Filling my espadrilles

Following the Essex Scribbler's spring sea quest with interest. When you are on a roll you have to ride it while you can.

My own purple patch is on Captains  Pond right now. Two rickety stages take you well out over the pads and right into the bream patrol routes.  These little blighters are doing their best to keep the weed down.  I did have to assert myself over the male in order to get a bait in the water. He didn't fancy a volley of fir cones.

7

Hemp, corn, lentils, orzo pasta laced with salt,  chilli and ginger trickled in when Mr. Swan had his head down soon had the swim fizzing. Prawn, with occasional corn under a Shanus reed float lift stylee. 11 plump little female, rough and tuberculed male bream and a golden hybrid joined by a fiesty male tinca made for a very pleasing afternoon in the May sun.

Pushing the boat out

                                  Love messing about on the water..Captains Pond

Fish soup

When your swim looks like this you know you are going to have a good day.

No hemp today so used a fishmeal based mix to get some pellet and corn in. Gusting but warmish wind occasionally laying the float flat. Given the amount of fish in the swim not suprising the float was constantly on the move as the fish below upended over the banquet laid out for them. First to make a mistake was this bream which vouldn't resist a prawn. At some point has had a lucky escape from a pike.

Much more spirited resistance from this typical Captains tinca, long but lean. Unlike me.

Even more spirited resistance from this rather more traditionally rounded fish, more golden than green.

A further 4 bream followed,  biggest just over 5lb and including this male still wearing rough spawning tubercules and weighing in a half a pound lighter.

A small rudd took a prawn on the drop  and was quickly lip hooked out and drifted into nearby lilly cover.

A swirl and the bait runner purring as this low double made off with the rudd.

Kerfuffle over and the last fish of the day,  the 6th bream? was coasting in again over the outstreached net.  I say bream, not sure about the colouration but clearly has red eyes. Which bream don't.

Bream ticket

Fished into a big wind on Cranes this afternoon. Big willow creates some shade that inhibits some of the weed, which is already getting away. Opted for feeder fished corn, real and fake. Haven't used a feeder for some time now

Frustrating signs of fish, short pulls and one decent take missed. Each time my enthusiasm wanes, and home beckons a flurry of twitches keeps me there. Rednecks swing into the car park in a pickup, toting and using shotties. No dog with them so anything  winged isn't going to get picked up. As they pull away the bobbin under the left hand rod, double real corn on a Drennan Specialist #12 slides all the way up and a solid thump at the back of the strike, certainly not a roach, not strong enough for a tench.  Church clock strikes 8 as the bream rolls into the net. Lovely plump fish. Into the plastic bag sling. A very solid 6 lb 10oz. Groundbait bowl empty and I decide I have had enough.

The difference a goal makes.

When did the last day of the season start being played on a Sunday. And at 12.15?

A mini-revival has seen the never mighty Colchester United with 3 points and results elsewhere between them and the ignominy of a slide back down into the basement of professional football.

The last day,  as well as being on a Saturday at 3pm should always be hot and sunny, the pitch getting back that verdant lushness.

Rain. Grey. Cold. Pitch not to bad considering. Big crowd as PNE have taken their full allocation and it's over 8,400 in the soulless concrete bowl we have to put up with these days. It's simple really, they need 3 points for automatic promotion, we need 3 points and other results to go our way. A draw is no good for anyone,  a loss will bring heartache.

It 's a nervous affair, under the gaze of a probably bemused Sky audience. Names like Beckford (Jermaine) and Davis (Kevin) plying their lingering trade in the lower echelons. News filters through of goals for MK Dons, which we delight in relaying to PNE, increasingly so as more go in. We have no width, threat or idea to be honest. Certainly not any end product,  any high ball is meat and drink for the central defensive pairing. We can't see how Preston have got to their tottertingly  dizzy heights either.  

Half time and Geoff Stelling does not have cheerful tidings for us either. Things are not going our way elsewhere. A crucial brave challenge from Eastman in the box as we are carved apart  down the left leaves the away end howling, the ref not interested and a huge warning shot across our bows. A cheeky long range lob nearly comes off. Our dander is up.

A penetrative ball towards the right flank gives the keeper little choice but to up end the Col U player. After a look to the lino the ref points to the spot and the South Stand erupts. Porter picks up the ball, but lingers on the 18 yard line as the keeper berates the ref's decision, rather than putting the ball on the spot and forcing the issue. His body language is all wrong. His head isn't over the  ball, the keeper guesses it's going down the middle but frankly we not surprised that it balloons way over the bar. That's torn it.

News filters through that we now gave a chance to force the issue ourselves. PNE are done for either way. From almost nothing Moncurr has a gaping net to pass into. Which he does.  Porter breathes a massive sigh of relief. We go into raptures, and the sun comes out. A minumn of 5 minutes  extra time. Where from? Squeaky but time. Whistle goes. Wait for the final scores to come in. Pandemonium as it is confirmed over the tannoy. We have survived, right down to the wire. Play-offs for Grayson's PNE, disappointed as we celebrate.  Nice to see a small group of their supporters staying to applaud the Col U players once the pitch is cleared and they come out to do a jubilant lap of the ground. No Orient or Notts County away days next year. Wonder who is going to be the nearest next season?

Stopped off to get supplies to keep my blood alcohol levels topped up. Now, this is quite clever. Do you see what they have done there?