COARSE fish anglers hoping to catch the pike of their dreams from Horsey Mere this week were blown off the water.Storm force winds were screeching across the Mere bending the reeds parallel with the surface of the water whipping up White Horses to the point where it was hazardous to be out their in any vessel flimsy enough to be swept away into the shallows where the only means of escape was inching away to safety along the margins.

COARSE fish anglers hoping to catch the pike of their dreams from Horsey Mere this week were blown off the water.

Storm force winds were screeching across the Mere bending the reeds parallel with the surface of the water whipping up White Horses to the point where it was hazardous to be out their in any vessel flimsy enough to be swept away into the shallows where the only means of escape was inching away to safety along the margins.

A few anglers who were braving the tumultuous conditions went largely unrewarded, with the best fish reported were mostly in single figures with one or two others up to the 15lb mark.

“It's been pretty rough up there, and there have not been the numbers of large pike anglers we were expecting. Quite honestly I do not believe they are there anymore,” declared the senior bailiff Derek Applegate.

It's been a similar story at the nearby Hickling Broad where the elements were more of a deterrent to the rod men than the lack of pike.

Just off the Broad in Deep Dyke town angler Geoffrey Brown reported taking a huge number of bream almost to double figures and he also witnessed other anglers reeling in sizeable slabs from the River Thurne close to the mouth of Candle Dyke.

Quality bream and roach returns where reported from the Yarmouth stretch of the tidal River Yare with secretary Keith Ford confirming that many of the fish came from Langley and from the top side of the Beauchamp Arms.

On the match scene the Sportsmen's Club abandoned their plans to visit the River Bure at St Benets Abbey because of the real danger of being swept into the tide race by the tempestuous conditions prevailing along the unprotected tidal embankment.

Elsewhere the Stalham club visited the local boatyard lagoons where a disappointing match card read: M Brown 4lb 9oz, D Agass 4lb 2oz, R Austrin 2lb 11oz.

“The fish seem to have disappeared from these lagoons, we think the whole area has been poached again,” declared the Stalham match secretary Len Reeves.

Meanwhile, Ormesby's match ace Stephen Rouse continued his lucrative travels to the open match circuit. He won at Mill Farm Lakes with 32lb 7oz then at Hill Farm with 62lb 9oz.

One of the developments to catch the eye this season has been the formation of a hugely successful Yarmouth-based Browning/Pownalls match squad. Once again they made the frame with Mark Seaman winning at Barford with 62lb 9oz while Tony Anderson was runner-up in the Barford Silverfish event with 20lb 8oz beating former world champion Bob Nudd in the process.

So, with the coarse fishing season ending tonight the focus of attention will now centre on the commercial fisheries from which there is a wide choice.

As reported last week Martham Pits will not be one of them for they will close tonight for the statutory 93-day break.

Among the waters that remain open all the year round within easy driving distance of the town are the lakes at Hall Farm, Burgh Castle, the fishery previously known as Greens Pits, Holly Farm, South Walsham, the lakes at Barford, Gimingham, Cobble Acre, Hevingham, Chapel Road, Roughton, and Gunton in North Norfolk.

Others available are Taverham Lake and Costessey Pits near Norwich, Reepham Lakes, St George's Fishery, East Ruston, Swangey Lakes near Attleborough, Swanton Morley Fishery and Waveney Valley Lakes near Harleston.

All of these waters offer superb mixed fishing especially for giant carp. For pike anglers the 175-acre Fritton Lake is recommended.

Following the crackdown by the Environment Agency on waters that have been breaching the special byelaws covering close season fishing in the Broads area and within sites of Special Scientific Interest, there may well be a dozen more land-locked lakes that come under this category while still unlawfully allowing close season fishing.

It is advisable that angling clubs or fishery owners who have doubts about the legislation should contact the Environment Agency's Law and Enforcement office in Ipswich where the muddy waters of this confusing series of byelaws should be cleared.

Along the coast boat fishing is out of the question in a turbulent North Sea and the best of the beaches are located in North Norfolk where the south-westerly blow has been coming off the land. The recommended venues until the North Sea subsides are Mundesley, Trimingham and the shingle shoreline between Weybourne and Cley.

By Roy Webster