Gated community

 A lot of Norfolk is still owned by a small number of people. When I first started work up here after moving back in the early 90's I was staggered at first to meet families still living in tied houses under a feudal landlord.

I guess these days its the car washers and land workers that are being trafficked and under the thrall of their robber baron shady gang masters so that puts it in perspective.

And they don't add Capability Brown and Repton grandeur to the landscape we have come to love. I pass this gate most days on my long commute and it's a handy stop to relieve myself of the boujie coffee and check my tasks  for the day or log into the tyranny of the morning check-in.

And sometimes the home drive  sees this.

Witches curse

Them witches must have been hiding in plain sight yesterday and put a hex on (no such word as enduction Buh), I went back for the last hour today and the course of the glide had changed a bit, strong enough to pull the line off the pin but there seemed to be a surfeit of much smaller fish which grabbed the double grubs and drifted down in the flow. It didn't rain which was a bonus but it wasn't as much fun as yesterday, most of the time it  was like batting a small leaf back up the flow. Same mix of roach, dace and a pair of gudgeon again.

Witching hour ( 45 mins to be precise)

 The Saturday blues had me in their thrall, almost constant light drizzle with sharper bursts of rain. Two fresh pints of reds from Dangling Indirect and a few turning not so fresh ones burning a hole in the fridge and no prospect of pressing them into use despite the forecast showing 12 % chance of rain. 

Dangling Indirect though..currently victim to a cyber attack that diverts browsers to the long stay carp angler's favourite Porn Hub. Delicious irony there I think. And many a meme spawned. And of course since most of their online ware  is famously out of stock anyway no change there then....

All that aside I wanted to go fishing but not get wet and miserable. Chores done then a late lunch in a bowl and not the bankside flask. LIDL Deluxe Spicy Chorizo and Sun Dried Tomato (with added anchovy paste).  Cheap but lovely.

It wasn't until 3.15 that I was at the bridge pool and looking at a longer slack in the almost spot on conditions. There were even fish topping amongst  the drips from the poplars which were holding off the breeze. Banks slippery so standing to trot not really on and the dying back rosebay still obscuring some  of the trotting eye line making it a little difficult  and as the drips turned to rain the line began to stick a bit to the mid section where one of the flimsy single leg eyes had broken so it wasn't a well oiled machine in action but good enough for a bite somewhere on the trot. If it was as the bait was still dragging behind the float  as the back eddy straightened it was from a gudgeon and as I began to be able to effect some control down the glide it was from a roach or occasionally a dace, seemingly freshly minted with a roach like blue sheen and red rather than toffee fins.

I gathered a few in the shallow pan net  for  a farewell shot which came prematurely at 4pm as I got in in a tangle and rain robbed my enthusiasm to re-set the rig for the last 20 minutes.

As for witches in their hour of gathering, only a few bedraggled dog walkeresses but not  a besom or black cat to be seen.

I'd only used the old bait so that fresh two pints of grubs remain cosseted in fresh maize meal in the bait fridge. If the rain hasn't really affected the flow too much it's trotting again today, either back on the bridge pool which is obviously chock full of fish or perhaps prospecting for roach down on bungalow bend or a safer bet at the bottom of cyanide straight for  a chance of something bigger. 

Looking

Just  a quick walk around a local estate lake today, brisk cold wind but the beech trees still hold their burnished copper leaves.

One chap on the dam piking whilst being talked at very loudly by a passer by for an eternity and this neat and tidy bloke netting his 4th bream on a helicopter rig frame feeder and worm.

A cracking lunch was partaken of courtesy of Oldest. And that's yer lot.

Neon Sunday

One late hour on Sunday, almost out of the boot of the BureBoi Charabanc. Little to report apart from a distant tawny owl, a kingfisher that passed twice and a proper clamour of rooks put off their roost choosing in the Great Wood by a very sharp downpour. The sky though, one of those neon affairs that seem to suggest snow is coming. It wasn't.

One Horse Town

Rare cross border skirmishes on Thursday as we headed off to that there Suffolk for a half term day out. A cold, blustery day so no beach activity for us and Southwold Pier was only briefly trod on and not by me. It does offer some fabulous panoramic views  on a good day but this was as good as it got for me on this particular day.

Two things dominate Southwold and wherever you go they seem to be peering over you. One is resolute and firm, keeping our mariners safe with Wikipedia tells  me flashes every 10 seconds, and the other is simply everywhere, maxing out the brand. Southwold really is a one horse town. An Adnams town. I don't think there are any non Adnams pubs in town anymore. 

Probably because it is the home of their brewery and distillery. On a good day (I suspect everyday) you can even smell the beer being brewed, especially by this either distressed chic or forgotten about signage and the nearby vents pouring out that warm hoppy, malty fug.

We of course  had to sample their fare, the Little Un's are becoming a little less feral when eating out as long as they have lots of drawing material and of course chips and were on good form. Shandy for the Commander in Chief, a grapefruity lager for Leeds Lad and of course a Broadside for me. I actually prefer Greene King Abbot as the Adnams bitters are usually more caramelised but no hope in here. I had to force this beer down as you can imagine...

Eats  perfectly adequate, a burger for me, real fish and chips for the Commander in Chief and a fake fish and chips for the vegan Leeds Lad ( Banana Blossom apparently). All featuring some Adnams product. Natch. Burger v. nice.

Time for a rush round the charity shops via the imposing church of St Edmund, Martyr and King whilst I slunk around with the BureBoi Nikon

Posh fish and chips, I didn't check if they used Adnams in their batter or vinegar but I suspect it would be a good possibility.

Pies and stuff through a window darkly.

One thing I did notice was a strong representation of local ahem..Cornish branded outlets. Surprised Rick Stein hasn't got a foot in. There was one import worthy of a mention though and a plug: the mighty Bray's Cottage Pork Pies from God's Own County of (North) Norfolk. Damn fine pork pies they are too.

Local? Certainly closer than  Cornwall and in fact  I drive a few miles further to work each day than the trip here today which is a sobering thought given that diesel is as much  as 1.529ppl at the moment. 

Blue Saturday

Off up Cyanide Straight with a pack of blueys once the rain had blown over. One of my  favourite baits the bluey, they come on varying sizes, are quite firm and quite oily too. Pike seem to like them as well.  

Checked out the roach swims on the way up to the bend, we need some good hard frosts to wilt off the vegetation before I venture forth for my roaching campaign.

I'd still got one trace with a dead bait lifter on and  that mostly managed to keep the bait of the debris and weed. Just after the second recast the left hand float, which was just about above the surface popped up a nads, dipped again then started to run back up to the bend. A decent scrap in the clear water and it was quite a relief to get it in the onion bag. It felt heavier than it had looked in the water and was a solid fish. I didn't press the digital scales into service but it was a good start to this season's piking. And first blood too, my claret was everywhere. You can tell a piker by their hands.

I'd have stayed a bit longer but the blood was reluctant to stop and I really wanted to hear England finish off Australia in the T20. I think the Ashes will be tough but it was certainly good to hear just how wretched they were.

It will be dark before 5 tomorrow. Still, the nights will imperceptibly at first start to pull out again after Christmas, though it's the lighter mornings you sort of notice first.

Leaves are falling softly

More of the same Saturday as the frozen casters and hemp needed using up. Best for loose feed/groundbait really as the fish still relish then but they are super soft so plenty of missed bites. Similar quantity of roach but mostly smaller, a brace of small hybrids and a brace of perch.

Out and about Sunday morning with a Little' un  so posh coffee and eats in order.

Which left me a couple of hours fishing the bridge pool into dusk, river still up and coloured but as I'd expected a few fish in the big eddy and slack. Double reds doing the biz, and I was able to tease them into the waiting mouths nicely under  a battered 5 AAA Avon with a nice proud tip I could dot down a tad. Lovely autumn colours in the fallen poplar and sycamore leaves.  More roach than dace but plenty of each, all clean, bright things and already plump to the touch.

 

(a pristine stick, not the battered Avon here )

Didn't quite catch the low evening light shining through this little gonk, they always seem to be the boldest biters in a mixed haul.

Caster blaster.

Lovely mild autumn afternoon and a pint of casters to use up. Throw in a tin of hemp and that's a good recipe for roach. Wind over my shoulder and nice calm water in front so ideal for a fine tipped waggler dotted down to a mere blip. #14 B560.wide in the gape and fine in the wire. Perfect. No afternoon bonfire smoke but a local church bell practice making up for it.

I've never really found that casters do actually produce bigger fish but there is something about the delicate bites they seem to produce, and when dotted down like today the float just melts away.  I had decided no pellet or corn to see if I could target just roach and it nearly worked perfectly. 

Three small hybrids (here are two of them) and a tench that eventually left the hook in a lily stem after the hard grunt. 

Otherwise it was roach a chuck. None needed the landing net, the one that would have didn't make it as it was smashed into by a decent pike that took quite some time to decide to bite me off. I kept some in the big landing net for a piccy. A most splendid afternoon.

Things that were supposed to be..

Friday was supposed to feature an afternoon tempting  Fenland zander and perch but work demands meant my only relief was a decent coffee on a slightly earlier journey home. Cracking weather out of the wind. 

Saturday was supposed to see some livebait snatching then perching on "my river", the livebait spot had been fenced off so I headed back to the main river and trotted the near glide to see if I could find some decent roach. I didn't. But I did find some nice dace and  a couple of tiny but pretty roach. Which was nice.