West Norfolk Challenge Round 3 and 14th Leg Summer Accumulator
Sunday 3rd August 2014 - King's Lynn
The venue for Round 3 of the West Norfolk Challenge was again the west bank of the river Ouse at Kings Lynn. The original plan was to fish the south end of this stretch almost opposite the Old Town but with another match scheduled on the opposite bank at the same time it was decided to go north instead. After experiences on this stretch from the first round match the idea was to go north of the culvert, however, the previous day’s deluge had left the dry mud rather sticky and with the banks looking rather rocky it was agreed by all to peg either side of the culvert as in round 1. At the last match on an almost identical tide the fish were there from the off and then dwindled on slack water so with an almost identical tide it was agreed to start an hour earlier (8:30) to try and capitalise on those early fish with more flood. Even with such an early start all were there from far and wide nice and early and were soon setting up on the grassy bank. A dry sunny day was forecast with a south south westerly so brollies to keep off the sun was the order of the day.
At the whistle the majority opted for a good chuck into the stream with a few slightly closer at the bottom of the steep bank. It was soon apparent that the river condition and state of the tide were nowhere near being the same as the previous match. The tide was literally steaming in and with wind against tide gave some choppy water mid-stream. These conditions were certainly affecting the fish as the original expectation of a card full of fish early on did not materialise. In section A young Henry Randell (peg 1)was up to his usual tricks managing to find a cracking 33cm flounder and Richard Burt (peg 3) a good eel of just under a pound . As did Mike Watts (peg 6) and Mark Gooch (peg 8) with one over a pound. Trevor Elliott (peg 7) also found a small eel but for some mysterious reason it never made it to the scales. John Carter (peg 5) and Peter Loke (peg 10) managed to find small flounders but it was tough. Making things even worse was the ground which was very rough as rig after rig was being left on the bottom.
Section B was even worse for fish although the ground was cleaner but rigs were still being lost. At this state of the tide eels were still the main stay with Paul Tovell (peg 17), Ivan Allison (peg 18), Richard Ellis (peg 19), Jeff Stannard and Keith Morley (peg 24) finding one. For the rest in Section B it was a struggling with rods remaining motionless apart from the drag from the tide. Thankfully, this began to ease which started to bring on the flounders as Ed Driver (peg 20) held up a nice 33cm specimen after switching to slightly heavier gear and this was followed by a further 3 good flounders with two in the 30cm region. Other notable flounders at this stage was one of 35cm to Jeff, a 31cm to Tony Thomas (peg 23) and a similar specimen to Gary Medler (peg 25). For Gary this was the start of a run of 5 good flounders with one of 32cm. Ivan also added a good 32cm flounder to his score along with a couple more. The fish certainly came on in this section but nowhere like had been predicted.
Back in Section A the rough ground was still playing its part but fish were still coming ashore. Mark Sharman (Round 1 winner from same same spot) was struggling but eventually found a couple of small eels and a couple of reasonable flounders. Trevor Elliott (peg 7) had put his flounder hat on and found a nice 32cm specimen followed by another 7 good flounders. Richard Burt (peg 3) had also in flounder mode as he added 4 to his collection with one of 32cm and another of 31cm. In contrast John Carter (peg 5) was going the other way by finding 4 reasonable eels. Young Henry Randell (peg 1) was also showing his International stuff as he found more eels and 4 more flounders up to 32cm. Peter Loke (peg 10) also found a couple of good flounders with one of 32cm but John Neave (peg 9) was having a dire day, finding just one small flattie but then he’s not too keen on the river. There were a couple of others who were having a real dire and unable to find just one fish but they will remain anonymous. One person who was having a quality day was Mark Gooch (peg 8) who after finding his two eels for over 2 pound found a stonking flounder of 39cm and those were his only 3 fish. However, star of the day was Mike Watts (peg 6) who found 7 flounders with one of 32cm to go with his 4 eels. Although not his style, fishing close was his success and as usual the majority of his flounders were small the 32cm and 29cm along with numbers gave him a healthy score.
On the day it was Mike Watts who took the honours by a healthy margin with 4lb 10 2/3oz from 11 fish. Next was Richard Burt with 3lb 13 1/3oz from 6 fish closely followed by Trevor Elliott with 3lb 12oz from 9 fish. 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 Gary Medler with 3lb 11 1/3oz from 7 fish and Ed Driver with 2lb 14 2/3oz from 4 fish. Heaviest fish on the day was taken by Mark Gooch with his 1lb 6 2/3oz (39cm) flounder.
On the club front, Mike Watts took the honours followed by Trevor Elliott and Henry Randell with 3lb 10oz from 9 fish. Heaviest club flat was Jeff Stannard with his 1lb 1 1/3oz flounder and heaviest club round to Mike Watts with his 14oz eel.
In the Pairs , current leaders in the Free Pairs are still Tony Thomas and Mike Watts with 24lb 14 1/3oz from 57 fish. In the Mystery Pairs competition it is also still Jeff Stannard and Mike Watts with 24lb 1oz from 61 fish but there is still worst scores to drop after last match.
Not a good match in comparison to last round but fish were there to be caught by whatever means. It was those uising the right techniques that scored but that is what competition is all about. Next and final round will be along the central stretch as in round 2 and not north as advertised. This will be on Sunday 7th September fishing 10:00 – 3:00 and we will be fishing over the bottom.
Overall Top 5
1st Mike Watts 4lb 10 2/3oz (11 fish)
2nd Richard Burt 3lb 13 1/3oz ( 6 fish)
3rd Trevor Elliott 3lb 12oz ( 9 fish)
4th Mark Gooch 3lb 11 2/3oz ( 3 fish)
5th Gary Medler 3lb 11 1/3oz ( 7 fish)
Mystery Pairs Top 5
1st Jeff Stannard & Mike Watts 24lb 5oz (61 fish)
2nd Mark Sharman & John Carter 21lb 3 1/2oz (47 fish)
3rd Trevor Elliott & Ivan Allison 21lb 3oz (54 fish)
4th Richard Burt & Joc Goudie 18lb 5oz (37 fish)
5th Tony Thomas & Andy Gallacher 16lb 5 2/3 (36 fish)
Free Pairs Top 5
1st Tony Thomas & Mike Watts 24lb 14 1/3oz (57 fish)
2nd Richard Burt & Ed Driver 23b 6oz (47 fish)
3rd Trevor Elliott & Alan Doy 22lb 5 5/6oz (54 fish)
4th Mark Sharman & Mark Gooch 21lb 7 5/6oz (43 fish)
5th Richard Ellis & Ivan Allison 15lb 9 2/3oz (37 fish)
Club Top 5
1st Mike Watts 4lb 10 2/3oz (11 fish)
2nd Trevor Elliott 3lb 12oz ( 9 fish)
3rd Henry Randell 3lb 10 1/3oz ( 9 fish)
4th John Carter 2lb 8oz ( 5 fish)
5th Ivan Allison 2lb 23oz ( 5 fish)
