Holt SAC North Norfolk National Sea League Round 4 (Report)

Sunday 8th January 2017 - Salthouse

The fourth round of the North Norfolk National Sea League took place on the shingle ridge at Salthouse on Sunday 8th January 2017. The forecast had been promising all week and they got it almost spot on with a light westerly and next to no swell on a flat sea. This looked good for a change for numbers and quality of fish and we were not disappointed. A flooding tide and no swell certainly helps to bring the big whiting ashore at this time of the year even in daylight and they certainly made an appearance at this one.

An early start for some to grab a prime parking slot on Salthouse beach road, about time they got the car park fixed.   An even earlier start for Tom Gibbs who was there well before the sun had decided to rise, many thanks Tom for taking the reins on this particular day. However, there was one other in his Crack Off’s team who was not quite so punctual when realising at 9:45 that he had a match to go to, never mind Luke you’ll show us how it’s done next time. Pegs were soon drawn including those for one or two new faces and everyone was set the task to trudge through the shingle, never easy at Salthouse, to their allotted slots.

Pegging for this one was west from beach road, past Great & Little Eye as they were known and just beyond the ”iron works”. Fishing bottom up on a flooding tide meant an easy long walk at the start for those in Zone A but slightly more arduous at the end. From the “whistle” it was pretty obvious that it was going to be a good day as rods started to rattle immediately. Double and treble shots of Dabs and Whiting were soon coming ashore but not all were going onto the cards as many were undersize particularly as the size limit was 25cm for Whiting. Finding the big Whiting was the challenge in this match and those with a bit of distance and some prime south coast blacks seemed to be doing this. However, there were fish closer in at 40-60 metres but the majority were again small although there were some big ones amongst them.

For the majority this was the pattern throughout the match with a steady flow of fish coming in all day. As the tide started to peak those bigger Whiting started to appear in numbers although they were there throughout. Finding these Whiting was the key to victory in this match and AVENUE ANGLING NORWICH certainly did this and with 4 Zone wins easily took this match with just 4 penalty points. A rejuvenated HOLT CRACK OFF’s team even with a man short managed to find some form and scooped 2nd place with a Zone win, 2 Zone 2nds and a Zone3rd for 8 penalty points. Final team podium spot went to GORLESTON TACKLE who managed a Zone 2nd, 2 Zone 3rds and a 4th for 12 penalty points.

All three Individual winners were Avenue Angling Norwich team members with ANDY GALLACHER taking top prize with 11lb 3oz from 38 fish followed by RICHARD JACOBS with 10lb 7oz from 33 fish and GARY MEDLER with 9lb 11oz from 32 fish. These three also took the Club match on the day in the 2nd Leg of the Winter Accumulator. Heaviest Flat fish was NEIL SMART’s (Team Pete’s Baits) 29cm (9oz) Dab and heaviest Round fish was shared by ANDY GALLACHER and TOM GIBBS (Holt Crack Offs) with their 36cm (11oz) Whitings. This was also the result of the Club’s heaviest fish on the day. Altogether 626 fish (316 Dabs, 308 Whiting and 2 Flounders) were recorded weighing 166½lb.

In the Zones, the overall winner ANDY GALLACHER easily took Zone A from end peg 1 finding quality Whiting with quality bait at range. Team Maver’s HENRY RANDELL (peg 4) was Zone runner-up with 9lb 2oz from 30 fish. His local knowledge at a closer range was finding a lot more fish than the winner but there were too many undersize to overhaul Andy. Using the same tactics as his fellow team member in Zone A GARY MEDLER (peg 8) easily took Zone B with his haul of 32 quality fish. Runner-up in Zone B went to Holt Crack Offs new member in KEVIN WARNER (peg 15) who found 27 fish for 7lb 9oz. Continuing Angling Direct Norwich’s success RICHARD JACOBS (peg 17) also found the quality Whiting to take Zone C well ahead of the rest of the zone. Runner-up was WILLY GROOMBRIDGE (peg 19) of North Norfolk Lads with 8lb 4oz from 34 fish. This was more than 2lb less than the winner but had to work hard to achieve this finding one more fish than that winner.

Zone D bucked the trend as TOM GIBBS (peg 31) of Holt Crack Offs found some quality fish to take the Zone with 6lb 1oz from just 16 fish. It was close in this Zone with CLYDE LEGGETT (peg 30) of Gorleston Tackle just a couple of ozs away with 2lb 15oz from 22 fish. Normality was resumed in the final Zone E as Angling Direct Norwich’s DAVE READ (peg 33) took the Zone by again more than 2lbs with 7lb 10oz from 26 fish. End peg 39 man IVAN ALLISON of Holt Crack Offs just managed to squeeze ahead of Gorleston Tackle’s Alan Doy (peg 38) by just one point (1/3oz) to take runners-up slot with 5lb 8oz from 24 fish.

At last a typical Shingle match where the fish came on strong and some of those stonking Whiting at last made a show. With such a number of fish it was always going to be a highly competitive match and we were not disappointed. Let’s hope this continues for the rest of the winter and that the mini-surge on 13th January has not disrupted this improvement.

The next Club match at the time of this report is the 4th Leg of the Winter Accumulator which has been combined with the John Lacey Memorial match at GORLESTON on SUNDAY 22ND JANUARY fishing 10:00-3:00 LW 2:36 p.m. 3.8m. The remainder of the December Newsletters and Winter Fixtures plus Bass Festival Information will be distributed to Club Members next week.

Finally, I would like to apologise for the delay in posting this report due as a number of you know to my Wife’s sudden illness. Meningitis can be a very nasty virus to combat but we got her to hospital just in time to beat it. She was discharged last Wednesday and hopefully is now on the mend. The A & E at Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital did a marvellous job in saving her and we cannot express in words how thankful we are for what they did along with all the other NHS staff. I would also like to thank all those who have expressed concern about her health, it was much appreciated. It may be a few matches before I’m back in business but I will be back! … Tony T  

Top 10 Individuals (on the day) …

1…Andy Gallacher……..11lb..3 1/3oz….(38 fish)..(Avenue Angling Norwich)

2…Richard Jacobs…..…10lb..7 1/3oz…..(33 fish)..(Avenue Angling Norwich)

3…Gary Medler………....9lb..10 2/3oz…(32 fish)..(Avenue Angling Norwich)

4…Henry Randell……..…9lb..2oz……..….(30 fish)..(Team Maver)

5…Willy Groombridge..8lb..4 1/3oz…..(34 fish)..(North Norfolk Lads)

6…Jeff Stannard………...7lb..13 1/3oz….(26 fish)..(Gorleston Tackle)

7…David Read……...……7lb..9 2/3oz......(26 fish)..(Avenue Angling Norwichl)

8…Kevin Warner………..7lb..8 2/3oz…….(27 fish)..(Holt Crack Offs)

9…Mike Watts…..………..6lb..10 2/3oz....(24 fish)..(North Norfolk Lads)

10.Ken Durrant………....6lb..5 2/3oz…...(27 fish)..(Holt Crack Offs)

Teams (on the day) …

1...Avenue Angling Norwich ..4 penalty points

2...Holt Crack Offs.….…………...8 penalty points

3…Gorleston Tackle…………....12 penalty points

4…Team Maver………..……….…15 penalty points

5… North Norfolk Lads..………16 penalty points

6…JC’s Boys…………………….….20 penalty points

7…Pete’s Baits…………………....28 penalty points

8…Holt SAC Youths………..…..32 penalty points

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