I say, steady on

Mixed bag yesterday, a bit gloomy, windy and cold.

These  cowslips made a change from the sea of rape . Deliberately set the landowner told me proudly. And why not.

Baconsthorpe Castle was moody

And as for this. I say, steady on.

Tried another swim on the Blue Lagoon  today, for frankly paltry results. This decent roach and a tiny skimmer..

Yarco /Cromermory Hot Dog wars

The Boy Dickie Straker,  he of  http://wheregreenroadsmeet.blogspot.co.uk/  has drawn my  attention to a  secret and dirty war being fought out on our East Coast Esplanades.

I had smuggled out secret footage  of a rather bizarre figure on the main strip in Yarco, at grave and present danger and can only release it now as a heavily redacted and doctored grainy image.

Only to find that a similar figure has been  seen at least to once in Cromermory but you know what you see on the Interweb may not always be what it seems.

The Bureboy Charabanc may have to nose down the cliff ramp, past the self propelled mowing goats in silent mode with night sight optics to remove the reported interloper. You haven't senn the self propelled mowing goats? You really should.

Perhaps it can be stationed outside No 10 to give the Mayster a fright next time she come out to gurn at us or inside the gated pub free Frinton to reinforce why they must never ever let the riff raff in..

Stop snig (gering) at the back

A touch warmer than in Yarco yesterday and a midday start on the Blue Lagoon. Didn't fancy sitting in  a facer, not with the wind chill factor and having only tiny hemp to 'pult out.

So it was the safer and more comfortable option again.  Had to work hard to find them, to the left this time and clearly the pads and cabbages are springing up as depths very variable.

First fish and not  a bad un.

Not long after lost a very decent fish, that infuriatingly gave that all important flash of red.  Pain dulled  a little by a stubborn and characteristic tug of war that had the passing Noddy train driver tooting in approval. Bigger than the last one certainly. The snig that is. Not the Noddy train driver.

Now this one really did give me palpitations until I saw the bluish dorsal. If daddy and mummy were all roach I would have been shaking as it neared the net. Heavily infested with black spot. Given it's largely bream parentage it was not as solid as it's length and depth would suggest so only just made the pound. If it were a roach I would have been punching the air and saluting the Noddy train, driver and all.

Who's the daddy now....no more jelly babies for you. (Ray Winston, Scum) The only thing that kept me out of real Penitentiary. As opposed to the half way house I was dumped in. And not getting caught..

Last bite from the last last cast of the short session and the tip just carried on down in an impressive parabola. The thing from the Blue Lagoon  on the other end just thumped  deep, sending up clouds of bubbles, even in 7 feet. It then buried itself under the staging. I thought one last pull then slacken off to see if it would wriggle out. The hook link parted and I was left to ruminate and blank out the imagined snig (gering.)

Different league to the first one for sure.

Now traditional selected group shot

And an added bonus of toad-poles on the mat. The mudpigs on my very local water gorge on them.

Just had to Knock, Knock on Heaven's Door on the way home. Lord Lite of Thorrington knows what I saw. I texted him three times.

Been up Yarco

Bright but very cold in Yarco yesterday which  kept the great unwashed mostly in the penny slots and off the beach. Which is just the way we like it, we like it, we like it

Bright and garish is the way we do it.

And what  a class act. Don't get many of those in Seawick

Go on, you are impressed

An empty shell.

And the fuel of the nation.

All the Young Dudes

Looks like things are changing on my very local water. The stockie mudpigs have settled well and are piling on the weight. Clouding up the water too.

Seems there are changes afoot on the bream front as well. Several mint fresh skimmers then this one that has made the jump up to bream size, and a minter as well. Wonder how long the old guard will keep going now the young turks are muscling in.

It was a tad fresh and I was truly chilled to my bones. Did lose a long  tinca (they always are  on here) and I ran out of my fave Kamasan B520  #14 spade ends.

Skimming the cream

Wednesday and another more local early start early finish so on to the Blue Lagoon with a bucket of tiny hemp and a pint and  half of reds, and lots of fiendish things like dumbells, wafters, maggot clips etc for future use.

Wind a bit keen and  converse draw quite pronounced. First 3 casts roach, hybrid and  perch set the tone. Harder work today but changes bought rewards.

When you are dotted right down it either just  blips under or as here lifts slightly as the bottom no 8 is lifted slightly.

7-8 feet 2 rods out and they do bend the tip  nicely. The perch always feel initially bigger.

I did get a bit  nervous when I saw the first flash but even in the Blue Lagoon once you don't see a flash of roachy red you breathe a bit easier. A blush of dual heritage blue but no redness to the eyes.

And some of the best of the bunch.

I could of done with  a warmer wind but satisfying none the less. Think the roachh at least starting to plump up a bit.

If I hide my head you can't see me right?

Sometimes you have to stop to smell the roses. Mobile technology helps and a few minutes in a good coffee house to answer some emails is within the bounds and a brief stop to stretch the legs after 30 minutes sitting is now a diktat from on high. A tick in the box of care for your employees with benefits. Legs stretched..

The Commander in Chief had gone up to that there London to spend a weekend with the Metropolitan Elite so it was out and about in the Bureboy Charabanc with the Little 'uns. First full weekend of decent weather and even warm in and around Cromer. Which is not always the case.

Walled kitchen gardens are always warmer, by design.

And even warmer with glass and heat.

Old plum, older wall.

Jungle warfare

The Dovecote is always a favourite.

If I can't see you...

Early heat in the borders

And Daddy's Little Helper. Ding dog indeed.

And still light at 8. Most excellent.

Ol' redfin

Early start and an early finish and after an hour or so's hard graft producing a bowling green finish the boys all collected behind the swim of a well oiled roach fishing machine. Precision, constant feeding of hemp and reg maggot, and proactive depth and shotting changes kept the roach dancing to Bureboy's tune, much to the admiration of the gallery.....

In reality I don't think the assembled crew could believe such a ham fisted gumby could catch fish. but I did and almost constantly. A couple of small skimmer/hybrids and a couple of perch apart mostly hand sized and upwards roach bested by this  chunky fish of 1.06. The float was dotted down perfectly and the fish just inhaled the bait in. Hook was a #14 on 3lb straight through as I was thinking about moving on to corn if plagued by tiny fish. The deep water meant they did plod about a bit and the banter was good, even though it was all at my own expense.

The gallery did have a front seat for a jack attack and we were all taken in by the otter/mink/toad/snake/leaf that turned out to be a feather.

I also had this snig a bit later. Which did go well on the end of my line.

1st world problems.

The nights are pulling out apace. Just time now for a brisk walk "looking at rivers"  after chores. Or these days fishing somewhere. Be it on the fly or method feeder or lift bite peacock quill. Or devour a book and a bottle  (or three) in the garden. Swallows are back, and soon those screaming black sickle swifts will give a true sign that the world is still turning. Wonder if the Times has had it's first cuckoo of spring letter yet. They really becoming scarce now.

But the hedges are rampant the whole house needs painting and I have developed Twitter brain ADHD concentration level like the orange faced, small handed buffoon in charge of the Nuke button over the Pond.Which is my 1st world problem:

I have so many things to read.

A coffee table tome.  Much more readable, even in Angling Times snippets than his uncle, the Chuckling One. It does pay to take a tame resident l ens man with you.  Being in Landscape format not that easy to read. But it won't fall down the pan though, too wide.

And it's sister with a more jumbled mix of typography and devices. You know, film stock strips etc.Still would be  a struggle to drop it in the pot even in Portrait format.

As well as balancing the Seasons on my knees I am following Bruce Chatwin and the Welsh connection through the  collective  South American Badlands , In Patagonia . Which I  thought was a country. Singular.  But isn't.   And the origin of peons  peon. Someone with the lowest social standing, such that commoners may pee on them with impunity. One social level below serfs, untouchables, and freshmen ...
or more robustly pissant. little no-life weasely loser who amounts to nothing. shut the fuck up and ... Piss ant. An insolent or insignificant person; a peon; a nobody

Then there is (or will be):

and one I probably have read of his but in for a penny in for a pound

This may be more whimsy

And this a more earnest  nod to my Welsh boyhood (but not In Patagonia)  In Swansea and the Gower.

Mcfarlane's Landmarks looks  a good read, and he refs Deakin, who is  a god like figure to many and Baker who is  admired if not wholly defended by Tim Dee over rubbishing of Baker's peregrine infested Essex.by some sniffy old fossils. It is his description that matters, it's a book, not  a scientific paper. So there,

Which has got me thinking about Jules Pretty's Luminous Coast.   And all things edgeland.

And I have a wallet full of book tokens ..

Riffle hunting

New month, new season. river ticket gives me browns till June, as well as what ever turns up on the free stretches of the Wensum. My plan is to find some rifles and learn some short line nymphing. We'll see how that goes.

This rifle hasn't been cow trampled for a while so is very clean. A lot of small fish testing the pussy willow catkins and a few better fish further down the pool. Strictly fly only. Jasper Farquarht Mug- Brown country.



Not me but on the ticket as well. Think I will wear waders though....

This one has had some recent bovine action. A whole mill and a couple of miles below the stockies so anything here will be wild or certainly over wintered, and possibly back from the sea.