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..

Living on the edge: litorraly

Largest Bureboi had me on a mission yesterday. He needed some stills for a piece he is writing on the (mis)managed retreat of our edgelands here on the East Coast.

This was once a road and that's a long way down.

Who decides whose home is worthy of saving?

Still, there's always time for a nice cup of tea. Or so it seems. At some point unreasonably soon that lighthouse may well be on the beach.

Still on it

We had a massive cloud burst on Saturday and for a while Bureboy Villas was surrounded by

a brand new moat, some of which was entering  the floor void via air bricks and cascading off the roof and in via  the  tops of the glazing units.We have soft red Norfolk brick and no cavity so the water wicks right up then slowly evaporates.  Down the road in the notorious dip a camper van was marooned under the rail bridge causing some degree of traffic chaos. 

Didn't think it wise to ask for  a pass out..

Sunday and I had thought of braving the dam and its constant roar of traffic  but the sun broke through as I entered the gate and its a sunstroke spot until the sun hits the high trees behind so ended up on the island with  thoughts of tench somewhat diminished. I can think of worse places to sit  and will a float to dip however.

The float did dip a few times and three bream graced the island briefly. This first fell to my trusty mini Source.

This sprightly old bugger got a red thingy wrapped round it's dorsal and gave the Grey's 15 footer a real work out. The watching crew were convinced it was a carp.

I did go for a two rod approach for a little while, mostly for comparisons sake. I was surprised  just  how much lighter and stiffer the Drennan felt alongside the longer Greys (15 ft.).  I might just get another Drennan for those close in swims where two floats  can be easily watched. And just to match it up another cheap pin.

I'd been baking and had no drink or pack up to eat and had just caught my last cast fish when the sentries announced I could stay longer.  I'd have moved down to the now shaded dam if my stomach wasn't eating itself.  There's always tomorrow.

Dip and double-dip

Very short session on my island paradise, 3  casts with the obligatory  mini Source under a waggler  and a tench was making it's way somewhere down the lake. The hook pulled and it bow waved on for a while. 21.15 on the dot as I was about to throw in the towel away into the pads to my left. Out into open water, then in close round my feet and back to the pads, hook pull. Looked a  good fish too.

That was yesterday.  Drooped in on the commute water on the way home. Sun had burnt off the sea fret and carp charging about everywhere.

One took the mini Source on the drop and shot off down my blind side. The Drennan 13 Specimen Tench takes it all in it's stride.

Pass out granted and second sortie of the day underway, on the island with unfinished business to attend too. The pellets work their magic and in short order the float just blips under. Runs almost straight into the net then goes berserk. 

I am called to attend to a carp that has embedded itself in the pads. By the time I get the rescue boat there all that is left in the pads is the lead.

By the time that's sorted it's rain stops play. A good hour early says the sentry.