EDP report 30/05/12

Some good sport over the last week, the warm settled spell encouraging a few decent hounds inshore and the bass have continued to feed too. The shingle in the north has seen some lovely fish, smoothounds to 8lb and bass to 7lb in reports, though it’s often a waiting game with the hounds, when they do show the sport can be crazy. Holt Sac fished the latest match in the summer accumulator series on the Ouse at Kings Lynn, Richard Ellis took the top spot with 4lb 10oz of flounders and eels, John Carter came second with 4lb 4.5oz which included a nice flounder of 1lb 5oz whilst Sheringham ace Tony Thomas was a further pound back in third with 3lb 1oz. Holt are a long established club and very active in our area, if you want to fish a match or perhaps join a club and learn a bit from the experienced hands there you can get more information at www.holtseaanglingclub.com the guys there will be happy to help you.

There have been some hounds and bass along the eastern edge too though the hounds have been generally smaller with many around the 1-3lb mark and a few better ones to 7lb reported. I’m hoping to have a chuck at those scrappers this week as long as the weather plays ball, a nothing southerly in the middle of the week looks favourable and I’ll be looking to fish the flood on one of the east beaches. Down towards Yarmouth and there have been some bass and small hounds about either side of Yarmouth and a few down beyond Lowestoft at Minsmere. I still haven’t seen any sole reported from the south pier or Southwold‘s town beaches but it can only be a matter of time before they show. With the wind picking up northerly again towards the weekend, and this coupled with some building tides I can see there being more bass about, the best chances of hounds this week will be in the early part of the week, but reasonable chances of some sport on most of the regions beaches.

EDP report 23/05/12

Another decent week on the regions beaches with it seems something to catch on most of our beaches. Down in the south of the patch at Orford and there have been dogfish and small smoothounds amongst other bits and bobs, including a small ray I saw in one report, the bass seem a bit thinner on the ground down here though there seems to be some variety at least. Further up the coast to Dunwich saw Dene Conway lead a string field in a twenty strong match. Bass and smoothound pups were the order of the day and Dene’s 12 fish for 6lb 5oz saw him take the honours by 2lbs from Stebby with Dave read a further pound back in third. Not content with hammering the field in the south, Dene then repeated the form in north Norfolk with 23 flounders and dabs for 4lb 12oz and two wins in a weekend! Dene reckons it’s because he has the rite gear, I put it down to skill, dexterity and a mountain of luck!

In the east of the region there have been a few bass and smoothound pups, I feel sure that as it warms up this week and we lose the north and east out of the wind that there will be some proper hounds on the feed. Sport with these fish can be manic, crab baits in a flat sea will see you have great chances with these hard fighting sharks. Plenty of more bass have shown from Yarmouth up to Cromer, the biggest I’ve seen so far has been 11lb 8oz, a cracker for sure but I had hoped we’d see a few more doubles and those fish approaching doubles. There seem to be quite a few bass in the 3-5lb bracket, great fish in their own right but not the doubles some of the specimen hunters want at this time of the year.

The shingle has produced a few bass and the usual flats including a pretty little turbot for matt Lawes. Matt was fishing for bass with large crab baits on 4/0 pennels when the feisty little flattie snaffled his bait, pretty little fish and there’s usually one or two caught most years around now. With lots of north and east in the forecast this week I can’t see the bigger hounds showing but there should be a few bass about in the surf, watch for a break in the weather though and as soon as the wind goes south I think the hounds will be in.

Matt the Splatt Lawes' turbo, pretty hent they!

EDP report 16/05/12

There have been some cracking fish caught this last week and I think things will improve as the tides build again to the new moon springs. There have been plenty of bass in the north of the patch, chances are good anywhere from Cley down to Yarmouth at the minute. Fish to 11lb have been reported and there have been plenty between 4 and 7lb reported. Cromer pier has produced bass to 8lb as have the surrounding beaches though they didn’t show for me and Digger last Sunday! Apart from a few rattles on the rod top there was no sign of fish, though in mitigation we did pick a flat neap and a venue where the tide never covered half the beach, we’ll be trying again soon though.

Holt SAC’s latest match at Cley was won with a couple of bass. Ivan Allen snared a couple of school bass to go with his flats for 4lb 3oz, Ivan Allison had a school bass and a couple of flats for 2lb 12oz with Pete Loke in third with an all flat catch of 1lb 4oz. Local tackle business, www.ritegear.co.uk sponsored an open match on the Ouse at Kings Lynn. Lincolnshire raider George Smith showed a bit of class with an 8 fish haul for 3lb 3oz, Lowestoft’s Mark Sharman was second with 1lb 14oz and my old mate Stephen Boyce rolled up third with 1lb 10oz. A super turn out saw sixty one anglers take part, it’s great to see innovative new businesses like rite gear supporting the local angling scene.

Yarmouth down to Lowestoft and there have been a few bass about and the omni-present codling from Corton to Ness point. There have also been a few smoothound pups in Pakefield bay and round to Walberswick but the real start of the south is Paul Turrell again. For the last couple of years Paul has put a tremendous amount of effort into catching the elusive thornbacks that run up the estuaries to spawn, after 5 or 6 blank sessions Paul’s patience finally paid off with a cracking thornback ray of 12lb 3oz, a new personal best which makes the effort all the more worthwhile. The forecast for the week ahead should produce some surfy conditions for the north, couple this with the building tides and there are bound to be some more quality bass caught.

Paul and Ray, again!

EDP report 09/05/12

Things have carried on in the same vein as recent weeks with the north and east Norfolk beaches giving the most consistent sport. Traditionally this set of spring tides usually produce a few better fish and we’re seeing a few of those in catch reports with 4-5lb bass not uncommon anywhere from Cley down to Yarmouth. If I had to pick a couple of consistent beaches though, they would have to be the shingle at Weybourne under the cliffs, and Cart Gap on the east Norfolk sand. Both have produced some cracking bass and plenty of school bass to keep rods knocking, fish have come to lug and crab baits, though crab does seem to sort out the slightly better fish.

EDP report 02/05/12

The winds of the weekend played havoc with sport but promised some quality fishing as we move into May. Holt SAC had planned to fish the last leg of their summer accumulator at Bacton. Mountainous seas put paid to that and after a look in at Cley the match was moved to the Ouse at Kings Lynn. Lots of freshwater running into the estuary didn’t help sport and aside from a few small flounders catches were poor. Henry Randell took the top spot with a solitary flounder for 6oz, Tony Thomas managed 2 fish for an eye watering 3oz with Mike Watts coming third with a single fish for 2oz. At the time of writing the sea looks perfect and I know there will have been a few bass caught in the early part of this week and I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t a few codling with them too.

Anglers braving the wind and rain on the east Norfolk beaches have been rewarded with plenty of school bass and some nice codling to 3lb from the rough ground beats, with tides building towards springs I can only see more and better bass showing over the next week or so, particularly if you can time your session to coincide with a dying northerly blow. Cart Gap round to the Yarmouth beaches have produced a few bass and codling, it shouldn’t be too long before the hounds start showing around Caister and Hopton, they’ve turned up on those beaches for a couple of years and unlike most of our beaches they seem to hang about on these beaches.

There have still been a few codling caught in the rough ground at Corton down to Ness point and there will be some nice bass along this stretch too. Lowestoft has been generally slower than the beaches above Ness point but its only a matter of time before the sole show from the south pier down and on the beaches down to Southwold. It’s definitely worth a chuck this week, building tides and a lovely rolling sea with a bit of colour will produce some decent fish, so if you can get out this is the week to do it.