Micro

Haven't had a proper fish for ages or done a whole lot of anything. Mojo stuff probably. Anyway, whilst on sunnier shores had a bit of  a gift horse  One of those we've left something outside the hotel if anyone wants them gift horses.

I did look at the teeth, and as you would expect crap line, no shot and long shank 6 or 8 hooks. Grab some bread from the buffet and let the kids have a go anyway. Any bait gets mobbed straight away by tiny fish and even with bread squeezed hard enough to make it sink the shite hooks made it almost impossible to hook anything.  

However two did slip up up somehow.. A  bream of some description (Google gave  a few names) and an even smaller mullet, again of some sort. Even if I don't pack a couple of telescopic rods next time we go away I'll take some shots, floats and hook links. #16 or  #14 with push stops would be ideal. The   rods went back and  it was nice to see them being used again.

 .  .

A pesky cormorant showed up too.

Closer to home and crabbing on the Blythe at Walberswick resulted in a few tiny crabs and equally tiny fish, mostly spotty things like this

and a basslet too. A couple of proper hand sized ones were caught next to us. Happy days.

No nubiles to bring on

The best the Forbidden could offer up on the Nubiles front this time was this sedate postprandial trip from the best known eaterie/function venue on the river hereabouts, down to the next mill and back.

   

Yup, another quick stop- off after checking up on the Old. River quite sedate to match the crew and passengers above and a 3 or 4 metre  whip to hand would been perfect. The fish didn't really settle  (perhaps a pike or bigger perch about) so a quick burst then quiet again.  

Dace and chublets, interspersed with roach, perch and bleak.

Scouted out a few autumn spots on the Roadside, very handy for a posh pint. Regatta in this case .

Nice drive back listening to the two Hundred games on from Headingly, cracking games as confirmed by Teacher Son, walking back from the game in the gathering Leeds gloom. Museum/C&RT Son lived  almost opposite the ground a couple of house moves back.

 

Dibs n drabs

In a bit of a lull, doing bit of this and that but the Champion is flowing and summer is here. A quick hour on my river.

And a couple more on the Loafer's river  amongst the nubiles in SUP boards. Not really on getting the camera out in the circumstances so most of my quarry went back quick plus it was so hot my eyeballs were sweating. Chub, dace, roach and of course perch, all a few yards from the roar of the London bound traffic. Deep stretch.

A bit of flatbed flinging, right down to the last feeder full and a few more casts after.

And a few trips to the coast.

Swifts are still here and the harvest is mostly in. Toodle pip.

NBSDB quest continues

Time and weather have not been kind this week, but the rod and big green bucket did get slung in the back of the Charabanc once this week. The river was up, of course but I thought a  far bank run might be ok on the recce  on the way to the thing I had to do. And yes, a Norfolk Bog Shed Door Blue rope swing was spotted. But not the one I was looking for.

Unfortunately on the way back a White Van Man had had the same idea. What now? The Farm Pond was on the way back, and though the trotting rod and a few maggots weren't ideal why not? The small pond looked dour, but one spot had been fished recently. A change in wind direction and a few rises and then bites. As I half expected small but gorgeous rudd. Not ravenous hordes of them. Which is half a blessing. The far bank was high with plenty of scrub in the water and when ever a pheasant or magpie  flew off some heavier splashing could be heard and occasional bubbles so hints of more and better and as I packed in a couple of better swirls. Not perhaps a drive to, but a drive past with  a few pellets to see if anything could be enticed to betray it's presence for future reference

Driveby shooting at Chicken Bridge

I had a longer go after the scaley rod benders, did get a few roach on the drop and some proper bubblers showing old skool stylee in the deep channel to have a think about. Oh, and of course some deffo tench bubbles started once I'd packed up. Got in to hear the result (I'd seen 0-1 earlier) and somehow a sorry arsed Southgate shackled Engerland had scraped through to the Round of 8. (It's not fooken World Series Baseball FFS)

Other than that its been quick rod in the back of the charabanc, everything in my big green bucket sessions on the way to or back from somewhere else. Had an hour on the Duck Pond but didn't  pop in to see if Lord Sugar was in the pub. Did have to cough up a fiver to the newly installed Warden, who was using a very garish set up with little reward.  Think he's there all day, every day so I'll have to weigh up when to part with my hard earned dosh. The cormorants have wiped out loads of  the little scaley rod tremblers and their escapees are getting a bit too big to swallow now, have seen a few roach being caught though which might tempt  the Fen Master away from his vintage press.

One of the inhabitants of the Duck Pond that graced the dampened net and duck cropped grassy sward, all caught virtually under my hideous Crocs, no socks The commons seeming to be doing better than the flatter bellied mirrors.

Checked out the Mill  Pound on Norfolk's only canal mostly to bash a few small swims out, facing wind and lots of silk weed so back with a rake and get  some mash and corn going in. No dace  or bigger rudd but here's a sample of what I wangled out. Perch, ruddlet and a hybrid. Must be some bream in here somewhere

Then there is Chicken Bridge and the search for the Norfolk Bog Shed Door Blue rope swing. Still thinking about a post of chub amongst a healthy bag taken on hemp 'n' caster. The spot looked familiar, and so did the swing. Perhaps he'd put the inevitable brownies back and not in his keep net? Perhaps it was further down and he'd dropped in a few NBSDB herrings? I had had a mosey further down than I'd been and found a few nice runs, seen some minnows and  otter signs. but no NBSDB rope swings. Time was short  so straight to the shady spot with a NBSDB rope swing. This one. Comparisons on my cracked phone screen not conclusive

Anyway, in for a penny and all that. Loads (many, many) of browns, most a lot bigger than this one.

Not so many dace.

And enough mint fresh roach like these to send me happily on my way. quite quickly when  the small holder who must have been pissed about the yoots milling about now school is out and made his feelings clear with a shotgun. Only in Chicken Bridge Town, deffo a Reform voter. 

 

 

Bankside bashing

The river looked brown, listless and moribund. So I went after some scaly rod benders. A bit like small wild river brownies. Lovely to look at with so many variations and pull back a a bit. Trouble is, they are so easy to catch so  you do get a bit meh after an hour or so. Won't stop me  going back though.

Yesterday the river still looked a non rain induced brown but it had a bit of flow and life about it so  l set off for an explore. I've had two consecutive mishaps with already cannibalised so slightly small pawls on my Advanta RVS pin so rather than take a bodge stick through the drum lash up I had a Hyperloop 1000 rear drag 'fixed' on the light as the wind Drennan Waggler rod in place of the heavier Specimen rod. I say fixed, the plastic sliding reel fittings haven't shrunk as much a s the cork handle and I need to deploy  a Two Terriers  patented artisan lolly stick as a shim.

No balsam to bash but plenty of rank vegetation to hack down to access likely spots, not that pleasant in the sticky evening heat surrounded by biting and stinging things and no guarantee of  a clear glide once the river itself was reached. Two spots had a few trotting yards but for now at least no comfortable place to sit to fish on a mat so standing it would have to be. Hadn't bought any bread or hemp to tease them up the glide so bites were coming a little too far down the glide for comfort but I didn't have to bat back when I missed. Dace yes, but enough lovely roach like this one to consider it worthwhile coming back to open a gap about 15 yards down.

Dropped down to the next spot, trotting to cover with a bit more pace. Certainly more dace here, with the odd roach now and then.it went a bit quiet and perhaps this was why. Give me a bit of a tussle as well.

I left as the dew began to fall and the azure kingfishers and damselflies melted away. An hour after wine o'clock said the charabanc cabin display accusingly and the Commander in Chief wasn't best  pleased. Who daces wins

Running water.

It's stopped raining, it's warm and the upper river is running clear. Up to Chicken Town and tuck in by the bridge.  Swing over to the clear run, left to right trot, double reds on a #16 B560 . Float stabs under and first Wensum fish of the season. A dace, perfect

Followed up by a picture perfect roach: getting better.

Several more of each before the inevitable brownies muscled in and I upped sticks. 

I'd spotted a familiar looking bog shed door blue rope swing in a first day bagging shot, looking a bit like a favoured swim a hundred yards down. he'd reported chublets so I wasn't quite sure, I've seen  a couple of 2-3lb chub up here that must have been moved a couple of mills in the tradition of some of the old Norfolk Bois like Housego but haven't caught one yet. Not too difficult a swing over to the darker water but a troublesome tree above my left shoulder. A couple of decent dace and this lovely roach and a few brownies.

It was getting hot in the late morning sun so I crossed over Chicken Town bridge to fish the same swim in the shade of a big oak, with a gentle drop in and  right to left (my favoured) trot down into the near cover. Much more efficient and worth wading through the lurking brownies. Some of the roach were the darker variant with distinctive tail lobes I only ever seem to catch up here

 

along with the more typical river roach like this one.

And obviously a shed load of brownies . But no chublets in the few I kept in the landing net for another bagging shot.

I've ditched the rucksack for these sort of sessions and pressed into service my trusty 'huge' bucket much lampooned by the Loafer so I'm bit more mobile now working back to the car.

Last stop before lunch and three trots, three different species.

Lunch was served by Mr Wetherspoon, cheap, cheerful and very welcome it was too. Handy for a post pint fish too,. I hoped to draw some fish out of the mid river cover (inside full of minnows) but they preferred the fast run and were mostly small rudd like this one. 

My enthusiasm dwindled and I spent the last 15 minutes  seeing how feeding influenced behaviour. To the left the eddy  slowed and  single maggots enticed first rudd then dace being taken almost as soon as they hit the surface,  a few more and some made it down to the dead water and the fish kept coming in from nowhere and were more interested in the maggots on the bottom as I increased the feed and for a while after the bait was gone.  Seeds/small amount of groundbait would certainly held their interest for longer.

That swing and the chub  must be a few bends down....

Seasonal change

The rhodos and flag iris are in full bloom on Golden Pond and the fish have taken on a brighter, bolder appearance too. This pair of boilie munching bream an almost pefect before and after example

What nearly did come after this horrendous monsoon (Golden Pond hasn't been this full for several years) would have made a very pretty picture.

As the rain cleared the float dipped and a tench was on, and what a tench  The darkest of greens and a shockingly custardy yellow belly. Hook pulled and it lay head in the silt, just out of net reach, for an agonising 30 seconds before righting itself and surging off in a cloud of silt and bubbles  3 feet of ancestral silt at the end of the staging so no wading this side of the pond. Never mind. A polite cough from a tucked away swim to my right  acknowledged the torrent of foul language that echoed around the valley. I went home. 

Kicking up a stinca

Carp Dad. Phil Foden catches carp. We want to too. OK then but on the float only.  They do pull back you know. They did pull back, five times. Each carp meant 4 grains of corn to be eaten straight from the bait box. A sore wrist curtailed play. They can learn their trade before going to the dark side. And I'm too mean to shell out on day ticket money, or the journey too often...

I had more serious business to attend to. Tench. And I knew just the place. Yes, bream and mudpigs might get in the way now and then but with a view like this  I could put up with a bit of a sacrifice. And no day ticket. Hour and a bit sessions are my allotted windows at present.

First foray on Golden pond was a bit chillier than it looked above. Not much movement until curfew time and a last cast bite. After a quick surge the hoped for tench turned into  a surrender monkey bream. Unhooked in the net  on the pads to save on a bit of slime,

Next pass out and the stages looked a windy prospect so tucked in on the noisy but wind calmed  road bank, close in to cover. A couple of missed bites on my favoured Source mini boilie and bingo.  A much sterner contest and  a lovely fat tench was resting up in the net. Must be the carp boys feed that's fattening them up as I'm  used to them being long but thin..

Last trip back on the staging saw a bream and a carp being lost just near the net (hook pulls) but the return of  a long lost Puddle Chucker; swings and roundabouts as I'd had the fun bit of playing them in.