Done him with the eyes

Oi Southgate. Don't fall back into the same old negative Engerland rubbish. Sort it out.

As predicted scorchio so onto the commute water with some dog biscuits. Moist ones so easy to hook and float nicely. Until you put a hook in.Size 8 anyway. On with a shocking pink strawberry pop-up and game on.  Only a quick sortie so I was pleased that one drifted into the pads with an upside down chubber presentation  drew a solid strikeable response and a nice little scamp of a common was on the mat after an enjoyable scrap.

Not that long a widow post chores so put the roaching on hold and made the short trip to the very local water Same old same old and ended up with a rather tame tench and the hybrid I'd been after.

Not one of the hybrid variants with lovely maroon fins but a corker anyway and a very reasonable 3.12.

This little corner is pond skater territory.

The dark side

Over to the dark side. Sometimes I stick one down the edge on some basic shop bought rig. Knocks and occasional runs and tench. But often a tangle and the shortest rig ever. Stick on a small pva bag and no tangles. Simples....

I did use my standard in a rut tactics on the faintly blue lagoon whilst wag and magging on Saturday but you just can't fish two floats if they're not close together. Still, there was some interest on the Source rod and I suspect they were roach so even more reason to find out some decent 8 or 10mm baits.

Sunday barbie. Cooks perks here though you can usually keep barbie burgers in my opinion. The barbie is Mk 2 and built by my engineer  brother-in law. Built to last in fact.

With Two Terriers accompaniment. Fen tastic.

The very local water and the rut I am getting too comfortable in. Not that I'm struggling that hard to get out of it

I did venture on to one of the stages last night for a change of view.

Sun is beating down today so think it might be floater time on the commute water tomorrow. And possibly some river roach.

I haven't heard  otherwise so I guess Engerland and the Stella boys are both contriving to loose so they can both somehow finish 2nd in the group and get the better draw for the last 16.

What was that knob of a German keeper doing btw? Ball playing keepers/centre backs my arse. Hoof it in the stand.

Fish soup.

As a slight diversion from my rut I slipped off the A149 just before the crawler lane and into the chocolate box village in the shade of an ancient willow and a copper beech where the kids and parents stopped to wonder on the away home from school. "Why's that man fishing? Why isn't he at work?" No the Essex Scribbler wasn't there, he was off on his tour of Germany via France  and Belgium. And yes, I had TOIL. 

It's just what Brian from http://www.pikeblog.com recently described as fish soup.

The meaty chunks in the soup virtually crawl up the duck and geese cropped grass to get at a bait.
In half an hour I'd landed 7 and pricked and lost slightly less. Nothing of any size but game scrappers to the last. In this case the bait was a smaller pre-drilled spicy sausage pellet but they'd have taken anything.

You get the idea. A couple of hours tops is all you need to be honest.

Slipped straight back in the rut again though once chores done. And got my nose well and truly rubbed in it. Quick reward in the shape of a rather tame bream with a gob full of my bait.

Then a horrendous run of five, yes five lost tench in a mad half an hour. All hook pulls, one at least foul hooked, if only briefly. Tench do have very, very tiny scales. Wine was certainly taken on return to barracks. Think the sentry knew to turn a blind eye.

I'm in a rut..

"I'm in a rut and I can't get out of it out of it out of it.." The working title of this post was Just the three Mrs. Wembley but that was several days ago now and I just can't get that song out of my head. A corker off the heavily dub influenced The Crack by The Ruts from a very long time ago now.

What rut? Well, a certain swim tucked  next to a silver birch on an island  the Very Local Water is becoming some what familiar. I can have the chores done, and been given the nod by the sentry and be fishing by 7.15pm. Rod rest holes are there,  slip a small loaded float on, push the Korum needle and stop through the 12mm Source ( I really want to drop down to 10mm but I have have  a quarter of a bag left), over cast and wind back, spread some pellets and a handful of the Source and admire the view and the relative peace.  That is from the back of the island and still virgin water. My curfew is just gone 9 (wine o'clock) and that's do-able if I am in the car by just before 9. It's that close

Back to Wednesday.Same old, same old I guess. I'd started a bit late and it wasn't long before 8 before any real activity. I'd been wondering why I had not caught any of the gorgeous rudd x bream hybrids from this end of the lake when the float dipped and on the strike a golden shape surfaced. Strong determined and  the classic hard fighting hybrid. I had stopped the determined rush under the pads to the left, and had averted calamity in the pads to the right when the hook pulled. Oh bugger. (I am using some short method hooklinks with an almost circle size 14, barbless. Perhaps the hook is just a bit small for the 12mm?) 

Out again to the plaintive last ditch calls of a cuckoo. In quick succession I tempt, hook and land three  fish. No hook pulls and nor foul hook ups either. Am I over thinking, going through the motions or enjoying what I've got so close?

Nasty split to the vent of this tench. 

.

Flash deployed so I probably got a black mark from the sentry. A wineglass is being chinked so my musings have been ended briefly at least.

A game of two halves

Monday and  a quick drop by on the commute ticket, this time on the adjacent Wensum. By now the stretch  is mostly weed but the shallow bridge pool is worth a go.

It's almost stalking as you can see shapes sidling out to intercept loose feed or  approach the bait, under  a very shallow set float. Dace were first to show.

But pretty quickly spotty things muscled in. Some were quite small.

And a few were a bit bigger. Either way most spent more time out of the water than in, they were all incredible to look at and all wild bred.

Some of the views were quite ornamental

And others a bit more urban. The town stretch is free and in autumn comes into its own.

I slipped in untroubled by the sentries and was told more or less to bugger off out fishing as Ton Ton Macoute wanted to watch England uninterrupted and that I'd get a steak  when I got back. Never look those gift horses in the mouth I say.

Island it was and an hour and a bit on the Source under  a waggler. Again. Wind in same direction as last night but several degrees warmer and more slashy rudd surface action than porpoising bream. Managed one of the tench with a pinky hue

And a last gasp bream. Spawning bumps again. It's been on and off for a couple of months

Got home to thumbs up from Ton Ton Macoute as Kane had just sealed the win and  a juicy steak with a simple pepper sauce. Result.

Just the two Mrs. Wembley

Back on the island after Saturday's river opener for the traditional hour or so. Overcast with a warmish wind the bream were rolling everywhere so it wasn't a surprise that this one slipped up. 

I was given a little more of a tussle by this very long female tench, that didn't quite make 5lb. Lovely buttercup undersides.

Follow those hunches.

Got the nod for a couple of hours yesterday evening  so off the the river. Thought I'd start in the bridge pool as it well oxygenated and has some nice shade cover. Greys 15 footer with an Advanta Ikon centre pin and  a fairly sturdy stick. Had some caster but went with red maggot to start. Action not as brisk as I had hoped but enough to make me smile.

Think the gudgeon, my season opener would have just about been manageable for this brightly coloured perch. They're always this pretty in the clear water.

I kept thinking about a another spot,  much broader  with a good deep run close-ish in. I'd seen one of the white haired and whiskered members, you know the sort, safari hat and  a bucket of mashed bread  and a tin of Werthers on the dash getting into some decent back end roach but when I had a couple of looks afterwards it was painfully clear or flooding through. I had tried it the winter before for pike but had too much bother with belligerent Halfingers. 

Last night though it was looking spot on, with some cabbages close in but a good depth of water. I figured the 15 footer and heavyish float would be ok and so it proved., first swing in and the float dithered and stabbed under. Not a big fish but it was the roach my hunch was telling me would be there.

Given the depth the float stabbed under I raised the float a good 18 inches and settled into a feed, swing, mend line and strike routine and most times was into a fish, darting and twisting with flashes of red. Pretty indicitve of the stamp of fish caught.

Absolute jewels.

The wind became troublesome and the dace more insistent so called it an earlyish night. Think the area will be just right for autumn or back end dusk sessions with bread or maybe a lob tail. Worth following that hunch.

Just the one Mrs. Wembley

Quick commute sortie, still the same jacuzzi but over a tighter bed of smaller pellet with a smelly and oozy 8mm pellet bait. Lost a mudpig when the pre-tied knot slipped, pulled out of a very decent crucian or brown goldfish and landed this bream. A well spent hour. Perch rumours  confirmed in the flesh so to speak by the bloke 3 or 4 pegs down on meat.

I'm hoping for some peaceful and productive trotting at some point tomorrow. Got those casters to use  up after all.

Caster blaster

My turn to cut the hallowed and manicured turf on the blue lagoon yesterday. It would have been rude not to take a rod for afterwards.  Just so happened the tackle shop had a few casters left. Mostly taken in the drop but if the double bait got through to nestle on the bottom weed a better fish usually resulted.  

Only had a scant hour but it was a bite a chuck.Mostly roach with a couple of hybrids and this eel.

Probably saved the largest til last. Most enjoyable.

Jacuzzi time

Its fairly simple. Put in some pellet, or a mixture of particles and bingo. Jacuzzi time. The float dips, bobs, sometimes moves along. A carp  feels the line and spooks, a massive boil and sheet of bubbles. or  a pike arrows through  the shallow swim. Guess the silt, crap, and feed  is being stirred up all the time.

What's not simple it seems is converting that to fish on the bank. 

Source in every combination. Natural corn (Rudd magnet) . A pop up. A wafter. Banded pellet. I haven't tried the method yet , partly because it's very shallow and often silty. OK, rarely a blank and mostly hooked in the mouth like this one. Gob full of a 12m Source

Often though its like holding  a tiger by the tail as the hook is stuck in the tail. Or a pec. Great fun but not confidence boosting or problem solving.

It's not just me thankfully. Rob the Plasterer was similarly jacuzzied up on the dam. And when the strike did meet resistance off it fizzed.  Hooked in the pec. He's got the Drennan 13 ft Tench and Specimen Float too. Cracking rods.

I'm thinking about a swing tip. If I can still find one. Still got an Avon with a screw tip ring.

Next stop though the Machine and some internal probing and poking. The joys of ageing..