Nearly man to mad dogs and English man

It's warming up an the fish are on the move. I headed to the other end of the pool and under a large willow. Plan was feeder on the tip for an hour or so whilst sorting out my main feeder and method rods for the coming weeks.

Dry nets so yup, a blank. Shouldn't have been: I had a very decent tench that unusually straightened the hook just as I was planning where best to take the grin for the camera shots. Bugger I said.

Did get called out on lens man duties at the other end of the pool twice though. Two lovely commons for a very happy chappie.

Even hotter today but thought up on the stages would mean I'd get the breeze and the residents feed most times of the day if you give 'em some snap. Just one small roach on the corn but a couple of better fish on the mini Source, as per usual. This tench gave me a lovely scrap  but was strangely coloured on one flank. Fairly standard on this side, with a touch of that rosy rash they sometimes have (and a parrot mouth).

And though it's a phone shot very different on the other flank.

I finished off with this smallish bream before  heading off to slaughter a fatted calf for the returning prodigal Metropolitan Elite

Road noise

The sentry fair pushed me off base this evening so i couldn't say no. I had about 30 mins tops before dark once I was on the road  bank and set  up.

A couple of whizz bangs on the corn rod to the left which I missed and about 5 minutes before off time the Source float buried. The passing headlights illuminated the netting area nicely. Job done.

An old friend

Had to have a quick bash on Golden Pond, felt it in me bones. Slightly secret squirrel  in that I hadn't technically had a pass out from the gate house. I had though donned non-work footwear. The  Essex Loafer has a thing about not  wearing workshoes for anything else. Phil Smith never saw it as a problem.

Anyway, I was glad of the bib and braces and the Aldi hoodie with the built in snood up there on the staging in that bastard  wind. Can you recall a day in 2019 without a bastard wind? When the surface wasn't  being whipped into rollers the silt was being churned in a multitude of places, but only occasionally where I had just cast. The Canada Geese tried to encroach but two of my enforcer sticks were to hand and they soon backed off. Just once in the short session the float slid away purposefully and after a surprising tussle on the Drennan Waggler rod a bream was sliding to the stink net, three grains of gold in its upper lip.

It  wasn't till I turned it for another frame that I saw the familiar line of enlarged scales in a healed wound. A true old friend this one.

No tench but one did up end and slap my float with it's paint brush tail. And here is some work shoe action for the Essex Scribbler

Mudpigging

Spent Saturday afternoon with a chill wind on my neck and a splitting headache trying out some heli-rig set ups before the weed gets away. I can see they'll be tangle resistant and I really should do some maggot feeder fishing for tench but I bet I fall back on open ended feeders with  a wider range of hookbaits, I always do.

Had a wafter on  a bag down the edge as well and as I was just finished putting away the feeder rods it was away. I was fishing that rod to the left of  an  aerator (turned off) and wanted to avoid the rope leading up to the marker buoy so did rather hustle the fish in on the 3lbtc 12 footer and did think it felt tenchy. The gob looked quite big and if it was a tench.....as it neared the waiting net  chain mail scales gave the game away and I hoisted a very fat common on to the mat. My first from the water, having usually tempted bream and tench on the tactic from here.

I didn' weigh it for some reason, we thought about 14 lb though. An old healed otter nip to the upper lobe of the tail but otherwise a gorgeous plump ole mudpig of a thing.

Hyperloopy tinca man

19C and  a warmish breeze and a couple of hours on a rickety stage on the Very Local Water called for. Have these annoying things to contend with though. After a tense stand off they learnt that a raised arm with a stick meant bugger off. Till next time. They did stir the silt up which always brings the tench and bream for a nosey round.

Double bubble approach with  the lighter rod on double corn and the heavier one on a mini Source. Fished close in over hemp and corn today. I've moved over to float stops for the loaded puddle chuckers now. It's so shallow now a standard peacock or crystal waggler is often too long. Seem to do the job, with just a no1 down to anchor the bait.

I found I could just about clear the silt and the fish milling round with a lighter and shortish 2and a half AA peacock straight waggler for the corn and that's the one that went first. It was a tench and it didn't move at all on the way in, perhaps because it was covered in thick silt. It did dive straight back in the silt when I released it. First tench of the year.

My favourite rear drag reels of the moment, a Hyperloop1000 size and a 2500 size so  an old Drennan Waggler rod and  a Drennan Tench and Specimen Float 13 footer respectively. I'd imagine that  most of my spring fishing will done be using these.

A sterner test for the Source rod on the right from this boilie munching pike of around  6 pound. note the geese deterrent stick. They just honked at the fir cones.

I recast the Source and it was taken on the drop by this  quite silvery bream with a distinctive mark on it's  cheek.

I managed another bream on corn before  curfew but it was joined in the net by a ton of silt so back it went unphotographed. Happy days.

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Dry squib

Bastard wind was still howling from the West at 40mph+ but it wasn't supposed to rain. I did think about a later start in the City for some last day roach but kids teatime is curfew time usually in the week. I slipped in a trotting rod and a waggler rod  just in case but no bread....

The roach swim was possibly fishable due to a sheltering spinney so I opted to work the straight above and sneak in if my bread loving co member decided not to turn up. It was definitely a bit blowy and I should have pushed up to that more sheltered church reach but I didn't.

3pm and not one indication of interest in the lamprey sections and I decided to move down to the roach  swim. Half way there and the familiar shape of the bread  based angler, sneakily without his speccie hat to give the game away. He was on the tip having left the trotting gear at home. He was into some roach straight away. I almost offered my trotting gear to him but instead had a go at bit further up the narrower section with no interest despite quite good trotting conditions. Some persistent twitching of the upstream lamprey float had me investigating and winding down into...Reggie or Ronny

With that I bade bread man good bye and headed home.

Gareth can do one

Zanderland called for a last hurrah but so did the impending Apocalypse. Being the bugger he is Storm Gareth didn't decide to dump its payload until after TT and I had had coffee. The drain was being driven backwards with vertical rain and banshee winds and fishing was most definitely off. I bartered two fine Brays Cottage pork pies for a good quantity of redundant Fenland maggots and made my rain and wind battered way back home.

Yesterday promised even higher winds but less rain so headed off to the irrigation pond and into Newbies swim. I couldn't buy a bite on maggot but a jumbo smelt proved attractive  though the hooks didn't hold.  The sun broke out and the wind seemed to be more steady though still strong so I moved down the noddy train bank and out with a scaled down rig  with these lovely small sardines from an obviously over fished Adriatic. 

In short order the 10gm float was away and with a dashy rather than strong resistance I wondered  perch then under the wind raked surface a broad silvery looking flank. Bream? No. a jack I let unhook itself from the 1/0 Aberdeen. Newbie had related  a similar tale  though he momentarily thought a big roach had taken his pole fished fluoro maggot. It must be the blue dye administered to retard weed growth altering the light signatures bouncing back off the fish 

I do like a macerated lamprey, and so did 3 more pike but for what ever reason the hooks never  held home. 

You don't need to go a long way out...I snapped off on the perch gear  to the right hand rod just after taking this but got everything back bar what took the micro sardine.

Beers and food with a goodly proportion of the Bure Bois as it was the Metropolitan Elite's 29th birthday. Most excellent.

Off then to watch Farke's Naaarich boys overcome Hull with a fine 3-2 win under the lights. They  seem to be able to turn over possession and with short, neat touches take it away and break with unerring regularity. Back to the top of the table  and maintaining the 2 point advantage over Leeds.

I sneaked  a look at the Wensum on the way back to the car, it looked fishable but no free parking  slot until about 2pm so not sure where my last river hurrah may be?