West Norfolk Challenge Round 4 and 16th Leg Summer Accumulator
Sunday 7th September 2014 - King's Lynn
The final Round of the West Norfolk Challenge was again to be played out on the west bank of the river Ouse at Kings Lynn. After finding some quality fish in Round 2 in the Central section it was decided to use this stretch under the pylons for this Round. However, with a light North Westerly to Northerly the noxious fumes from the Treatment Works meant we had to go further south than planned and we assume that this did affect the final result. With holiday and work commitments for some club and non-club members turnout was not high but the quality and competitiveness of those that did participate certainly made up for this. With this our only match of the series fishing over the bottom everyone was very optimistic that this would produce some quality fish particularly as Round 2 on the same stretch did yield some good flounders. A hot sun meant that everyone faced into the wind to produce a nice cooling breeze for angler and bait. With the last of the ebb approaching there was still a fair bit of tide out in the main stream and at the whistle various tactics were employed. Those that opted for the main stream approach were soon seeing their attempt steaming off downstream creating the usual problems with their neighbours. Whereas, those that took to the margins were soon in relax mode waiting for their tips to nod. It looked as though the optimists were going to win the day as David Read (peg 1) was soon into a cracking 39cm flounder and then into two 29cm specimens in quick succession. Not quite the same further down the stretch as things were very very quiet but then Jeff Stannard (peg 4) also managed a 29cm flounder and all soon heard that Ed Driver (peg 5) had a small eel in his bucket. The sound level was then repeated by Ivan Allison who also managed a 29cm flounder but John Carter on next peg 7 was struggling although did manage to find that small eel. Also having a quiet start was Tony Thomas (peg 8) but did manage to mark his card with a 20cm flounder which was promptly overtaken by Andy Dawkins who sneaked in a 26cm version followed by one of 27cm. In the other section, Alan Doy (peg 17) was busy with a nice 27cm flounder as was Trevor Elliott )peg 23) with one of 26cm. Mark Gooch (peg 22) was up to his usual tricks as two eels found their way into his bucket followed by a 27cm flounder. The same could not be said for league leader Richard Burt (peg 20) who was having a torrid day not able to connect with anything as was the renown big eel man Gary Medler (peg 16). Back at the other end John Neave (peg 3) was having a day to forget and was unable to locate a single fish all match, he really does not like these rivers and give him Bacton any day. Fishing low water at Kings Lynn presents its own problems especially retrieving water for those precious eels when a few frantic warnings could be heard when the brave ones attempted this perilous task. This state of tide here was also leading to hook after hook being left on the bank and in some cases the odd rig but when you’re Andy Dawkins you don’t leave it as he made a tentative descent to retrieve his favourite trace. The tide by now had almost disappeared and remained motionless for the majority of the middle of match prompting the fish to keep their heads down and we were into a real barren period of the match. A few eels then started to show particularly to Tony Thomas as his rod started leaping around and a nice 1lb 9oz eel was soon on his card. Andy Dawkins was making his usual steady progress particularly with a nice 30cm flounder followed by 3 good eels. Mark Gooch also got his act together with 3 good flounders and Trevor Elliott did his cause no harm with a cracking 1lb 3oz eel. Both Richard Burt and Gary Medler then saved face by each finding their sole flattie of the match. John Carter’s day improved slightly but very slightly with a small smelt only to haul in Tony Thomas’s trace with a foul hooked smelt on it, do we now call him smeltman now?. David Read’s early success was followed by a further 3 flatties to put him in contention for the match and Ed Driver’s 32cm flounder certainly boosted his chances. Not so for Ivan Allison and Jeff Stannard who could only find a further flounder and eel to snooker their chances of victory. In the end consistency gave Andy Dawkins victory by a narrow margin with 3lb 8oz from 7 fish followed by David Read with 3lb 7oz from 6 fish. Tony Thomas’s big eel gave him the final podium slot with 2lb 11oz from 7 fish. Section A winner was Andy with David runner-up and section B winner was Trevor Elliott with 2lb 9oz from 4 fish with Mark Gooch with 2lb 5oz from 6 fish runner-up. Heaviest fish on the day was taken by Tony with his 1lb 9oz eel. On the club front, Tony took the honours followed by Trevor Elliott and Jeff Stannard with 1lb 10oz from 3 fish. Heaviest club flat was shared by Ivan Allison & Jeff Stannard with their 9 1/3oz flounders and heaviest club round to Tony with his 1lb 9oz eel. In the league the result had already been decided with Richard Burt taking the title and trophy with just 4 penalty points. Second with a sterling performance in this final match was Trevor Elliott with just 5 penalty points followed by holiday man Mike Watts on 7 penalty points. In the Pairs competitions the dropping of worst scores meant that the low weights in this match favoured those with good weights in the previous matches. This was the case and in the Mystery Pairs Jeff Stannard & Mike Watts took the honours with 25lb 5oz from 61 fish followed by Mark Sharman & John Carter with 21lb 3½oz from 47 fish and Trevor Elliott & Ivan Allison with 21lb 3oz from 54 fish. In the Free Pairs, Tony Thomas & Mike Watts did the business with 24lb 14 1/3oz from 57 fish followed by Richard Burt & Ed Driver with 23lb 6oz from 47 fish and Trevor Elliott & Alan Doy with 22lb 5 6/7oz from 54 fish. This was also the last round of the club’s Summer Accumulator and after a hard fought 16 rounds the honours went to Ivan Allison with 252 points followed by John Neave on 245 points and Tony Thomas on 242 points. Well done Ivan! This was an extremely successful summer league this year. Despite low numbers at some of the matches this was more than made up by the competitiveness of each round particularly in the Pairs competitions which were very close. The success of this year has prompted the club to provisionally book the dates for 2015 particularly with the prospect of a better attendance from all quarters. Holt SAC would like to thank all those who supported the event particularly those that had travelled some distance.
ON THE DAY Top 5
1st Andy Dawkins 3lb 8 1/6oz (7 fish)
2nd David Read 3lb 6 2/3oz (6 fish)
3rd Tony Thomas 2lb 10 2/3oz (7 fish)
4th Trevor Elliott 2lb 9oz (4 fish)
5th Mark Gooch 2lb 5oz (6 fish)
Club Top 5
1st Tony Thomas 2lb 10 2/3oz (7 fish)
2nd Trevor Elliott 2lb 9oz (4 fish)
3rd Jeff Stannard 1lb 9 5/6oz (3 fish)
4th Ivan Allison 1lb 6 5/6oz (3 fish)
5th Alan Doy 2lb 1 1/3oz (3 fish)
FINAL OVERALL RESULTS
Individual League Top 5
1st Richard Burt 4 penalty points
2nd Trevor Elliott 5 penalty points
3rd Mike Watts 8 penalty points
4th Ed Driver 9 penalty points
5th Alan Doy 10 penalty points
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 Ed Driver & Mark Gooch 18lb 9 1/2oz (35 fish)
5th Richard Burt & Joc Goudie 18lb 5oz (37 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 Summer Accumulator final Top 5
1st Ivan Allison 252 Points
2nd John Neave 245 Points
3rd Tony Thomas 242 Points
4th Mike Watts 241 Points
5th Paul Tovell 229 Points
