Stalham and District AC

So once again all club matches at the boatyards are suspended due to Covid -19 restrictions although you can apparently fish alone as it is good for your wellbeing.

The weather was set fair this week with sunshine and light SW winds and all the basins LOOKED like they would all fish well – but looks can be deceiving!!! Once again the big basin was the place to draw and after complaining much about his draw in Kiddies Corner, Mike Dossena then proceeded to destroy the field with over 300 small roach for 13lb and 1st place.

Mark Charlwood drew where last weeks winner came from (but with less boats) and took a comfortable 2nd place with 10lb 5oz followed by Dave Dearman who took 3rd place from in front of the offices on the big basin with 7lb 2oz

So what of the other basins…….. they could be described as a little harder. The Gate basin everyone who fished the Gate basin caught fish – not many – but they did catch with 1lb being top weight. The people who drew the watery desert that was the Crane basin were les fortunate with only Terry Smith catching 2 small perch for 1oz!!!

On a brighter note the Charity we supported in memory of Dave Agass was The British Disabled Angling Association which, with the combined totals of the Summer Match and this winter one, was given a total donation of £285.

Also thanks to Lenny Reeves , club president, for his donation of bottles of wine for the section winners in the Christmas match. see photo of letter below.

Thanks must also go to Colin Jonas for his continued hard work running the boatyard matches through this winter and also organising the mince pies / cake / chocolates etc after this match.

Christmas Sweeps will be run over the Xmas break on:

Sunday 27th December 2020 – 7.45am book in 8am draw Fish 9am to 2pm

Tuesday 29th December 2020 – 7.45am book in 8am draw Fish 9am to 2pm

Thursday 31st December 2020 – 7.45am book in 8am draw Fish 9am to 2pm

Happy Christmas to all our readers…… See you all on the 27th…………

Sunday dawns this week with no frost and barely any wind (although this changed later) and the 19 competitors lined up for the covid secure draw in a slightly more optimistic mood than last week!

Chris Tims drew peg 16 which was between the boats at the end of the road in the big basin and proceeded to catch roach, rudd and perch from start to finish of the match to put a winning weight 10lb 9oz on the scales. Further round on the 4th Jetty Pete Sutton had 4 skimmers and small fish for 7lb 1oz and 2nd place followed by Trev “the jetty” Dodson on the 3rd jetty (again) with 6lb 3oz for 3rd.

In the pairs Chris Tims and Steve Docwra came out on top with a combined weight of 11lb 14oz

Overall the yards fished better this week with only 5 blanks out of 19, 4 of which were in the Crane Basin with only Dave Edgerton bucking the trend and catching 1lb in the last hour to win his section.

The fishing is a long way from good but at least there were bites to be had in most areas. Next week it is the Christmas Match combined with the charity match in memory of Dave Agass – so bring a prize/bottle/ chocs plus it will cost you an extra £5 to fish this week……………See you there

19 anglers turned up to fish this first match after lockdown and they were greeted by a hard frost followed by a rain shower or two – lovely!!!! Combine the wonderful weather with some dire fishing for all but the fortunate four who drew the jetties in the big basin, and you have a the sort of day when you seriously doubt your sanity.

So the jetties were the only place to be this week with the top four weights all coming from them headed up by Dave Dearman on the 1st jetty who weighed in 7lb 9oz including 1 large skimmer hooked whilst reaching for his flask!! Trevor Dodson was on the 2nd jetty and came in 2nd with 6lb 8oz . Dave Gipson had 5lb 12oz off the 4th jetty for 3rd and Martin Littlefield was in 4th place off the 3rd jetty with 4lb 6oz. The rest of the basins were won with ounces and there were 9 blanks!

Let us all hope that the fishing improves with better weather conditions and we don’t see a return to last years low weights and lack of bites.

The Christmas Match (on the 20th Dec) is going to also be run as this years Charity Match in memory of Dave Agass who passed away earlier this year and is much missed on the bank by many in the club and the wider Norfolk match fishing community. So in addition to bringing bottle or other prize for the Christmas match there is a £5.00 donation required to fish the match. I have heard that there is going to be another match event in memory of Dave organised in 2021 probably at Reepham will give more details when they are available.

Boatyard Matches to resume this Sunday – 6th Dec.

Book in by 7.45am club members only

Last Match before LOCKDOWN!!!!

The weather was better than originally forecast with only a light drizzle from time to time but the main feature was the wind which was very gusty and swirled from different direction all day making the fishing quite difficult at times.

Chris Tims was late for the draw and had booked in by phone arriving just after 8am to find that he had been drawn peg 1 at the top of the Crane Basin – (No complaints there then). Chris managed to keep catching all day on caster to put 10lb 14oz on the scales for 1st place this week.

Three pegs away Mike Dossena had quality fish from the start with several good skimmers but he was struggling for bites in the last hour and ended up with 10lb 2oz for 2nd place.

Mark Charlwood was on peg 2 this week and caught small fish steadily through the first 3.5 hours and then came in on the inside line and had a late run of better skimmers and perch to finish the match with 9lb 4oz for 3rd.

So yet again the Crane Basin was the place to draw but with over 8lb needed to win the other 3 sections there are fish to be caught everywhere.

Unfortunately the government has chosen to enforce a second lockdown starting from the 5th November 2020 (some may say Guy Fawkes might have had the right idea) and so to conform to the rules and for the greater good the club has suspended all its matches at the boatyards until the restrictions are lifted. We will announce resumption of matches as soon as possible, when allowed, via the website and facebook page.

Hope you all continue to keep safe and sane during this difficult period and look forward to seeing you there at the yards in the near future………….

Sunday 25th October 2020

Another good turnout for this Sundays match at the boatyards with 21 members lining up for the draw. Mark Harmer dominated the field from peg 20 up on goose green on the Gate basin. Mark fished long pole and double red maggot all day to put a level 12lb on the scales for his first win of the winter and his first trophy!!!

Meanwhile over on the Crane Basin, Ian Holmes was busy catching on peg 6 ending up with 10lb 11oz for second place and regretting losing 2 large perch during the match! Still, a bit of an improvement on last weeks 3lb. Just a few pegs away, also in the Crane Basin on peg 1, was Alex Watson who had 9lb 7oz for 3rd this week.

With another good turnout 21 anglers queued up to be allocated their pegs for this weeks match at the boatyards. Hardly a breath of wind disturbed the glassy surface of the water as we set up the gear but that soon changed into a steady breeze and rain showers sweeping through the boat basins along with the innumerable boat movements at least on the Crane basin. (anyone would think it was a boatyard or something!) Anyway – to the fishing……… Trevor Dodson managed to somehow draw peg 10 at the top of the Crane Basin and proceeded to catch steadily all match with some quality skimmers and roach being netted on the way to a winning weight of 13lb 7oz.

Meanwhile at the other end of the Crane, Chris Tims also caught steadily most of the match on peg 6 and put 11lb 12oz on the scales for 2nd place. He was followed by Mark Charlwood, (in the frame for the 3rd week running) up on peg 1 at the top of the Crane coming in 3rd this week with 8lb 8oz.

There were no blanks again this week and lets hope the fishing continues to improve although this may be hampered a bit by the extended boating season this year – with the yard staying open until the end of November, we can only wait and see.

I am off on a post office match next week at the suffolk water park so ………….won’t see you there! (Colin has promised to send me all the info so there will be a match report next week)

Wind and rain became the main features of this competition with a strengthening north-westerly wind bringing a series of sharp showers throughout the match and making bait presentation extremely difficult at times. With a field of 21 it was all down to the “covid secure” draw to see where you would be sitting for the next 5 hours.

Ian Jones got peg 1 at the top of the Crane and took top spot with 12lb which included one good skimmer. All the other double figure weights came off the “Goose Green” area on the river with Mark Charlwood in 2nd place again this week with 10lb 9oz off peg 18, and then Mark Harmer (peg 20) and Denny Hammond (peg 22) coming equal 3rd with a level 10lb.

Overall and despite the wind and rain, the yards fished better than last week with signs that there are plenty of fish coming in this year. But we will have to wait and see what happens over the next few weeks, it would be nice to be able to fish without having to hold on to the brolly one week!!

Next week will hopefully continue the good form and who knows the toilets might even be open again!!!!!…………………………………..See you there

So, the winter series of matches at the boatyards had a very damp start but I am pleased to say there were no dry nets recorded by any of the 15 competitors. The Crane basin was the place to be with all the top weights coming from there and it was “Mr Maver” Jon Burton who took the top spot with 16lb 3oz of skimmers and roach from peg 5. Jon had 192 fish with “quite a few” hand sized skimmers in his catch. That’s 3 wins in a row – can he make it 4 next week?

Mark Charlwood was on peg 3 on the Crane and he took 2nd place with the only other double figure weight of 10lb 11oz. Dave Edgerton took 3rd place with 8lb 11oz from peg 1.

The Gate Basin was a bit harder than the Crane with an absence of skimmers (or anything else over 4oz) and the boat movements and wind made conditions less than ideal on both basins, but at least there were fish in every peg which is a great improvement on the way it was last winter. Let’s hope it continues to improve and they stick around this year.

Next week it is the David King Bowl – see you there………….