Skegness Pier Club fished their latest match at Trunch lane on Saturday 20th April in almost impossible conditions with a strong Northeast wind and large swell scouring along the beach from left to right. The match was practically unfishable for the first two hours with anglers attempting to hold out with every type of lead they had with them; at one point John Spalton even put two 7oz leads on together and was back casting 14oz on his Century TTR!
The scour along the beach made presenting baits almost impossible. All match the tide ran left to right
Mark Lawson had a 290g up tide lead and most others used 200g to try and hold out. The giant leads did hold but got buried in the sand and cut casting distance way down and in fact it was so rough there were probably no fish in the first 100 yards anyway. Fishing became possible at around high tide when anglers reverted to smaller “castable” leads but to stand any chance of catching they needed to power through the headwind and drop their baits at about 90 yard behind the 6ft surf.
Adie Cooper had brought a large selection of fresh baits fresh to target all possible species around at this time of year including peeler, rag, yellowtails, maddies, marsh worms and black lug along with razor, old white rag, and fish. However, this was to no avail as he found he could not hold out at all at the start. He used this time to make up two hook rigs and re-spooled a spare reel in case of birdies. Then started casting a grip lead around to test if he could hold bottom in the conditions and once the ebb started he found he could finally fish.
Perseverance paid off for the match winner Adie Cooper, with a 31cm whiting
He used a variety of baits at his maximum distance and kept casts going in every 20 minutes with different combinations of bait just behind the surf. Half an hour after high tide Adie brought in a 31cm whiting caught on fresh black lug and ragworm which won him the match with ten points and the longest round fish prize.
Everyone else blanked despite trying everything they could to find a fish.
Many thanks to all those travelling to fish the match today from as far as Kettering and Sleaford, to Adie for pegging out the beach and to Russell for running the match on the day.
Hopefully the next match will be fished in calmer conditions, it is planned to be on Sunday 5th May at North Shore Road. We are all looking forward to seeing you then.
