To:  All National Sea League Organisers …

As some of you may be aware, after the 2011 NSL Final in Eastbourne I (Tony Thomas) took over as Secretary of the SAMF National Sea League from John Amery.  John has done an excellent job in running the League and it is solely down to his efforts that the League exists today, many thanks John!  Over the past few years I have been helping John with the running of the League and hope that I can continue to make it strong and successful.  John will still be on the side lines giving help and guidance so he’s not getting away scot-free.

The Daiwa Irish Pairs and National Sea League are two SAMF events that seem to be bucking the trend and continue to be well supported by match anglers from across the country.  I believe that with its current following the National Sea League can become even more successful and I will do whatever is required to achieve this. 

My initial task will be to understand the whole League structure and identify contacts along with preparing for the 2012 National Sea League Final in North Norfolk.  These actions I would like to get started straight away so could you please answer the following and return to me as soon as possible.

League Structure
You are receiving this letter because you were either on John Amery’s distribution list or you may be interested in or in the process of forming a league.  Could you therefore please answer or action the following …

1.    If you are no-longer an organiser of a league please let me know and whether or not you want to continue to receive similar information to this?

2.    If you are responsible for a League then please provide the following information …
-          Name of League.
-          League area (e.g. Anglia, Cumbria, Humber, South Wales, Sussex, etc.).
-          Number of teams in League.
-          League Organiser details, to include full name, full postal address, email address, home and mobile phone number plus any other info that is  relevant.

3.    If you are aware of anybody else organising a National Sea League in your area who is not on this distribution then please pass this letter on to them and ask them to answer 2. above and return to myself.

2012 National Sea league Final
The 2012 Final will be held in North Norfolk and has been moved from October as advertised at Eastbourne to the weekend of 1^st/2^nd December 2012 and I apologise for any inconvenience this move may have created.  The change is primarily due to the availability of accommodation and the high probability of a significant number of teams participating. This is because all teams in a league now qualifying provided the league comprises of 4 or more teams and that each team has fished 4 or more rounds in that league.   The HQ for the event is Kelling Heath Holiday Park which was used in 2010 when everyone was most impressed with the facilities.  As in 2010 I will be distributing closer to the date more information about the event and venues.  However, I am aware that some teams want to book their accommodation now and as all teams now qualify this would be wise. So the following information details the HQ accommodation …

-          Name of HQ is Kelling Heath Holiday Park.  Their website is www.kellingheath.co.uk and the booking phone number is 01263 588181.
-          All bookings have to be made by phone as booking for that weekend is not available on-line because they have reserved their accommodation exclusively for us for that weekend.
-          Current cost of accommodation for that weekend ranges from £159-£197 for a 6 berth holiday home to £270-£327 for a lodge.  This is their list price for the weekend but we will be getting a 25% discount on this reducing the costs to £119.25-£142.50 and  £205.25-£245.25. Teams must quote SAMF when they are booking to qualify for this discount.
-          The accommodation will be from the afternoon of Friday 30^th November until morning of 3^rd December 2012.

To assist with the logistics of the event at this early stage could you please answer the following …

4.    How many of your League teams will be participating in the Final?

5.    How many of your League teams will be using Kelling Heath Holiday Park’s accommodation?

The above does not have to be the exact final number as we know that may change but at least it will give me some idea of numbers.

National Sea League documentation
Finally, I have noticed over the past few years the distinct lack of visible rules and practices for the League along with being made aware of rules that are either in the minds of previous organisers or been handed down verbally.  Over the next few months, one of my tasks will be to document all this information so that it can be presented, debated and agreed at the next General meeting.  You and your league members are key in ensuring that I have all this documentation so if you have anything tucked away that might be useful for this process please send it to me.  I must point out that with this action I am not trying to dictate what these should be but merely to document what already exists.  Until everything is formally agreed at the next General meeting we will continue with the situation as it is currently.

I hope you find the above information useful and please contact me if you have any queries.

As well as the Email distribution I will be placing this letter on the SAMF website so if you are reading this via that route and want to set up a League or have an existing League that would qualify for the SAMF National Sea League Final then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,

Tony Thomas
Secretary, SAMF National Sea League
01263 822400/07780793141
thomasamt@btinternet.com 

Click Link for Full Results …

http://www.seaanglersmatchfederation.com/NSL%20results%20(2010).HTM

The 2010 National Sea League Final will be held on the North Norfolk Coast according to the following detail …

Date:                                   Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th November
Fishing Times:                 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days
High Water:                      10:22 a.m. Saturday & 11:21 a.m. Sunday
Venue:                                North Norfolk Coast
Backup Venue:                Gt. Yarmouth

Event Headquarters:      Kelling Heath Holiday Park

Team Entry Cost: £200
Team Pools Cost: £100

Booking in will be Friday 26th November 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. Captains only will make the draw. Any teams not booked in by 10 p.m. will be drawn for and excluded from the optional pools unless paid in advance.

Fishing will be catch and release with length to weight conversion charts which are included in the match cards.

A minimum size of 18 cm will apply but a limit of 36 cm for Bass, 35 cm Codling and 27 cm Whiting will be introduced if fish numbers at the time dictates.

There will be no bait bans.

Team Entry should reach JOHN AMERY by 30th September, cheques made out to him. Receipts will be issued. A balance sheet will be presented after the event.

As this will be a new venue to the majority of the competing teams so more information is being provided than normal to assist these teams.

MATCH INFORMATION

Venues
The match venues will be on the only shingle bank in Norfolk which stretches for 6 miles from the end of the cliffs at Weybourne in the east until it peters out into sand bars at Blakeney Point. The event will use the beaches of Cley, Salthouse, Kelling and Weybourne.

All venues back onto a relatively low shingle bank which in places is topped by large tides and northerly winds. The beach then slopes via shingle and sand to sand and mud gullies over 30 to 50 metres between low and high water giving a relatively steep drop.

The beaches at Cley and Salthouse have a low sand bar at about 100 metres at low water and only is exposed by white water with a stiff northerly. The beaches at Kelling and Weybourne have a similar form but with a flatter sand bar and mud gullies which in places run at right angles to the beach which makes fish predictions very difficult.

With such a profile fish will be found at 60 to 100 metres and in certain tide situations even closer. This means that these beaches are very much suited to the non-casters and true match anglers. However, it does not mean that casting will not find the fish on all the beaches when the tide and conditions allow but on a whole fish are not at range.

Tide run can be strong but nothing a good grip weight cannot handle. Tide flow is left to right on the flood and right to left on the ebb. Slack water occurs around about 2 hours after both high and low water when the tide direction changes.

Back-up Venue
Strong gale force north westerly, northerly or north easterly winds will make it impossible to effectively fish the above venues. If this situation arises then Gt. Yarmouth North and South beaches will be used as back-up venues which is around 40 miles south east from the event HQ. Only extremely strong gale force north easterly winds will prevent this venue being used.

This venue has a sandy beach which slopes very steeply into a deep gully running parallel to the beach and a few 100 metres wide. A mile or so off shore is Scrobie Sands now housing a wind farm and the presence of this bar protects the beach from all but the severest of weather.

As with North Norfolk, this is not necessarily a casting venue and fish can be found at 40 to 80 metres. However, under certain conditions and in certain places fish will be found at range.

The tide run here is very strong and at certain states of the tide it will be impossible to fish at range. Tide flow is similar to North Norfolk but slack water is over very quickly and occurs within an hour of high and low water.

Species
Target species for North Norfolk will be Dabs, Flounders and Whiting. The numbers of whiting appearing will be dependent on the weather leading up to the event but the flat fish should always be there. Prolonged cold spell seems to keep the majority of species off shore. Secondary species will be pouts, rockling, bass and if we are lucky codling may make an appearance. Other species that could be caught are soles, turbot, coalfish and plaice but they are generally very rare.

The Gt. Yarmouth species are similar to the above but probably less flounders. There will certainly be more chance of picking up a few decent codling from this venue where there are a number of hot spots for this species.

Bait
The main bait for North Norfolk is blow lug and can be very effective on its own. However, tipping off can bring its rewards in particular with black lug, squid, mackerel, bluey, king rag, maddies and silvers. Crab and White rag can tempt a specimen but these baits just don’t seem to work on this coast at this time of the year.

The main bait for Gt. Yarmouth is similar to North Norfolk but straight black lug can attract whiting and codling. Here tipping off with fish baits is the favourite for whiting and crab can bring results for codling.

Rigs
The main thing to remember for the North Norfolk venues is to keep snood lengths short, between 6 to 12 ins although in some conditions long snoods can work so be prepared. Although not very trendy the boom rigs tend to work extremely well particularly the short Avis booms.

The rigs that seem to work well are three hook boom traces, flappers and clip-down booms if you need to cast just that extra few metres but all with short snoods. Straight three hook clip-down traces is another option with 9 to 12 ins snoods which can cater for fish at all ranges. The three or two hook Portsmouth rig is becoming more popular here when there is need to put biggish bait at range.

Best hook size is size 2 fine wire for the target species followed by size 1’s if quality fish are feeding. For catch and release fine wire is preferred particularly for dabs and whiting to improve the numbers returned alive.

The same rigs and hook sizes apply for Gt. Yarmouth although slightly longer snood lengths would be better.

Local Bait Supplies & Tackle Shops
One of the best suppliers of quality baits in Norfolk is JSH Seabait Supplies of Framlingham. James can supply blow lug, king rag, blacks and maddies. He can be contacted on 01728 720014 or 07887653648 or james@seabait.freeserve.co.uk and he will deliver any ordered bait to the HQ on the Friday evening prior to the first match.

The nearest tackle shop is Brights of Sheringham which is about 4 miles from the HQ. Sue & Lyn can supply a whole range of frozen bait as well as king rag and blow lug and have an extensive stock of sea angling tackle. They can be contacted on 01263 825858 or check out their website www.brightsfishing.com and their shop is open 7:30 to 5:00 every day.

Two other Norfolk tackle shops that support local clubs and the North Norfolk Sea League are Hunstanton Tackle in Hunstanton and Avenue Angling in Norwich. These can be contacted via their respective websites www.hunstantontackle.co.uk and www.avenueangling.co.uk.

There are a number of alternative bait suppliers in North Norfolk, please contact the local organiser if required to contact them.

Headquarters & Accommodation
The event HQ will be Kelling Heath Holiday Park postal code district NR25 7. This is situated 2 miles from the nearest match venue, Weybourne and about 5 miles from the furthest, Cley. The Park is situated a 1 mile from the A148 between Holt and Cromer.

Kelling Heath has restaurants, bars and plenty of accommodation and at this time of the year we will have almost the whole complex to ourselves for the weekend. For the weekend we have been offered a 25% discount on list prices and a free leisure pass. To qualify for this discount you need to quote reference SAMF001.

The accommodation comprises of lodges for 6 at £311 list price and luxury holiday homes for 6 ranging from £149 to £178 list price for the weekend. They have just a few Lodges but in the order of 40 Holiday Homes, so plenty of accommodation. More information and bookings can be obtained by calling 01263 588181 or via their website www.kellingheath.co.uk .

Local Organiser
The local organiser for the event is Tony Thomas who can be contacted on 01263 822400 or 07780793141 or thomasamt@btinternet.com. Please contact Tony if more information is required on the above.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The AGM will be held on the evening of Saturday 28th, which will be chaired by John Amery, to commence at 7pm. There will be an election for a League Secretary and Treasurer. Please note that only anglers present will be allowed to vote, and the future of the league will be decided.
Any proposals must be put in writing and received by John before 1st November.

ONLY THESE PROPOSALS WILL BE DISCUSSED.

Nb. During the event all nominated captains become committee members and their collective majority decision will be final if needed.

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