All change

Both my go to's remain firmly closed so at a loss I headed off to one of my commute waters but as I wasn't at work it took a while to get too. Surrounded by ox eye daisies it's a picture and very very weedy.

 

I was hoping for  a bit of a mini species haul as it has some unusual residents but the tiny rudd beat everything to the hook bait until I found some dendros in my bait bucket and bunched the shot well down. I did manage to find  a few bigger samples, not netters but beautifully coloured as you would expect in the crystal clear water. I did have  a tiny but perfect roach too. No chub or any of the highly visible goldfish and orfe.

Had a few perch as well and I wouldn't be surprised if they went bigger given the fodder fish. Saw some carp too but strong arm tactics the order of the day I'd say.

Rain threatened so I headed next door to the busier pool, because it had some cover. Some restrictive rules in place so I had to ditch the Source for wafters but didn't feel too bothered about the one rod rule. I should have made that one rod a method set up rather than the Puddle Chucker as over hanging alders meant it was difficult to cast far enough to sink the line without brining the bait back too far away from the cover. A very different feel to its smaller, open neighbour  and heavily coloured, but not coloured enough to hide from view the great clouds of drifting tadpoles and the carp mooching about.

I did hook two carp, both mirrors but they both shed the barbless QM1, but not before giving me a nice bend in the 13 footer so I wasn't too disappointed. You can tuck yourself away here but you can't block out the sounds of your neighbours and when two chaps turned up the volume dial to 11 as they mardled on about crap  gave it best and headed home. I'll fish the far swim next time so I can cast along the cover.

Rivers are looking nice for next week..

Night cap

 Drop the latch and have a drop...

Speaking of sloppy seconds.....

Bank holiday and some serious rays, just as well as first mixed clan gathering of the year planned at BureBoi Villas and time to fire up Mark 2 again and anoint the meat. and not much veg. Yes that's charcoal and other salty gubbins in one of them jars to eat it says.

 

Certainly enough rays to add some sardines and anchovies into the mix. As this BureBoi has absolutely no intentions of jetting off to sonny climes anytime soon Portugal will have to come here.  Of course the Delta variant would have arrived at some point anyway but letting plane loads of people in from a sub-continent  seeing  a rocketing in cases for weeks to protect a miserly trade deal we can only blame on the gammon Brexiteer hordes for needing in the first place has been a disaster. Anyhoo, said sardinahs pre-plancha.

Free evening so why not head still shorts clad to my Island Paradise? Scorchio still but as the sun would soon be dipping behind the pines the Greg Wallace hat was set at a cocky angle to ward of some of the glare and given the dancing floats last time I started off on the swing tip.  Not for long though, far too clunky and even more line laid out for liners in the shallow water.

So, back to the Puddle Chucker, and perhaps the sardines and chilled rose earlier had sharpened some of my reflexes as a goodly proportion of the seemingly good bites were hit. First in the stink net after  a very determined battle was this daddy tench, and yes posed with a rhodo sprig. Got to be done, it's the law.

This daddy barry was snared in a ventral fin by the fiendish hook out presentation which also gave it some chance to pull back which it did.

Proper lip hooked this one, and it performed it's wet sack duties admirably with barely a tremble of it's fins once I had turned it from the pads.

Last occupant of the stink net was this one, late enough for the flash to be deployed.   I left the stink net and equally stinky mat to dry on a bench with the intention of returning in the week.......what I did bring back were two rapidly swelling ticks in the crook of my right knee. Let's hope no bulls eye rashes develop.

A truncated week, with late finishes,  and as the temperatures climbed I spent some time looking, not fishing, fuelled where I could with smelling the coffee stops, like this lovely brekkie, my first out this year.

Posh Suffolk chooks for sale in Gaywood.

Scoping out possible commute stop spots, bit worried the cormorants have cleaned it out so I'll check with those fishing it come the 16th before arranging a Dabbling Duck drink and fish with the venerable piscator and print maker TT and the Essex Loafer now he's left the canal systems for a while. 

Rivers have a tinge of colour so it's mostly about the bankside display at the moment, a good year for the kek (cow parsley)for sure.

The stinky net and mat? Still on their Island Paradise bench as the jiggy mud piggies are having sloppy seconds so no go for a while. 

 

My Island Paradise

Saturday dawned bright but with a certain easterly nip. Work party duties called and I was entrusted with a fabulous tool, a hammer stapler to pin down health and safety regulation chicken wire on platforms. I must say I liked it very much, but don't think that I will ever be old enough for a proper  nail gun. I have got my electric chainsaw wings, but as with the nail gun, I haven't enough years in me to earn my petrol driven chainsaw stripes. Whilst the big boys played with their grown up toys I returned my foundling 3m net pole to it's rightful place on my Island Paradise. I hadn't seen it since Golden Pond was closed for what we thought might be the last  time ever following two drought springs, but it had been put to one side by one of the guardians who had watched over the shrunken pond  as it filled up again right through the wettest autumn/winter/spring ever. Pesky thing has over fit joints which must be the worst design/cleverest way to get you to buy another one ever. So it has a place on my Island Paradise with my rapidly rotting stink net as  I can't break it down and the stink net is really too stinky to put in the car anymore.

Good job it's not video with sound...lovely place don't you think. That was mostly bare silt this time last year. Miraculous that anything survived.

Beach duties called, and though we hadn't got a  cold clammy  haar, the onshore breeze  was quite chilly so barely a toe was dipped before the Little Uns were sniffing out the chips from Will's Plaice (see what he did there) and Mr Whippy cones for afters, one with sprinkles, one with a flake. Chores done  and off to a much quieter Golden Pond for an hour before curfew so the Big Uns could watch the Champo League finals. You all  know the tactics by now, and I'm sure you all know just how much I love this stuff. As do most fish I'd say. It's a fridge life bait that lasts for yonks but breaks  down quite quickly in the water.

No silkweed as my informant told me down this end yet, but still quite choddy. One of the problems fishing in shallow water, even with stubby Puddle Chucker  is that bites are often liners and striking false bites can be quite frustrating. One tench tore about but came off and one bream stayed stuck, on my very last last cast. An old friend with a twisted upper lobe to it's tail.  A golden bream, from Golden Pond. 

One door opens...

News via the all important interweb thingy, Golden Pond was off the off list so plans hatched for an early doors work finish for a  pre-prandial bait dipping off my Island Paradise, with some urgency as news flash in. Next Nearly gate firmly bolted as the prima donna pigs had got just got jiggy, and with the noticeable rise in temperature it was highly likely they would be at it again on the Pond so jankers imminent.

One car in the car park and an erstwhile fellow member ensconced on my Island Paradise with a cauldron of fishy activity to both areas of cover. He said he was going soon but nothing worse than someone waiting behind you for a double dip of sloppy seconds to put you off your stroke. He did file a silkweed free report though. One firmly stored away in the bank.

So rickety staging it was then.  Took a little while for the pellets to work, and a confident sail away of the Puddle Chucker missed. And yes that foul green curse all over the exposed hook. Bastard stuff. And it started to rain. Fine rain, but rain.

Second one stuck though and a tench shrouded in a hood of the hideous green snot only woke up once the curse fell off at the net and it dived into the left hand pads but I extracted it with no dramas and hoisted it up onto the  mat. Long as usual and just a tad of plumpness. Hint of buttercup belly. 

Whilst this was going on the right hand bait had been picked up a but again, snotsville round the hook. Back out with both rods and a missed bite on the left hander. Back on the spot and the float bobbed and this time no mistake. With no encumbrance the tench gave me a decent scrap  and seemingly got the grump on. What sour chops she had.

And again the right hander had been picked up and the hook eventually jettisoned. I 'd fished both baits quite close to keep both floats in an easy eye line, I think that the tench on here tend to arrive and leave in packs as multiple catches in a short space of time with the bream seemingly shoved off the grub is quite common. Fine rain turned to wet rain and curfew approached so off I went. A well spent hour.

Scratching

Work and the awful cold, wet and windy weather have made this Jack a dull old soul.  I haven't walked a river bank pre-season, been to see woodland glades awash with ramsons and bluebells or just laid back on the grass to watch the clouds scud by to the sound of the skylarks.

Fishing is never  a chore but the motions have been half heartedly gone through of late and perhaps due to my stubborn nature or lack of drive and ambition I've been scratching round for a fish, any fish really.

Saturday and I learnt the hard way how different in size thus appropriate for maggots Kamasan B560 #14 (a tad small for dendro and corn) and the Kamasan B520 #16 were/are. A switch to the latter at least bought bites, not many but bites. All cold to the touch, a few roach, quite plump still so perhaps not yet spawned and this nice perch.

Sunday and I rigged up a spomb rod with a plan to lay out a banquet down on the old stream bed but wind and rain meant I prevaricated a while before setting off from BureBoi Villas and rain on and off when I got to the Next Nearest meant I just fished closer over catapulted pellet instead  from the Royal Box and just two bites on the flat bed method feeder, one missed and one hit on the yellow flouro peril. I wouldn't say it fought but it made sure it evaded my toothy furloughed ever present companion.

Hook in

Rain forecast from 1 so off to the Next Nearest once chores done, hadn't banked on two road sweeper tankers tidying up the top dressing on two  miles of narrow country lane. Took an age, all with dropped clutch as too slow to coast in first.  Guess which noobs overtook the first road sweeper not knowing another was in front? Audi and Range Rover drivers..

Had planned to fish the Royal Box close in with corn/worm over my defrosted left over groundbait, hemp and corn but it wasn't available so opted for the Lawns which meant further out, tricky in the blustery squalls. Perhaps a slider might have been better than the straight waggler. A roach first cast didn't lead to the hoped for fish fest, indeed I ended up scratching for bites, the rain came  45  minutes early but blew over and  did start to get some indications of fish in the swim but still a way out, and not long after 1 thunder began to rumble and the clouds darken dramatically whilst I was bathed in warm sunshine. Time for two more fish before heading for the car not wanting to pack up in the incoming storm.

This lively pretender already getting a decent paunch on it.

And the real deal queen, portly to behold indeed. Put up a decent scrap too. All 6.10 of her.

Hook out

I have had  a few quickies on Golden Pond over the last week but with diminishing returns as you will see but we've also been out and about a bit, Sunday was a cracking day early on so beach it was and we headed to the Runtons as a chip lunch and ice cream would be on offer for the Little Un's once the tide turned. it's a cracking spot and never really gets rammo as most stick close to the fleshpots of Cromer on the horizon.

The sea was freezing but the rocky pools a bit warmer and a Little Un came up with this cracking little  rockling, a bit small to check which beard number variety it was but I'm thinking maybe a five bearder.

After a cracking tea of pork leg sliders, with divine crackling in floury baps with smokey chipotle and apple sauce fried onions it was onto Golden Pond for the last hour of light and still just about warm enough for the shorts from the beach.

The usual twin Puddle Chucker approach from the off, and action almost straight off with the floats wavering then sinking slowly under. And striking into thin air 5 times before a hook took hold then pulled out. The exposed Guru QM1 #12 covered in snotty green silkweed. Something I've not had bother with on here, but last year's drought did see the exposed silt taken on a covering of algae. It was only just as I could barely see the float any more  having packed away the right hand rod that I  finally made proper contact and landed this lovely fresh bream. I hadn't had firm authorisation from the Commander in Chief to make this post prandial foray and the Lidl 3.99 Shiraz was poured and waiting with a frosty air about it.

By Tuesday the Mini Ice age had receded enough for me to venture out onto Golden Pond, chores done and penance paid and yet more silkweed driven frustration has me thinking about having to either go pop-up, with it's attendant risks of foul hooking and the tether weight itself becoming something else for the alien snot to adhere too or finding  a softer bait to bury the hook in and hope that it would  still  allow a hook up. Again, one stuck and it was this much plumper tench, which really did pull back It must have been gorging on my Spicy Sausage pellet feed as it was passing that lovely red goo the pellets  go as they break down.

 

Smelling the roses along the way is a great release and I was able to ponder life's complexities (sod the luxury of the leather seats) on my travels with some lovely early sun on Thursday with a much welcome stop off al fresco.

Didn't help that one contributor to the mag was quite keen on just the short method feeder type hook link, QM1, bayonet stop and mini Source combo  I've become so comfortable with and led to me repeating the striking thin air scenario later in the day and this time the only hit fish was only on for a rod bending few seconds.

I've got a little time to ponder on my silkweed beating presentation as the mudpigs of Golden Pond have got quite jiggy with it so we're leaving them to it for a bit. Perhaps they'll go on a post spawning munchies fest when only the snottiest silkweed will do, or the ravening bream  and tench hoover it all up as they gorge on the mud pig spawn. 

Hybrideyes

The Essex Loafer has been travelling in his camper looking to up his species count tally and has been searching canal systems and in his searching has has caught some cracking silver bream and some slightly wrong un's which had us thinking about hybrids. Here's one of his captures. Silver bream eyes all day long. I don't know  how many rays they need on their fins.

Now I have till recently referred to the Very Local for the purposes of this blog as Golden Pond and in part this one reason. The lake holds some absolutely stunning hybrids which I believe to be rudd x bream. Just look at this beauty.  Never seen anything like them anywhere else.

If I hadn't clocked the eyes on this one I'd have said this was one too but look closely and you'll see a lovely roachy red eye and not the red or maroon fins  of the "brudd" so I'd be confident it was roach x bream ( "broach"?) in what ever order even with the golder colouration. .

I've got loads more variations to plough through and here's a couple more with the give away red  eye from Golden Pond.

Some have spawning tubercles and it would be really interesting to know if hybrids can reproduce, changing the mix even more. Most sources say no but not some Irish sites. Are some cyprinids close enough to be able to continue to cross breed like say dogs? Not furry with four legs  though..

And as fate would have it Friday saw me make a late visit to Golden Pond, fishing from about 8.10 till just after 9 and raising the wrath of the Commander in Chief. Two rods  with 3.5 gramme Puddle Chuckers, a Source mini on one, flouro pineapple wafter on the other. A lost fish, then a foul hooked (in the  dorsal)  bream, none really get to barry status on here but which was like grabbing a tiger by the tail. You can see the flouro wafter despite the gloom

Last chance saloon and I could tell it wasn't a bream, foul hooked or not, these hybrids really do pull back and they are often solid too. This one went 3.12 which is not an uncommon weight. With that red eye....

Mojo gets rinsed right off

Last weekend was spent either cowering under a brolly or wishing I'd packed one. Both trips were on the Next Nearest and were hardly a fish fest. Saturday and this is as exciting as it got under the brolly.  Two jangly takes missed, probably roach or skimmers and a baitrunner fizzer that came off, but not before at least feeling like a solid barry bream. Did get to hear my first cuckoo of the year though.

 

When Sunday Came it was bright enough to make a garden centre trip to put some greenery in the vegetable plot. I say green, a lot of mixed colours really with beetroot,  chard and cut and come again salad plugs as well as some courgettes  and icebergs. No more frosts please......this winter has done for most of the pot stuff like french lavender and pelargoniums that I'd kept going for two or three years so they are being replenished as well. Retirement may mean taking cuttings and pottering about a bit more, the wallflowers I sowed  and transplanted last year have done well and I ought to sow things like Cosmos to fill in when the forced bought ones go over late summer. 

Anyhoo, thought I'd go with just the waggler rod and as everyone knows you can't fish the waggler under a brolly. Might as well as have tried,  a perch and a tiny roach were my scant reward, half of the session seemed to be a hail laden tempest. At least the wind had some warmth in it which helped dry off a bit in lulls. One way to harden off the bedding plants..

I've often mentioned the furloughed pike and they certainly have come to associate bankside activity with fairly safe freebies. The cold eyes of a killer.

So what next? I've just added a 4 lake ticket and a new river stretch and I haven't really started on the commute waters so  I do need to freshen up my view (from under a brolly or not) but  until rising water temperatures pep things up it is making me a bit indecisive and the mojo has taken a bit of a rinsing of late.  And certainly I can't wait for the 17th and being able to chose to sit inside for  a coffee and lemon drizzle on my travels and not tough it out in hail and gales. 

Normal for Norfolk, a Spitfire over Langham Airfield which I'd never noticed before.