A change of venue was the order of the day as members of the Norfolk Angling Club ventured down to Walcott to try out the venue for ease of access and hopefully some fish together with the change of scenery. 24 anglers including three new members met on the prom near the slipway and with a few anglers running a little late it was decided to start at 7:15pm to give everyone a fair chance. Pegging was left and right of the slipway with the fishing down on the ebb tide on an evening with little wind and no rain or snow.
As the majority of club members had never fished Walcott before, new tactics and learning the venue would be priority. We all knew it would, or could be, tough going with possibly the odd whiting, dabs, flounders and the ever present rockling which were prevalent over the past few weeks.
Weed wasn’t that much of a problem but it was present through most of the match but everyone persevered. As the match progressed it became obvious fish were few and far between with the occasional dab and rockling coming out. It was Bob.O or Wobbly Bob as he’s affectionately known who made the best start with a good flounder of 31cm and this continued with his end tally of three fish in total giving him his first ever win with 1lb 4 1/3oz. Second podium spot went to a new member, Cambell “Taff” Mckenzie, in only his second ever match he managed to card two fish for 11 1/3oz, and on his second to last cast young Jake Cooper managed to save the blank and take the final podium spot with a rogue whiting of 8 2/3oz.
It was a struggle for all with only 9 of the 24 members actually finding a sizeable fish and in total only 12 sizeable fish were caught. However, as always spirits were high and the usual banter ensued afterwards with Paul Rickard having the strangest catches of all, a wet and withered Christmas tree and a pair of underpants no doubt debris left behind after the storm surge or a belated Christmas party gone horribly wrong.
It was great to see so many new faces including Matt “ Splatt” Lawes who came and fished as a guest along with new members Shayne Brown, Eamonn Finch and Dick Ellis, also returning to the fold Steve Smith who has been absent for a month or two.
The Norfolk Angling Club in the space of a few months has now reached 44 full members and I am sure it will continue to grow with new friendships being made every week and always a good atmosphere before, during and after each match. If anyone reading this report is considering joining you will be made more than welcome by everyone no matter what your level of angling. The website and facebook group are now both operational so feel free to visit them.
Next week’s scheduled match at Old High has now been changed to Weybourne but with a twist, as we will not be pegging, it will be a roving match between the House on the cliffs to the right and the wreck to the left. This gives everyone a chance to fish the spots they wish to, same rules apply for everything else.
1 Bob O. 30pts
2 Cambell Mckenzie 29pts
3 Jake Cooper 28pts
4 Dene Conway 27pts
5 Matt Lawes 26pts
6 Andrew Turk 25pts
7 Ian Gennery 24pts
8 Steve Smith 23pts
8 Dick Ellis 23pts
all others receive 5pts
- Peter Hansell 5pts
- Mark Batson 5pts
- Shayne Brown 5pts
- Kimberley Lawn 5pts
- Paul Rickard 5pts
- Richard Chapman 5pts
- Ally Barnes 5pts
- Dean Gibson 5pts
- Duncan Anone 5pts
- Ron de Boer 5pts
- Richard Ellis 5pts
- Jeff Moy 5pts
- Iain Molloy 5pts
- Adrian Charlie Needham 5pts
- Eamonn Finch 5pts
