Fishing HOPTON-ON-SEA (Norfolk)

An early morning start at the most Southerly Norfolk beach, Hopton -on -sea.
With clear skies and a flat calm sea, can i catch anything other than the humble Whiting.
Nearest tackle shop is Gorleston Tackle Centre a few miles North of the venue. With no facilities at the beach, there are shops and pubs in the nearby village of Hopton.

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My Channel https://www.youtube.com/@david892006

Other Anglers with YouTube videos in the Norfolk area are

Pond Pete https://youtube.com/@pondpetefishing9976

Wilson and Wilson https://youtube.com/@WilsonWilson-BankBeachBoat

The Anglia Angler https://youtube.com/@theangliaangler

Brets Fishing Diaries https://youtube.com/@brettsfishingdiaries

Dave Harding Beach Fishing https://youtube.com/@TheDavidharding

Beanies Fishing http://www.youtube.com/@beanysfishing2555

Waterside For Adventures https://youtube.com/@WatersideforAdventures

Well good morning everyone I hope you’re all well and getting out and doing some fishing I finally found a die to go out and do another guide so what I’ve done this morning I I’ve headed down the 847 and I’m heading for Hopton on

SE now this is going to be the most uh southernly point on the northern coast before we move into saach what I’m going to show you today is the mark that I’ve been to in the past that can produce some nice fish so it’s literally straight down the

A47 and then you head take Brown signs towards Hopton Holiday Village as soon as you come into the village follow road down continue on the Village Road till you come through the village and we’re looking for I think it’s the next left Beach Road that’s the one so it’s

Uh now the third week in November got up this morning to sort of 6° and clear skies but it’s a dam site better than it has been uh over the weekend we’ve had uh really Del for winds rain so today is a vast Improvement on

That as you can see it’s quite a tight little lane that I’m going to go down and when you get to the bottom the parking is very limited you have to sort park with some consideration the beauty about this is there’s no chance of parking down here

Um and you not too far to walk to the mark so there is some houses down there you do have to be careful you don’t block anyone’s Drive find you park sensibly you shouldn’t have any problems what I normally do is Park as far tight over to the left as I can

Here and I park it in facing down towards see so I can get my left hand door tight up against the wall that gives you this little area to the right here as a turning B when we come out later so what I’ll do is just back off

There a bit just in case some parks behind me get out now and get some gear on and we’ll get started so from the car you can see access to the beach is just straight down this slope on the right hand side of here we’ve got the Potter’s holiday

Result it’s where they do the World Championship Bowlers I’m arriving almost on low tide which has been planned to be fair what they’ve done here at Hopton is they’ve arranged all these Boulders in the form of wreaths to stop and help stop the erosion but what that’s done is that’s limited the

Amount of beach you’ve got so basically your access to the beach through here as the tide comes up you need to be able to retreat back up here so what I’m probably going to do today is start off down on the on the sand and then move up later on and these

Roofs go all the way along half a dozen reefs to your left and same to the right and once you get up there the actual Rock Reef stop and we go back to the old wooden traditional groins there’s a nice concrete walkway along here so it’s really nice easy

Access what I’ll probably do is go about three Bays to the right there and find a bit of sandy beach with easy access it just shows you the force of the sea now these rocks here some of them are 6 Square as in fact most of them are and

During the recent storm which is the one reason why I didn’t come the other week you can see one of them has been deposited right up onto the actual walkway so it just shows you the power of the Sea and the distance there you’ve got just the end part of

Gon and then sticking out there and right in the far distance you got the Yarmouth alter Harbor so what I’ll do now is crack on make my way down there and we’ll find somewhere we can set up and have a little go okay okay so I’ve walked about 5 minutes to the right

Of the uh access slope and I’ll come two bays along um at the moment with low tide you got quite a nice bit of sand here you but as you can see you appreciate as the tide comes in it’s going to come right up onto these

Rocks and although you can stand on top of their cast and you can cast on the prominade if you do hook something like a decent sized Ray or a decent sized fish you’re going to have a job negotiating over these rocks and and they look quite sliit through to be fair

At the moment so what I’ve done is positioned myself in this corner I’m going to set up in the corner with the rods just out a little bit and that gives me an escape way there later on as as the tide comes up and pushes me back

I’ve got somewhere where I can Retreat I can still leave the rods here fishing but move the gear slowly up there so we don’t get cut off one thing worth remembering if you do come down here and you end up coming down in the top sides

Already at the bottom of the Rocks means you’re going to fish off this Causeway as I say you can find Flat Rocks to stand on to reing and cast out it’s no problem just got to watch that it’s not too slippery underf foot but as you can

See that’s sweet there so when that sea hits those rocks can sometimes come over there with massive Great Waves you get soaked so the idea is keep down lower on the beach if possible so I’m now going to run some gear together I’ll put one rod out for the

Start it’s just just about 8:00 in the morning now I’m just about completely low tie so the idea is today I’m going to fish 3 or 4 hours maybe tied up Target will be a ray I’ve got some fresh Herring I’ve also got some frozen blacks and some other fish bases and

Squid so probably start on one rod I’ve just sent me uh long rods up today I’ve brought me any fish anywhere tournament Pros multiplier reel sort of usual setup and I’m going to go with one rod for the start see what the weed’s like see what the flow is like latal

Pool I’m going to keep it fairly simple today I haven’t brought the kitchen sink and I’m literally set up on the beach like as is everything is to hand because I’ve got to got to bear in mind that I’m probably going to be moving backwards and backwards and backwards so I don’t

Want the shelters up and everything like that uh bait wise today I’ve come with some frozen blacks there squid fresh Herring which came from Casa last week anyone who needs any fresh Herring for bait for sea fishing or pike fishing get yourself down to Casa um I think he’s doing them for five

For a pound so it’s dirt cheap and a little strip of macel there as well so I can tip some baits off so what I’m going to go in with with a standard sort of three hook flapper now I’ll be totally honest with you today I would probably

Assume it’s going to be a witing Fest if anything because the sea seems to be full of them at the moment so the actual Target for today is going to be to catch anything but a whing so what I should do uh if I don’t go down up to two rods I’ll alternate

That with a uh pulley panel and start fishing strips of Herring every other cast and see how we go if that’s not too much of a problem I’ll set the second Rod up so I can dedicate one for rays uh bigger fish dog fish maybe and the other

One was a scratching rig so yeah Sun’s now well and truly up complete contrast of the last couple of days absolutely gorgeous B out here on the beach today so I’ll make a start ba it up as I said a three o flapper I’ve got the yellow 5 o on there

Mackerel on the bottom Herring on the middle and Squid on the top I’m just waiting for me uh blacks to defrost and then I’ll uh start adding a bit of worm into the equation but I’m going to get that put out now and see how we get on

Getting a few knocks on the rod no doubt there’s a little greedy whing hanging on there somewhere but what I’ve done now now is rigged up my second rig and it’s going to be something you’ve seen before basically a nice piece of Herring onto a 20 hook single on a 18in pulley

So that will be going out next there’s definitely something tapping around on there I’ll give that another two or 3 minutes then I’ll re it in and give me a chance to change onto the uh bigger bait for the pulley yeah still rattling around m

Guess is a pin wh in let’s have a look and see what that is not even pin L it just shows you how breedy they are took both of the hooks so let’s get on to show you never can tell there was only a tiny little tap on there and I

Have put money that there have been a tiny little pin whing but it’s in size that one and I’m going to take a few today because um just lately I’ve been taking a few uh deep hooked ones home and cooking them and they’ve been absolutely lovely so

The idea today is to get three or four and that’ll be a te one night this week so the black lug worm’s now starting to thw so I’m going to prepare one and with these Frozen blacks what I like to do is put them on the needle just put a little wrap cotton

Round just to give them so they keep their shape a little bit better tend to find if you put blacks on hooks as is they tend to slide down and end up as a blob in the bend of the hook rather than cling into the shank so a

Little bit of elastic on there like that basically it gives it something grip to the shank of the hook so on my next cast I’ve brought the three o flapper in and now the uh uh single Herring bait is out at the moment so my next cast is going to be worm on

One um Herring on the other and Squid on the other just as a matter of interest that fish had taken two baits so it taken the first bait then moved on and took the second and it taken the squid and the Herring uh just goes to show they’re not

Really worried about hooks or anything just hoovering up everything they can so question is now just rotating these two rigs if I find I’m getting a problem and getting too many too many whing I may just persevere with a bigger rig stick it out for a bigger fish I

Know that um and then the sea is full of white and you can probably catch one every single foot in but as I said earlier on I think the object of today’s exercise is going to be catching something that’s not a writing you’ve always got to set yourself little Target on these fishing

Trips you won’t mention the c word it’s been a one2 turning up so go next hook ready to go out little bit three up Clapper again squid worm and Herring is the bait obviously if you start catching on just one you can then switch all three hooks over that’s ready to

Go is going to be every 10 to 15 minutes for the rotation unless you get a in between time I might leave it a fraction longer when I’ve got the ray baits out we’ll See a little bit about this Mark um I’m obviously now fishing in November so predominantly the fees are going to be wh in you got the chance of odd codling you’ve even still got the chance of the odd Ray th back Ray dog fish they’re normally ever present

Here um you’ll get a few flatfish as well predominantly this time of year uh the white and moving and nothing else can get a look in really so if you’re thinking of fishing this in the summer it’s a completely different ball game so the smooth hounds can be caught here and

I’ve had some very good sessions along here further up to the right on those beaches right up there near the uh Headland you got beaches like we’ve got here and there’s some steps up there you can get on the beach so smooth hounds also if you like bass

Fishing those Rocky reefs can attract the bass so you can either Bait fish to the end of those Rocky roefs from the beaches or the prominade and I have seen people Lure fishing and catching but that’s in the height of summer when the water’s a lot clearer and that’ll be

Like early morning or late evening sessions this year there was even mackerel caught along here and the mael um on this Coast they’re not as prol prolific as they are on the North North Coast so but this year Yarmouth gon and even down to here there were shelter m especially in

The evenings turning up and boiling and people were were getting them on on the feathers and stuff so yeah it’s a different catfish it does get very busy in the summer because obviously you got the Holiday Camp behind us here and that attracts obviously a lot of swimmers and paddle borders and all

That type of thing but early morning late evening very good this time of the year much quieter we had some good night sessions down you do have to be careful of these rocks and this is this is the one thing that is a negative really for this Mark uh

You can find areas like that one there so you can actually get up on there that’s a quite a good big flat surface you can step up from the prominade onto there to cast and to retrieve you retrieve down into this Gap here but if you get something decent like a big

Hound or a big Ray you’re going to have a job lifting it up over those rocks that’s the only thing so weather condition today as you can see Sun’s beaming out today it’s been overcast since Friday Friday Saturday and Sunday was overcast drizzly rain uh Monday morning sun’s out Sea’s

Flat it’s got a nice bit of color to the Sea 6° temperature this morning we’ve got a fairly brisk southwesterly wind which from here comes over my right shoulder um sort of out towards the rods as as they are now but because of this Cliffs along here you’re sheltered from

Any of these winds so you get up the top there it’ be a completely different wind so that’s the mark no facilities here whatsoever I’m not sure if you can access and get into the Holiday Camp I think that is going to be for guests only so I would say no

But um no no particular facilities toilets or anything back in the village you’ve got a couple of shops there’s a pub there various other bits and pieces so if you needed something to eat or drink you got to go back into the village it’s only 5 minutes

Away um and that’s about it really so what I’ve done now I’ve just reeled in a twice in the trop now and had a tiny Whiting hanging on and not seen a single indication on the tip so to try and combat that to get a better bite indication what I’ve done is

Lower the rod tip down and also swung it a little bit around so it’s a bit more parallel the beach and I’m hoping that the little bit of uh it lower in the water there’ be a little bit more line in the water a little bit more drag on the line

It might indicate a little bit better that’s the theory we shall now see if it comes into practice that’s the big bait on there at the moment so I’ve got a big uh black lug and Squid cocktail on the two hook banged out as far as I can and as you can see

Tide is now racing in I’m going to have a little move back soon to the base of the Rocks then after that I might even contemplate cuz I don’t think it’s going to be big fish today I’ll even get up set up on top of the prominade and fish over the top of

The rocks for an hour just to give you some sort of idea another smallest white and that was on the big bait on the Big L and Squid cocktail so doesn’t think no matter what size bait you put out they’ll take him so that was like a 3 and 1/2 4 in

Bait that’s been engulfed by that it’s been rattling around on there for quite a while to be honest with you so I’ve now by way of an experiment I’ve just put on a very very small rig like a size two hooks and it’s a loop rig two size twos

I’ve put a tiny little worm bait on the bottom and I’ve put a piece of squid Tipp with macro on the top just to see if we can temp flatfish that’s not Whiting long shot I know but at least we’re getting a few bites and I did see the Taps on it that

Time so lowering lowering that tip into the uh into the tide a bit more let made that rig a little bit more sensitive so I’m going to be biting the pulley rig up again with exactly the sign about a 3 in um lug and Squig cocktail gets much hotter I need I need

The factor 15 on in a minute I believe this sun after yesterday well that size 2 Loop rig it’s been out probably about 15 minutes now very soon after it went out I had a few little Taps on it and then nothing I’ve now retreated back up the

Beach about another 5 or 6 M so the next time I move will be up onto the uh top of the prominade over the rock so probably got an hour here if that I’m going to bring that two hook Loop in see if there’s anything snared on there the three hook Flappers ready

To go straight out so I I’ll just switch it over I’ve changed the flapper to a plain lead that might move about and roll a little bit maybe attract the oldd flatfish or something just going to try something a little bit different than what I have

Been okay now you can see I’ve finally been FC off the beach it was just about hitting where I was sitting last PL position so then I fed the gear around and back up now onto the uh prominade here and once you can get your gear

Around and get set up it is actually quite comfortable you get your rest jammed in between the stones there Rod tip nice and high lying away from any of the Rocks if I want to cast there’s a Flat Rock just in front of my uh Rod

Rest there I can step onto that don’t think I’ll need to do that today cuz I’m only literally lobbing it to the end of the groin so possibly better to do everything from here and when you’re bringing a rig back again you look for a

Gap like that down there here so you can get your lead in there and then lift it up quick at the last minute safe snagging on any any of these rocks there’ll be various places along here where you can get tucked in right the way around up to the railings up there

So yeah once you are up here and set up it is quite a comfortable uh place to fish from the only thing as I mentioned earlier once you get a decent side hitting these rocks that water will come over here and it will literally soak all

Your gear move your gear back over to the back wall there out the way you can avoid it the only other thing you’ve got to uh remember when you’re on these uh prominar is obviously other people walking up and down dog walkers and stuff be just be a bit careful when you’re

Casting um you don’t really need to go mad on here pendulum casting all that just a nice gentle overhead lob will put you in amongst the deepish water so yeah she now uh crack on here and see if I can scratch a few more out I’ve had a couple of little pin Whiting

Since you last saw me nothing to write home about not not even seeing a bike just rearing in for a bait change and they’re on there so yeah it’s absolutely I’m I’m boiling now and I’ve only got a sweatshirt on on a hoodie the big coat which I brought is

Wrapped up I’m laying on the on the Rocks over there that that won’t get used today so if nothing else it’s been a pleasant morning okay sub that in then have a look the little uh loop rig had a few little Taps on it but not confident

Really it hasn’t carried on so it’s either a small fish buried itself on the hook or it’s nothing there you go that’s been hanging on there quite a while Bo okay I’ve just had a little move not too far to be honest that’s where I originally started down on the beach and

Then I moved up onto the top there but it was a bit of a pain in the ass every time I got a white in to walk around down these steps down to here where I can release it nicely in the water so I’ve had a bit of a

Brainstorm I’ve set my uh tripod up here on the corner I’ve now set all my gear back there out of the way out of the wind and in the shade and my rods now fishing out in the middle of that groin there so it’s going to be easier to retrieve cuz I’m going

To be retrieving the gear now back into two or three foot of water and any any little Tings I get or any fish can be returned straight into the water there without having to waade out or throw them in so should see what happens here in this new spot it’s definitely more com

Able it’s about time I uh got the coffee out I haven’t had a drink yet this morning since I’ve been in very pleasant morning so far okay it’s fast approaching high tide now I’ve got the water smashing on these rocks here quite regularly the bites have literally dried up

Now uh I reckon as soon as it get dust they’ll switch back on and they’ll go mad so yeah not a fantastic fishing session but actually quite a pleasant morning to be out getting a bit of breath of fresh air so just to summarize then really this

Mark fishable in the summer parking is exactly the same but it’s going to be more a bit more busy in the summer you do get a lot more people down here and also when this when of this holiday Camp’s in full swing as well uh species in the summer you’re

Going to be getting bass smooth pounds rise uh throw in a few flatfish As you move into the Autumn winter The Whiting then turn up virtually sometimes you can’t get a bait in the water for the Whiting before they’re on it it’s not been the case

This morning I don’t know why as I say as soon as that light sun drops down behind the bank behind and the light levels drop they’ll probably go mad yeah you got the chance here of a ray is still in in at this time of year leading up into the

Winter um the flatfish I would have thought still been out surprised I haven’t had a dog fish today come down near pleasure fishing normally get a dog fish uh there is also the chance obviously of a unicorn but that’s uh I think you got to put the timing down here

And i’ particularly i’ head that way as far as you can really where the um the Rocks finish and and the woodwork finish it’s a little bit rougher ground out there I think and I think that might attract the old seaword so what I’m going to do now is

I’m going to bring that last cast in now wrap the gear up and make my way home thank you everyone for watching again I’ll see you on the next one SL