Vanity publishing

                                                         Now this was a haircut...

Wak Lite in tache shocker

Wak Lite, with an Arlesford mirror and a Tartan House tache (or perhaps the Embassy Suite?)

I'll just finish my trot..

This is is an oldie..fishing the Colne on Sheepen Road, primarily for live bait, probably pre 1980. Wak Lite called past, I think on the way home from work. I had the dace and roach and even this little chub crawling up the rod. Wak, taking a picture probably fell in but I decline to fish him out until I 'd fed and finished the trot as I'd worked the swim to a frenzy. Served him right for making me wade round Frating to check out the bottom contours. With no waders...The lives were transported on the train in flasks I remember, some were too big to get in, and the immortal phrase, "this plonker's too big for the flask" was  born. That's not a mullet by the way. I actually paid for it to be cut that way though I probably had  a hack at it as well.

Oystercatcher invasion

Fuzzy through car window shot. Saturday afternon drive out to Cromer with little-un. I love these comedy birds with their carrot sized bills and that sharp "peeep" call.

Turned out all right in the end

On the river by 10 today. Must have been cold last night, despite the stiff breeze there was ice in the tractor ruts and a sprinkling of powder snow. Ground was dry as well. River noticeably up, but through sluices being closed rather than run off. Walked up to confluence, saw barn owl, egret and heron on the way.  A bit later saw a jay and a woodpecker fly over. Wind dropped but gloomy and regular snow showers. Kept being drawn to an area slightly further up toward the confluence  but by the time I had moved the river surface was covered in debris, a farmer clearing a ditch way upstream.

Eventually I was able to put baits where I wanted, rather than just where it was clearer and this float with a smelt on the bottom was showing some movement.

After a reasonable pull I had this one on the bank. No otter damage which is good to see and a little plumper than it looks in the picture.

Now river surface clearer dropped down a hundred yards and the sardine float scooted across the river, baitruner purring. A much heavier fish but dour rather than spirited. I was very surprised to see the scales (plus net weight) go round to 18.10 so did a re-weigh with a weigh sling and both times got 16.15 after taking off the net/sling weight.

Have a look at this first. Chunky yes. Long enough for just under 17?

 Now look at her on the net and you will see where that "extra" weight comes from. Well in spawn. Came to the net with some gill damage but not ottered at all.

Off the river by 1pm. .A good morning I think.




 

tables turned..

Saw this today.....

Am I a tackle tart?.

Well, that's a years worth of traces tied up then.....

not quite but it'll do for tomorrow anyway. Do you twist or crimp?

More Watson than Crabtree....

Following a short blank on Sunday on the Bure Syndicate stretch I had an unexpected afternoon on the Wensum on another Syndicate ticket above Lyng. This morning saw a sharp frost, soon burnt off by a rare event at present, the Sun. I'd had a quick walk along a lower stretch of the Wensum yesterday and the river looked to be dropping but still quite pacey. Wak Lite is currently bemoaning the hopeless state of the Stour and Colne, but as the Bure is rarely over it's banks and much quicker to drop back to clear I am never quite sure of river levels further afield. 

Back to this afternoon, and though not a raging torrent the Wensum was still in muscular mood and I was glad I'd ditched possible chubbing for pike given the sudden frost this morning (sharp enough to freeze Captains). Opted firstly for a who dares wins scramble to fish a mini-island not usually accessible in the summer.  

  

Looked good, with the majority of the flow pushed over to the far bank but slacks have snags, and these seemed to be attracted to my bait. Worked a couple of more conventional areas, with some quite pronounced deep spots before heading down for the last hour and a half or so at the end of the stretch.

Had two takes  in quick succession on (unusually for me) whole not halved sardine right close in the main flow and connected on the second attempt to probably the same fish, this game little scrapper. My trace selection, never the biggest had been whittled down to several un-intentional double hook  sets as they keep snagging in the car upholstery.I definitely blame that on the last two missed runs and I was quite relieved to land it. Cue need to tie up some more traces as I 've got quite a lot of the back end  to fish. 

That was it, a sudden drop-in temperature  saw the conditions going from this..

to this in quite short order, the fog fairly rolling down the valley sides .

Didn't see much notable avian activity apart from either a buzzard or harrier. Must take some bins. On Sunday watched  a hawk for a while, had quite large rounded wings and a noticeably long tail with a fluttery flight, probably a sparrow hawk but couldn't see close enough to tell. Did however have close ups of a pair of barn owls, one flew so close I felt the draught of its wings as it passed right over me.

The Watson/Crabtree reference? The far bank area is the Kingfisher Lakes much featured in the current Bailey TV series and one of my Wak-Lite patent poly-balls features the legend "get eaten quickly my son", a savage swipe by John Watson at Bailey in A Pikers Progress.

Toodle-pip.

.

Hail

Headed up to the top of the syndicate stretch this afternoon and did get out of the car but the river in the pool was still high and with this lot coming I felt the exposed area I had intended to fish was probably not going to be to pleasant, and it already seemed a lot colder than the 4-5C the car was showing.

Off to Captains where I had some shelter from the hail and sleet showers that swept in frequently. Halved a small mackerel to use on both rods and third swim had a take on the rod fished over  a weeded area  opposite the second jetty. Felt heavy initially but then seemed to coast in and it was soon unhooked and nice enough for a go with the self timer (which you can see in my right hand.... better than the scrabble round with the on-camera 10 second self timer though).