EDP report 27/02/13

A quiet couple of weeks on the regions beaches, and pretty typical of the time of year. Holt Sac fished the shingle a week back and hoped to follow up on the excellent sport from the previous week. It seems as though those whiting that bumped up all of the catch weights have gone and only a few flats showed up. Pete Morse took the top spot with 1lb 10oz, Bill Beeton was second with 1lb 9oz and Sam Attew third with 1lb 8oz, a close match if nothing like the action of the previous week. There’s rarely much good in an easterly in my opinion and this seems to have been borne out by the catches on the east Norfolk beaches. Rockling, flats and occasional codlets and whiting have made the reports with hardly a sizeable fish reported.

Yarmouth and Lowestoft have been no better than further up, and I notice that the boat catches mainly include flatfish and whiting, codling seem to be a bonus. It’s usually tough on our beaches at this time of the year, couple the season with biting easterlies and it’s twice as hard. Jamie Bale managed a few codlets at Kessingland, and there have been one or two more immature fish from Southwold, Aldeburgh and Orford, again sizeable fish are a bonus from beach or boat. I don’t expect sport to pick up now until we get into March and we lose the high pressure and east winds, it’ll be well worth a chuck once we do lose them though and there should be some different species to target.

EDP report 20/02/13

Missed.

EDP report 13/02/13

A funny old week on the regions beaches, wind was all over and the temperatures up and down like the proverbial created a mixed set of results. Some beaches seemed almost barren of sizeable fish one day then thick with them the next, that was certainly true of the north Norfolk shingle. A friend fished Weybourne on Saturday and struggled to find a sizeable fish with only undersized whiting and dabs for his efforts. Holt SAC fish the same stretch on the Sunday and had their best match in years! Henry Randell decimated a strong field from a good draw at the wreck and landed 58 fish for a converted weight of 26lb 15oz of predominantly whiting. James Pearce had 41 fish and 15lb 6oz for second with Ritegear superstar Dene Conway in third with an ounce over 14lb. Teams on the day were North Norfolk Lads with 6 points, Gutter Bashers with 7 and the Holt crack offs with 11 points. There were a total of 647 fish carded for a staggering 229lb, over 500 sizeable whiting were caught.

Not quite the same story on the east Norfolk beaches. Cromer, Trimingham, and Mundesley all produced a few whiting and dabs but also a little bit of weed on the flood. Similar bits and pieces showed from Bacton down to Yarmouth, below Yarmouth and chances of a codling improve. There have been odd ones caught at the wreck in Gorleston and at Hopton, though chances improve again from Corton to Ness point. Boats have had little other than whiting to show for their efforts and the tight shoals that have sat off Corton for a couple of years now seem to be harder to locate. Lowestoft down to Aldeburgh and Orford have produced occasional codling amongst the whiting and I’ve heard of a few dogfish off Orford. Falling tides and mid-day high waters over the weekend means it could be tough, particularly with westerly winds though a decent southerly on Thursday might just spark some action south of Lowestoft.

EDP report 06/02/13

The northerly air flow over last weekend put some colour and life into the sea around our coast generally and particularly from Yarmouth northwards. Holt SAC fished a club match at Salthouse the competitors landing over 90 dabs and 60 whiting between them. Rite Gear star Dene Conway took the top honours with 24 fish for 6lb 10oz, Tony Thomas was a half-pound further back with 6lb 2oz and Paul Thorburn third with 5lb 5oz. Some of the whiting were good sized with fish to 36cm and a 34cm flounder for Pete Loke. I fished Trimingham myself on Sunday morning in a superb sea. The wind had dropped leaving a lovely rolling sea with plenty of colour. Unfortunately the fish didn’t respond to the conditions and all I had to show for my efforts was undersized codling and whiting, only two of the whiting were sizeable, friends had similar catches along there, though it was good to be out in the fresh air.

There have been occasional codling from Gorleston to Hopton amongst the whiting and flats and a few more codling round at Corton and along north beach, though this usually consistent venue has not shown the form of previous years. When the boats have been able to get out they are only returning a few codling that appear to be tightly shoaled off Corton. The further south you go and your chances improve of a codling and Aldeburgh and Orford have probably been the most reliable beaches this season. I’m surprised there haven’t been more immature fish this year, our friends in Essex have seen lots of small codling off some of the Essex beaches and in the estuary though they don’t seem to come north of Clacton in any numbers. There should be some good conditions again this coming weekend with more north in the forecast lifting the building tides, I still think it will be hard, February is traditionally tough on our beaches.