EDP report 10/03/10

It’s been a tough couple of months on the regions beaches and the form looks to continue in the same vane for the next week or so. I don’t have a full set of match results, those I have seen would tend to back up the pleasure anglers reports, with few fish caught at all and those that have been caught have tended to be flatfish and undersize codling. Reports from Walberswick, Kessingland, right round the coast to Cley make similar reading with flatfish and undersize round fish caught if anything, though I notice a couple of school bass mentioned too.

Sheringham ace Tony Thomas won Holt’s last match of their winter league fixtures with two flounders at Trimingham, I think I’m right in stating that would be the win that seals the league title for Tony this year in a close run competition. A friendly “Dads v Lads” match at Pakefield over the weekend saw 33 anglers compete in reasonable fishing conditions. Like Holt’s match this match was won with two flatfish, Roger Tipple’s flounder and dab enough to claim individual honours for the Lads team, in fact Roger was the only angler to card more than one fish! It wasn’t enough to see the Lads to a team win though as the Dads filled the next four places, I’m told experience won through on the day. Sorry state of affairs though when only 5 of the 33 fishing caught and then carded less than 1.5m of fish, even with some top local anglers competing.

As you’d expect with a season like this, there’s been a lot of conjecture about when the spring run of codling will start and if we’ll have one at all. I think we will get a few cod back, but I think it’ll be when we’re fishing for bass in the mid to late spring. Commercial fishermen I’ve spoken with tell me there are large shoals of herrings and sprats still and without any signs of low pressure to break up those shoals, the cod will be munching their way through them assuming they’ve finished spawning, I guess the only good news is that they should be packing on the weight. I don’t think we’ll see the mature fish in spring though, I think it’ll be the smaller 2 to 4lb fish if we see any, the larger fish tend to be fish eaters and won’t be grubbing around for crabs, shrimps and worms with their smaller cousins. Hopefully the bigger fish will put in an appearance next Autumn when there should be some real monsters among them. Without the luxury of the gulf stream warming our waters and with the surface temperature currently around 4-5 Celsius, it’s going to be a little while before things start to shift again, some wise old hands reckon the next set of spring tides will mark an upturn, I hope they’re right, personally I think we’ll see some codling back when the bass arrive just as the shore crabs start to moult.

EDP report 03/03/10

The past week has seen a return to unsettled and at times stormy weather around the region. There seems to have been little respite from the freezing temperatures as we move into March though the forecast for the week ahead holds some promise for some brighter weather at least, though we are set to continue with the hard frosts. Extended daylight hours are never a bad thing, and I’m hopeful that we’ll start to see a slow but steady improvement on the beaches over the next few weeks.

Around the region though, the consistently poor returns continue, only the North Norfolk shingle has produced anything in the way of numbers of fish with most anglers managing a few dabs and flounders when conditions are favourable. Down the coast a little between Sheringham and Yarmouth sport has been very slow, the few anglers fishing have caught even fewer fish. These beaches seem to be the worst affected by the cold, there’s more sand exposed to the freezing temperatures with each tide cycle than the rest of the regions beaches and this seems to have had an effect on the natural food sources the fish are looking for. Yarmouth to Lowestoft hasn’t faired much better either, Paul Blyth fished Lowestoft south pier for a couple of flats and a pout despite a concerted effort to get as much bait in the water as he could with his ten hook flappers! Reports from below Lowestoft have been consistent with the rest of the region, with only occasional flats, pouting and pin whiting reported from Walberswick, Dunwich and Southwold.

You might hope to find some sport in the relative warmth and shelter of the regions deep water venues of Aldeburgh and Orford, judging by the reports it’s not to be and these venues are producing small fish in small numbers in line with the rest of the regions beaches. If we are to have a spring run of codling this year, it shouldn’t be long in starting and as the days get a little longer the extra daylight should start to trigger changes on the beaches which can only be for the better.

EDP report 24/02/10

These really have proved to be two difficult months for East Anglia’s sea anglers. Apparently it’s been the coldest winter for 30 years, it certainly felt like that on the beach at Mundesley on Saturday night. Needless to say I didn’t manage so much as a bite despite superb looking sea conditions, the reports I’ve seen haven’t been much better anywhere else either.

Starting in the south of the region, 24 anglers recently fished a club match at Orford Ness, only four sizeable fish were weighed in, two codling were the highlight of the day at 2lb 7 and 2lb 9oz. It’s no better as we head up the coast, the guys in the kayaks are still finding a few out of casting range of the beach anglers, but again these tend to be those 2-3lb codling that aren’t quite ready to join their larger brethren spawning yet. Precious few whiting and only occasional flatties and rockling have been showing in the Lowestoft area though I did see a nice plump 3lber from Tramps Alley last Friday, again the exception rather than the rule.

Reports from Yarmouth have been scant with only occasional flatfish showing, blanks seems to be the dominant result from here up to Cromer, the shallow sandy beaches of east Norfolk suffering most at the hands of winter it seems. Fishing is more consistent once you get above Sheringham to the shingle ridge. Not too much beach is exposed at low water so the sand doesn’t get frosted like the east Norfolk beaches, the flatties seem to like that and one or two nice flounders and dabs have shown amongst the palm sized flatfish. Matt Lawes had a nice flounder nudging the lb mark at Cley last Saturday, though that was the only fish of the 7 hour plus session.

In the Holt SAC latest club match at Salthouse last Sunday, the competitors were greeted with a dusting of snow at the draw and icy blizzard conditions plagued them throughout the match. It didn’t stop the flatties feeding though and the 12 anglers fishing carded 54 fish that were all subsequently returned. Paul Fenech continued his recent good form catching 10 fish for 2lb 4oz, Dene Conway held off Tony Thomas for second spot with 1lb 11oz against Tony’s 1lb 9oz. It’s been a pretty competitive season for the Holt club and with two matches to fish the league title is still wide open.

The weather forecast for the coming week holds little or no respite from the cold weather that’s had such a bearing on our sport this winter, with March on the horizon and a change bound to happen before long, things can only get better.

Mundesley 20/02/10

Geno talked me into a half assed session at Mundesley on Saturday. Mrs Aitch must be feeling sorry for me, it was to be my second trip in 2010 and the decorating's coming on fine, so the lump picked me up at 1630 and we were fishing by 1700. I didn't have any bait aside some herrings that have been in the freezer too long, so the lump gave me a wrap of blacks. I used two worms, passed him the wrap back and by 2000 we were in the Haig enjoying a warm and a pint.

Surely got to be something feeding in that?

It was nice to get out, the sea looked cracking, unfortunately it's devoid of life within casting range at the minute, still castingwebs blown away and I'm looking forward to start planning ray trips, the first bass etc etc roll on the spring!

I need to get my kit sorted before ray trips etc.

EDP report 17/02/10

I’d hoped that things might have improved a little over last weekend, unfortunately it wasn’t to be and it’s been another tough week on the regions beaches. It seems a long time since we had a “traditional” winter like this one, I remember them well, there’s be some good catches between October and Christmas then the fish would be off to spawn with only the springers putting in an appearance from around March. The few codling that are being caught seem to be those springer sized fish, generally 2 to 3lb. I’ve seen reports from commercial netsmen that the sprats have all but gone so there’s still a chance we might see a few better fish inshore before easter, we need to lose this cold weather first though.

Richard Greeves managed to get out in his boat off Orford, a stretch Richard knows well, his local knowledge didn’t help him as he could only manage a solitary 4lb codling for his efforts. Beach sport in the Suffolk area is slow too, with only a few flatfish and occasional codling showing at Orford, Aldeburgh and Southwold. Marginally better luck for those fishing the Yarmouth and Lowestoft areas. Some kayakers had a few whiting and small codling off Pakefield and Gorleston though the fish seem mostly out of range for the beach anglers. Lots of blank returns have been reported from Gorleston pier up to Cromer, those lucky enough not to blank have flatfish and pin whiting to thank.

The north Norfolk shingle often held some decent whiting in January and February, match reports though have been dominated by the humble flatty and round fish have been at a premium. Last Sunday saw the latest round of the North Norfolk teams of 5 league at Kelling. Fish were hard to find on the day, Trev Elliot showed a bit of class and won with 2lb 10oz, Paul Thorburn came in second 2lb 3oz with Clyde Leggett third with 1lb 13oz. It’s a pretty competitive league this year, with only 30 points separating the top five teams. Trev’s fine win helped Avenue Angling to a team win on the day  and they’ve closed the gap to runaway leaders, Gorleston Tackle, to 9 points. I’m still optimistic we’ll get a bit of sport returning to our beaches before easter, things can only get better!

Aidan's firs proper go.

9th July

The little bugger was in and waking me at 4:30, I'd hoped he'd sleep in and half forget that I'd promised to take him down the Thurne. No such look and he was dressed before I'd cleaned my teeth.

A quick flask knocked up and gear loaded into the car only to find my chest freezer has packed up. Fecking pain as it's full of chicken and fish, a bloody freezer full gone. It's going to stink like a Taliban cave this time of the year too, just my luck that I can't get rid of it for a fortnight, it was the grey bin yesterday. Anyway, I'll sort the freezer later, gear loaded and off we go.

I think he was surprised to see cars about and people walking dogs, he thought he'd have the world to himself at that time of day. We had the river to ourselves at 5:30. I set up around 4m of pole with the last two sections to hand, it's not a deep river. I had some groundbait that I'd taken out of the oven that used to be a freezer and dropped a couple of golf ball sized lumps in. Plumbed up and despite my best efforts to explain what I was doing he was in the maggots and really just wanted to get fishing. I slipped a single red maggot onto the size 20 (give me a 3/0 any day), dropped it in and passed him the pole.

First put and it's running down nice and easy before burying, he lifts nice and steady and his first roach, probably the size of his hand is in the net. "Easy isn't it dad" oh boy has he got a lot to learn! I know I'm biased, what dad isn't? but he handled the pole really well, no smacking against the water or hooks flying through the air, just nice steady and gentle, not a natural but pretty good given its his first go. Lots of roach, silvers and the occasional rudd followed and he was as good as gold, certainly took to it better than I did at 8. I reckon you can see from the picture that he's comfortable with the tackle and he's certainly concentrating, we are going to have so much fun over the coming years, mum will be pleased!

He wants to get something bigger than 6oz now, he's talking carp and tench! I may swap him for one of Geno's girls, he'll learn much more about this coarse fishing lark with the lump.