Holt SAC Charity Open 2018 (Report)

Sunday 2nd September 2018 - Kelling

 

 

 

Holt SAC’s 2018 Charity Open and 10th Leg Summer Accumulator was held at KELLING on SUNDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER fishing 10:00-3:00 with HW 11:15 on a good 4.7m tide.  An early start for some to savour Hammed’s breakfasts and those delicious Norwich sausages in the Muckleburgh Collections Café from 7:00.  Many thanks to Hammed for allowing us to use his facilities for the draw and the presentation afterwards.  An excellent turnout of 42 from far and wide made it for the early morning festivities, many thanks to all for your support for a worthy cause.  The match was in aid of the Mundesley Independent Lifeboat with the proceeds from the raffle on the day and the other raffle held by the Club during the Summer being donated to the Lifeboat.

 

Forecast for the day was warm with bright sunshine and a gentle southerly breeze and it certainly was as predicted.  Fishing over the top on a biggish tide meant none of this following the tide and all in all ideal for lazing about on the beach and probably “lazing” was the operative word.  Reports over the previous two weeks predicted it was going to be barren with little or no fish and it was certainly going to be tough and tough it certainly was.  With such a prospect it was time to allow some of the summer species to be recorded with the first two Mackerel caught on baited trace (no feathering) being recorded as 12 points each.  In addition, with the prospect of small Gars and with shortest Gar length on the conversion chart being 35cm, all Gars of 18cm and above up to 34cm being awarded 5 points each.  A decision that certainly helped to improve the catch rate recorded.

 

Pegging was from just west of the wreck at Kelling to a few pegs past the block house at Kelling.  An ideal stretch where the two end pegs would normally annihilate the rest but with a flat sea with gin clear water this just was not going to happen.  With such benign conditions there was plenty of pessimism in the camp and finding a single fish was going to be hard.  At the whistle, being Kelling most opted for bottom fishing for the flatties but this soon became victim of the weed and the small ferocious crabs.  They were only a couple of centimetres across and they were there in their thousands at all ranges cleaning hooks in minutes making it a frustrating session for most.

 

However, there were three who had done their homework and were being a bit more adventurous as floats started drifting out to sea with their loaded traces.  One of these was Henry Randell who soon had these silver slips snapping at his bait and was soon recording probably the first ever Gar caught in an Open on the North Norfolk shingle.  Not big, just 24cm but worth 5 points on his card.  Matching him was Adrian Bordianu also with a 24cm Gar and the irony is that he was using Henry's trace ideas.  The final angler in this trio just had to do something different and that was Rob Tuck as he saw his garfish rig on his first cast go seaward only for it to disappear with a 37cm Bass on board, class act!

 

All this of course sprung everyone else, well nearly everyone into action as they started rummaging in their tackle boxes and soon a whole concoction of floats were just a few yards out including a few make shift rig winders.  Actions that did not result in a single Gar for those attempting but it did put rigs out to tempt the Mackerel and a few were recorded.

 

In the meantime, a few were persevering for the bottom fish and one or two did fall onto a pocket of Dabs or the odd Flounder.  There were of course the lucky ones who were rewarded in particular the perpetual Bass man in Kevin Green who managed to home in on a healthy 36cm Bass and his only fish of the day.  Another with the same technique was Andy Gallacher who found a 37cm Bass after already recording a reasonable Dab.

 

High water came and went and nothing improved except the tide eased and weed relented a bit but the vermin were just as active as ever.  The Gars were still there but they were very small, further out  and you needed very small hooks (Size 8s or 10s) to at least stand a chance of taking them.  Even those with the right gear were seeing Gars dropping off their rigs and out of all that tried for the Gars it was just the three with the correct gear that actually caught them.

 

 

For most the whistle could not come early enough as they probably felt they had to go for some counselling after this session.  However, it was ROB TUCK (Peg 11) who was star on this day who followed up his early Bass with a Mackerel and raft of 6 Gars.  He made good use of his ground baiting which is allowed and some fortunate really fresh Mackerel to tempt the Gars ending up with 1lb 15oz for his 8 fish winning for him £340 altogether.  Runner-up was ANDY GALLACHER (Peg 6) with the other sizeable Bass and a good Dab for 1lb 6oz from the 2 fish winning £240.  Final podium slot went to the true Gar man ADRIAN BORDIANU (Peg 40) who managed to find 11 of them and nothing else for 1lb 2oz winning £170.

 

Heaviest Flat fish was a 26cm (6oz) Flounder taken by BILLY TEMPLE (Peg 4) and heaviest Round a 37cm (1lb 1oz) Bass shared by ANDY GALLACHER (Peg 6) and ROB TUCK (Peg 11).  Altogether there was just 53 fish (25 Gars, 13 Dabs, 6 Flounders, 6 Mackerel and 3 Bass) recorded weighing 11lb 4oz.

 

In the Sections, “A” was taken by ROB TUCK (Peg 11) with 93 points from 8 fish followed by ANDY GALLACHER (Peg 6) with 65 points from 2 fish and HENRY RANDELL (Peg 20) with 40 points from 8 Gars. “B” went to ADRIAN BORDIANU (Peg 40) with 55 points from 11 Gars followed by KEVIN GREEN (Peg 30) with 47 points from 1 Bass and GARY MEDLER (Peg 41) with 39 points from 5 fish.

 

In the Club’s 10th and Final Leg of the Summer Accumulator , top man was ANDY GALLACHER with 65 points from ADRIAN BORDIANU 55points and KEVIN GREEN 47 points.  This means that ADRIAN BORDIANU takes the Club’s John Hardingham Summer Accumulator trophy with 387 league points from TONY THOMAS in 2nd place with 371 points and MIKE WATTS 3rd with 368 points.  The Accumulator which takes the top 8 scores from the series matches was a very close competition this year with Dave Burr (361) and John Carter (360) also in the mix.  Only Adrian had a result in this match with all the others failing to score and improve their total, well done Adrian!

 

 

This was a Charity match in aid Mundesley Independent Lifeboat and the £135 proceeds of the raffle along with £45 from the Sheringham Carnival 60-40 raffle ran by the Club in the summer were donated to the Lifeboat.  Many thanks to everyone on the day for purchasing tickets and providing the prizes.  The £180 was accepted by Wendy Copping and companion from the Lifeboat who presented the Club with a picture of a collage of photos from last year’s match and the lifeboat, thankyou!

 

Not too much can be said about the match as we all knew what it was going to be like but at least the weather was right but you cannot have good weather and good fishing together at this time of the year.  However, this match was a first for Gars even though they were small and thankfully the Bass were still around.  Don’t think there’ll be as many quite so unprepared for these species next year.  Many thanks to Mike Watts for helping with the results, John Carter and Kevin Green for doing the raffle, Richard Hipperson for the photos and of course everyone who participated with a few travelling some considerable distance, thank you!

 

Next Club match for the Presidents Cup is at TRIMINGHAM on SUNDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER fishing 10:00-3:00 LW 1:22 4.6m.  This is followed by the Sid Ernie Cup at Bacton on 30th September and the Nelson Cup at Gorleston on 7th October which will be run in conjunction with the Gorleston Tackle Open.  The first round of the North Norfolk National Sea League then follows at Bacton on 14th October and anyone wishing to enter a team please make a comment or contact TT on 07780893141.

… Tony T   

 

Top 10 Individuals (on the day) …

 

1...Rob Tuck.............1lb.15oz........( 8 Fish)... (Peg 11)

2...Andy Gallacher...1lb.5 2/3oz....( 2 Fish)….(Peg 6)

3...Adrian Bordianu..1lb.2 1/3oz...(11 Fish)…(Peg 40)

4...Kevin Green........0lb.15 2/3oz..( 1 Fish)...(Peg 30)

5...Henry Randell.....0lb.13 1/3oz..(.8 Fish)...(Peg 20)

6...Gary Medler........0lb.13oz.........(.5 Fish)…(Peg 41)

7...Neil Smart...........0lb.10 1/3oz..(.3 Fish)...(Peg 21)

8...David Read..........0lb.10oz……...(.2 Fish)...(Peg 29)

9...Brian McKenzie....0lb.8 2/3oz....(.2 Fish)...(Peg 48)

10..Lloyd Jones........0lb.8 1/3oz.....(.4 Fish)...(Peg 34)

 

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