What a difference a day makes

Friday saw me on the long middle beat of the Syndicate stretch. I fished hard along the straight below King's Beck, the Church reach and the big Bungalow bend. Not even a flicker of interest. Laughed off the river by the yaffling green woodpeckers. Roving spoon angler had several fish which showed me. Probably the best time to lure fish before the weed gets a hold again. Next I see this bend will be with a #6 weight and  a box of nymphs and dry flies.

Saturday saw me offered a chance to get out once more so off to the lowest beat on the stretch with a good 5 hour pass out and freshly frozen bait. Looks lovely in the early spring light on those poplars..

but believe me, the biting Easterly was freezing, especially down and across this long straight.

I hunkered down to get as much shelter as possible, and at such close quarters the savage upstream jerk on this poly ball, in marked contrast to the wind induced chop was striking.

I disengaged the anti-reverse as the float made off briskly into the cover and as the bait runner flicked over the 11 foot 2 and a quarter North Western slammed over into a healthy curve. The fish made use of the deeper under bank cut-in and the hooped rod and poly ball would have looked great with the flexibility of a one hand point and shot as oppose to a two hander DSLR, the  green flanks and primrose markings showing clearly in the clear, cold water. Nice fish and last day pressure off. A shade under doubles, with a large fleshy pink tumour in it's jaw.

Move down below the bush and the downstream feature again proving kind to me with a real bait runner/bite alarm screamer. this fish proved even fitter than the last, with several surging runs
and head shakes at the net

Here she is, slightly overexposed against the lurid winter colours of the big dogwood anyone who has fished the stretch would instantly recognise. Certainly has featured in a few back-end photos for me.

Surprised this one didn't go bigger than just under 12 but a lovely clean fish anyway. Took a while to decide to move off from the marginal cover on release, perhaps it felt safe with it's head in the weed?

That really is almost where you want your bait to be.  I am quite confident to quietly lower a bait on a pike's head, or likely lie,  and expect an instant take, as opposed to a chub which would bolt at a foot step, even on a well walked stretch. Sometimes piking really isn't rocket science, which is probably why my ineptness is not always a hindrance. Got you some guest days for next year on the river by the way Essex Scribbler for yourself and TT if he fancies it.  I can provide the tea and of course get my net wet and ripped so you can leave yours nice and dry in the car. Had to hand land a carp on Tuesday by the way after you took unmbridge at getting yours wet on a score sheet shitter of mine...

I am also keen to  twitch a bait a little while after casting, which often provokes a response as with this, the last fish of the afternoon and river season 2014/15. Two views, has a very long and big tail. If it grew into it's tail it could be a big fish.

Nap hand

Mash, flake and paste. Trot a few swims then see what's what. Someone in my first trotting glide.....They didn't look like moving for a while yet. Local old time match organiser pulling on favours for last week guest chubbing. River we agreed was somewhat clear, down to the discarded trainers staring back at me from 5 feet down.

Away with the mash bucket again and out with sardine and a small roach. Said roach quickly decapitated by this ugly fecker.

3rd move and a very tatty sardine was instantly taken followed by the below feature rod. Pike seem in good, plump shape.

Just texting the Essex Scribbler when a rod over to the far shelf was away. Small pike hooked right in the scissors. Sparrowhawk and magpie both hoping over the hedge line in close synchronisation.

Dropped the headless roach (bait supplies running low) just past the trailing branches and quickly away. Best fish of the day weighing in at a healthy 12. 08.

 

Bait supplies now critical but fish not fussy. Look at the state of that sardine head (there was some flesh on the other side). 5 fish and home in time for tea.

In search of perch

The Essex Scribbler had secured us a day on a secluded stillwater, in deepest Devil Dog Land on the hunch that some decent perch he had found a couple of years ago may have thrived on neglect amongst the stillwater chub and barbel.

A very welcome bacon sandwich later at Chez Scribbler and we set off on the short haul to the water. Nestled at the bottom of a short track below a solar array and bounded by a busy but hidden rail line was a lovely corner of rural Essex.

Swim choice only in part taken due to obvious cover features, but mostly by the promise of nearly all day sun the Scribbler was soon set up to catch some bait.  I can certainly recommend the predominately fengureek based curry mix used to degrease and remove the ammoniac stench of the maggots.  He favours white, I almost exclusively plump for reds.

It wasn't long before the bait snatching turned to  more serious matters, as a nice mid doubles koi tested the 3 metre whip somewhat. In truth it probably hadn't woken up  and only a hook pull at the net cost Scribbler a stunning looking prize.

I 'd set up camp to the left, covering the island in front, and fishing maggot down the side to my left . In hindsight my role as tea wallah probably hindered serious perchy business but I certainly enjoyed a stream of small roach, rudd, perch and bream/roach hybrids and a string of small carp, tamed well with the steely butt sectioned ancient Kevin Ashurst 12 footer and 3 lb straight through to an 18. I can't normally tie spade ends for toffee, even with a hook tier but not once did the knot fail.

They came in a variety of shapes, sizes and sub species..

and were generally in good shape except for this very  hollow bellied linear mirror.

Scribbler meanwhile was moving around search out the hoped for perch. For the second time he connected with a very decent  Koi, close in on maggot,but this time on running line. and again suffered a hook pull...

He did however tempt a take on dead bait, but not quite the species and size he was hoping for..

I 'd just put  the brew on for the last time when a tiny bite resulted a much more powerful fish, and almost simultaneously a take on the dead bait rod. Result? A missed take and after some time a hook pull in the margins. The other carp had never really had  anything like an upper hand. This fish though never once came any where near surfacing, and had sent up large boil of displaced water.

No target big perch or sneaked barbel but a lovely day in the soring sunshine, with that harsh, bright still low in the sky early year light picking out the still faded reeds and silver birch bark. Yaffling woodpecker and mewing buzzards.

Nice one Scribbler.

Cheesed off?

How often does a carefully formulated plan,  clinically executed come to fruition? Read on.......

Time is counting down to the end of the coarse season on the river. I will be out and about from the 1st with a trout rod but still have so much I want to get gone before Sunday. Saturday saw the now obligatory 2pm start, this time on the lowest Syndicate beat below the iron bridge, armed with a bucket of mash and paste. Dropped into the first swim which is quite a challenge with the main push coming off the riffle right into the near bank. The near back eddy already holding a fair few inch long fry.

A two 3sssg link held better than I thought and interest shown fairly quickly. Spent a fair bit of time taking an opportunity to watch the behaviour of the mash in the varying flow patterns. One unmissable pull unsurprisingly missed and several indications on the drop almost. Spent longer than usual in the swim, partly because the swim I'd been looking m forward to more was visited by a couple of local tyros wielding jigs. Took a couple of casts before signs of fish in the swim but nothing to really strike at. Time pressing on and the deadbaits in the bag were beginning to burn a metaphorical hole in my back. A slight overcast with a large lump of paste on on retrieving it to swing back out. I was startled by a healthy swipe at the paste by something with teeth. Decision made and out with two halves of a sardine. Had just settled down when the bait runner alerted me to a fast moving fish heading into cover. A fair push here which was put to good use before the net proved a more enticing refuge for the pike.

Out again to the spot with the same sardine tail and seemingly a smaller fish had already moved into station. Less of a tussle but a fish  none the less.

Dropped below  the feature, reasoning there may be more fish below the cover. Now, here's the hatched, matched and dispatches plan. Twitch the near rod a couple of turns. Rod back on the rest and bob, bob, bob.. couldn't resist the movement I

guess. Nice when you get it right. Kingfisher flypast as I slipped fish back. Result.

Back up to the first swim as had to be off the river by 5. Above the iconic iron bridge and below the cover over the main push with a big eddy on the far side.

A very large disturbance on the riffle in fast water. Pike striking at the dace in fast water. Everything away except the last rod over to the slack laying on the grass. Bait runner away for the best fish of the day.

Pug-nacious

Due to The Old Farm Derby at Carrow Road the Sunday League game kicked off early which meant that a planned hour lure fishing could be extended to a longer session. Decided on the Middle Syndicate beat between the two mills. Settled on the bottom of the S bend below Kings Beck down to the church. Glorious bright day compared to yesterday's dour grey, but even windier though right over the shoulder on this bend.

Encroaching reeds on the inside of the bend limiting landing spots without chesties so didn't feel had covered aĺl of the likely areas. Worked down the straight past these alders and willow.

To the boathouse stretch and Norwich reported by The Essex Scribbler to be 2-0 up. Some enthusiastic tidying up on the far bank had removed much of the over head cover so concentrating on the near channel.

Altered by the bait runner to a pike making back upriver with the half-joey. Saved most of it's effort for a couple of head shaking tail walks at the net. Around 3-4 lbs and some healed otter scars to flank and tail.

Next take was less dramatic, several bobs of the poly ball before it moved into the flow. Much more spirited resistance from this fish, probably a pound or so bigger and with the  pug snout quite common on this stretch.

Brightness in the gloom

A very grey afternoon on the Bure today, variable wind and regular pulses of mizzle. River down and steady, with a tinge of colour. Rods out by 2, having re-rigged for river fishing. Joey on the downstream rod and sardine on the other. Third short twitch back down with the sardine rod and as soon as the bait runner engaged  the float jagged upstream. Contact briefly with a fish moving fast across the river before the line fell slack. The flying hook and worked down the trace and with both trebles in the tail root not surprisingly the pike hadn't been firmly hooked. Time for a cup of tea.

Away on the sardine again, and this lovely little feller graced the net, lightly hooked and soon back in the river. This fish, the day glo orange polyballs and a lighter band of clay along the ridge of the newly ploughed field the only things to lift the stygian gloom.

 

Water mint, windburn and over priced coffee

The Essex Scribbler decreed a civilised start time of 08.30 in a sheltered arm of an undisclosed stillwater for the first social session of 2015. He reasoned that the shelter would enable the February sun to warm our winter  chilled bones, the pike would be heading to shallower water and that it was only a hundred yards from the car. Tea and mardle were to be the order of the day. Don't often take a stove, unless leapfrogging strictly denied. Butane over Kelly Kettle every time for me.

Rods out and settle down for  the serious business of drinking tea and talking a lot of squit interspersed with the Scribbler ruthlessly tracking down a sale to continue his mid-life enlightenment. No salary, commission only . Braver than me. The Scribbler also has an anti-obsessive need to have his rods at cocky angles, rather  like  my overwhelming urge to park and also wear my hat at said cocky angles. Don't even start on folded reel handles...

The squit: Brendan Roger's vanity and diminutive stature. The perfect night out with Morrissey, Mark. E. Smith, Roy Keane and Graeme Souness. The complete lack of a culture of general knowledge in anyone under 40. Labour party apparatchiks, Teflon Tony, abolishing private education and health care. Greece and the impossibility of repayment of such huge debt, the simplicity of Texas rigs for wrasse, and the feeding habits of mullet. ad nauseum.

A very beautiful spot, and spring emerging as winter's remnants are cast off. Along with clouds of irritating fluff from the reed mace. That heady smell of crushed water mint stayed with us all day. Didn't expect to see a red double decker travelling over Orange Flat Bridge. Treated to a regular tour of the arm by an egret, a less welcome cormorant, a kingfisher and grebes as well as a host of other wildfowl only a short distance from the roar of traffic to and from the coastal hub container ports.

Unfortunately we  were untroubled by the fish, only two out of clips to me (one with a laceration to the bait) and nowt for Scribbler. I am renowned for my frugality with bait but have never fished all day with one sardine and one joey before....

I left with arm fulls of books and plans for a perching social ringing in my ears and that glorious wind burnt feeling on my face you only get after a long day on or by water. Dropped in at the Famous Farm for a small cup of nice but hideously overpriced of coffee amongst the half-term yummy mummies.

Great day, thanks Scribbler. Now, what first: Keano, Annapurna, Baker's Essex peregrines or Wyatt's Shining Levels?

When the needle goes round twice.

As I negotiated the broken stile on to the flood plain 3 buzzards spiralled over the copse. The river looked in fine fettle for my first foray above the Mill this year. Settled in just below the feeder. Sardine over to the long reed run and one down the near side. Green woodpecker yaffling and egret on the bend.

When the wind  blows up the long straight rollers build up and I was not quite sure if the float dipping and holding under was a take or the effect of the wind but the bait runner began to give line. Engaged the drive and just slipped of the anti reverse in time as the fish bored up the stretch. Not explosive but inexorable. High hand hold required on the 12 footer and that lovely line noise in the wind. In the net, and struggle to get on to the mat. Huge flank, clusters of leeches. Hooks in the scissors and quickly out.

On the Waymasters and the needle clearly twice round again..24.06, take off a generous 2 lb for the wet net. What a corking great fish from a small river. Don't know what they eat up this far.

6

Clearly not indigenous to the Bure..what are blueys? Pike like them, quite solid and very oily

Had a further take, resulting in a very spritely jack, thought it was a brownie at first as it dashed about and pulled out of another large fish as I wound down on the last rod out. Good days work on a very cold and mostly dark and dank day. A very white barn owl hunting down down the marginal growth under the lee of the floodbank lighting up the gloom and many otter fòotprints and tarry black spraints down the margins. Car lights lighting up the road on at 4pm, a reminder that the snowdrops, crocus and daffodils don't necessarily mean spring is hear yet..

Clean sheet

Saturday and a free afternoon. Have had some cheese paste slowly festering in the fridge. Need to suss out some spots to drop the Essex Scribbler on for a five so off to the syndicate stretch. Chucked in a couple of deads as well.

Plan of attack would be to dropper liquidised bread laced with garlic salt in a few swims and repeat down to the stile and back up with deads.

First spot fishable given the flow is quite tricky as in the picture, need to cast well past the first trailing fronds and bring back into the denser cover at the foot of the swim, without the line getting hung up in the fronds.  This particular batch of cheese paste, as well as being so hummy was also robust enough to withstand being dragged back across the top into place.

3rd put in, and a clear double pull, not deserving of the feeble response from me. Back in and a whack round on the drop again missed. Given the likelihood of a five being quite high somewhat jarred off.

Next swim looks very similar but a longer, steadier glide and I had droppered the bread down the run.  Probably better trotted , certainly today not a fruitful work though on the lead. Fished a couple more spots before deciding to switch to pike.

Halved a bluey (what species are they?) and in second swim below a bush feature twitched one of the bluey halves with an immediate stuttering  response. What ever was playing with it was saved by the same branch the bait and trace must have been laying in, no teeth marks but more encouragingly not shredded by one of the signals that have invaded the stretch. Dropped the bluey tail back in and a much more staccatto pinging on the bait made me think that Ronnie or Reggie had got there first.
Fortunately not, though the little pike hanging on was hardly likely to trouble the scorer. Game little blighter though.

Saw a couple of otter spraints, and one slide but no signal claws. Deer prints too.