Match Reports

16th Leg Summer Accumulator and West Norfolk Challenge 2015 - Round 3 (Report)

Sunday 9th August 2015 - Kings Lynn Estuary

For the 3rd Round of its West Norfolk Challenge at Kings Lynn Holt SAC were into its own challenge and venturing deep into “Serengeti” country. That is, well south of the Treatment Works on the West Bank but stopping short of the fishing boat’s channel. The original plan was to fish almost opposite Old Town but our sharp eyed International spotted a few rising sands banks there and advised a slightly more northerly perch for the day. For a second match in a row pegs were well into the grass and well away from the muddy bank much to the approval of those that experienced the sloppy stuff in the 1st Round. A small tide again and it was just starting to make as the usual travellers made their way through the long grass to one of the many holes in the hedge.

An average turn out again with some returning after their various holiday stints and other excursions compensating for those who could not make it due to lack of crab. Funny old year this has been with local crab disappearing as soon as they arrived and really disappearing and shortages in places where you always expect to get them. Although numbers were low there was a good representation of top match anglers from Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and of course Norfolk . In addition, there was that long distance class act traveller in Andy Dawkins all the way from Lymington in Hampshire who loves this estuary and was up to show us a thing or two which he certainly did. Thanks again for your support Andy.

The rituals were soon dispensed with and all were soon on a short hop or a short drive and a short hop onto their allotted peg. Even without any threat of rain and light wind, the majority were soon erecting their brollies and buddies probably because they do like to have their seclusion or maybe they were protecting their secret bait concoctions. At the whistle the water was just beginning to rise as we were going to fish all the ebb to top and on a small tide it generally never really gushes through. All the options were therefore there from mid-stream to the bank itself, that is the immediate bank and not the far one although that may have been a good option in this match.

For most it was a quiet start and the pattern that had developed in the previous rounds was repeated again in this one with a few fish at the start then a quiet period and finally a few fish at the end. It was a quiet start for most but not for Gary(M) on end peg 1 who was straight into a monster eel and certainly contender for heaviest fish. He then found a stonking 35cm flounder to give him a shot a podium finish even at this early stage but could then only find a couple more eels and 3 flounders to give him 247.5 points from his 7 fish. In contrast, it wasn’t Mark(B)’s (peg 2) day as he failed to find a single fish, never mind the big “tings” season is coming. Following the pattern of peg 1, Andy(D) peg 3 also found a good eel and flounder but he too found the going slow early on. However, he then turned his skill on and a switch of snoods along with placing his cracking crab down the bank he found as he usually does a bucketful of good flounders to give him a total of 324.5 points from 15 fish and a certain shot at top spot.

Poor old (not so old) Jeff(S) on next peg 4 could only watch in dismay at this display of flatty after flatty coming ashore. This is normally his scene but this time he could only find one flounder for 16 points. “Kipper” on next peg 5 was fairing only slightly better and found 3 good flounders for 71 points, maybe he was using 4/0’s after all. Peter(L) peg 6 got off to a slow start with a small eel but soon started to rack up the points when he found a 34cm flounder. Action went slow again but advice from our young International to go very close soon had his score card moving again. This is not the first time this advice to Peter from the young gentlemen has resulted in success, giving him a total of 169 points from 9 fish. Then there was the young gentleman himself International Henry(R) peg 7 finding a nice eel early on but was struggling to fish close in due to the obstructions in the water. However, he did manage to use his 8oz pyramid slightly further out to find a cracking eel , a few good flounders and then a flounder double shot at the end which included a stonking 37cm specimen. His crab supply diminished rapidly and had to resort to using discarded dead peelers but still managed a total of 238 points from just 7 fish.

All of this was much to the disgust of Christian(B) peg 8 who was flashing his new “Cobra” rod around trying to distract young Henry to no avail. It was a slow day for him but managed to find a small eel and 3 flounders for 46.5 points. Tony(T) peg 9 was into eel mode and managed a couple of small specimens before locking into one of well over a lb but his usual bucket of flounders ended up rather empty. A vain attempt to spear them with his rod tip as it snapped and launched itself into the depths failed and he ended up with 130.5 points from 5 fish. On a similar schedule was Dave(R) peg 10 who was totting up the eels early on although one was reclassified as “elver” as it only just made 18cm. A good eel of around a lb at the exact same time as Tony’s along with a couple of good flounders at the end helped to give him 140 points from 6 fish.

It was noted in the previous match that the ground on the West Bank appeared to be rather silty and thus not prone to holding fish and could be the reason for the low number of fish in that match. It also appeared it was the same in this match with a very silty bottom and lack of numbers of fish. In matches in those early days there was a well held opinion that the deep river channel was along the West Bank and was where everyone tried to fish. However, as high tide approached in this match two large ships were observed being piloted up the river close to the East Bank which would suggest this is where the deep channel now runs. To add weight to this suggestion, the ships were not small and this was a very small tide. The deeper water should certainly hold more fish and an angler on the opposite bank during this match was pulling out eel after eel so maybe that is where we should now be fishing or casting into.

Back on the West Bank Alan(D) peg 17 was continuing his struggling mode of previous matches but he thought this had come to an end when he carded a nice 32cm flounder for 40 points. Unfortunately this was not to be as he could only find another 2 flounders for a total of 77 points. Phil(D) peg 19 was trying to make his trip from Suffolk worthwhile but a couple of flounders followed by a couple of even smaller bootlaces did his cause no good. He then could only muster one more flounder to give him 54.5 points from 5 fish. Things were even worse for our pike man Andrew(M) peg 20 who couldn’t find a single flounder. However, he did connect with a good eel giving him a total of 34.5 points for that single fish. In contrast, Ed(D) Peg 21 was again showing his estuary skills as he found 4 cracking eels and 3 flounders which included point scoring ones of 29cm and 31cm towards the end. These gave him 257.5 points from just 7 fish and a shot at a podium finish.

Then there was the day that Mike(W) peg 22 really wanted to forget as his futile attempts to fish close resulted in rig after rig being left on the bottom. With just a mini eel and flounder on his card for just 22.5 points he was not a happy bunny and could only contemplate what could have been if he’d had cracking peelers particular with the action on adjacent pegs. This was in the form of Mark(S) peg 23 who was back after his Orford excursion during the last match and was straight into a few eels. These were supplemented by a few good flounders including one of 32cm giving him a total of 215.5 points from 9 fish. Again on a similar course was Richard(B) on his favourite end peg 25 and back from his annual sun blast during last match. He was also into the eels and good flounders but not quite to the same quality as Mark ending up with 157.5 points from 9 fish.

It was soon apparent that once the flounders started to flow from his rod we were to be given a master class in catching flounders and this was the case as Andy Dawkins took top spot with 6lb 12oz from 15 fish and justifying his early morning 4 hour journey. Continuing his charge for the title was Ed Driver with the runners up spot with 5lb 6oz from just 7 fish. Final podium slot went to Gary Medler with 5lb 3oz again from just 7 helped by his early quality eel and flounder. Heaviest fish on the day was Gary’s 1lb 11oz eel. Altogether 93 fish were recorded (71 flounders & 32 eels) weighing 46lbz.

Currently top of the leader board with 6 points is Henry Randell, Ed Driver 2nd on 7 points and Gary Medler 3rd on 10 points. However, if the worst scores are deducted then the top three are Mark Sharman, Henry and Ed all on 3 points in that order so it will be a good scrap in the final round. In the Pairs competitions Richard Burt & Ed Driver are still leading the FREE Pairs on 1221 points and Ed Driver and Matt Frost the MYSTERY Pairs on 836 points. Although the FREE Pairs winners are nearly there it is far tighter in the MYSTERY Pairs where there are probably 5 pairs in contention.

On the club front, Henry again took the honours with 4lb 15oz from 7 fish, Peter Loke 2nd with 3lb 8oz from 9 fish and Tony Thomas 3rd with 2lb 11oz from 5 fish. Tony took the heaviest club round with his 1lb 3oz eel and Henry heaviest flat with his 1lb 4oz flounder.

Again not a serious amount of fish in this one but some quality eels and flounders were still found. However, Andy certainly used his skill to find the flounders which goes to prove they are there if you know where to go and use the right techniques. His tactics of fishing close in has worked time and time again at this venue and his crab were all spot on. A switch to red snoods did improve his score so is this his secret at this venue, we’ll all be giving that one a test in the final Round. Round 4 will be on Sunday 23rd August fishing 10:00 – 3:00 with HW at 12:36 and 4.1m at Cromer so in this one we’ll be fishing over the top for a change, 2 ½ hours up and 2 ½ hours down. In this one we will be fishing the same Central stretch as in Round 1, just south of the Pylon and Treatment Works.

West Norfolk Challenge Result Top 5

Posn.	Member	Weight		No. Fish	Weight Points
		(lb)	(oz)

Andy Dawkins

12 1/6

325

Ed Driver

5 5/6

258

Gary Medler

2 1/2

248

Henry Randell

15 1/3

238

Mark Sharman

7 5/6

216

West Norfolk Challenge League Top 5

Posn.

Angler

League Points

Total No. of Fish

Total Weight Points

Henry Randell

718

Ed Driver

687

Gary Medler

582

Alan Doy

417

Mike Watts

436

Free Pairs Top 5

Posn.	Pair	No. Fish	Weight Points	Weight
				(lb)	(oz)

Richard Burt & Ed Driver

1221

Peter Loke (2) & Henry Randell

1098

13 6/7

Christian Bulch & Mark Sharman

883

6 1/3

Tony Thomas & Mike Watts

812

14 2/3

Gary Medler & "Kipper"

771

Mystery Pairs Top 5

Posn.	Pair	No. Fish	Weight Points	Weight
				(lb)	(oz)

Ed Driver & Matt Frost

836

6 1/2

Jeff Stannard & Tony Thomas

771

5/6

Mark Sharman & Andrew Muirhead

718

15 1/6

Richard Burt & Kev Sealey

675

5/6

Christian Bulch & Peter Loke

655

10 1/6

Club 16th Leg Summer Accumulator Result Top 5

Posn.	Member	Weight		No. Fish	Weight Points
		(lb)	(oz)

Henry Randell

15 1/3

234

Peter Loke

8 1/3

130

Tony Thomas

11 1/2

106

Alan Doy

9 2/3

102

"Kipper"

7 2/3

Full Results Round 3

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