditions for the shingle although with a big “super moon” tide the banks did start to show with white water as the tide bottomed out. Thankfully, the early morning showers receded and we were left with a dry and pleasant match as the clouds start to thin out.

Reports of plenty of Dabs on the shingle looked accurate as dabs could be seen coming ashore from the off in singles and odd doubles with a few trebles from some distant casters. This continued whilst the ebb was in full flow, lulling many into false expectations but as the tide eased so did the fish and for most a very quiet period with next to no fish for an hour or so. After a slow bottom the start of the flood and tide did improve matters and few decent fish started to show. This is also a very unpredictable beach where one peg can be finding plenty of fish whereas next door is barren and then the next minute this whole situation is reversed. Most had expected this to be a dab fest and had set their stalls out for numbers of fish rather than quality but those 30+cm flounders were also there in reasonable numbers yielding significant points. There then comes the dilemma of what to target particularly when a good sizeable bass appears on a card as well.

A total of 483 (359 dabs, 95 flounders, 25 whiting and 4 bass) fish were recorded weighing a total of just over 138lb. Although there were a few decent dabs it were the flounders that were scoring the points with 39 of 30cm and above of which 3 were 36cm worth 56 points or around 1lb 3oz. The whiting were small with none of the stonking variety but with a size limit of 25cm there were a lot undersize which could be important for the Final where the limit will be 18cm. Even in mid-November bass are still around with one of 49cm (2lb 7oz) out of the 4 carded but we cannot rely on these in the Final or can we with 116 points in one hit?

Top Team on the day was TEAM MAVER with 9 penalty points from one zone win and a zone second plus two zone thirds. Runners up were AVENUE ANGLING NORWICH with 11 penalty points from two zone wins, a zone fourth and fifth. Final podium slot went to HOLT CRACK OFFS with 13 penalty points from a zone second, third and two fourths. On the League to date AVENUE ANGLING NORWICH are still in the lead on 17 points, TEAM MAVER now second on 19 points with NORTH NORFOLK LADS pushed down to third on 24 points. This match has certainly mixed things up a bit with other teams drawing closer and into contention but there are still 4 rounds to go and worst score to drop.

Top Individual by just 1oz was ANDY GALLACHER of Avenue Angling Norwich with 6lb 3oz from 18 fish. Runner up was our up and coming star youngster in LUKE BRIERLEY of Holt SAC Youths with 6lb 2oz from 21 fish. MIKE WATTS of North Norfolk Lads just scrapped into the final podium place by 1 point (1/3oz) from Paul Marshall with 6lb 1/3oz from 24 fish. A very close affair at the top where one more fish could have made all the difference. This result is also the Club result for the J Long Shield. Heaviest Flat fish on the day was shared by Andy Gallacher, “Kipper” Colman and Ivan Allison with their 36cm (1lb 3oz) flounders and heaviest Round fish to Billy Temple with his 49cm (2lb 7oz) bass.       

Pegging for this match was from the block house on Kelling beach east to the east end of the small cliff at the Club’s parking area. The block house will be the centre of Zone D in the Final and the parking area the centre of Zone E. The top ten Individuals were evenly spread across the 5 Zones of 8 pegs with all Zones performing equally. Zone A winner was the overall winner Andy Gallacher of Avenue Angling Norwich on peg 7 with 297 points from 18 fish with flounders of 36, 33, 32 & 30cm helping to boost his total. Runner up in this Zone was Mike Topping of Gorleston Tackle who just pipped Paul Kendrick of Pete’s Baits by one point with 277 points from 19 fish.

After a slow start Zone B was taken by Team Maver’s fourth overall place man Paul Marshall with 288 points from 19 fish. Runner up was “Kipper” Colman of JC’s Boys with 236 points from 13 fish helped by that 36cm flounder. Zone C went to Gary Medler of Avenue Angling Norwich with 265 points from 17 fish helped by flounders of 31, 33 and 35cm. Runner up was Billy Temple of Team Maver with 235 points from 13 fish which included that 49cm bass as well as two more of the 4 recorded bass. Zone D was taken by a rising star in this sport in Luke Brierley of Holt SAC Youths who gave the more mature members of the club a master class in catching flounders with a overall second place points score of 294 from 21 fish. A distant runner up in this Zone was Luke Pearson of Holt Crack Offs with 224 points from 18 fish. Final Zone E was taken by the inevitable Mike Watts of North Norfolk Lads with his third place total of 289 points from 24 fish the most fish of the day. After a close battle with Mike, runner up’s slot went to Clyde Leggett of Gorleston Tackle with 278 points from 23 fish.

For most this was a close fought match and a good prelude for the National Sea League Final in 2 weeks time. Tide time will be similar to this match but the height will be a lot less which hopefully will prolong the fish feeding at the start and kick them off feeding earlier on the flood. It appears that the main species will be dabs which could increase in numbers from this match and of course those big flounders should still be there worth lots of points. The whiting could also be there in bigger numbers as they move further north as the water cools. Then there is the chance of a decent bass which could still be around but priority has to be those dabs and big flounders with those whiting thrown in for good measure. As stated before, looking at the results, this match has really raised more questions than answers but we shall see. Results from the other league match at Cley and Salthouse were poor so looks like the fish will be more prolific at Kelling than those venues but we shall see yet again.

During the match there was an issue with the measuring of fish and the rules that apply for this. The North Norfolk National Sea League has its own Match Rules and these are the only ones that apply in League matches and these have been distributed. SAMF Match Rules do not apply in these matches. Over the past few years SAMF have added new rules which have not been added to the Sea League rules so it is planned to debate and synchronise North Norfolk rules with these at the Annual Meeting at the end of the season. For the remainder of this year’s league matches ONLY the North Norfolk National Sea League Match Rules will apply. A copy of these can be found via this link …

North Norfolk National Sea League Match Rules

The same will apply for the National Sea League Final which uses almost identical rules to North Norfolk. There is an Agenda item at the Final’s Annual Meeting to bring these rules closer to SAMF rules but the meeting must decide. A copy of these rules can be found via this link …

National Sea League Match Rules

The North Norfolk Sea League always brings new members into the club and I would like to welcome aboard Kyle Amies, Clyde Leggett, Richard Ling, Paul Marshall, Neil Smart and Barry Stone. Look forward to seeing you at other Club matches and events.

The next Club match has been combined with the John Lacey Memorial at Gorleston on Sunday 20th November fishing 10:00 – 3:00 HW 1:35 4.5m. There are 15 members who have registered to fish this match and the draw will be at the Marina Bay Café (NR31 6BT) from 7:30. The following match after this will be the TronixPro National Sea League 2016 Final on Saturday/Sunday 26th/27th November fishing 10:00-3:00 both days with LW 11:18 4.4m & LW 11:53 4.4m respectively. This is for qualified teams only and the registration will be on Friday 25th November from 7:00-9:30 at Kelling Heath Holiday Park.

Top 10 Individuals (on the day) …

1…Andy Gallacher…6lb..3oz….….....(18 fish)..(Avenue Angling Norwich)
2…Luke Brierley….…6lb..2oz…......…(21 fish)..(Holt SAC Youths)
3…Mike Watts…….....6lb..1/3oz..…..(24 fish)..(North Norfolk Lads)
4…Paul Marshall..…..6lb..0oz….....…(19 fish)..(Team Maver)
5…Clyde Leggett…...5lb..12 2/3oz..(23 fish)..(Gorleston Tackle)
6…Mike Topping…....5lb..12 1/3oz..(19 fish)..(Gorleston Tackle)
7…Paul Kendrick…...5lb..10 2/3oz..(17 fish)..(Pete’s Baits)
8…Gary Medler……...5lb..8 1/3oz...(17 fish)..(Avenue Angling Norwich)
9…Henry Randell….…5lb..4 2/3oz...(19 fish)..(Team Maver)
10..Ivan Allison….…..5lb..2oz……....(16 fish)..(Holt Crack Offs)

Teams (on the day) …

1   Team Maver………………….…9 penalty points
2   Avenue Angling Norwich 11 penalty points
3   Holt Crack Offs………………13 penalty points
4   Gorleston Tackle……………16 penalty points
5   North Norfolk Lads………..17 penalty points
6= JC’s Boys…………………….…19 penalty points
6= Pete’s Baits………………….…19 penalty points
8…Holt SAC Youths………….….25 penalty points

------..------