An early start up at 5.15 am & ready for Ben Laws to pick me up, then off to Redcar to pick up James 'Jamsy' Moore.  Meeting point, for registration, was the Vine Hotel car park, Chapel Saint Leonards, (a journey of approx. 180 miles) - £15 match entry, and draw your peg mark from a bag. I drew A6, Jamsy A4, and Ben B22.  Matty Lamb was also in B Zone, near Ben. Ben dropped us off, north of St Leonards after a quick walk on beach to determine distance to Ben's mark - too far to walk, so he drove to the next car park. Fishing a 5 hr match - last 2½ hrs of flood & 2½ hrs of ebb. Pegs were approx. 25 paces apart. I'd never done a peg match before, so all was new. Weather was bright, warm sunshine with a strong off shore wind.

Peg A1 is to the right and peg A8 to the left.
A1 was vacant, A2 Colin, A3 Brett Bartram, A4 Jamsy, A5 Gavin, A6 was mine, A7 Chris & A8 was England International George Smith.

First hour of the match we were plagued with fine weed, made your line look like a 'bell ringers rope', only option to cut leader knot, strip weed off and retie knot.

Jamsy was first in, with a flounder of 33 cms.

George Smith was pulling them in, as we all looked on...

The serenity of a days fishing was broken with the high pitched screams of a child in trouble.  The strong off shore wind had picked up, the tide had turned, and the child in the inflatable dingy was now well & truly out of his depth.  His brother, who had been behind me near the dunes hears his cries for help but can't reach him once in the water himself ↓.

Time 14.15 hrs

Family member shouting instructions to paddle, unfortunately child paddles with his hands on wrong side, pushing him further out to sea. At this point Jamsy is concerned the child will leave the relative safety of his dingy and try to swim ashore.

Jamsy's on the phone to the coast guard, giving a detailed report as its happening, Gavin can't watch as it's too sickening as the child screams for help, saying he can't swim!!

↑ - Brett Bartram & George Smith strip off and make a joint rescue - ↓

14.21 hrs & thankfully safely back on the beach & Jamsy ends the call to the Coastguard.  Brett & George return to the match helped by Chris, George praying for a laid-on 10 lb'er.

The long walk back to the family camp, top left hand corner.

Camp well back from the beach where the children were playing in the sea, an acident waiting to happen!!

Brett received a bottle of beer from the family, which he shared with George...

George Smith continued to fish well.

Brett too was back in catching fish as Jamsy measures and marks up his card.

Even I managed a smooth hound at 67 cms for 168 points.

Ben picked up £80 for coming second overall
Well done Ben

1st - Garry Hutson - 13 fish - 60 lb
2nd - Ben laws - 8 fish - 50 lb - 3,260 points
3rd - S Williams - 8 fish - 46 lb
4th - Adie Cooper - 8 fish - 41 lb

Biggest fished 16 lb - Sorry no name as yet.

Also ran:-
Matty Lamb 4 hounds & 1 flattie - 22 lb

Conclusion - 'Distance' was the key - unlike my first trip smooth hound fishing, where the fish moved closer to shore, here they stayed well out. If you were not a big caster then you didn't reach the fish on the day.

We've already agreed to return next year - time enough for some casting lessons!

Tight lines

Peter

Using a 6 or 10 stop ND (Neutral Density) filter for those longer exposures turns the swells into a milky misty layer can be very rewarding. A 1/125th exposure turns into an 8 sec exposure using a 10 stop or ½ sec using a 6 stop.

Tuesday 7th July 2015 - en-route to Edinburgh - taken from Saltwick

Friday 3rd July 2015

Monday 6th July 2015 - well worth a visit, unfortunately dogs are not permitted.

Wood carvings by Steve Iredale
Link to his Facebook page 
A joy to watch a craftsman at work