EDP report 30/10/13

A few match reports to catch up on this week, they give a great indication of what’s going on around the coast. In the north of the patch the Monday evening Ritegear league fished the old high at Sheringham. Lots of whiting and a fair few flats obliged, Mike Gill took advantage of an end peg with 10 fish for 4lb 7oz, 2nd place went to Steve Scholes with 3lb 2oz and third to Ian Lambert with 2lb 14oz. At the other end of the patch it was the Breakaway Tackle open, whiting again were the mainstay with a few codling and dogfish mixed in. Bob Bridges took the honours with 12 fish for 8lb 7oz, Rob Tuck had 17 fish for 8lb 3oz and Cameron Turner third with 12 for 7lb 5oz.

Not to be left out the mark Alsop memorial match was fished in the middle of the patch at Yarmouth. John Abbott ran out winner in a match he has supported and help organise since Mark’s untimely death, John managed 8lb 1oz, Richard Jacobs had 7lb 10oz, and narrowly in third was Adrian Crane with 7lb 6oz. Gary Medler had the biggest flat with a 30cm dab and my old mate Simon Stelios Roberts had the biggest round with a 45cm dogfish. Luckily for the competitors and organisers the stormy weather didn’t curtail sport with the wind behind the anglers for the most part though windblown sand is always a nuisance, particularly in your reels! The weather for the week ahead has the wind off the land for most of the week with a swing to southerly into the weekend. The south of the region should be where the codling are most likely to show, building tides and evening high waters will give chances around the coast, whiting should oblige at most venues if you can’t find the codling.

EDP report 23/10/13

Patchy sport this week despite some good tides, a few more codling and some nice ones for autumn along with school bass and whiting have made up the bulk of catches. Weed spoiled some potentially good sport in the east of the region, those anglers toughing out the weed found some big whiting and codling to 2lb. There were some nice flats and school bass to and odd fish were reported from Cromer, Trimingham, Mundesley, and down to Bacton. In the far south there have been more codling but not really with any consistency, the whiting however seem to be consistent on most of the beaches from Yarmouth down to Orford. In the deep south there have been a few dogfish amongst the whiting and odd codling. It was the Aldeburgh Blind open match last Sunday and a tough day for those competing, Clacton raiders took the top three spots on a very tough day, but the real story was 10 year old Morgan Adams who finished fourth of the 125 anglers fishing. Morgan had whiting and flats for her 2lb 3oz, winning her section and taking fourth overall in a very strong field, I’m sure dad’s very proud, well done Morgan a great result.

Well done Morgan!

Kayakers did better just off Corton with some nice early season codling, those extra few hundred yards certainly seeming to make the difference. There seems to have been shoals of codling sitting just off Corton for the last couple of years with them only making occasional forays into casting range, though I’m convinced that a rough up will have them in for a feed. The shingle in the north has produced some nice sized dabs with some fish over 30cm, a nice easy fish too if you can avoid the weed. Tides are falling away now after the full moon tides, there’s a good southerly forecast this week which should give some nice conditions below Lowestoft, though it’s worth a chuck wherever you can right now.

EDP report 16/10/13

A wild week with seas unfishable for large parts of the week in the north and east of the region, those that did brave the conditions were rewarded with some nice school bass and codling. Weed made fishing the shingle difficult and there were few catch reports as a result. East Norfolk was a little better and there some good bass catches from Cromer, Trimingham and Mundesley. Christian Bulch of Team Sabre Tackle had some superb flounders to 1lb 8oz and a nice plump bass at Cromer in between the storms. Small codling continue to show below Yarmouth. Jamie bale had four in a nice session at Cromer, the biggest around 3lb though he said that anglers fishing nearby seemed to miss out indicating they can be quite tightly shoaled.

Below Lowestoft and there’s a little more consistency, small codling and whiting have figured in catches from north beach down to Aldeburgh. I fished Aldeburgh with Justin Grapes on Sunday evening, conditions were good as we arrived with the sea coloured and rolling, unfortunately the conditions soon died back as the wind went south westerly and apart from a 2lb codling for Justin, it was occasional whiting for most of the anglers fishing. That south westerly flattened the sea off right round the coast and also brought with it plenty of weed from Cromer down. There’s definitely a feeling that we could have a decent winter season this year, the fish that are about this early seem to be in fine fettle and a reasonable size for so early in the season, some frosts wouldn’t hurt or to hang on to this low pressure for a while, all things even I think we have every right to be optimistic this year.

Aldeburgh 13/10/13

Fished Aldeburgh with Justin Grapes a couple of hours either side of high water. Rob Allen, Charlie et al were towards the Martello Tower, we wondered up but there was no inspiration there as they'd only had whiting.

We set up a few groins back towards the town, sea was lovely when we got there, rolling and coloured but given Rob and co. hadn't caught in the "perfect" conditions we were not too optimistic, best chance for us would come around dark we thought.

Despite the dodgy technique, it goes far enough for fishing.

Justin was first in with a ting and I got hung up on the blokes kit from the bay to my right. Gen etc will tell you I have been known to be wayward, however on this occasion it was the geezer next door, no harm done, we both get our kit back and I'm soon back out again.

Justin's codling, just about 2lb and a couple of nice plump fillets in my fridge!

I had a ting then Justin managed a codling just as Rob and co. pulled up to say goodbye. A bit of a boost from the codling, I miss a proper slackie and apart from a few more whiting thats about it. Packed up and home for 10pm and I thoroughly loved it, thanks to Justin for encouraging me to get out, I owe you one matey.

EDP report 09/10/13

Indian summers and codling doesn’t seem to quite fit right but that’s what we’ve had, at least in the south of the patch. Good catches of small codling have been reported from Orford, Aldeburgh and up as far as Dunwich. Some better whiting have put in an appearance around Lowestoft too, though it seems to get patchier the further north you go. The Gorleston Tackle Open was fished at Gorleston and Hopton last Sunday, tough conditions for the 60 odd anglers fishing with high temperatures and bright sunshine. Martin Grossman ran out winner in a strong field with 3lb 7oz, Gary Medler second with 2lb12oz and Grimsby raider George Smith third with 2lb 3oz.

Those summer days look set to fade fast through this week, with some north and east winds forecast to take the edge off the warm temperatures, rain and cloud cover too will have it feeling more autumnal but potentially give us some better fishing conditions. I think the ebb into darkness even on the falling tides will produce more of those 1.5lb codling we’ve seen in the south. Into the weekend, and assuming the forecast is accurate, the sea may well be a bit lively the east and north of the region, if you can time the afternoon ebb with the wind and sea easing though you should have good chances of codling or a late bass here too.

EDP report 02/10/13

Catch reports took me by surprise this last week, I expected whiting and school bass and there had been one or two codling caught in the south of the region, but I didn’t have high hopes for the week due mainly to the east in the wind. How wrong can you be, I saw catches of 6, 7, 10 codling at Aldeburgh and Orford, several at Southwold and Thorpeness and even a few at Mundesley and Trimingham. The fish aren’t huge but are a decent early season stamp with most between 1.5 and 2.5lb. That size have hung around right through the winter and into the spring in the not too distant past so hopes are high for a long successful season this year, it’s certainly off to a flyer!

It hasn’t all been codling though, there are still school bass showing at lots of beaches right round the coast and sole in the south, the wind through this week has it a fairly stiff southeast which will put a lump on in the south of the patch and may well signal the last of the sole for this year. Ritegear Tackle fished the shingle last Monday in the second of their Monday night series, only under sized dabs were caught until the weed started and forced the abandonment of the match. A shame because I think there would have been chances here too of a codling or more likely a bass in the rough conditions. As I’ve already mentioned, the wind looks good for more cod below Lowestoft, particularly at Orford and Aldeburgh, a proper Atlantic low with the southeast wind will keep a surf and colour in the sea which I’m sure will keep the codling coming.