The endless march

"Those bloody maggots have got out again..". Luckily they were quite morose and hadn't ventured far round the fridge.

Plan B then. After yesterdays icy deluge it was just cold. Rain was forecast for 3 and a north easterly to boot but out on to the flood plain to hunker down behind two smelts. 5 herons, like ghostly grey ox peckers  picked for frogs round the cattle.

The rain never came and neither did the pike. The infernal signal crays did though. Beastly things.A lot of surface debris and to top it all a far bank resident marked his territory by quite deliberately bailing his boat all over my float. He's done it before. Very passive aggressive  I think he is like that long suffering Graham on the advert who is constantly at the beck and call of an unseen, insistent voice  so I do tend to keep a lowish profile in front of his lawn.

As I reached the last stile a white shape got up in front of the retreating cattle. Egret? A white disc of a face swivelled to meet my gaze not 20 feet away. A barn owl.

Pitch black by 10 past 5. That extra hour? Of course the children were up at their usual hour, which to day was  now 4.45.  Bugger.

Autumn colour

Autumn is truly upon us. And its raining hard too. Good. It's needed. A couple of very brief trips of late, pointing the rod out of the car rather than the camera almost. You might see a lot of this net, far less stinky in the car than its bigger bream snot coated brother. And it seems to go well against the autumn leaves. Lovely little ressie roach, and the only one that needed the net.

Fish soup was more duck soup hence the very brief three casts one fish stop. And it was perishingly cold. I did dabble in the Duck as well.

I hear whispers of roach on the flood plain, well the plump pike up there must be eating something other than the ruffe they often cough up.

Hot, hot, heat

The unseasonable warmth continues and the fish are still scattered round the system and showing themselves everywhere. A lot of dace at the moment, I'd forgotten a catapult so the larger fish over the other side were not really in range so it was mostly the nursery fish today. One a chuck though.

I had a micro chub and  a not much bigger roach and two perch, this being the largest.

Twice the smelt was taken, and both fish really fought well. The smaller  about 7ish went back without a photo but this was a bit better and  a passer by stopped to capture the moment. No summer leanness on these river fish.

I'd blagged a full 3 pints of maggot for the price of one as they were on the turn so I hope to get them riddled off and ready for a few more sessions.

Turned out nice again

The car decided not to turn right at the bottom of the crawler lane hill and I ended up on a completely different water than I intended. Which meant I wasn't really prepared. But the sun shone and it was  a peaceful spot, save the buzzards and coots.

Oh for  a self hooking method feeder and some sticky pellets. Never mind. Two mud pigs fell off and a little un stayed on to the net.

If I'd dabbled at the Duck it would have been a pint and fish soup float fishing. And I might have avoided paying. Karma. Got a free fish last time so only half  and half.

This and that

Friday and just happened to finish up in Sheringham. Big winds coming up but boy was the tide out. Fair bit of spindrift as the strong offshore blow met the flood over those shoals.

Incredibly warm on Saturday, 25C  on the car display. I'd thought about the river but with the strong wind opted for the shelter of the Very Little Water Left. Discovered what I thought at was lime on one of the stages was cormorant shit. Perhaps that explains the wounds on some of the tench.

Piking was the mood but I did set up with the pellet chucker float and mini Source. I have never felt so warm in October, even in shorts and tee shirt. Didn't take long for the  rapidly melting joey to be sucked up and a lovely fresh looking pike of about 7lb was on the mat. 

Rather like last weekend I'd just put back this bream when a smelt was heading out over the flats at a rate of knots.

A real powerhouse performance (from the pike, not the snottie) and it was some relief when the fish was in the net. I wonder if it was the biggie from last week I'd not managed to land? Either way a donkey of a fish. Easily able to manage that bream and I wasn't surprised it went nearly 18 and  a half.

I'd more or less done my work and it wasn't a wrench to wind in briefly for lensman duties when  another member was into  a carp from the cormorant's favoured perch.

Probably just ten pounds we thought and what a glorious mirror. 

I  just hope plenty of rain falls this winter and spring so we can spend many more hours on our Golden Pond.

Storm Callum arrived today and is doing it's best to bring some serious water with it. I got as far as the bridge up in Jasper Farquhart country but after 45 minutes in the car with the rain getting heavier  decided the crays were better off with my quite manky mostly turned casters and headed for home.

Time to let summer go?

After Saturday's spite full wind and vindictive rain Sunday turned out nice again. Grass cut and leaves swept it was off to the Very Little Water Left.  I do really worry about the future of this iconic local water mark, nestling at the bottom of  a sweeping bend, all rhodos and lillies, a picture perfect lake. Don't think there is an identifiable or reliable water source except road run off. East Anglia is the driest region of  Britain, and then some these arid days. It's down past its bones. 18 to 24 inches deep for the most part.

So shallow in fact now you have to choose somewhere you wont strand anything you hook on the  silt. Fellow Member and ever present until we had a temporary closure was kitted out with chesties and a spade to make a deep enough spot to net fish from when I got there and he was almost straight away into a stunning mirror that waddled it's way in. Spot the spade

Looks like he's the cradle with the carp there.

Relived to see it get out into some water.

I settled in for probably the last time this year for my favourite method small boilie  under a small loaded waggler on a decent rod in the hope of tench and bream. First bite came as the ever present ducks were squabbling over  scraps so I had an impeded strike and a tench was pricked then off.

I'd also placed a small joey in the shallowest of shallows to my right and it wasn't long before the float began to bob then start to  move away. A decent pike on and surging as best it could through the water and mostly mud. Surprisingly solid if not plump and lightly hooked again.

I put out a sardine and got back to the float road.  Some bream-like single bubbles and the float dipped  long enough for me to take action, and  the Drennan Tench and Specimen 13 footer  was bent if not tested. Good reel too, rear drag and reliable. I've got another waiting to be spooled up. that'll be an excuse to get another rod to put it on.....

I thought I'd give the Greg Wallace cap an airing.

As I was putting the bream back the sardine  took off at a rate of knots, all baitunner and bite alarm.
The rod slammed over as the pike made hard for the left hand pads. Different gravy this one with real width across the back and a crodillian head. At the net the flying top treble caught in the drawstring and the mud soup meant I couldn't turn the net to scoop her in and as I contemplated stripping off to go in the fish turned and was gone. Not sure what with the summer leaness but come late winter that would have been a 20. Never mind. 

Another bream, this time my old friend big scales.

Last fish of the afternoon, again another fast take on sardine and a longer but leaner fish than the first.

I really do hope there is no big kill under the ice in the winter and that there is some water come spring. If nothing else it would mean the kingfishers and herons I was treated to all afternon had something to fish for.

Fantastic day

Set off down the A140 in light drizzle with a target in mind, a pike and a bass. But most importantly drinking lots of tea and eating a few sausages with the Loafer, freshly back from impersonating trigger fish on Chesil Beach. Unusually I beat him to it and had three rods out and the kettle on before he deigned to make an appearance. It being October the pike would no longer be wolfing down down deadbaits so no keyboard warrior pike police abuse expected.

The Loafer had bought two travel rods to use later in the nearby estuary so it wasn't easy to recreate the traditional casting shot this time round. 

Not one for matt black or olive green the Loafer.

Several teas and a ritual disemboweling of May, Mourhino and Rees-Mogg to name a few later the drop-off on my middle rod was away. As usual the Loafer hadn't bought a net or mat so had to find the ones I had hidden away in a vain attempt to keep them dry and the car stink free later. He then struggled for an hour to identify the viewfinder as opposed to the LCD display which was just as well as the pike that had taken my little joey really had an aversion to the net  and wasn't coming in any time soon. Even with aeon's of time and induced tail walking an action shot wasn't forthcoming from the Loafer so in the onion bag it went. Nicely hooked and a twist of the long handled forceps was all that was required and the first double of the autumn was soon immortalised on the camera sensor. We wondered just how many pike have been unhooked on that mat of reeds.

No looking at the tail, it's not a mud pig. Unusual pink tinge to the fins

Time to wash the Derri boots. Next time it will be Billy Big Balls in Vass chesties. Or £700 neoprenes.

Time for sausages we thought. Very tasty too.

One or two too many close passes by the windsurfers had us packing away for the estuary just over that tree line. Not sure if any Tijskie cans have found  their way in to my holdall courtesy of the Loafer. Don't cross him when he is hungry.

After a brisk walk down to the estuary the Loafer had built up a fine sweat and stench of contained flatus in his not quite £700 chesties. The plan was to float fish along the colour line as the flood tide and the massive bay eddy caught up  at a spit. I'd been given the bludgeon float as I only had  wellies on  and the Loafer had a more refined waggler style with no weight down set up as he could get much further out on the flats.

I did get  a little further out than that.

Well, just a little.

Not long in and the Loafer was in to a bass which did go rather well on the end of his braid and as I can distinguish a viewfinder  I did get a few action shots.

An absolute belter of a fish. Despite the new season one a day quota it did go back. Only because I had no bag to for him to hide it in for me to sherpa it back to the Merc for him. One a day rod caught. For half a year. How many tonnes a month do the commercials get? With discard? By the way Mick Rouse types. Move over. The new features photographer has just ridden into town.

Estuaries are not always muddy creeks and saltings. A lot clearer than the Colne.

I did get one positive indication and two nipped rag but it was the Loafer all the way.

Mullet were behind us at one point. An impressive egret roost too.

 An absolute corker of a day. Target achieved between us. Let's do some more.