Golden Pond at tipping point?

Little Uns playing up so only a 45 mins window before curfew, so Golden Pond then. On the dam but couldn't bring myself to even set up. 3-4 feet down now and more exposed silt than water. We haven't had proper rain for months. It would take a month of monsoons to make a difference. No way any fish could be saved except by rod and line but not many places now you could even get a landing net wet. Heart breaking, it really is. I think the only water that  really comes in now is road run-off and that's not a free ride, its a notorious accident black spot, and the road was blocked again today with the usual diesel spill. 

I did have a couple of hours into the gloaming yesterday on what soon might be my closest water. Opted for the waggler and fed hemp and pellet  with corn on the deck. A variety caght  with  a couple of surprises  thrown in.

This was the first of the evening, and the largest roach, I thought 10 oz ish. Pretty fish anyway

This little skimmer had an unusual green sheen just where my stubby fingers are.

Several of it's slightly bigger chums turned up, nothing over a pound and a half and just one obvious hybrid. I wasn't really expecting this perch on corn, a bit of  a pale perch

Not that surprising really I guess, everything loves the golden grains, even 3 on a #12.

Twice I had to flick the anti-reverse off, once for this eel

and once for this lovely tench which did bend the rod a bit

Proper dark at 9 now. Oh, and I'd pulled in the car park with England wavering on a fight back to a report of a 3 wicket victory. For once snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. 

Blogger do your worst

A few randoms before I am forced to take on the new Blogger thingy. East Runton is our current go  to. It's rarely busy, has rock pools, chips and ice creams.

You can park at Blickling Lake free if you are an NT member without all that booking malarkey. It's carp or bream these days it seems. I remember being left here for a day as a nipper, about three jetties past the first reed fringe. I was in primary years I guess as granny had a Vauxhall Viva. imagine being left on your own all day at that age. Even then I was contrary, opting to fish close in for micro rudd, perfect little things. I had 23 which was way beyond my wildest dreams. I can still smell their unique slime today. The water was as green then as it is now in summer.

A Sunak half price breakfast yesterday at the fabulous Back to the Garden. Rich hollandaise and really good treacle black bacon

A couple of oddities on the back road to West Lynn as well. We do du different in Norfolk.

The Wash is that way.

 A pre Sunak lunch side

Must explore Lynn properly before I take the retirement plunge. I'm getting the feeling that they've calculated on me having gone already, which being contrary is making me drag my feet a bit. A Hanseatic League port and has some fine buildings.

Greeny breamy

A different feel to the farm pond,  warm but the wind blowing the other way, very pronounce algal green and the only surface activity was the myriad pond skaters and masses of fry dimpling the surface. Not a day for the waggler but what?  I  sent out  a crude bolt rig effort  with an attendant pva mesh bag of small pellets whilst I readied the two flatbed method feeders. A couple of splashy skimmers and a very surprised looking roach before a decent take on the bolt rig rod produced a very truculent tench that fair beat me up before diving, peg on nose and everything into the waiting  stink net.

Little else to report for a while apart from the imbibing of a change brew, the next best thing to ginger is rhubarb after all. 

A heavy shower and a brief flurry of bigger bream activity on the yellow peril pineapple and shocking pink tuna ensued before I decided I needed to go home and recharge my batteries, and de-slime myself.

St. Peters thumb print on this one. 

Tenchmatic

Had an hour to spare so popped down the road to Golden Pond. I haven't been in a while and it has shrunk even more. More reason to visit whilst it's still there. I though I'd try this little apple ginger and lemon pick me up. Just as well as I swallowed a fly. Not sure about the old woman.

One fish fell off, one stayed on, despite a detour into the drying out pad. Perhaps the biggest fins I've ever seen on a tench, and a very unusual floppy dorsal.

Perhaps it's evolving into a mud skipper or a lung fish. Ah, the missing link. it could certainly walk on those huge pelvics and might have to if we don't have a month of rain. At night of course.

In the tench zone

I needed to collect my stink net from the farm pond so stuck a rod in the charabanc for a "just in case". Nearly back of the charabanc job as the stink net was drying out on the gate.

The usual Sourcery, no wet baits as it was a bish, bash, bosh and home jobby. Bag down the side then, and one of my new wonder bait wafters in a shop bought hook link. No German, Spinner, D or Ronnie  stuff for me. It's a hair and bolt when all said and done. The bag (or is it a stick) delivers a few goodies and helps minimise tangles. Or so I hope each time. I was fishing the tench zone from a different angle, no lovely scenic shots as Farmer Giles guards his homestead  with a 12 bore. We do shoot burglars round here after all. So you've got a rod butt on a bucket instead.

My Ron Thompson buzzer was a little temperamental but the fizzing baitrunner came to it's rescue. Someone who catches a lot of mudpigs says carp fishing is easy these days, because of the hair and bolt. Add a bait runner and even more bingo time down the right wing. Pre-hair we'd sit for a day, perhaps for just one twitch or stuttering run to hit or more often miss. First time out and five screamers, five fish on the bank (no mat police then).  You Johnny Come Lately newbies have no idea. Not a mudpig this time but my hoped for tench (I was in the tench zone after all). Pleasantly plump as well. Same one as last time? Possibly. I'll gloss over the tench sized hole in my landing net. Bet Farmer Giles had a right chortle as he/she viewed the shenanigans on the drone footage live streamed to their ancestral pile. Release the hounds.

  

In the gloaming

A late start yesterday evening and I'd not much time before curfew. In the Royal Box, and just to increase my chances a flat bed feeder down each flank and with a big buster on each. The left hand flank is a noted tench zone I'd been told and indeed the first baitrunner fizz was on the left hand rod  and what a lovely tench it was  Just a hint of a buttercup yellow belly. I've said it many  times but no matter what size they are tench just make me smile. When they are pleasantly plump I smile some more.

Not to feel outdone, the right hand buzzer blurted out a warning tone and a very shiny breamlet was  laid on the casually placed pads...

I'd sort of met the curfew by leaving at 9.....it's fairly dark already by 9.30 these days.

It never rains but it...

As I loaded up,the charabanc a fine rain began to fall. Enough to get the auto wipers ticking over, never mind, the cricket was on and I could always sneak a pint in. Realise I'd left the ground bait bowl in the garage so Dangling Indirect first then the pub as it was still marginally damp. Woakes  had chopped on and Broad was in, yesterday's hard work seemingly undone. Pubs are a bit lame in lockdown lite it seems, although the Barshams Oaks was pleasant enough. No scratchings though, not good  enough landlord. 

Broad was motoring and the 300 mark was up as I pulled off down the steep track to the farm pond. Car park empty  and the mizzle had stopped. A warm wind, overcast and the bream were rolling and bubbling as the text books decreed they must. Black Bream mixed and ready to go in my shiny new mixing bowls. A heady sweet concoction.

I balled in 6 jaffas then set about  testing my wafters for waftability in my hi-tech rig tank. And yes,they wafted just above  the #6 hook. Perfick. Down the edge one went with  a small bag of pellet whilst I readied the flat bed mix of spicy sausage and krill.

I'd only just got both flat beds out over the ground bait when the wafter rod was away. A decent scrap ensued, bearing in mind the rod was a 12 ft 3lb tc affair, not a mud pig but the intended tinca, a  long spawned out female at that.

A couple of skimmers on the flat beds and then another smaller tench on the rod down the edge before the expected deluge arrived. 

Hasty covering of tackle and bait and  hiding behind the rosebay willow herb  willing the bobbins to glue themselves to the ground. The deluge was quite fierce but I managed  to escape the worst.

It seemed to spur the fish and sometimes  I had double hook-ups to contend with. Mostly on the yellow peril pineapple but a few on the big busters, once I'd dropped down to a 25 gramme feeder. This hybrid, one of the golden greeny ones really punched above it's weight.

A few skimmers but 6 times the anti reverse  was flicked off as a bream put up at least a token resistance and bent the 1.5 tc Korums nicely against the leaden sky, occasional pierced by a dashing azure  kingfisher streaking past. The average stamp, all about 5 lb or so. 

I was down to the last few dampened pellets in the method bowl and was pondering whether to mix some more when the wafter rod was away again, and no tinca or snottie this one A determined, if not spectacular scrap with several dorsal pings  and one missed netting attempt but eventually in the onion bag and eventually on the Korum digitals, bouncing around 18 lb and settling on a zeroed 17.15. Lovely looking fish, nearly  fully scaled too.

Bit of  a gob shite to be fair...

I'd done my work for the day and besides, I had steak to look forward to.

Broad had made the 3rd fastest Test 50 and West Indies were struggling on 75 for 5 as I reversed down the drive back at BureBoi Villas. Happy days.