Holt SAC Nite Shield (Report)

Saturday 3rd December 2016 - Kelling

Tradition dictates that the Club holds at least one weekend night match during its Winter season and this was held at Kelling/Weybourne last Saturday (3rd December) and was for the appropriately labelled “Nite Shield”. This one is fished on a Saturday rather than a Sunday night to allow those to recover for the drudgeries of Monday morning and to help our regular long distance travellers. The date and therefore tide was selected to give HW around 8:30p.m. to give a 4:00 to 9:00 match which being in darkness always produces a Whiting Fest at this time of year and this one was no different.

Normally, this match is at Weybourne and the match stretch is around the wreck but with the number of pleasurers expected (good sign) this was moved to the Kelling side of the wreck accessed via the Muckleburgh Collection. It was a quiet overcast night with a gentle Easterly breeze and surprisingly a slight swell rolling up the beach which made getting water interesting for some. Not a big turnout but that is the norm for this match and it was good to see the two “Ps” back for a bit of competitive sport in the shape of Peter “superb baits” Fairclough and Paul “roofer” Thorburn but did they know something we didn’t?

Pegging for this one was from the end of the small cliff towards the wreck and thanks to “Young” Henry for the pegging although not quite so young now as his strides seem to be getting longer. With pegs drawn all were shuffling through the shingle to set up on top of the high water shingle bank during the last throws of daylight although some were a bit hesitant about setting up so close to the sea with such a swell about at HW. All were well prepared well nearly all, with plenty of blows, blacks, mackeral , squid and even sand eels along with the now popular odd bit of gar.

From the off it was soon apparent that it was going to be busy, busy, busy as some treble shots were soon coming ashore within minutes. The majority small Whiting at the start along with the odd Dab and as darkness fell and the flood start the bigger Whiting began to appear.   As seems to be the norm at this venue these were joined by a few big Pouts for a short period around 2 hours before HW. With such a sea full of so many fish it was a matter of bait up, cast, retrieve, cast, record , bait up, retrieve, cast and so on continuously for almost the whole five hours.

The objective in this match was not only number of fish but their quality was as important particularly as there were bucketfuls of small whiting around. There was one man who had to recover his self esteem, like most,vafter a poor Sea League Final on this very beach a week earlier and that was Mike “last cast” Watts. None of this last cast stuff for him in this one just his metronome methods which just piled the fish onto his card and with the bonus of a few big Whiting gave him top spot in this one with 691 points (14lb 6oz) from 56 fish. Close on his heels was John “steady” Carter who managed 682 points (14lb 3oz) from 51 fish assisted by a few big pouts. Final podium slot went to Henry “international” Randell who found the fish but not so much of the quality with 650 points (13lb 9oz) from 55 fish. Top round fish of the night was a cracking Pout of 37cm (1lb 1oz) to Paul “taxi” Kendrick and heaviest flat a Dab of 28cm (8oz) to Tony “yoda” Thomas. Altogether 381 fish (299 Whiting, 73 Dabs and 9 Pouts) were recorded weighing just under 96lb.

On the ground end Peg 1 was occupied by John “steady” Carter who was in top form finding some quality fish including a couple of 30cm Pouts in mid-session. The serious fish did certainly come on for him at the end with a 27cm Dab and five 27cm+ Whiting being his last 6 fish giving him 14lb 5 1/3oz from 51 fish. On next Peg 2 was Tony “yoda” Thomas trying to get back some form after a short absence but although he found the fish the majority were small but did find that 24cm (8oz) day to give him 11lb 9oz from 50 fish. Peg 3 was occupied by a blast from the past in Paul “roofer” Thorburn who wanted to try his hand at the match scene again. After scurrying around all day gathering up his gear and bait he didn’t realise he would be doing the same a few hours later amassing 12lb 4oz from 51 fish with a 32cm Whiting early on helping him to boost his score. A rare sight in matches these days was Peter “superb baits” Fairclough who showed he had not lost any of his skills and if had brought a bigger battery could have illuminated the whole match stretch, likes plenty of light! Whitings of 35 & 36cm helped to boost his score to 12lb 1 1/3 from 49 fish as he was locked in his on personal battle with “roofer” on the next peg.

Setting up camp on the shingle ridge on a flooding tide is always a matter of judgement particularly when there is a bit of swell about. As mentioned earlier, there was a little hesitation from some about the exact location but the majority decided they liked being on the edge. However, it soon came apparent an hour from the end that this was too much of a gamble and there was a mass exodus 10 yards up the beach. A prudent move as water and shingle were soon showering previous held positions, always best to play safe particularly where the sea is involved at night!

Paul “taxi” Kendrick on Peg 5 demonstrated that practice does produce results as he found that 37cm (1lb 1oz) Pout and along with a 33 & 34cm Whiting managed a very respectable 10lb 2oz from 43 fish. Continuing his recuperation was Peter “inspector” Morse on peg 6, good to see you back regularly Peter, who was after quality rather than quantity with a 37cm Whiting. Sand eel was his secret bait but could only entice another large whiting of 33cm to give him 7lb 12 2/3oz from 26 fish. Young Henry “international” Randell was on his usual mission matching those around him until he ran out of fresh bait, that’s because he had given half of it away, thanks Henry! Even a wander down the beach for an extra card for his last 9 fish didn’t inspire the quality fish but he did manage 34cm whiting early on and a few in the 30+cm range to give him 13lb 8 2/3oz from 55 fish. Final end peg 8 had Mike “last cast” Watts aboard who had to show himself that he really could catch serious numbers of fish after the diabolical of the previous few matches. He certainly did this in style with a few whiting in the 30+cms range giving him 14lb 6 1/3oz from 56 fish and probably rued his refusal to take that spare card at the draw for those extra 8 fish.

An excellent hectic match with fish throughout the whole 5 hours but that is what you get at night and it’ll be some time before we get another match like this. It is interesting to compare the statistics from this match against those of Day 2 of the NSL Final the week before where just 396 fish were recorded by 150 anglers whereas here slightly less of 381 fish recorded by just 8 although the weights were in the same region with 107lb against 96lb for this match.   It will be interesting to see what the remainder of December brings.

Next match will be the 3rd Round of the North Norfolk NSL at Cley on Sunday 11th December fishing 10:00 to 3:00 LW 10:27 4.6m. Draw will be from 8:30 onwards in the car park.   There will be 40 pegs, all to the left through the boats towards Blakeney Point and with just 25 paces between pegs they will not go too far but Zone A will be a good walk. There are 8 teams this year and as all teams are nearly full there will be just a few Individual pegs so those requesting them first through myself will get them.   Next match after this is the Club’s Xmas Fayre & Town Team Challenge Open at Kelling on Sunday 18th December fishing 10:00 to 3:00 HW 9.27 LW 3.59 4.7m. Bookings to Mike Watts or myself for this one and please bring a raffle prize.

Top 5 Individuals (on the day) …

1   Mike Watts ……….14lb 6 1/3oz …(56 Fish)
2   John Carter ………14lb 3 1/3oz ..(51 fish)
3   Henry Randell……13lb 8 2/3oz….(55 fish)
4   Paul Thorburn……12lb 4oz…….….(51 fish)
5   Peter Fairclough..12lb 1 1/3oz...(49 fish)

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