Here and there.

Monday and a quick bash on the Pond, though I'd had a reasonable amount of fish Sunday the swim was not the jacuzzi I'd have liked it to have been so popped onto Stage 1. All I can say is the midges kept away, A small roach first cast and a slightly less small skimmer was it. Lot of carp activity though.

Thursday and I had I one of those texts whilst at work...get some wine and milk on the way home and go fishing..rude not to.

Thursday and back to Stage Two. Again, not able to concentrate the fish as I would like and more activity under the emerging cover than where I was stubbornly fishing to.  Had four  bream that had just made the jump from skimmer size. All mint, young fish.

Midge mania descending I decided on last cast curfew when a spirited hybrid gave me the run around and looking like a small common as it surged around the swim, all golden scaley flanks. In truth a bit battered from spawning hence the mistaken scaley identity. Much more rudd in this one and one I haven't seen before. A good 4 plus.

Friday and stopped off at Buxton. Mass ranks of mega chub off the Rail bridge, love showing the walkers and cyclists what is there once the Polaroids take out the surface glare. Two good bream with them.

This syndicate member was working the mill pond.



Got in to find I had won a years fishing on the Ketteringham's Fishery on the a Wensum below Costessey Weir. A fabulous unexpected treat. Must explore ASAP.

Sprint round the pond with a drop shot rod, only two taps but virtually no weed anywhere. Is it the unusually coloured water or cold spring? Fish feeding everywhere, cover on not. Hemp on to soak, boosted with chilli, ginger and  salt.

Dinosaur hunting on Saturday with little'un's.

There is a hole in my bream dear Lisa

Sunday was spent with the chipeaters in Yarmouth. Sun was hot but the North Easterly not.
If you have children and been to Yarmouth you will know Joyland and the Snail ride. It's the law. You will also know the Teacups ride, and why you never went on them again..

Had a couple of hours on the Pond later. The wind doesn't come from one direction on there, just gusts and swirls about. Cold enough to make me wish for gloves.

The round half  a dozen bream all seemingly female and various shapes and sizes. All determined to put up a bit of a fight, even this one foulhooked in the belly.

They came to  prawn or corn over half a tin of corn. Total bait cost? About 20p.

This one had a noticeable hole, about the size of a penny on the gillcover.

Was driven off the water by the cold and the irritating midges finding shelter about my large head. Treated to a pair of buzzards at close quarters over the water just as  I got set to leave the platform. Big birds, measly little calls. Spooked the rooks though.

This week I have been mostly..

Watching fish in the sunshine....Mudpigs everywhere today. Couldn't miss this ghostie.

And this is a grass carp

Had a little dibble with the drop shot and had this little snapper.

Lavender's (not yet) blue

Launched a pre-emptive lemon and lavender cake run on Sunday. Blickling was the requested spot so a detour so little'uns could sleep through kek-lined lanes and chromium yellow rape fields.

Posh containers and the afore mentioned kek (cow parsley).

I used to have an office in the West Wing.

What  a vista.

Littl'uns enjoyed the fountain.

I enjoyed the Orangery. That orange blossom smell.

This is a hedge. And the West Wing. Son said, but how did you do e-mails, did they have wi-fi?

Brighter , later

Woke up to the realisation that the clock was lurching on to my possibly impending doom. 4 weeks and counting till the P60 could be handed down with 12 weeks notice.....

Anyway, after a fruitful bash at the garden got the green light to go and off I lurched to the water's edge. Wasn't staying past 8 so made the short trip to Captains. Warm but swirling wind and that strange showery rain from no visible cloud. Wasn't bright, or clear but the cloud was thin and very high. Earnest newbie in Stage 2 had seen a pike attack the cygnets earlier and sure enough only 2 balls of grey fluff remained. He/she has cleaned out the canada and greylag goslings already. Probably the big headed lean old croc that took over when Cyclops karked it. 21 lb but the length of a thirty. Head like a bucket

Didn't start off to well, swan had stirred up some crud and I spent a while chasing bubbling fish round the disturbance  until a tench took a high speed tour round the swim, tying my lines in knots and shedding the hook.  Got that lot sorted and the mood was lifted by this roach.

Concentrated the feed with better results.  Ended up ditching the float road to reduce the chance of another tangle. Generally it was the better conditioned bream today, favouring prawn and corn equally.The skimmers are like newly minted coins.

Most of the tench so far have been thin and battle scarred. All females too. Loking at this one does look like we did well to fence off tarka. A couple of otters have been run over on the road this year so they are nosing about outside the perimeter fence. 

This one though was a lot plumper and cleaner. It took off on a mudpig handle churner with an impressive bow wave before transforming in to a merely fiesty tinca.

By this time Mr. Swan Shady had had enough and after a touch and go round made it over the trees on the dam with a shade more afterburner to find his nightime family elsewhere in the valley chain. Wonder if he will have to experience empty nest syndrome on his return?. Finished off the afternoon with the biggest bream of the day at about 5lb ish.

2 tench, 2 skimmers, 6 bream and a roach if you were counting. I was. Slow start but brightened up.

That might be it for a while as Lady Bureboy is flying to New York for a week. Multiple carrot cakes to keep the peace with the littl'uns I imagine.

A bit of this and some of that

Catch up before the weekend.......

Rhodos are just begining to breakthrough and the pads are establishing themselves again. Water still coloured and low, pond weed not yet rampant. Everything still has that bursting out greeness. Love May

Let out for  a quick sortie apre chores.  To Crane's, and down to Pump end. More of  a sit down and watch for signs of fish really, fed only with crumb, crushed hemp and corn in the feeders. Missed two steady pulls on prawn and one on corn and snared a small, darkly coloured roach on the corn rod. Bream did roll over bait. Had a quick explore round the swim with a dropshot rig, lost a decent perch second drop and  had this little feller right under my feet in "structure". The bream quite like a dropshot in here but none today..

Rain set in within an hour and off the water to dry out by wine oclock

Last night Lord Lite was up in God's County for some smoothhounds but my curfew didn't allow for a chip run direct to the door of his new Charabanc. England had just put Sri Lanka back in to follow on when I left for an hour and 3/4 on one of the stages on Captain's. Same old I guess, but  5 mins from the back door and half a tin of corn had them fizzing like a jacuzzi. 3 tincas in the blink of an eye then finished off with 4 bream. Lost what was probably a mud pig at the death but all in all a very happy Bureboy arrived  home just in time for the first glass of Shiraz..

Same old

Ressie sewn up so Captain's instead. 1st Stage for a change. Back on the prawns, as well as the golden grain.

First dip and  golden boy/girl back again for a better photo this time.

Six "proper" bream followed before curfew called.

Spawning very soon.....

He's back

He's back. No not The Real Slim Shady but my nemesis the swan. Arse up over everything. Think he buggers off for the night and comes back the next day. Probably has  a penn  on every lake in the valley.

Despite Swan Shady had a jolly good go  round his probing neck. Sweetcorn on the waggler natch, and as my artisan sustainable shellfish supplier had let me down it was luncheon meat alternated with corn on the sleeper rod. Discovered that trucking a tin of chopped pork and ham round in the car  is an effective rendering technique and leaves a lovely wet result in the tin. Nice.

For the benefit of Lord Lite of Thorrington here is my evolved Octuplus platform.

Had a couple of extra hours to fish and I really did loose count of how many fish I caught.
A couple more slim tincas put in an appearance. It is an acid water and that probably holds them back. Fins and length of much bigger fish to be sure.. In reality tench are actually better suited to gravel pits where they can find space from the carp. Fight wise here they either dive into the silt or bomb round like kittens with a firework up their arse so it is usually obvious straight away what you have hooked.

It was breamarama as well for sure, I have pics of most of them but will resist posting every one, mostly this year I have the smaller stamp and lots of skimmers coming on like this fresh fish.

What I will revel in this time are the gorgeous bream rudd hybrids, two of which I had tonight. They usually look like bream but its the fins,  some  pinky coral or darker than usual but mostly  the red or orange eyes that give them away. And the golden colouration of course.

This variation is the the most stunning of them though, with the pinky fins and are perhaps more rudd influenced as in the body shape.

First mug shot for a while, and light going so not too sharp..

Several bigger bream are coming out of the ressie so I will probably bait up a couple of evenings before the weed gets away, they are something else as this one from last year shows..9's biggest  out last year.

Friday night's alright

Late late show once chores done, Bait not in the water untill way gone seven but it was a warm evening and a joy to be on the pond. The usual float  fished single grain of corn. Judging by the groundbait scatterings on the staging, and the fizzing someone had baited up for me already and I only used half  a tin of LIDL's finest cheapo corn in the hour I was there.

Pesky ruddlets banging away at the bulk shot  were a distraction but a couple of small bream showed up along with a scamp of a tinca, long and lean.

Humble pie, Skues and all that

Following my black balling by Lords Thorrington and Upwell for my blackguard behaviour with a winding engine and an unspeakable moulded rubber monstrosity have been considering, but not buying a new floating line. The debate on our syndicate Whats App about it has been fun. Trout are stupid hence the arcane rules. In essence.

Whilst waiting for some one in Norfolk to stock said clothes line I have been looking at the trout anyway. This River Bure is a belter.

Tarka and snaggletooth are watching too.