EDP report 26/08/15

The blustery wind made for some interesting conditions over the weekend. There was quite a nice surf on the eastern beaches and a few bass showed up to feed in it. There were reports of catches from Sheringham down to Scratby with bass, smoothound pups and flatties putting in an appearance. Before the sea roughed up a bit there were mackerel here and there along the shingle though the fish I’ve seen have been generally small. There have been some nice bass show on the wash beaches too. Holt SAC fished the final round of the West Norfolk Challenge last weekend at Kings Lynn. Henry Randell took the top spot on the day with an excellent 14 fish for 6lb 12oz and shared the heaviest fish with Richard Burt, both carding 1lb flounders. Dave Read was second with 6lb 6oz, and Mark Borley third with 5lb 10oz. Henry’s win was enough to land him the title of West Norfolk Challenge Champion with just 4 penalty points. Richard Burt was second with 6 points beating Ed Driver on weight with the same 6 points. There were a couple of shads caught in the match, these herring like fish are protected and cannot be registered in matches. We get a few around the coast every year, I’ve never caught one myself but have seen a few, they’re very distinctive, a quick google should find you reference pictures. If you are lucky enough to catch one, take a picture and return it as soon as you can.

There were a few smoothound pups around Yarmouth though I never heard of any over the weekend, probably due to the sea state. Below Yarmouth and there were some sole and pups from the recently reopened south pier at Lowestoft. I was saddened to hear of the angling related mess along the pier, people have put a lot of effort in over the last 18 months or so to regain access to the pier for angling, if people do not respect the facility and use it responsibly there’ll be nobody else to blame if access is revoked. Please take your mess home with you or at least find a bin for it. There have been some codling further south with fish to 4lb reported at Orford along with a few school bass. There’s an autumnal feel in the air and thoughts will turn to the codling soon and the usual whiting hordes. There’s quite a bit of south through this week and into the weekend, couple with building tides and high water at dusk in the north and dark in the south, there should be a few fish about this weekend, looks particularly good for some sole.

EDP report 19/08/15

Some nice sole catches in the south of the patch seemed to coincide with the new moon, other than that it's been business as usual around the coast.

Charlie Needham and Chris Palmer tried the beaches less fished around the wash and were rewarded with some half decent bass with several fish in the 4lb bracket. We're coming to that time of the year where there's usually one or two better ones caught as they feed up for the southward migration. I was talking to a mate and we both noted that we hadn't seen or heard of a double this year which is unusual, there were some nice 7-9lb fish but none making the magical ten.

Been some school bass and a few flats on the shingle and the eastern beaches along with those pups that seem to hang around Yarmouth. Lowestoft and southwards has been all about the sole and I've seen some super catches of fish between 35-40cm, lovely eating too!

EDP report 12/08/15

EDP report 5/08/15

A much quieter week on the regions beaches, weed has played a big part in that on the northern and eastern beaches. Sport here has been limited to a few mackerel on the shingle and occasional school bass on the eastern beaches. It has been less of a problem the further down the coast you go, there have been a few smoothounds around Yarmouth and sole catches have been quite good from Lowestoft down to the Ness.

Last weekend saw the Sizewell Sole match well attended. The soles showed up along with plenty of school bass and eels along with smoothounds pups. Dave Cook took the honours with 5lb 8oz. Tommy Canham in second with 5lb 6oz, over 4lb of which were soles. Third place went to Simon Stelios Roberts with 3lb 12oz, a well attended match with great results.