NAC Match Report Kelling 31st May 2021
A pack of Hounds hit Kelling
It certainly felt like a holiday with the sun making a pleasant appearance for this bank holiday. Everyone was in holiday mood especially with the suggestion, agreed at Yarmouth, to fish Kelling as a pairs match. (Thanks for the suggestion Nathan Drewery). What would be the rules, how would we score, who was to be paired with whom, what if we had odd numbers?
15 anglers had flagged ‘going’ on the Facebook page and arrived to fish, so John Spalton elected to fish with 2 rods (thanks John), meaning that we then had 7 pairs. 2 pairs were a given with Pete and Dad Simmonds (Dad keen to show Pete how it should be done) and Tony Holmes with his partner Kim West. We welcomed Glen Cox to his first match for a long time, hope it would live up to expectations.
Russell set up 15 peg positions on the beach, with peg 15 nearer to the wreck pegging back towards Salthouse. Pegs flagged, pairs drawn, it was time to hit the beach. What about the scoring I hear you cry? Simply each card to be marked up individually so we could assign individual league points, however for this match each pairs individual score to be totalled for this match (see statistics easy to see when you have the numbers). With an expectation of a good haul, we elected to fish to size limits.
With the sun still high, the tide coming in (High Tide 23:49pm), and with an easterly breeze each pair took their place on the beach. The whistle sounded for “cast off”. It wasn’t long until we saw up and down the beach the sight of Smooth Hounds being carefully brought in through the surf. It was a case of who would catch the biggest one, quite a feat given they could not be carded until larger after 51cm (size limit).
Glen Cox fishing with Leo Smith (pegs 11/12) quickly picked up a 69cm Smooth Hound a first and personal best. Followed by Russell Taylor paired with Simon Bottomley (pegs 13/14) then picking up 82cm and 87cm Smooth Hounds. Richard Hipperson paired with Barry Iseton (pegs 7/8) seemed to have a sweet mark catching 6 hounds ranging from 60cm to 75cm. Ian Childerhouse fishing with partner Andy Turk (pegs 5/6) picked up a 76cm Smooth Hound. But Leon Smith picked up an 89cm Smooth Hound taking the honours for biggest round. With fish these sizes the points total at the end of the match would be pretty exceptional!. What of team Spalton fishing unpaired but fishing with two rods, 3 dogs (the 4 legged variety) from peg 15? John started slow but then hit his stride picking up a creditable 63cm and 75cm Smooth Hounds. Dad Simmonds of team Simmonds did show Peter what it was all about by picking up a 77cm Smooth Hound
It wasn’t just Smooth Hounds, a few Bass made an appearance with Simon Bottomley and Nathan Drewery both picking up 46cm Bass. So we have covered Smooth Hounds, Bass what other species caught in this fish fest. Further down the beach Andy Turk fishing with Ian Childerhouse (pegs 5/6) seemed to be focussing on picking up Pouting with 9 caught, beating Simon Bottomley with his own Pouting battle of 8 (but it did include a 32cm specimen). Dabs were the size of large dinner plates with Russell picking up the largest flat with a 30cm Dab, good news for the Bottomley/Taylor pairing. The pairing of Nathan Drewery and John Catchpole (pegs 9/10) were consistent through the night capturing 3rd overall, behind 2nd pair of Richard Hipperson and Barry Iseton (pegs 7/8). But both could not catch 1st pairing of Simon Bottomley and Russell Taylor (thanks for the tips/rod demo etc ….Simon) ….see match results
In total 99 fish caught weighing 102lbs 14/16oz (4907 weight points). 35/99 Pouts, 26/99 Dabs, 24/99 Smooth Hounds, 10/99 Whiting, with 3/99 Bass, 1/99 Coal Fish. And yes, Pete Simmond’s Dad achieved a creditable 308 points including a 77cm Smooth Hound. Glen Cox caught his first Smoothie, and Tony and Kim picked up Whiting and Dabs. What a haul, what a match!
I am sure there were a few personal bests of species, points, weight but any club records broken please advise.
Match Result:
Pegs Pair Weight Points/weight
13/14 Simon Bottomley / Russell Taylor 1256 26lb 3/16oz
7/8 Richard Hipperson / Barry Iseton 880 18lb 5/16oz
9/10 John Catchpole / Nathan Drewey 788 16lb 7/16oz
11/12 Glen Cox / Leon Smith 627 13lb 1/16oz
5/6 Ian Childerhouse / Andy Turk 570 11lb 14/16oz
15 Team Spalton 432 9lb
3/4 Team Simmonds 308 6lb 7/16oz
1/2 Tony Holmes / Kim West 46 15/16oz
For full individual points results see image:
Next match Monday 7th June @ Overstrand – see Facebook for details. Remember to continue to monitor WhatsApp for any last minute changes.
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