East Anglia Sea Angling
My own thoughts on my fishing and related exploits in 'Bootiful' East Anglia
EDP report 25/01/12 A funny old week weather wise didn’t seem to impact the fishing too much and sport has continued in a similar vein. North Norfolk shingle has produced whiting and flats, I’ve been surprised there haven’t been more codling caught in the rough ground along there as there have been some super seas. The latest Holt club match was won by Bill Beeton with 10 fish for 1lb 7oz with Dene Conway sharing the spoils with the same weight from 7 fish, the fishing was hampered by worsening conditions and the guys caught most of their flatties early doors, Ashley Vertican was in third with 1lb 5oz. A few codling have been reported and rumoured from Cromer down to Sea Palling with some rumoured from Bacton, hardly surprising given the sea conditions we’ve had, lovely chocolate coloured seas with heavy surfs making ideal codling conditions. Palling to Lowestoft and it has been quiet, there are still whiting and occasional flats above and below Yarmouth, I reckon a good old easterly will have those codling hanging offshore inside. Gorleston down to Corton has seen a few rods out with a few lucky anglers managing to snare a codling though as it has been most of the season, they are the exception rather than the rule. Below Lowestoft and it’s a similar story right the way down to Aldeburgh and Orford where there have been a few codling to 3lb, the trick is to go with low expectations and high hopes! Without any east in the forecast I think those fish will hang just offshore eating sprats, all the wind is in the west with a touch of north into the weekend again, strikingly similar to the week just gone. Temperatures are set to drop and this may kick start something but I think we really need a change in the air flow for a day or two to really stir things up, a good easterly would do Yarmouth and Lowestoft a power of good.EDP report 18/01/12 There have been some super seas over this week, east and north Norfolk have seen chocolate coloured swells that scream cod, unfortunately the cod haven’t read the script and it’s been more whiting and flatfish with the very occasional small codling around Cromer. A couple of friends fished at Bacton in as good a looking sea as I’ve seen in a while, they only managed whiting, with one of them snaring the biggest rockling he’d set eyes on. I always associate rockling with easterlies, they will tend to feed when little else is and, in my experience, they are usually the kiss of death for any other fish being caught, personally I haven’t caught codling when I’ve caught rockling and it was no surprise to me when they didn’t. EDP report 11/01/12 With some pretty heavy seas in the north and east of the region hopes were high of a few codling showing this last week. The winds did their best and there were a few codling in the 2-3lb bracket in the Cromer area but not the hoped for numbers given the good conditions, though in fairness there wasn’t a lot of rods out chasing them! In the far south there were a few codling on Orford, though I haven’t been told of anything bigger than about 3lb it’s still nice to hear of a few, and if they’re at Orford there should be some along the wall at Aldeburgh and round to Southwold. Lowestoft to Yarmouth and they appear to be hanging offshore still though boat anglers are reporting lots of sprats about. This will fixate the cod for a while and beach caught fish will be a bonus unless the sprat shoals come inshore or are driven in by sea conditions. There are still dabs and whiting to target off most of the regions beaches so it’s definitely worth a chuck whilst the weathers holding mild and dry. The shingle ridge has again produced some nice whiting with the flatfish and a few codling in the rough stuff around Weybourne and most beaches seem to have a few fish about. The wind in the week ahead has a little more northwest into the weekend so there may well be a few more codling in the east, reasonable evening tides give reasonable chances too, let’s hope there’s a few this week.EDP report 04/01/12 I had hoped some of the good fish hanging a mile or two off Lowestoft might have put in a beach appearance over the holidays, unfortunately they’re still hanging about well out of casting range. We had some decent seas in the north and east of the region though I haven’t heard of any codling caught here the last week. I fished myself just before New Year, the seas made the beaches unfishable so I fished Cromer pier with a mate. We had some of the biggest whiting we’d seen in a while, some chunky 40cm plus specimens, but unfortunately none of the codling we’d hoped for in the heavy seas. On the shingle ridge in north Norfolk there’s some decent whiting amongst the palm sized dabs, they’ll probably hang around for a week or two now and should make for some good match catches. Southwards to the Yarmouth area and I could cut and paste last week’s write up! There are a few codling, but they are few and far between and I get the impression from reports that the whiting are thinning a little though they are still there snaffling baits meant for others. The boats off Lowestoft have had more decent fish a mile or two off and rumours persist of some good fish off Orford, though beach reports tell a familiar story of whiting and little else. I’m surprised that we haven’t had hordes of immature codling this year as I would have imagined last year was a pretty good spawning year given the cold weather, they may well turn up on our beaches as thoughts turn to bass so it’s not all doom and gloom just yet, and as everybody knows they are a fickle fish. The wind from today onwards has a lot of north and west in it, this could provide some sport in east and north Norfolk but do take care on the beach with a heavy sea. In the south of the patch I think we’ll see the whiting thinning out and maybe, just maybe, a codling or two.
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