9th Leg Summer Accumulator and Sabre Tackle Summer League Match 7 (Report)

Saturday 14th June 2015 - Salthouse

It was back to the shingle for one of those rare visits these days to Salthouse. What a shame they are refusing to reinstate the car park, a “dozer” for 2 or 3 days would soon put it back and give back the enjoyment to many who just want to savour the atmosphere of this delightful stretch of the coast. The Parish Council and others all have negative reasons for not actioning this but suspect they just don’t want cars visible on this part of the shingle, an utterly selfish attitude in this day and age. Anyway, enough of this moan and back to a rather early start at this venue although it could have been much earlier if there wasn’t some sympathy for those Sunday morning bed hoggers.

A slightly misty overcast day with a light south westerly turning north westerly gave us those ideal conditions experienced by “Mr Organiser” many years ago at Salthouse so there was a little optimism in the camp. The sea had a slight swell and just a hint of colour but with a neap tide that optimism started to fade. Fishing last 3 hours of the ebb and 2 hours up meant no real hiking on the soft shingle except for that notorious stretch from the road. Pegging for this one was from Great Eye (or what is left of it) westwards just past Little Eye. A moderate turnout were some into beach and previous match dissemination mode and once the late taxi quartet had arrived all were soon trudging to their allotted slots.

Fishing around the ebb meant all could comfortably set up on the flatish low water sand and shingle with none of this clambering up and down the shingle bank. Even with such an early start all were ready at the whistle and were soon into Salthouse mode with none of this distance for most, just a 40-60 yard chuck. It was soon apparent that we really did have a true neap and there was very little tide at all ranges which didn’t bode well for numbers of fish. This soon came apparent as rods in the middle and high pegs remained motionless as the hours past. The lower order pegs faired slightly better as a few flatties came ashore, but it was just a few, a very few! Eventually, this end of the stretch did find a few decent dabs and flounders and were into a contest between themselves.

The remainder of the stretch were really struggling particularly in the middle and for some in these pegs the frustration was too much and took an early exit without recording a single fish. However, although there was just the odd flattie at the high order end it did produce the winning weight as a long range tactic eventually found a reasonable 46cm (2lb 1oz) Bass to add to a small dab to produce a winning weight of 2lb 3oz. Altogether there was just 39 fish recorded (16 flounders, 21 dabs and 2 bass) weighing just over 12lb. The heaviest flat were two 30cm (11oz) flounders and the heaviest round the 46cm (2lb 1oz) Bass. This was truly a dire match for some although others on the right pegs did manage to find some sport. Let’s hope there is a vast improvement for the next match at Kelling.

On the individual performances, a close end peg 20 for “the boss” Morley and with all his vast experience he can always be relied on at least hauling in a bucketful of fish from such a location. Expectations are always there to be challenged and this was certainly a challenging one for him with just one small 22cm dab and just 10 points on his card at the end but he didn’t blank. A similar challenge was enveloping “short walk” Borley (peg 19) who is renowned for winkling out a stonking flounder but this time could only find 2 really small flatties for 13 points. It looked like a similar story on next peg 18 with “take it easy” Tovell on board as he only had found a small dab but then his range tactics paid off as he locked into a nice 46cm (2lb 1oz) bass. Although these were his only fish his total of 105 points was a contender for top spot.

Uncharacteristically, for once the Brown clan of “young catcher” & “super sub” on pegs 16 & 17 were really struggling and failed to card a single fish the whole match. In contrast, “hokey pokey” Loke (peg 15) was into a nice 28cm flounder early on and then found 2 more 23cm versions to end up with 48 points. Also finding it hard was “off duty” Gibbs (peg 14) who eventually managed to find a 20cm dab and 26cm flounder to give him 25 points. “silver fox” Neave (peg 10) was up to his usual tricks as he found a healthy 30cm flounder early but could only add a 19cm dab to his total for 38 points. The struggle continued in the middle of the stretch but “young Sam” Bulch (peg 9) showed dad a thing or two as he managed to find a single 22cm dab to give him 10 points. No such luck for dad “Blacks” Bulch (peg 8) who was in training mode with “pikey” Muirhead (peg 7) trying to wean him on to small hooks but only resulted in showing him how to record a blank card. For them even the fresh ‘blacks’ didn’t work and that frustration got to them taking an early taxi home an hour before the end.

The situation didn’t improve on Peg 5 as “kipper” only managed to find one 21cm dab and just 8 points on his card at the end. However, things started to change on peg 4 of the stretch as “steady” Carter was straight into the fish from the off with a nice 27cm flounder which he then followed with a further 5 good dabs. Unfortunately, slack water halted his progress but he still managed 89 points and a chance of a podium slot. “small hooks” Stannard (peg 3) was trying to match “steady” early on with a 29cm flounder and whilst there was still some tide managed to find 3 small dabs and a reasonably flounder. However, he too saw his progress halt as slack water arrived but in the dying minutes of the match as the tide started to push again he found a points earning 30cm flounder thrusting him into a possible podium slot with 100 points. An early dab for “yoda” Thomas (peg 2) raised hopes of more to come but all his variety of tactics could only land him with 5 more small flatties and a small schoolie for just 53 points. End peg man “part time” Clarke thought he was having a dire day as he saw all around him finding some fish but then midway through the match he found them. Small at first but then a nice 27cm dab and 26cm flounder double shot which gave him 88 points from 7 fish.

In the end it was that bass that gave Paul “take it easy” Tovell top spot with 2lb 3oz from just 2 fish. Runner-up was Jeff “small hooks” Stannard with 2lb 1oz from 6 fish followed by John “steady” Carter with 1lb 14oz also from 6 fish. The heaviest flat was shared by Jeff and John “silver fox” Neave with their 30cm (11oz) flounders and heaviest round went to Paul with his 2lb 1oz bass.

A match which the most really want to forget but there that is match fishing these days on the shingle during the summer let’s hope things improve for the club’s next shingle encounter at Kelling on Sunday 21st June fishing 9:00 - 2:00 HW 10:15 4.7m which is one hour later than in the fixture list.

Club Match Result Top 5

1st Paul Tovell          2lb 3oz           (2 Fish)

2nd Jeff Stannard      2lb 1 1/3oz     (6 Fish)

3rd John Carter         1lb 13 2/3oz   (6 Fish)

4th Wayne Clarke      1lb 13 1/3oz   (7 Fish)

5th Tony Thomas       1lb 1 1/3oz     (7 Fish)

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