Holt SAC New Year Open and Nelson Shield (Report)

Sunday 1st January 2017 - Kelling

In the beginning it was a flat sea gently lapping the shingle bank with a light south westerly and a bit of drizzle. In the end it was 4-5ft waves rolling in on a strong north north easterly along with plenty of the wet stuff, what a difference in five hours. For once they got the forecast spot on with gentle off shore winds early on, increasing to very strong north westerlies by midday and turning more northerly and abating slightly in the afternoon with lots of damp throughout.

Such a forecast had already put a few of the festive goers off but the hardy ones were soon gathering at the Muckleburgh Collection for the soggy draw. An excellent collection of top match anglers from deepest Essex and Suffolk along with those from North Lincolnshire and the usual strong contingent from Gorleston & Lowestoft area plus the smattering of locals. Many thanks to all who ventured so far on a Bank Holiday in atrocious conditions to support the Club’s match although some did mention that they wondered why they were there.

With pegs drawn all were soon drugging off to their allotted piece of shingle in rather benign quiet conditions hoping that the forecaster’s had got it wrong. Pegging for this one was Zone A left from the west end of the small cliff towards Kelling block house but nowhere near it. Zone B was right from the west end of the small cliff towards the wreck but nowhere near that also. Starting an hour and a bit after high water meant perching on the last shingle bank and a comfortable place to fish an ebbing tide on the shingle.

From the whistle it was soon obvious that at this early stage we were not going be disappointed about catching fish as rods started to rattle along the whole stretch. With single, double and the odd treble shot of Dabs along with the odd small whiting coming ashore everyone was under the illusion that we were in for one of those hectic Kelling sessions. Well that was the impression for the first hour but then the forecast got it right and the wind started to switch on shore with the volume rapidly increasing along with buckets of wet stuff. As predicted within 2 hours the wind had increased to start uprooting buddies which were being hastily re-positioned to cope with the change and those gentle ripplets soon became sheets of water pounding down on the shingle.

This sudden change had a dramatic change in the fish coming ashore as multiple fish soon became singles and the whiting all but had enough and disappeared even though they were small. The Dabs that were still feeding got smaller and disappeared altogether as slack water arrived. All of this was not helped by the weed that had been released by these conditions, not much but just enough to interrupt each retrieve to clear the leader knot. However, some were taking advantage of this quiet period by finding an odd reasonable Dab which would put them in good stead for a podium finish. With an hour to go the wind and rain abating a little and the tide started to pick up. This brought the fish through allowing some to improve their scores although it was too late for those who had not been doing this throughout. In total 274 fish (243 Dabs, 3 Flounders, 27 Whiting and 1 Rockling) were recorded weighing just over 49lb.

In the end it was the Wizard from Saxmundham in CHRIS “WHIZZY” SPALL (peg 27) who did the business with 3lb 9 1/3oz from 22 fish for his 2nd shingle match win in row after taking the Club’s Rocket House Open five days earlier. Just 2/3oz behind him was GEORGE SMITH (peg 3) who made his trip from Grimsby worthwhile with 3lb 8 2/3oz from 17 fish which included a nice 1lb flounder early on. Final podium place went to the man from Diss in JOE BETTISON (peg 35) with 3lb 3 1/3oz from 17 fish just holding off Dagenham’s ANDY GALLACHER (peg 34) by just one point (1/3oz).

The payout in each zone went down to fourth place with the Overall Winner excluded. In Zone A GEORGE SMITH (peg 3) was top man followed by HENRY RANDELL (peg 15) with 3lb 2oz from 19 fish, MARK GOOCH (peg 8) with 2lb 13 2/3oz from 14 fish and IAN BOWELL (peg 1) with 2lb 8 1/3oz from 15 fish. In Zone B Chris was excluded so top spot by default went to JOE BETTISON (peg 35) followed by ANDY GALLACHER (peg 34) with 3lb 2oz from 19 fish, ALAN DOY (peg 26) with 2lb 13 2/3oz from 14 fish and ALLAN LEWIS with 2lb 10 2/3oz from 15 fish.   The Heaviest Flat was GEORGE SMITH’s 34cm (1lb) Flounder and Heaviest Round ALAN DOY’s 30cm (7oz) Whiting.

On the Club front, top man taking the Nelson Shield was ANDY GALLACHER followed by HENRY RANDELL and ALAN DOY. Heaviest Club Flat was TONY THOMAS’s 27cm (7oz) Flounder and Heaviest Club Round ALAN DOY’s 30cm (7oz) Whiting.

This match also included the cancelled TOWN TEAM CHALLENGE where Teams of 4 or more are created by assigning competitors into a Town Team closest to their abode. Points are awarded dependent on their Zone positions with the best three scores counting towards the team’s total. There was a tie for top spot with both DISS and FELIXSTOWE accumulating 12 penalty points where even the dropped scores could not break the deadlock as they were both the same.   The team members were for Diss JOE BETTISON, CHARLIE FRARY, JUNE FRARY and CHRIS SPALL and for Felixstowe IAN BOWELL, ANDY GALLACHER, ALLAN LEWIS and COLIN PROVINS. Final podium slot here went to HOLT with 17 penalty points comprising of HENRY RANDELL, PETER SIMMONS and BILLY TEMPLE.

This was a tough match acted out in extremely arduous conditions however given all the rain would like to congratulate ALL for submitting match cards in a most respectable condition and that includes Henry’s. A match in which for once we got the pegging right by keeping well away from the hot spots where the winners were spread equally across the two Zones with 129 fish and 1100 points recorded in Zone A and 139 fish and 1267 points in Zone B. Would like to thank all those that participated and supported the Club.

The next Club match is at SALTHOUSE on SUNDAY 8TH JANUARY fishing 10:00-3:00 HW 2:43 4.4m. This will be the 2ND LEG WINTER ACCUMULATOR and also ROUND 4 NORTH NORFOLK SEA LEAGUE.

Top 10 Individuals (on the day) …

1…Chris Spall………..3lb 9 1/3oz.…..(22 fish)
2…George Smith…..3lb 8 2/oz……...(17 fish)
3…Joe Bettison……...3lb 3 1/3oz…….(17 fish)
4…Andy Gallacher….3lb 3oz..…….....(19 fish)
5…Henry Randell…...3lb 2oz………....(19 fish)
6…Alan Doy…..........2lb 13 2/3oz….(14 fish)
7…March Gooch…....2lb 13 2/3oz..…(14 fish)
8…Allan Lewis…….....2lb 10 2/3oz…..(15 fish)
9…Ian Bowell..……....2lb 8 1/3oz…….(15 fish)
10.Tony Thomas…....2lb 6 1/3oz…….(12 fish)

Top 5 Club Members (on the day) …

1…Andy Gallacher……..3lb 3oz..……..(19 fish)
2…Henry Randell……....3lb 2oz………..(19 fish)
3…Alan Doy….............2lb 13 2/3oz..(14 fish)
4...Tony Thomas………..2lb 6 1/3oz….(12 fish)
5…Albert Randlesome..2lb 5 2/3oz….(13 fish)

Town Team Challenge Result …

1=.DISS……………….12 Penalty Points
1=.FELIXSTOWE….12 pps
3…LOWESTOFT…….17 pps
4…HOLT………………..10 pps
5…KINGS LYNN…….23 pps
6...CROMER………….25 pps
7…GORLESTON…….27 pps

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