Indecision, reggiecide and just desserts

Went to bed last night with Plan A and Plan B buzzing round my newly shaven head.  A day on the Wensum piking and the last 2-3 hours into dark after a chevin or three or back on the syndicate stretch from the Beck down to the big 90 degree Bungalow bend?

The car navigated itself in the fog onto the high road through Buxton rather than down past the Mill so it was off to Swanton Morley then. The first inkling of trouble was to be found amongst the many rules, regulations and dire warnings plastered around the gate and on the gleaming new notice board. Winter day tickets 7am to 5pm No chubbing into dark then..

Pleased to see the river barren of anglers in the persistant fog and spoiled for choice plumped for the middle section of the fishery. A bush, bend, slack, crease every 20 yards with attendant well worn swims. Fish don't eat trees but they do tend to hand around them.

I should have been warned by the psychedelic red and blue claw on the bank but by then the bailiff had pocketed my £8. As soon as he had done the first tell tell bob on the polyball indicted just what was down there on the riverbed. These god forsaken prehistoric bait stripping creatures. Reggie and Ronny crayfish. Of the signal variety. A surprising amount of flesh in the scampi sized tail but I had not bought my glamping catering  charabanc so I could not justify dispatching anymore these crittters simply for being there.

I know I should have rigged up some paternosters but I was stewing on my other bait choice, meat. If they could strip a sardine in minutes what would they do to luncheon meat? I retired to the adjacent pit and pondered over a tuscan bean soup. Tough it out or onto Lamas? I gave it three swims on the meat just to see if the crays would have that as quick as deadbaits. They didn't but neither did the chub so upsticks and I was on the long Norfolk Reed stretch below the Beck by 1.15 in glorious sun. I'd just put out both baits and started on leftovers from a  chicken, bacon and leek pie I'd made yesterday when the upstream and across rod showed crayfish free bobbing action and the pressure was off with this belter.

I decided to put all the eggs in the far bank basket along the reed fringes and in fairly quick order a cast was obviously on the snout of a fish as the tip was nodding as soon as I set the baitrunner. This one gave a great account of itself.

A much smaller  fish again on the nose almost and I decide to end the afternoon down by the Church rather than fish into dark and just on 5 had the biggest of the day. This one had to find the bait as it was out for at least 10 minutes..A lovely end to the season and home in time for tea with the Bureboy tribe.