Holt SAC 3rd Leg Summer Accumulator (Report)

Sunday 5th May 2019 - Salthouse

Holt SAC’s 3rd Leg Summer Accumulator was held at SALTHOUSE on SUNDAY MAY 5TH fishing 9:15-2:15 with HW 7:41 on a biggish 4.7m tide. The weather on the preceding day had been pretty horrendous with gale force northerlies with a 10ft swell rolling in and certainly unfishable for a match. However, the wind was forecast to ease slightly over-night and then moderate during the day to a strong to a fresh north westerly with no dampness which thankfully was spot on. A few of the early risers were rather apprehensive and doubted that the match would go ahead as they drove up Salthouse beach road seeing the spray rising many feet above the main bank as the waves pounded in. To add to this the surges were even topping that bank making things look even more precarious but this is Salthouse and the shingle bank was just doing its job. Peering over it showed things to be not quite so dramatic with a good 6 to 8ft swell but no white water, this was just high water having its last say.

The usual crop of regulars were soon steaming up beach road albeit tardily from Gt Yarmouth, Oulton, Diss, Ely, Kings Lynn, Humber and a couple of Norwichites testing out the Bass Festival plus just one local addict. All were up for the forth coming challenge, well nearly all except poor June Frary who thought seeing the spray shooting up above the bank would be just a bit too much and thought a trip round Sheringham and Holt more in keeping. Although she did spend the last couple of hours dozing in hubby’s buddy when she could have been hauling in big Flounders from the gully which was well within her range, maybe in the Bass Festival then!

Pegging for this one was west from 50 yards from beach road up to Little Eye mound and this is the first time I’ve had to peg on top of the main bank with the odd surge lapping over the top. This will be a new venue for the Bass Festival and will be Zones C & D with the 30 pegs going well up to the iron works in the bank. With the wind turning more north westerly this was a perfect sea for the Bass and Flounders if they had returned from spawning but just a bit too much for the Hounds which have been appearing further round the coast at Trimingham. A good lump on the sea also moves the reliable Dab off so expectation of big bags was not particularly high.

Everyone were soon parking their buddies on top of the bank and the surges were determining how risky and close they could be to the water and for once nobody over did it. With the Bass Festival being just 2 weeks away on an identical tide this was a session to glean as much info about the venue for that event. In particular, this meant checking out where the fish were feeding at different states of the ebb, at range, good lob or in the gully. Checking out which of the regular baits worked best, blow lug, blacks, rag, wrigglers and crab along with the usual tipping off with fish bait. Then most importantly which rig worked, short snoods, long snoods or very very long snoods with small hooks, size 4s or somewhat larger, size 1/0s. All of this was being check out on this particular day.

In the same match 12 months ago on the same venue the Hounds were there and from his previous success here Paul Tovell (Peg 11) decided it was crab at range all day and he had no lug to try. The Hounds weren’t there and everything else was taking worm so he ended up with just 2 flatties for 21 points and dubbed “no lug Tubs” in the banter at the end. Fairing slightly better on end Peg 12 was Richard Ling who found a nice 37cm Bass early on along with 3 Dabs, a Whiting and a Rockling at the end for 96 points. He was using crab and lug and lost a monster Bass in the surf, not his day.

Neil Smart (Peg 10) also struggled even though he had an array of baits finding just 3 flatties and a small Bass for 43 points. Likewise his travelling partner Bev Self (Peg 8) faired no better finding just 3 flatties but he did admit at the end that he could not get out of the habit of banging it out and the fish were not feeding at distance and ended up with 46 points. John Carter (Peg 9) did go one better with 4 flatties but one was a 32cm Flounder worth 40 points resulting in 84 points at the end. Kevin Green (Peg 7) had only one fish on his mind, Bass and he did get them, 4 in total but the biggest was just 28cm and with 2 Dabs managed 94 points. The Dab king was “Piffy” Randlesome who racked up 10 of them and found a couple of reasonable Flounders at the end to give him 136 points.

After a really full sea at the start the fast ebbing tide left a steep shingle drop off and it is amazing to see how much water disappears on a big tide. Towards the end the swell start to drop off and a nice relatively flat gully was left between the outer bank and the shore. This is ideal feeding ground for Flounders at the bottom of the ebb and this certainly proved to be the case here. This was demonstrated by flounder man Dave Burr (Peg 5) who found 6 of them up to 29cm at the end to go with his other 3 flatties and Whiting. Charlie Frary on end Peg 1 struggled for the first 2 hours without a fish but then found 3 Bass to go with his 6 flatties for 145 points.

MIKE WATTS (Peg 4) was into his usual metronome mode with a little bit of distance and as usual found his usual bucket full of 10 Dabs with one of 30cm but could not connect with the big points Flounders which were all around him although he did manage a 37cm Bass early on and lost a nice fish in the surf with a final total of 193 points and on the podium in third place. TOM GIBBS (Peg 2) got off to a flyer with a 30cm Flounder and his Pete’s Bait lug were working well for him finding more Flounders and a 41cm Bass. Slack water saw his fish dry up but the return of the tide towards the end saw him pick up a couple of 31cm Flounders. In total he found 8 Flounders, 2 Dabs and a Bass for 279 points and runner-up in the match.

Surprise winner on the day was TONY THOMAS (Peg 3) who was struggling for the first 2 hours with just a slinky 25cm Whiting, a 30cm Flounder and 20cm Dab. These were all at a little distance with clip downs on lug and crab but a switch to flappers and long snoods with straight blows and wrigglers in the gully brought results with 31cm and 32cm Flounders plus a 48cm eel. Then the penultimate cast brought a treble shot of Flounders of 27cm and 28cm plus a 38cm Bass worth 100 points resulting in 353 points from 16 fish.

Heaviest Flat was a 32cm (13oz) Flounder shared by JOHN CARTER & TONY THOMAS. Heaviest Round was a 41cm (1lb 7oz) Bass taken by TOM GIBBS. Altogether 95 fish (41 Dabs, 33 Flounders, 16 Bass, 3 Whiting, 1 Rockling and 1 Eel) were recorded weighing 34lb 7oz.

An interesting competitive match in testing conditions where the lower order pegs seem to do better although this may have been because how they were fished. A good indicator for the Bass Festival but if the weather calms off all of this could change. The Hounds are not far away and they could come in if this happens and then crab could come into its own. The Bass are certainly here, not a lot in this match but young Henry (not so young these days) has been getting scoolies just a short distance off shore within casting range up to 3lb and on feathers so lug, wrigglers and rag are going to be a must. With over 100 booked in it could be another cracking Bass Festival and it is Penn Plus, thank you Sea Angler. Booking deadline has been extended to Friday 10th May.

Next Club match and Open is the first round of the West Norfolk Challenge on Kings Lynn West Bank north on SATURDAY 11TH MAY fishing 9:30-2:30 HW 11:37 4.3m. All bookings to 07780793141. … Tony T

Top 10 Individuals (on the day) …

1...Tony Thomas………..7lb.5 2/3oz...(16 Fish) (Peg 3)

2...Tom Gibbs……........5lb.13oz……...(12 Fish) (Peg 2)

3...Mike Watts…..…….…4lb.1/3oz…....(11 Fish) (Peg 4)

4...Dave Burr………………3lb.6 1/3oz....(10 Fish) (Peg 5)

5...Charlie Frary………….3lb.1/3oz......( 9 Fish) (Peg 1)

6...Albert Randlesome..2lb.0oz……..…( 6 Fish) (Peg 6)

7...Richard Ling…………...2lb.2/3oz…...(14 Fish) (Peg 12)

8...Kevin Green............1lb.15 1/3oz.( 6 Fish) (Peg 7)

9...John Carter…...........1lb.12oz……..( 4 Fish) (Peg 9)

10.Bev Self…………………...0lb.15 1/3oz.( 3 Fish) (Peg 8)

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