Sunday 31 March 2019

Mudpigging

Spent Saturday afternoon with a chill wind on my neck and a splitting headache trying out some heli-rig set ups before the weed gets away. I can see they'll be tangle resistant and I really should do some maggot feeder fishing for tench but I bet I fall back on open ended feeders with  a wider range of hookbaits, I always do.

Had a wafter on  a bag down the edge as well and as I was just finished putting away the feeder rods it was away. I was fishing that rod to the left of  an  aerator (turned off) and wanted to avoid the rope leading up to the marker buoy so did rather hustle the fish in on the 3lbtc 12 footer and did think it felt tenchy. The gob looked quite big and if it was a tench.....as it neared the waiting net  chain mail scales gave the game away and I hoisted a very fat common on to the mat. My first from the water, having usually tempted bream and tench on the tactic from here.

I didn' weigh it for some reason, we thought about 14 lb though. An old healed otter nip to the upper lobe of the tail but otherwise a gorgeous plump ole mudpig of a thing.









Friday 29 March 2019

Hyperloopy tinca man

19C and  a warmish breeze and a couple of hours on a rickety stage on the Very Local Water called for. Have these annoying things to contend with though. After a tense stand off they learnt that a raised arm with a stick meant bugger off. Till next time. They did stir the silt up which always brings the tench and bream for a nosey round.


Double bubble approach with  the lighter rod on double corn and the heavier one on a mini Source. Fished close in over hemp and corn today. I've moved over to float stops for the loaded puddle chuckers now. It's so shallow now a standard peacock or crystal waggler is often too long. Seem to do the job, with just a no1 down to anchor the bait.


I found I could just about clear the silt and the fish milling round with a lighter and shortish 2and a half AA peacock straight waggler for the corn and that's the one that went first. It was a tench and it didn't move at all on the way in, perhaps because it was covered in thick silt. It did dive straight back in the silt when I released it. First tench of the year.


My favourite rear drag reels of the moment, a Hyperloop1000 size and a 2500 size so  an old Drennan Waggler rod and  a Drennan Tench and Specimen Float 13 footer respectively. I'd imagine that  most of my spring fishing will done be using these.


A sterner test for the Source rod on the right from this boilie munching pike of around  6 pound. note the geese deterrent stick. They just honked at the fir cones.


I recast the Source and it was taken on the drop by this  quite silvery bream with a distinctive mark on it's  cheek.


I managed another bream on corn before  curfew but it was joined in the net by a ton of silt so back it went unphotographed. Happy days.




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Friday 15 March 2019

Dry squib

Bastard wind was still howling from the West at 40mph+ but it wasn't supposed to rain. I did think about a later start in the City for some last day roach but kids teatime is curfew time usually in the week. I slipped in a trotting rod and a waggler rod  just in case but no bread....


The roach swim was possibly fishable due to a sheltering spinney so I opted to work the straight above and sneak in if my bread loving co member decided not to turn up. It was definitely a bit blowy and I should have pushed up to that more sheltered church reach but I didn't.


3pm and not one indication of interest in the lamprey sections and I decided to move down to the roach  swim. Half way there and the familiar shape of the bread  based angler, sneakily without his speccie hat to give the game away. He was on the tip having left the trotting gear at home. He was into some roach straight away. I almost offered my trotting gear to him but instead had a go at bit further up the narrower section with no interest despite quite good trotting conditions. Some persistent twitching of the upstream lamprey float had me investigating and winding down into...Reggie or Ronny


With that I bade bread man good bye and headed home.







Thursday 14 March 2019

Gareth can do one

Zanderland called for a last hurrah but so did the impending Apocalypse. Being the bugger he is Storm Gareth didn't decide to dump its payload until after TT and I had had coffee. The drain was being driven backwards with vertical rain and banshee winds and fishing was most definitely off. I bartered two fine Brays Cottage pork pies for a good quantity of redundant Fenland maggots and made my rain and wind battered way back home.


Yesterday promised even higher winds but less rain so headed off to the irrigation pond and into Newbies swim. I couldn't buy a bite on maggot but a jumbo smelt proved attractive  though the hooks didn't hold.  The sun broke out and the wind seemed to be more steady though still strong so I moved down the noddy train bank and out with a scaled down rig  with these lovely small sardines from an obviously over fished Adriatic. 


In short order the 10gm float was away and with a dashy rather than strong resistance I wondered  perch then under the wind raked surface a broad silvery looking flank. Bream? No. a jack I let unhook itself from the 1/0 Aberdeen. Newbie had related  a similar tale  though he momentarily thought a big roach had taken his pole fished fluoro maggot. It must be the blue dye administered to retard weed growth altering the light signatures bouncing back off the fish 

I do like a macerated lamprey, and so did 3 more pike but for what ever reason the hooks never  held home. 

You don't need to go a long way out...I snapped off on the perch gear  to the right hand rod just after taking this but got everything back bar what took the micro sardine.


Beers and food with a goodly proportion of the Bure Bois as it was the Metropolitan Elite's 29th birthday. Most excellent.



Off then to watch Farke's Naaarich boys overcome Hull with a fine 3-2 win under the lights. They  seem to be able to turn over possession and with short, neat touches take it away and break with unerring regularity. Back to the top of the table  and maintaining the 2 point advantage over Leeds.


I sneaked  a look at the Wensum on the way back to the car, it looked fishable but no free parking  slot until about 2pm so not sure where my last river hurrah may be?








Tuesday 12 March 2019

'kin hell...

It wasn't going to rain but it might get a bit blowy but calming later. It said. So off I went to the river, chubbing no hope but maybe a pike? I looked above and below two mills but not a chance.  To say it was windy would be a bit conservative but even in the 40+mph hooley someone was up that conifer with a chainsaw....candidate for a Darwin award I say.


Down the free stretch and a long straight with some features looked OK but would the wind be too much? Too right it was. And the unseen debris hammering down, even down the edge. I stuck it out for an hour and a half but it was not enjoyable. At all.


After a detour via the Recruiting Sergeant and  a pint of Southwold I found Newbie with the wind on his back in the car park swim on the  irrigation pond. Clever chap, no need for a catapult for his loose fed.  The wind was showing signs of dropping a tad and the sun came out. 20 minutes in and I twitched the lamprey section a yard or so. No sooner had I sat down the float was away. A very good scrap ensued and even some tail walking at the net. Long but firm and not all lean and we guessed 15 with the scales confirming it was a tad over 15. Newbie doing the honours as my lens man. Lovely ole job.











Sunday 10 March 2019

Blowing away the cobwebs



Weather finally broke around 3 so out of the pub to the river, clouds  looking evil. River up and coloured but not  a raging torrent.


A bit of  indulgence this rod and I nearly sent it back as I could have got two light carp roads or a 70-300mm lens for a fraction more but once I'd got it on the bank today I was glad I kept it. Tried a couple of spots with lobs for one missed tap tap pull. It comes with an Avon tip and push in 2oz and 3oz glass quiver options Why don't quivers come with a decent length of white on them any more? 


The Bure drops quickly so might be alright for pike tomorrow, if not lots of swims with meat and lobs again. The Wensum is not so forgiving  and we've more rain coming



Friday 8 March 2019

Two rivers, two mills.

Given the better forecast I headed back to the Wensum in the City reaches up by New Mill's Yard, this time with half a pint of caster and some hemp  as well as the usual reds. Bit more pace and a touch more colour from yesterday's rain but much calmer. New Mills is a pumping station to move sewage through faster. Its a magnet for all sorts and is the tidal limit for the Wensum with  passes for migratory fish. Eels anyway. Most days what ever the date and season you'll usually see rods poking over the railings. Fishing in the city limits is free but access  can be a problem with high banks and railings.



Back on the B520's today, much finer in the wire as befits the choice of caster. I did start with red maggot on the hook whilst I got the hemp and caster going in. And of course the 5AAA Avon, with that bulked down above a micro swivel, 2.6lb  hook link, a #8 dropper and a  #16 B520 spade end. I have found you need to go to nearly half way to get numbers of fish. Near track a fair bit shallower and mostly small perch.


First decent fish was in fact a perch and I soon switched to caster as bites were now frequent


This was one of two dace I caught, sand paper rough and the other was a pigeon chested female. That's a white disgorger  but as you see I mostly use red  maggot and always keep the disgorger in the bait box so I don't loose it. It came out more as the hook is pattern is a bit shorter.



First of the better roach. Calmer but colder today, haven't worn the coat to fish for a while now


The now obligatory three trots, thee fish shot  as the sun got above the flats behind.


One draw back of city fishing is the absence of pee places. I'd wandered down to the works to try to find a spot. I got back to the smell of cigarette smoke and phone talk about giving themself in after the weekend and what block they might  end up in.The possible fugitive sat at the top of the steps obviously keen on fishing. I thought how to casually move my phone and camera. "Ha, you missed that bite taking that photo mate".  


The biggest of the day but my new found friend had a higher view of one that certainly felt significantly better which he confirmed. 


He'd just gone after asking about some fish he'd seen in the summer with spotted tails when this little fella turned up. Not sure if it was a brown or a sea trout Parr. The biggest recorded sea trout from the Wensum was a mahoosive 23lb, taken by a pike angler


My caster and hemp had gone and I was on the reds. The tide must have started to flood, despite the float still going downstream (the pumped push through the works is quite fierce and a long way from the sea)  the level had risen by several inches and was encroaching on the sill I was sitting on, with a resultant wet foot so I headed off for another pool on another river for the last hour of my allotted time.


I really must be on a roach streak as I hardly caught any dace which is most unusual but several of these.


The obligatory brownie on maggot


And it's bigger mate, and of course on worm.















Thursday 7 March 2019

Windswept

Being buffeted by some serious wind and rain heavy in the clouds I headed for what I hoped would be some respite in the City reaches post pint of Abbot. I found  a recess in the high concrete embankment and  primed the swim with several handfuls of red maggot. The wind even here was hammering down and occasionally back up the stretch and the tide was on ebb so the 5AAA cane stemmed Avon float came out again. At times the rod tip was being bent by the wind like a quivertip and the loose feed was being blown everywhere. The fish though were interested, some small perch and small  roach but several better roach, these three netters came in a perfect burst when the wind abated briefly.


The rain came and I saved the best for last, this fish stayed deep for a while, with that tell tale thumping on the line. 1lb 1oz 8drm of lovely tidal Wensum roach. I wondered if the B938 Wide Gape Specialist was a bit heavy in the wire, especially as it was eyed, it didn't bump anything though and the maggots were hooked easily without bursting.



I'll be back tomorrow with the better weather forecast as it got quite miserable before the end. Thankfully everything has dried out now.








Friday 1 March 2019

Roacharama

It was subdued rather than overcast but enough to lure me onto Roach Straight. I had bread in the bag but it wasn't Warby Blue so the red maggots won out. I opted for a slightly narrower section to get the trotting arm in sync after Monday's tangles. No discernible wind and  a good steady glide and the 5AAA cane Avon helped pull the line off the pin well. I think I've over filled it so might have to sacrifice several yards so the bedded in stuff can get stretched out. Might get some village pond mud piglets to do that though..Half an hour and a good rhythm but no bites so dropped just below the marker stile and a slightly longer swing out. 4 25pm and a light level "switch" was flicked with the first bite or three. The fourth and the #16 wide gape swept point B560 bit home in a good fish. I saw it turn, a wide silvery flank and it felt heavy. I reached for the net and it was gone. Bugger I thought but the roach were there and on it. I nearly reached for the make do bread but didn't. The next bite and this time the hook stayed stuck. 


It stuck in several more but a few were bumped and another even better than the first was lost. Not sure just how sharp the hooks felt and certainly the maggots did burst easily on hooking. Back to the B520's?


Bread next time, and into dark on the tip as well. I'd found some fish and sussed out a couple more spots so a lovely hour and a half. The two bigger lost fish were certainly over the pound and I think the flake will be a bit more selective. It will be fun finding out.