West Norfolk Challenge Round 2 & 12th Leg Summer Accumulator
Sunday 6th July 2014 - King's Lynn
After a few cracking matches on the shingle and flat beaches of Bacton it was back to the estuary at Kings Lynn for the 2nd Round of the West Norfolk Challenge Series. Optimism was high after the outstanding Round 1 match at the same venue and fishing a similar tide. The weather was ideal with a light westerly off our backs, warm but not too warm along with broken cloud and no immediate threat of rain. With competition from other matches and some personal commitments numbers were slightly down on the previous round. However, this was not a problem as the venue was good with easy access and quality match anglers to give us a real competitive event.
Pegging for this round was to be the Central section of the west bank around the pylons near the treatment works. However, with a westerly wind the unsavoury fumes from the Treatment Works would have been surrounding us all day so the pegging was moved further south of the pylons than first planned. Access to the match stretch was along the meadow above the bank and with lack of heifers it was like driving through the Serengeti but at least there was no cow dung to paint your wheel arches this time. The stretch was soon pegged, pegs drawn and being a relatively new venue there was no questions about hot pegs only about the nearest hole in the hedge to get onto the bank. The long grass was a bit of a nuisance but all managed to find a small grassy prominence to set up, all except Sharmo who preferred to wallow in the mud close to the edge.
Fishing the last 2 ½ hours of the flood on a small tide meant not too much flow in mid-stream and this coupled with experiences from the previous round meant that at the whistle the majority were using a bit of distance. Others like Jeff Stannard (peg 5) and Alan Doy (peg 6) were testing out the margins with small hooks although this was a real change of tactics for Alan. First to show was the man in the mud and last round winner Mark Sharman (peg 18) as he hauled in a 29cm and 25cm flounder double shot, was he about to repeat his previous match success? Maybe not, as Richard Burt (peg 3), Jeff Stannard (peg 5), Alan Doy (peg 6), Tony Thomas (peg 7), Trevor Elliott (peg 22) and Andy Gallacher (peg 21) finding a 31cm, 33cm, 31cm,30cm,29cm and 33cm flounders respectively. A cracking start for some and even for end peg 1 man Peter Loke who found a monster eel over a pound but unfortunately he was still on Malaysian time and no way prepared for this surprise. It slipped off his hook into the long grass and that’s where it remained for the rest of the match, an event he was to harp over for many days afterwards.
Not such a sad tale for Richard Ellis (peg 4), Mike Watts (peg 20) and end peg Paul Tovell (peg 23) who all managed to bucket their first eel. However, it had become a struggle for some like John Neave (peg 2) who always takes an age to get started but eventually found a reasonable flounder. John Carter (peg 16) was also having a poor start but eventually located a couple of small eels and likewise was Ivan Allison (peg 17) who was still in his rut but also at last found a small eel. Having an even more dire day was Peter Morse (peg 8) finding absolutely nothing until a 28cm flounder came his way and he was only able to add a 33cm version to this for the whole match. In contrast Alan (D) and Tony (T) on adjacent pegs were nip and tuck with a raft of 30+cm flounders as was Richard (B) who had managed to find 34 and 36cm specimans. For some the small flounders and eels were coming ashore but for others it was a struggle.
As the tide slackened activity ceased for all except Richard (B) who was seen hauling in the odd small flounder. Surprising how this venue has changed from a few years back when slack water was the prime time to drop onto a big eel or big flounder and all we seem get now at this state of tide is vermin. At least it gave everyone a rest from the trudge of baiting up and a chance to have a wander for a bit of banter. Fortunately, slack water did not last long and the tide was soon moving seaward although the fish were slow to respond taking a while to switch on again. At which point Mike (W) started to make his usual charge with 28 and 31cm flounders after his raft of small eels. Trevor (E) also tried to get in on the action with a 28cm and then a 33cm close to the end as did Peter (L) with a big 34cm flounder also at the end. However, it was Richard (B) who was showing the way as he found a number of reasonable flounders including one of 32cm. He was certainly coasting it as we entered the last few minutes of the match but our sport is renowned for throwing up a few surprises and as we say “it’s never over until the fat lady sings” which was just the case with Tony (T). With 5 minutes to go a final cast to clean up his back up trace and then an almost immediate retrieve at the whistle only to see his line moving upstream as though being hauled in by others upstream. This was not the case instead a monster 40cm flounder suddenly appeared on the mud and just cms from the water’s edge fell off which resulted in Tony (T) diving headlong down the bank to safely retrieve it but only just. Worth 74points was this the fish to catapult him from nowhere to take the match, only his bag of 3 eels would determine this.
At the whistle it was eels that would determine the winner as Richard Burt’s consistent performance throughout the match gave him victory by the narrowest of margins of 0.5 points or 1/6oz with 6lb 15 1/6oz from. 13 fish. Next was the big flounder man, Tony Thomas with 6lb 15oz also from 13 fish. Final podium place went to Peter Loke with 6lb 2oz again from 13 fish and he is still smarting over the lost eel as this certainly would have given him top honours. All 3 places were in section A so the top two places in the section A were the top two here and in section B first was Mike Watts with 6lb ½oz from 14 fish and Trevor Elliott with 4lb 11oz from 13 fish. Heaviest fish on the day was taken by Tony Thomas with his 1lb 9oz (4ocm) flounder.
On the club front, Tony Thomas took the honours followed by Peter Loke and Mike Watts. Heaviest club flat was Tony Thomas with his 1lb 9oz flounder and heaviest club round to Richard Ellis with his 12oz eel.
On the pairs front there were some dramatic changes to the leader board because of the absence of a number of key players. Current leaders in the Mystery Pairs are now Tony Thomas and Mike Watts with 19lb 4 1/3oz from 44 fish. In the Free Pairs competition it is Jeff Stannard and Mike Watts with 17lb 10½oz from 45 fish but there is still a long way to go in both these competitions.
Yet again this was an excellent match with plenty of quality competition demonstrating what an ideal match venue the River Ouse can be along the west bank stretch. The next Round 3 is on Sunday 3rd August fishing 8:30 – 1:30 which is a start time 1 hour earlier than advertised to take advantage of more of the flood. The venue is again the west bank and the plan is to peg further south almost infront of the port of Kings Lynn. However, there is another match planned for the same day which will be on the east bank and may be opposite the club’s planned stretch. If this is the case we may move the stretch further north but will make the decision on the day.
Stop Press … Club member young Henry Randell has become a true England International. Over the same weekend as this match he fished for the England Youth team in the Home Internationals in Montrose Scotland. The England Youth team took Gold and this was the first time England Youth had won this event. Well done to the team and well done to Henry!
Overall Top 5
1st Richard Burt 6lb 15 1/6oz (13 fish)
2nd Tony Thomas 6lb 15oz (13 fish)
3rd Peter Loke 6lb 2oz (13 fish)
4th Mike Watts 6lb 1/6oz (14 fish)
5th Trevor Elliott 4lb 11oz (13 fish)
Mystery Pairs Top 5
1st Jeff Stannard & Mike Watts 17lb 10 1/2oz (45 fish)
2nd Mark Sharman & John Carter 16lb 15oz (38 fish)
3rd Tony Thomas & Andy Gallacher 15lb 6 1/3 (34 fish)
4th Trevor Elliott & Ivan Allison 15lb 5oz (40 fish)
5th Richard Burt & Joc Goudie 14lb 7 2/3 (31 fish)
Free Pairs Top 5
1st Tony Thomas & Mike Watts 19lb 4 1/3oz (44 fish)
2nd Trevor Elliott & Alan Doy 18lb 9 5/6oz (45 fish)
3rd Richard Burt & Ed Driver 16lb 10oz (37 fish)
4th Mark Sharman & Mark Gooch 15lb 15 2/3oz (36 fish)
5th Jeff Stannard & Peter Morse 13lb 9 1/2oz (29 fish)
Club Top 5
1st Tony Thomas 6lb 15oz (13 fish)
2nd Peter Loke 6lb 2oz (13 fish)
3rd Mike Watts 6lb 1/6oz (14 fish)
4th Trevor Elliott 4lb 11oz (13 fish)
5th Alan Doy 4lb 9oz ( 8 fish)
