Last hurrah

Today was probably my last on the rivers this season, woke to a frost  then a 'wintry mix' followed by actual rain. Wasn't on the river till 2.30 and a nasty mean cold down streamer made things tough so every bite hit was a bonus. Had to alter my position several times to try and exert some control to hold  back, but the smaller dace roach and chub were determined enough to chase the maggots, but I wonder if the bigger, wiser ones were more choosy.  Toodle pip and roll on the tench.

Second chance

The Aquarium has been quiet of late so I figured its winter residents had moved back into the main river. I gave two swims a good searching with maggots under  a stick float. Two missed bites in the second swim and the morning had gone. Popped over to the fleshpots of Wroxham to reccee for tomorrow,  lined with likewise blanking anglers and cold to boot. That's torn it. Picked up a fresh pint of reds and headed off to the dace swim before the promised rain set in.  

Bites from the first trot, all dace bar one chublet, most enjoyable. Not sure where to go tomorrow.

An absolute shambles

Off to Chicken Town was the plan. Stop for a decent coffee and a sossidge sandwich, back in the charabanc and the  auto wipers came on. Bugger. Weather App said clearing by 12 so sat in Chicken Town Bridge car park listening to rain in the roof and the noisy old guinea fowl (Name change coming on?). Rain petered out by 12. 15 with a two hour rain free window so short walk down  the club bank to Bog Shed Door Blue Rope Swing swim 

Nasty down stream wind  messing up my swing over to the darker water and pulling the float down too fast. Back to the charabanc for the loaded waggler rod to cast direct with the fixed spool. A lovely Drennan waggler rod, but with poxy Drennan sliding reel fittings. As we discussed yesterday Loafer, the poxy things don't grip the reel seat properly after a little use.   Reel fell off walking back to the swim and first cast over the waggler got stuck in the far bank cover. Bollocks. Walk down to what I hoped to have left as the close-in dace and roach banker. Three trots, three brownies then a big tangle on the pin.

More bugger and I nearly sacked it off there and then. Walk up to a clear bit of bank to retackle and three trots above half way bush and three browns again then nothing.

Heavier Loafer balsa (5.5grm) and another attempt  in the BSDBRS swim, first trot in the now slightly more accessible glide and bingo brownie again.

Second swing out and another, bigger bugger rang out down the valley. Accurate casting though...

Walked round to retrieve both floats and the predicted rain began again. Everything chucked in the boot and off to Spoons.

Cold Harbour

Last day of OK weather the Weather App told us so another trip to Ely today. I even beat the Loafer to 'the' peg. It  was absolutely freezing all day. I'd bought my new feeder rod, frozen some maggots and whizzed up a tin of corn for the groundbait. 

First cast rudd, and a get here What's App to the Loafer.  

Today was mostly rudd day in fact. I did get  a run of silver bream, roach and skimmers when the Loafer left and lassoed a bleak somehow earlier in the day but I could catch rudd like these all day long.

Loafer served up a cracking toastie on his Ridgemonkey and had some decent rudd too. Poor old bugger  looked colder than me.

Re -run.

 Pretty much the same to report again today.  Fished a bit longer and it was colder in the shade. A bit of squabbling to my right and a water vole or shrew plopped out of its burrow having been ousted by something. tiny with a tiny tail, not much bigger than a dece3nt muddler minnow, swam up to my landing net, thought better of it and dashed across the surface to the other side. 

 

Mostly small dace again but a couple of better ones, two roach and  a chublet

And as per a regulation brownie. a bit on the long and thin side.

Last forecast good day tomorrow so heading off to Ely again to try out my feeder rod. I'm hoping to murder a bag of reds in the freezer tonight.  Might be pub lunch too. 

Kype. Again

Just the last hour today before dusk, in shorts and a lovely run primed with reds, and a bite a trot, smallish dace but all ready to spawn, a small roach and two browns.

The second? Old kypie again. Lovely scrap on the dace gear. Happy days.

Living in a Car

The Venerable Loafer and I worked out yesterday that Charlie Harper, UK Subs frontman must be about 80.  In  fact he'll be 81 this year. I'd say the pair of us look as old now as he did when Living in a Car came out (blue or green vinyl? Google says red). More of which later.

Thursday the VL and Bully were prospecting the River Great Ouse at Littleport after 'tench' and to inform our plans for Friday. I almost  made the schlepp from King's Lynn to meet up for a watch but 'something' (work) put the kybosh on that. A Whats App enquiry confirmed my fears that they'd spent a day catching feck all  (well, VL anyway and Bully an early bream and a rudd). A whole biteless day's feeder fishing would be my worst nightmare.  Partly cos I'm cack at it. I almost sacked it off there and then but Ely was mentioned so feverish  preparation (chucking everything in the charabanc then  talking out the cooking stuff, cups etc. with brief instructions to bring only the best, top of the range sossidges. River running fast and coloured.

Coordinates punched into the Sat Nav I left NORTH Norfolk for the wilds of Cambridgeshire later than the VL probably approved off at 06.45 with one last instruction to bring water.  Once you get into Hillbilly country past Downham Market even the main A10 is a shocking road and the  section once you cross at  10 Mile Bank is an absolute warzone of undulating patched up tarmac and the surroundings so scuzzy that even the Cathedral of the Fens failed to brighten the view. 80 miles driven the car park tariff  at least made me smile, long stay free after 8.30am. Limped down to find the VL ensconced on a bend with a pair of plump rudd and a big silver bream already in the net. What absolute corkers, both 2lb plus (even on scales stubbornly set to weigh only in ounces).

We popped back to get my gear, and much mirth at my assorted unmade up junkyard of unmade tackle. Pare everything down as if if you're  chubbing was my instruction so chucked  everything back in the charabanc ,and set off with one rod for feeder fishing.

A cracking winter venue with shoals of decent fish overwintering and no high, muddy banks or 18-20 foot of (almost) barren featureless water to contend with. Boats to cast to, a decent depth 8-10 foot and plenty of options including whip, trotting, feeder and zeds, perch and pike. Busy with lots of short men with short rods, passers by, canal boats and rowing crews and an endless stream of trains.

 

As ever my approach is cack-handed at best compared to the Loafer but my haphazard casting still bought me bites on corn or dendros and at times I found holding the rod rather than laying on the  pathway more effective.. VL was mostly fishing long with a clip to a shallower ledge   and I wherever the feeder landed though we both had to come mid river to find bites at times. Drink time (pub not yet open) and I went to get water, and sossidges and use the bogs.. Now, the  VL has been using his van , not his camper for short stay overs like last night. Visions of Roy Walton living his car and making do with wet wipes for basic hygiene were trumped by the VL proudly declaring that he'd had to take a crap in his van last night. No wonder he'd parked it elsewhere. The  sturdy groundbait bucket was the obvious receptacle. As well as tea (where's  yer mug) six deluxe sossidges were soon cooked to perfection on the VL Ridgemonkey and a food parcel was delivered to Bully fishing downstream on a previously nailed on  banker for big rudd. Not today, he was scratching for bits.

The fish were plucking at the bait rather than shredding the corn so I tried a whole dendro tipped with a dead read and this  provoked a real pull round of the 2oz tip and this lovely golden slab of a rudd was the culprit. 1lb 12oz but to my untrained eyes looked a bit bit bigger. See, Loafer, the viewfinder does help. Fab pics btw.

As well as the cracking rudd we had lots of silver bream, a couple of which stood out, the bigger one at 1lb 1oz was the Loafer's fish

Roach, skimmers, hybrids, more rudd and a solitary perch 

made for a fantastic day with lots  of (muffled ) craic and plenty of passer by curiosities and events including a bloke trotting and a foreign national locked in a stand-off about the taking of "allowed" fish, a drunk Scot after our sossidges,  a mobile dropped in the water,  a gift of a big bag of cooked hemp and the boy who asked "why" at least  a million times.

Cheers Loafer, a cracking day in cracking company. I wish it was closer.

Out with the big guns.

Rained Sunday/Monday so a bit more pace and colour today back at the Noddy Train Bridge but nothing the big guns couldn't cope with. The Greys 15 footer and  a Korum wire stemmed float. Sits nicely and sensitive too, but a bit noisy on the strike so probably more suited to deeper, boily water. Those two feet extra length make such a difference too so my trotting was pretty well spot on. 

 

Shame the fish didn't think so. Or perhaps they'd moved. I did get  a female/male dace brace.

 

And a non-gender specific chublet 

I also got a stonking great kype-jawed brownie that I struggled to get in the net. Fortunately it didn't get airborne and the 2.6 lb bs Bayer Perlon hook link and #16 B560 held out. One more dace down its throat and it would have made 6lb. Not a beauty but a battler.

If you know you know.

Still struggling with my left ankle after a fall on Saturday so probably not a yomp on Thursday following a bucket of mash down the Wensum with a hunk of flake as planned, I'm thinking a spot of feeder fishing on the Yare, conveniently between two pubs doing food, Bream and perch the quarry.

 

Toodle pip.

No two dace the same at the moment.

I had a short session on the syndicate stretch yesterday, on a run above the Noddy Train bridge where I've struggled  a bit of late but yesterday it looked bang on for a fish and it was first trot as well. A dace and they do look different to the Chicken Town dace, being more uniformly silver/blue. But then Chicken Town is mutantsville. A different river so a different gene pool. And these fish are nearer spawning, with several males sandpaper rough and the hens looking more pigeon chested than just plump. 

Could have done with the 15 footer to keep the float on a truer line down the run so one will  get an outing now I've had one repaired and both with replaced missing rings. Good sport, and no coat again,. In fact the fish in the net shot didn't feel cold at all. 

Double figure delight

Weather man said no rain and a balmy 14 C. Windy though. You cant ignore doubler figure temps in February. Rod and some nearly past their best  reds and casters in the back of the charabanc for a dabble on the way home. Tactical stop at Chicken Town to check emails and field a video call from the boss. 

River low and clear and shorn of it's summer weed fest

Short walk to the bog shed door blue rope swing swim. 10 minutes (well nearly 10 minutes) of loose feeding then an underarm swing of the 4grm balsa. Two yards into the trot the red tip dipped then buried, a sliver dart twisting in the current.

Several followed,  mostly cock fish but no sandpaper scales yet.

The hens definitely plumping up though and by now the browns were muscling in.

Thoroughly pleasant after work session on the pin topped off with this cracking hen of a whopping 10oz. Double figure delight indeed.

.

Something about chub

There is something about chub. Even chublets.  Had a few roach yesterday as dusk fell, mostly burnished blues and bold reds and all with big shoulders. But this little chublet was  my prize of the late afternoon as the sky cleared, the frost began to sparkle on the lock railings and a pike-toothed new moon and Venus shone bright low in the sky.

Oh, and a kingfisher that arrowed in and crouched on the concrete sill just feet away, intent on the fry that always become active at this time in the lock. All Merlin could pick up from the increasing dusk chorus were the robins waiting for my left over maggots. The several times frozen corn went in for the fish 11 feet down.  

Hoping for an hour tomorrow at the tail of the weir, amongst the carpet of snow drops.

Stormzy

Storm Eowyn was a bit of  a damp squib here in Norfolkcestershire and I wasn't even aware Storm Herminia was going to be a thing till half way down the A140 today to pick up a rod from the Loafer. The river looked OK on my first pass over it on my way down to sign some estate tidying papers, but  a way marking pampas stand showed some signs of movement and heading back to the river the movement was rather more pronounced.

Rod duly purchased and reading material exchanged Loafer left me to trudge across the flood plan against the buffeting wind, hints of rain in the air as the early gloom descended, the upstream waves pushed up against a decent flow, the river with that bottle green tinge but clear in the margins. Chub conditions, not roach. So a decent hunk of flake on  a size 6  and 2x 2SSG given the increasing wind and now rain. Tip bent backwards by gusts so laid the rod flat on the bank. Poxy dog nosing round the bait bucket  meant I missed a flier but at least the fish were there. 3 casts later hit a confident stab round and  had a good tussle as the chub  made for the near bank snags. Standard stamp for here and worth getting wet for.

Not much longer after I'd had enough and headed for the Posh Pub and a nice fire to warm my wet. cold hands. Dark well before 4. End of days, even had an earthquake off the Norfolk coast in the early hours, felt well inland (it says, I was soundo).

The rod? A Drennan  IM8 13 foot feeder rod with a pair of beefed up after market tips for the bigger rivers. Looks proper for the job.

I had picked up a lighter feeder rod of less illustrious parentage yesterday for smaller cage feeder work with an AD gift token. All four tips have pathetic little flouro sight flashes so it'll be out with the matt white Humbrol. Though I think the idea with the Commercial rod is that an F1 pulls it round in  a semi-circle when it hangs itself.. 

It's getting grim out there now.