HSAC Kings Lynn Open 5th July

By Dene Conway

The final summer accumulator match was fished at a new venue for many of us and it was decided to boost numbers by making the day an open but as always with the summer fishing many do not wish to take part due to a lack of fish, or maybe they are all too busy sunning themselves, anyway we managed a turn out of 10, with 8 club members and regular open contestants Dick Able & John Carter so thanks to all those who showed their support.

Dick wiping is brow after all the rod bending Eel action he was getting.

The tail end of our 1 week summer heatwave made it a pleasant day out by the river, there was as light mix up with the key to allow access but thanks to the guys at EA we managed to get through with ony a 15 mminute delay to match start.

Dene posing in his summer TCX Match Bait Guard.

The final round of summer accumulator was the main interest for the club members with the top 5 spots being decided today and it would be a hard fought battle, Tony Thomas was 7 points ahead of Nicole Conway, with Dene 1 point behind her and Peter Loke in a tight batttle with John Neave, it could go either way.Pegs were drawn and and off we wandered to our comfortable riverside swims.

Tony Thomas getting another trace ready.

Dene Conway on peg 1 was within shouting distance of rivals Tony Thomas (peg 3) and wife Nicole on peg 2, Nicole was the first to catch and a double shot of small Bass and Tony and the others could see it was going to be a hard fought battle for everyone. Dene started to edge away from Tony who at this point only had one good eel, then a cracking flounder caught close in on a crab bait gave Dene the chance to wind up Tony & Nicole by waving his 34cm flounder at them, Tony replied more or less straight away with another eel and some flounders of his own, and the battle continued with Tony & Nicole trying to catch up.

Dick Able striking into another eel.

As the match drew on everyone was catching, some better than others, but with the last hour of the match becoming slower and less fish caught, it was Dick Able who managed one last fish on his final cast to steal into the lead and beat Dene into 2nd place, Tony Thomas with some good eels managed 3rd place closely followed by Peter Loke in 4th, heaviest round (eel) went to Robert Ford who was making a return to freedom after recently being married , this weighed in at 1lb 1/3oz , and the heaviest flat (flounder) a plump 1lb went to Dene Conway.

Peter Loke waiting for another bite also wearing his new Bait Guard

With the open match over and the top 4 being paid out we set about calculating the club results to try and determine if any places in the top 5 had changed but it wasn’t until returning home that the final calculations could be made and the results for the summer accumulator are shown below the results but the top 3 are here:

Congratulations to Tony Thomas with four 1st places two 2nd places and a 4th place giving him the overrall 1st place.

In 2nd place was Dene Conway finishing in the top four, five times with one win at the last match.

3rd place was Peter Loke also with 5 in the top 4 who managed to beat Nicole by a whisker at the last match to knock her down into 4th overrall.

Nicole , with jeans rolled and enjoying the sun.

All in all a very enjoyable match for the majority and a very good venue.

Proof that the bait guard keeps even white t shirts from Eel slime and crab juices..

Club Results:

1st: Dene Conway 12 fish for 4lb 3 5/6oz

2nd: Tony Thomas 6 fish for 3lb 11 1/2oz

3rd: Peter Loke 10 fish for 3lb 2/3oz

4th: Robert Ford 5 fish for 2lb 8 1/3oz

Open results

1st Dick Able 13 fish for 4lb 8oz

2nd Dene Conway 12 fish for 4lb 3 5/6oz

3rd Tony Thomas 6 fish for 3lb 11 1/2oz

4th Peter Loke 10 fish for 3lb 2/3oz

Heaviest Round : Robert Ford 1lb 1/3 Eel

Heaviest Flat : Dene Conway 1lb

Summer Accumulator Final Standings