Brand loyalty

I've used Source now for what seems donkeys years. With a bag down the side as a wafter and most sentimentally in 12mm under a puddle chucker. This year the 12mm have been harder to find and my last bag bought were 14mm dumbbells. Not 'quite' the same and less likely to pick up a bonus roach possibly.  

To my shame a new kid has entered the block, yellowish, pineappley and has already been added to my bag adown the edge armoury in 15mm and 14mm wafers. Essential Cell and the tench and carp seem to like them. Dilemma time as the new kid minis seem only to come in 10mm not 12mm .

Down to my last few Source 12mm I walked the nearest arm of lake and back where I had put the gear down the swim  was a cauldron. The bag rods abandoned and the trusty Spicy Sausage 4mm pellets and one of my last Source 14mms was impaled on the push stop and swing out into the mass of bubbles. The puddle chucker dipped, lifted slightly then sank away.. The strike almost hit home but not quite. The second chance resulted in a tench scale on the QM1.The next and a tench definitely on, surging strongly left under the trailing willow fronds. then off. Slime on the line above the anchoring BB. Straight back out into a patch of bubbles. Bingo.  Cracking scrap and a recapture with a split tail and 7 oz more belly (roe developing?) than last time from a different swim. 6.02 and my best of the year so far.

Spots of rain and I  ceremonially fed the last half-dozen of my Source 14 mms, the new kids already stashed in the bait bucket for next time.

Muddy mullet madness

Mission was to catch my first mullet on the fly rod. Truth be told the last mullet  I caught were on bread  on the Algarve along time ago. Last century long time ago. The Loafer was my man and he instructed me to buy a suitable line, in this case a weight forward floating line, they come with welded loops now and a handy tag indicating the reel end.

Beef wrap with mustard and  a tour of the man cave and we were off prospecting for grey ghosts. The Loafer lives a stones throw away from the mud flats and knows the tides and where the mullet and bass will show at given  states of the tide all being well. 3.30ish was the expected turn to flood so we  had a pint and pondered variously on the inevitable frailty of parents as we head towards our own dotage and the stupendous size of Dutch roach.  

Off to the first mark and I immediately went arse over tit. Pleasant. The Loafer went through a few lure combinations whilst we wait for the flood to make.

As predicted the odd mullet began to appear then enough to warrant a cast. My ghillie laid out a decent cast, the first 10 metres of bright orange WF over the oozing mud and the yellow strike indicator and a multi-worm dropper and a green lantern on the point barely 2 metres out amongst the patrolling algae browsers. The indicator moved away purposely and my duffed strike failed to drive the hook home. Out again and this time no mistake. Not a brilliant scrap by any means as it couldn't get up any momentum get away and in truth it was fairly small. No matter, mission accomplished. A thin lip (the Loafer tells me the thicks are usually further down the estuary) on the green lantern.

The commotion  put them down as expected so we headed up to the holding pool to see if any were milling about and to wait for the flood to reach us with a fresh wave of grey ghosts. Plenty actively feeding and out again with the winning combo. Bosh, a take expertly captured on video (perfect timing) and a much better scrap and a bigger thin was my prize.

Three chances in 25 minutes fishing (4 hours stuck in oozing filth). Easy this mullet lark. Whilst we were waiting for for the flood to finally reach us a double commotion under the bridge caught our attention as groups of mullet were being harried by unseen predators. Not cormorants or seals so could only been harbour porpoises holed up.

No luck for the ghillie but a cracking day out.as ever with the Loafer. Now to clean off that mud and salt water. Anything to avoid painting. 

Red eyes

 Wind has had a nip to it but the tench are feeding. Who doesn't like a tench or two?

Trot or not

Big bucket of bread and pastes and some left over just in case red maggots. River coloured (not sure why) which might get some of the zoo creatures  out of their day time tucked away haunts. Long time member had fished all the way up with the only indication a quick jag jag whilst we pondered on the future of  'our' river.  Binned that idea and left the bread in the charabanc and back down to Noddy Bridge with a slimmed down trotting bucket. I've struggled in the Noddy Bridge swims  this season for some reason but a few dace  rising had me sat down above the confluence with the trusty 15 footer and pin. A few dace a way down the trot but the lurking pike was making them wary. Shallowed up  and ran down a shortish near bank glide below the feeder emptying at my feet. Bingo. Dace a trot, and all sandpapery males, bar a couple of chublets and a roach.  Just thinking about heading home when a pike finally grabbed a fish as I struck. Powerful fish and I could see it was a mid double at least. Just thinking about emptying the landing net when it spat the mangled dace out.

Last river day and the bread bucket and by now a meagre tub of maggots were heading off to the new river. Bloke trotting the main pool so I settled for the sandy run. Bites in a yard square zone before. the flow whisked the stick float away to a waiting gudgeon or minnow. The shallower faster riffle adjacent to the sandy run meant for some decent struggles and rod bendage when I hooled a 'silver'. Which I did for as long as my meagre maggot supply lasted.

The usual 'kept a few back for a net shot' shot. Cormorant damage very evident. I'd been 'basking' in shorts but the bib and braces were  deployed before driving a couple of miles down to the Parakeet stretch

The bucket of bread was deposited in a few likely spots along two bends. I'd just made my first cast, the flow taking up the bow and imparting a nice curve to the tip when a stocky man in joggers lurched past. I'd expected him to be tooled with a lure rod, no net and a handy plastic bag, 'sponsored' by a well known mobile two letter mobile network provider but he had a very big dog, a long lead and a seemingly limitless supply of stones in his hoody pocket which he hurled in as if they were nuggets of very heavy Warby Orange almost precisely where my gentle handfuls of white gold were probably still fluttering down to the river bed.. I took a risk and hurled a stream of invective his way. The large head phones on his bonce must have been noise cancelling as I had to get in front of him to get his attention but with a shrug of his shoulders he carried on on his way down the river.

No point going home so I fished diligently down.  No parakeets but an equally noisy mischief of around 15 magpies made up for their absence, watch on by two more reserved elders. Yaffles abounded too.

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As the sun dipped  roach began to roll and I had an intense period of roachy twitches, jags and one sharper pull almost at my feet. I only has a packet of wide gape size  6's in my  big coat pocket (the air temperature had plummeted) and even reducing the size of the flake failed to convert any bites. I'll do a proper roach recce or two in the autumn. My evening ended with a small swim bait perch trailing line (no wire trace) snaring my main line.. Another find.

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Rollers on the river

Big, big winds, 45-50 mph in gusts and plenty of flying limbs. Piking the only option. Low rods and hunkered down. Pike Pro lifters being shoddy and crap I had to rely on my sardines to do their best against weed and crays. In the event two dropped runs and a bucket full of crays were my lot

The jury is out as to whether this 3 miles of lovely lowland river I've fished and haunted for 35 years will now have to be a cloak and dagger Forbidden. Gamekeeper turned and all that/

(Almost) Fished out.

Not much time left on the rivers and not much desire to turn to the stillwaters yet. A very short  and then a longer trip back on the new river resulted in two not hit plucks. Low, clear and too bright perhaps? Spent some time watching a pair of parakeets and tree creepers over my not moving much quiver tip. 

More fruitless trotting on the Church bend and Pastons before beginning a vey belated baiting campaign further downstream.

I needed some bites so back to the pub stretch on the new river.  Bites a plenty if I found the right trot, not that easy given the low river  and gusting wind. The deeper spots  holding fish but the streamy run below the better ones lurked on a clear sandy run.

Perhaps because the pesky minnows preferred the deeper spots.

I inadvertently tipped the better roach, dace and a chub pushing a pound back I'd kept back for a net shot so these will have to do. Quite why I prefer gudgeon (and ruffle and bleak) to minnows I don't really know. I guess you at least know there is something on the hook.

Big winds so piking on sturdy short bank sticks today. We have sort of found out we've lost our stretch of my very local so a last push before it's gone. Something will probably turn up, it usually does.

Head above the clouds

The Loafer was booked to be ghillie for Bully but the forecast was for rain later so I got down to the rolling hills of Devil Dog and Roses Round the Cottage Door Land an hour or so earlier and headed up past the pre-baited spots into new territory for me. An abundance of skylarks and the occasional peep and brilliant azure of kingfishers.  A chub day today. 2SSG or less in contrast to the bank-topping of the last trip down. Meadow sodden but green. Water clear and a mean down-streamer. Second swim and only a brief shifting of the lead to note and I was eyeing up the next good looking spot.  Everything tidied up and rucksack on my back. Rod last to be picked up and a fish pulled back hard. Decent scrap but no netting dramas. A bit more of a struggle to pull the net back up the bank than I was expecting. No wonder, it was an absolute belly buster all you can eat breakfast of a chub. 4lb 10oz of prime Essex (cast landed this side of territorial waters) lard. 

So good I posted it twice....

I could have packed up there and then and had a last couple of hours on my 'new 'river but when the fish are feeding you don't turn chances down. 

I was contemplating life on this nice bend when a strange tapping on my left ear with the aftermarket white tip of a Fox Specialist 12 foot 1lb tc rod announced that the Loafer had arrived and not long after Bully bought the rain with him.  Wet through in minutes. My temper worsened by the appearance of  a small dog that ran off with my weigh sling, it's owner totally oblivious.  No recall at all.  Another 'I didn't see you there' excuse. 10 minutes of trying to get it on a lead them another 10 trying to disentangle it. When she had she dropped the sling at her feet  and of course the dog picked it up again

Headed back to the car with the intention of dumping the mountain of wet stinky tackle and bread slop in the boot and come back down with a flask of soup  to watch the Loafer expertly guide Bully to a netfull, the rain stopped as I got to Dead Cormorant swim and I seized the opportunity to winkle this smaller feller out  all bronzes and coral pinks.

The rain retuned with a vengeance so I headed back up the steep steps to the charabanc . Got up to the village and the top of the cloud was down below.   Steak for tea so a wet but happy day in the end.

Marsh chub

Been thinking a lot about a stretch of my 'new' river.  Bang between a sprawling estate, a massive health and science park and a busy trunk road. It's free for a start.  I selected a parking spot where I'd have at least a chance of watching the local populace jack the charabanc up on bricks. A grey overcast day, perfect for wily old chub but not for leaving the big coat in the boot. Which of course I did 

High flood bank and  extensive marginal growth, finding waderless spots a premium. Settled on a pair of bends as far up as I could walk and  fed some white gold in a few likely spots. Flake on a size 6 wide gape, first swim only one tremor. Second swim missed 2 bites in quick succession. Third, lost a chub as I was contemplating where to net it. Annoying but at least hardly a barren fish less desert. Dropped down a bend on to this longer straight and  after a good scrap the chub did what chub do best, transferred the hook to a reed stem. I did swear a lot.

Next cast  and bingo, No way was I going to loose this one and in the onion bag it went. Lovely thick set fish and well received by passers by. I was so chuffed  I even forgave their dog for trying to snaffle my cheese roll.

The big coat and thoughts of a stripped down charabanc had me hurrying back with plans to warm up and drive the short distance to the park stretch  for some short rod trotting but I had a urge to drive back to the village stretch below the next mill. Someone was in my intended spot so I set down a respectful distance above and set about some stick and pin work with the usual pair of red grubs in a size 16 wide  gape spade end. Gudgeon, roach, chublets and a minnow were the rewards for finding the sweet spot, dace too including this very gravid fish.

Last trot and much sturdier resistance in the strong pull and I would of sworn it was a chub if I lost it unseen. Once I saw it was a roach I was determined to net it. A battled scared warrior with cormorant and or otter damage. I  had wondered if my lost chub from the previous session here was a roach as I'd seen vivid red fins as the hook pulled and that was bigger than this.

Oh and I found another bodged rod chucked in a bush. This time a rather gaudy NGT drop shot rod.

The early bird

The early bird catches the bigger rudd. On Monday anyway. I'd headed up to the away town stretch hoping for some Fen Gold but things conspired for a later start and though the tip rattled and jagged round, often on the drop the corn/worm and feeder only produced not or barely netters. Rudd of course, roach and a solitary skimmer and silver bream, both bait size. The one big rudd I contacted with snapped the hooklink.  These are the best from what would have been a fair netfull if I'd kept them all. Nice, but not as big as I had hoped for.

Plenty of predator action and  the small silver bream I had liphooked on a circle hook and legered down the edge near where I was swinging fish in didn't last too long as this plump Fen Tiger had the baitrunner fizzing. Put up a nice scrap on the lighter rod (1.5lb tc) much to the delight of the passers by. Are you going to eat it etc. A smaller roach came back with distinct signs of zander attention though I didn't hear any indication from the non-fizzing baitrunner.

I was bookended by two blokes who had travelled nearly as far as me, Epping and Sawbridgeworth. They had caught a much better stamp of rudd to nearly 2lb early doors but then had similar to me. An absolute nightmare of a journey home with diversions and tailbacks made worse by a timescale imposed by heavy Facebook traffic about a new-fangled angling club app that was supposed to make re-joining dead easy but had lured many members into joining for the current season instead. The pub, once I'd got there was full to more than overflowing with bewildered old buggers like me waving their phones with the folding card holders about in despair, or more often than not the floral covered tablets of their accompanying wives as the old buggers  can't use a 'pooter' or one of them smart thingies. Smugly turned out that I'd done my early bird application properly, even with a sideways mug shot. If only I could download and listen to one of The  Loafers excellent podcasts. Find Backwaters-A Podcast for Real Anglers where ever you download yours from. Unless you are a linear listening Luddite like me.

Gonks

Rain petering out so rod out of the boot for  a quick trot. Dace, roach, chublets (one better chub lost) and a whole nest of gudgeon. Good for the soul.