That's not a chub....

Another sortie in the river after tea, 10 degrees warmer than last weekend. Planned to explore a bit further down but irrigation generator on so stayed up-earshot of it. In hindsight should have dropped in below the bridge  for a wider sample of fish though did find mostly small gudgeon on the shallower run mid river, along with the good sized dace I have come to expect though no larger ones this time.

Glimpsed a good fish on the gravels just above the bridge, though I think it  was a brownie not a chub, white mouth and quite quick to inspect morsels. What ever it was didn't fancy my meat. Ended up for the last half hour on the mill pool itself. A few dacey tweaks on the meat then a twitchy, persistent bite at the end of the main flow.. Connected right at the back of the strike. I could feel ,it wasn't a barbel but had  I lost it I  would have said a chub. Knowing that at least one 6 had come out earlier I was keen to get it to the top to see it, and then I realised just what sort of twitchy bite on the tip it was. Pike do tend to take an age to decide that perhaps that small cube of pink stuff is food and give a characteristic bite. Not that big but it did go well in the flow.

Back soon but with a bit more  thought though the pool bed is quite snaggy so I'll have to think how to get the hemp and corn in and present the bait without taking shares in Angling Direct.

Walking it off

Out for a look on Tuesday, Captains car park rammo. Liam basking (actually very level headed) about his lake record 23 right out of the margins with another couple of doubles over the weekend just gone and pitching in with Macca (remember Steve Mcmanaman? Macca's early permy curtains made him a ringer at the time) to put in a new internal gate and a couple of others on the water.

Looks a treat at the mo on the Pond.

Saw a glimpse of this through the trees just up the road. Jurassic pond. Very silted up but who knows?

Happy dace

Well, that's it, the nights are already drawing in......Not sure if that is what the druids, crusties and  middle englanders thought as a very dreach dawn broke over the sarsons of Stonehenge on Friday. My best remembered mid summers day was at that other hallowed ancient bowl at Milton Keynes watching U2 when it did actually snow. Guzzer man brought a bivvy, or at least a 50 inch brolly. How we envied him.

I did sneak on to the Pond for an hour of the longest day, Macca had a belter of 18 (common) from a tight hole in the weed after changing his presentation after 3 dropped fish a couple of days earlier.I  must either put a decent amount of hemp and maples in, or buy some "carp" rig making stuff. Do I really need lead core, rig putty, back leads, pva foam, bags etc? I don't hold with the mudpig smear,I had forgotten in honesty just how big a carp can look but I am not sure I want to change much either. I had some fish moving over the meat but with out much more that that out here it was more an excuse to enjoy the late evening sun.

Saturday dawned as it must have done down in Wiltshire on the Friday and didn't pick up much till late afternoon. I was on the Bure by 7.30pm, with a worsening sinusitis but an urge to fish. No chub present on the gravel above the bridge so down to the long glide I had seen last week but not fished. Plenty of marginal cover with a dearth of streamer weed. At this time of the year the only swims are those we decide to open slightly by flattening a few reeds and nettles  and I don't think anyone had been on this area since I looked last week  For once I tied the 20 first time with spade end tier (my eyes can't cope with an eyed 20 anymore) and it was dace a  chuck from the off. The was a massive hatch and the swallows were out in force despite the blustery, cold wind  and I had been tempted to feed and fish higher given the dace surface activity but really the amount of fish taken a little way down the run meant that there were enough fish on the maggots nearer the bed of the river. Flow enough to take the line smoothly of the 300 spool and the bale closing sweetly and the Drennan Waggler rod does really bend in the tip section.

I am not sure that  this is all dace as it didn't have the real toffee flanks and is little deep, however  I think that I might just weigh a few of the better fish in future.I did loose one that was a lot bigger. Definitely not a small chub and if you saw it quickly you would think that's a nice roach. It wasn't. Would have definitely been a weigh job and that uncomfortable for a small fish Dave Plummer pose and  a few yee-hahs over the floodplain, nor my illness dampened  curse. The sinusitis and the cold wind (why just a tee-shirt?) were winning over the regular dip off the float and this brief burst of late sun and unusually for once the last cast was just that and I was off the river by 9, despite bemoaning the "turn of the year".

I don't know if you get that cold inside feeling but even when I got in a hot  bath I still had goose pimples.I called it man-meningitis, it was enough for me not once on Sunday to even think about getting the rods out again. And no wine for two days. Did have a medicinal Glenfiddich last night though.

Back on flow

First trip on running water since March. Noddies on the bush swim complete with matching kids put paid to a chub dabble (they did have at least 4 decent chub circling over the gravel which I uncharitably did not point out for them) but I had really only intended to spend a couple of hours trotting for dace though it would have been a pleasanter afternoon without the noise from the afore mentioned brothers of the angle up stream. Never mind, they were enjoying it so no more bah humbug. Well, only a bit. A cry of "barbel" repeated by a sprog had me inwardly cursing, they had seen one from the bridge, and sure enough on my way past as I headed home I had a look over the parapet and a barbel was flashing under the bush.

I worked a reasonably deep glide with red maggot under a stable stick and had a good few fish including:
this unusually  plump dace..

a couple of strongly coloured perch...

and this chublet.

Found a couple of clearer glides and of course that tantalising barbelly glimpse. Heard an oyster catcher and an increasingly forlorn cuckoo (only second heard this summer ).

Let out for half an hour on good behaviour

Not a bad little spot. I'd been out on the boat for a prod round to see how deep the silt was and fish were  moving over the disturbed spot within a few minutes

Sea's up

A bit of a blow on Walcott Wall this morning.

Not sure Norfolk'n'Good would be chucking a Dexter in this

Short and sweet

Whilst most of England basked in sun the North Norfolk coastal fringe was uniformly grey and even drizzly today. A couple of rays of light though...

a small but golden bream

and a pike, both on meat. Had a carp on too, but only briefly.

What's in a name?

Driving back from Sheringham yesterday through a profusion of blowsy white spring verge . Cow Parsley, Horse Chestnut. Mayflower and Blackthorn. Through  Gresham, Matlaske, Corpusty, Wolterton, Mamington, Epringham, Itteringham, Ingworth, Blickling, Hanworth, Gunton. North Norfolk names. Hinting of estate lakes, a chalk stream, feudal lands, gamekeepers gibbets, red Tudor brick glimpsed through lime and beech. Flint and pantiles.

Heaven on earth.