Skegness Pier Club fished their latest match on Saturday at Trunch lane, fourteen anglers fished on the flood from low water competing for the Sheffield Cup. Conditions were not ideal for the smooth hounds with a 2-3 ft surf and bright sun causing them to keep well out from the shore and only just reachable by the biggest casters.
The recently out of sorts venue had started producing hounds again after clear water conditions had pushed them offshore in the previous two weeks however, the bigger tides and strong westerlies a few days prior to the match had returned colour to the water and they had started to feed on the beaches in daylight once again.
Beach replenishment (sand pumping) work was taking place either side of the match stretch which probably helped the water colour but didn’t seem to affect the fishing. Those who drew shallower pegs despite having fresh peeler could not reach the hounds despite being impressive casters due to the large surf which is always a deterrent for hounds here.
Adie Cooper
Adie started on a flyer with a hound within two minutes of his first cast, he was using fresh crab and casting his bait a long way out at low water. He followed this up quickly with another three smoothhounds in the first half of the match. As the tide flow dropped off, deflected by the sand banks on the beach, at around half tide the bites to drop off for an hour or so but once the beach filled in with water the bites came back with the flow.
Adie with another hound and the sand pumping tug in the background
Adie adding a 97cm hound at 7pm and another smaller fish to be about level with Dave Shorthouse further along the beach who was also catching well at long range. In the last ten minutes of the match Adie retrieved his gear for a last cast only to find a sixth hound hooked without a bite this fish gave him the match win with a total length of 491cm.
Dave Shorthouse
Dave started well with three hounds averaging around 85cm in the first push of the flooding tide, he fished fresh peeler crab on a drop down rig and was blasting it to the horizon on his Century graphex Supermatch coupled with a mono-maged Abu TSR. Dave added a 97cm hound at around 7:30pm. At this point the tide had picked back up causing his rig to drag right.
Dave Shorthouse in second place with five hounds including this nice 102cm specimen
Dave decided to change rods over to a Century T900 and another modified TSR reel with low diameter line to prevent his rig moving and in the last half hour landed a nice near double figure hound of 102cm and ended the match in second place with a total length of 456cm.
Shaun Bullock
Shaun was using his Akios Air Torque rod and fixed spool loaded with Daiwa tournament line to cast a long way, clearing the waves and fishing in the flat water beyond. He missed a bite in the first hour and had another bite on his next cast using frozen crab and squid. This resulted in a decent hound of 67cm which put him in the running for third place along with his travelling partner Lee Smith who had a 90cm hound too.
Shaun Bullock casting in third place with 139cm
They knew their frozen crab couldn’t compete in the tough conditions with the fresh peeler being used but kept the pressure on to keep in touch with the leaders. Shaun had a bite in the last half hour which gave him another nice hound at 72cm and finished in third place with 139cm.
The remainder of the field who either did not have fresh crab or could not reach the hounds way out behind the surf caught mostly the odd dabs, flounders, a sandeel and a sole. Best baits on the day for these were fresh yellowtails or black lug. Five anglers blanked.
Tracey with a cracking sole. caught on fresh lug
Many thanks to all those travelling to fish with us this week and to Adie for pegging out the beach and to Russell Parsons for running the match.
Plenty of flatties closer in today, Mylo with a double shot of flounders
The next match is this Sunday 16th at Drake Road fishing 10:30 till 14:30 the day after the smooth hound Open on Saturday. We look forward to seeing you all then and hope to see a few travelling anglers fishing from the big match with us again on the Sunday.
