From Amy to balmy

Little Un played football on Saturday in Storm Amy whipped up 50mph gusts. Made for some interesting ball trajectories. Still battering us till lunch ish Sunday as the Canaries capitulated (Upper Towen) but noticeably dropped enough for me to find  a sheltered spot to winkle out a couple of tench, boy do they go on float gear. I fancy one or two last bashes before the pads die down.

Chores done Monday fancied a change after catching up with the gardening in unseasonable warmth so headed down to Noddy Train bridge with some none too fresh reds. 

The roach and dace didn't seem  to mind with a bite a trot. Put a few in the net for a pic, nearly had to tip them back sans photo  as a pike, which had been harassing the fish on the retrieve hung on a while before the dace escaped, another bit me off so I called it a round 90 minutes and headed off

Prompted me to set up a just in case rod to stick in the holdall

Didn't have to get it out of the holdall today but absolutely bagged up on dace, some quite decent and roach in the mill pool. Perhaps the riddle and maize meal helped. Bite a trot again, but many more hooked than yesterday, fantastic sport in the faster water on the pin.

You expect a brown on  many rivers these days and this belter really tore me up in the clear water. Haven't seen these markings before, almost sea trouty. Happy days.

Mediocre at best

Desultory couple of hours on the river to start the weekend, raging toothache, sinusitis and a painful earache not made better by endless tangles and small (tiny) dace and roach in every swim I tried. Sunday not a lot better heath wise but some nice roach, pigs and this stonking tench, all on corn in between the showers. Getting dark early these days.

Not the bag fest I hoped for yesterday and just dull nagging discomfort. Nice to get a hybrid for variety amongst the not quite netter roach. 

Boring morning behind a pair of bobbins today, some mud pig rod bending 

but the best bit was the endless tea and this egg and bacon toastie. 

The un-cremated bacon hidden from the Loafer who claimed from afar that it was almost raw. Still wincing when I eat.

Back to Blighty

Summer is over and the signs of  a mellowing into Autumn mists and the sweet damp smells of dank decay.

Tench  still occupy my thoughts and when I can on the float and a pin. I can forgive this one for picking up my down the edge wafter 45 minutes after the first slip up  to a 'proper' method. Greedy fecker.

I'm picking up 4 or 5 most short sessions  and they really do test the tackle to the limit insisting on heading for the pads every time. Love 'em

The river is still there and closer to home but the bankside vegetation is a nightmare and  if you do beat down a gap the reeds are often bank to bank. The fish are there in numbers though  which hasn't been the case for a few years. Lets hope these horrid v marks don't herald  waves of the black plague croaking in on an unfriendly East wind.

Often though the fish are scale perfect. There are roach everywhere.

Perch, chub and dace too.

'Proper' dace too, I didn't weigh this one yesterday but I'd like to catch it again in the back end of the season for sure 

Sunny climes

Two weeks in Corfu, an all in jobbie as I refuse to drive there what with it being absolutely terrifying  as the countless vertiginously perched cliff edged shrines will testify. A  shame as its a lovely island. Didn't pack any travel rods for the girls as the local area is pretty much fished out though the Ionian Sea further off shore can sustain markets and local fresh fish stalls (which are plagued with wasps and hornets).

I'm not a fan of cinnamon in savoury dishes so ate mostly fish when off site in nearby Roda.

This is one Big Fat Greek Wedding I would have liked to attend at the beachside Taverna.

Beer was plentiful on site

 and when we stepped out it was often an Alfa and a litre of rose

Good hotel complex.

, 

Albania ahoy, which like a lot of the Med was on fire for a couple of days.

Corfu Town is a lovely place

A lovely relaxing get away. From Norwich Airport too so no long drive, home in under an hour of landing.

9 years apart by chance

Catching up, gonk pie anyone?

I'd forgotten about this sortie back on the honey pot before we departed to the Ionian Sea. Dropped in a few gaps with the stick and found a veritable nest of gudgeon in one.

Another lovely perch and some pretty roach as well. Bites in every spot.

Honey pot

Another afternoon excursion, this time at the top of the stretch. Big old pool below the bridge has been kind in the past but in truth it's more of a waggler or feeder spot, being wide. This top end has had several de-waterings but I had heard enough whispers so gave it a go, albeit on the pin. Absolutely packed with mainly dace but also jewel like high backed roach. However none would have made 3 inches, easy pickings for a perch.

All good signs for the future. Louder shouts (pics gave it away chaps) from above the bridge and an easier cast even a way over. However, the gutter looked good and so it proved, holding back or tripping over the gravel every trot a bite, Decent dace and plenty of gudgeon.

And on one line the float went down in exactly the same spot, three trots in a row. Three silvery roach that all needed the net. Happy days.

Goldie looking roach

Rain then heat plus rosebay, nettles, reeds, horseflies etc. Sticky smelly work fighting through that lot in the hope of finding a few yards of trottable water. Found one gap and fish rising all down the stretch, what a lovely sight and sound.   A  few nice dace then these two lovely roach. A bit  'gold' but with red roach eyes. I'll l get more bothered if they top two pounds. Things are looking up once more down on the floodplain.

(Not) dipping a toe in the water

Thought the rain would freshen things up so headed down to the Soay stretch, and wade the pool with bigger baits but as wading for me at present is shorts and beach shoes and I didn't fancy surfer belly what with all the extra raw shite the good burghers of Aylsham paid Love Every Drop to 'treat' swilling about it was plonk a mat on the bank and maggots.

Fish of all sizes very active (a brownie chasing fry too) and managed a good mixed bag of chub, roach, dace and gudgeon. No water borne turds thankfully (plenty of Soay shit hence the mat to sit on).