Funny how things work out

I gambled on the shorts and in the end it was the goose pimples on my legs and hands that could have done with gloves that had me scurrying home well before wine o'clock. It's this cold wind that is doing it. Blustery and mean.  It was after 3.45 before I'd got the first underarm swings of the flat beds out to the bottom of the slope I'd found by leading about, and as ever yellow pineapple peril on the left, shocking pink tuna in the right. And the tuna wafters were very popular, but a series of strikes with the baitrunner still in free spool, a branch on the hook and once the wafter stuck in the fins of the feeder left me exasperated. All this time barely a twitch in the left hand rod. I was mulling over a twin tuna attack when  a connexion on the strike and a very feisty performance by this crusty old male bream on the left hand rod changed all that  as you can see by the little glimpse of yellow.

Swiftly followed by a smoother but equally slimy female. turbo charged too. Well. in the context of bream anyway

 

A longer swing out.to cover a showing tench produced one of those right on the money rip the bobbin out of your hand takes and this really was a turbo charged tinca that made for every emerging pad or stand of reeds it could find. About 4 lb, and not an ounce of spawn yet in her. 

A rare and solitary snap off at the spade on the tuna rod to a butt ringer (barbless QM1 so it should be shed quickly) was soon nullified by another take on the pineapple rod and another  bream was on the mat.

The fish were feeding and I had bait but for the first time for a long time I gave in to the cold and was on my way just gone 6, and thanking the quick response of the Charabanc heater to let the heat warm my frozen bones. 

 

Meat means...

I'd planned a foray up the Wensum Valley to chase a few mudpigs. A boilies and cans/tins ban had me searching out some old Bacon Grill to chop up to impale with my bayonet stops 

but I remembered it was a Bank Holiday and I'd likely to be forced to listen to lots of old bois probably in trackie bottoms and vests shouting out to each other across the lake and banging in bank sticks and stuff so parked up a mere 5 mins from Bureboi Villas on Golden Pond. Just mewing buzzards, mallards, greylags and and road noise to put up with. Link legering again with meat on one and mini Source on the other. Korum running rigs and a light bomb due to the silt and the fact that I'd be dropping them on the fishes' heads in about 3 feet of water at best.

The bright sun on arrival quickly became veiled by a general grey and the wind that sprung up was a bit chillier than I'd bargained for so Aldi hoodie deployed. Whilst I waited for the Spicy Sausage 6mm pellets and hemp to work I amused myself by pilling up some chunks of sweaty old Red Leicester some one had left on the bank to occupy the bait robbing mallard duck with her attendant, very respectful and frankly useless drake watching mostly gormlessly while she gorged on the rubbery old cheese.

My attention  turned to the rods and after two missed takes on the Sourcery a bream was  giving up and flopping into the stink net. They don't get big on the Pond but often have lovely colouration, a buttery bronze mostly.

 

I  set  the bobbin on the recast and it was ripped put of my fingers and  a bit more of a tussle had me thinking hybrid until it capitulated, boilie hanging out it's slobbering gob and flopping into the onion bag.

The meat rod was only attracting twitches so I cast amongst the throng and it wasn't long before something was hell bent on heading down to the dam, not a pond pig but a tench, my first for the year. Custard yellow belly and everything. If only they grew into their length on here.

 Another victim of the stink net.

 I really don't think the stink net will last past the autumn, such is the degrading action of several years of bream and tench snot with the odd snig thrown in. I leave it mainly on Golden Pond as even a hint of damp makes the charabanc stink, even with windows open.

This one had a bit of hybrid power when hooked and even a glint of gold  as it flashed in the water just before  performing the swimmers roll but  not when studied close up. Spawn ready.

The wind had dropped though the sun remained rheumy with no real warmth. Well, I call it rheumy, think I must have read it one of Bailey's earlier works. Sort of wearing an old scarf, wrapped up against the ague presaging wraiths of mist and shining weakly.

Time for one more and like most of its net mates it had been bewitched by the Source, a majestic fish getter in my experience. The meat? One to keep in the tackle bag  for the odd run out, a bit like my swingtip  rod. So, 5 bream and a tench, and a most pleasant way to spend a Bank Holiday afternoon and not  a vest in sight. 9 different species now for 2022. I'd like a bass again, and a zed.  

 

Island mentality

Dirk took his shorter White Sox to Golden Pond on Thursday, and even managed to pair up his plimsolls. The Island was free  so of there he trudged. 

                                      

Puddle chuckers and mini Source boilies. Pads not up properly yet and the odd bubblers a way out which gave rise to a problem. I'd spooled up with 6 lb Sensor, tough as old boots but quite heavy which meant a strike at distance meant pulling it up a lot to get contact to hit the bite as it was as saggy as a witches tit. resulting in  two missed bites and a brief contact then off.  No matter. a very pleasant afternoon listening to the buzzards mewing and the greylags jostling for supremacy.  Most of the goslings slip nicely down the gullet of ol'essox, indeed I cant recall any successful broods but some must make it I guess. 

Hot enough for lunch outside yesterday.....enough mayo to make  The Creative shudder.

Then back to the Island Paradise with link ledgers and bobbins, and though you don't gat the almost certainty of the self hook method  feeder approach it it satisfying to hit the take as the bobbin lifts up, and as tighter to the bait the saggy tits Sensor lifts that bit quicker. Quick enough to take two bream and a rather battered (well healed) carp , all silt black mouth and recent hook marks. I never once felt out of control on the 1.25tc Advantas which I'd  decided to use, rather than break down the method gear on the longer Korums. Nice action  too.

Source muncher

It's prettier side

Spawny get.

Dirk Wears White Sox

Dirk may well Wear White Sox but I doubt he wears odd shoes. I think the cataracts are starting to worsen...

As mentioned in my last post I've been mainly bream bothering, in that not much else seems to want to visit my stink net. The spawny old bugger below came to 4 maggots on a  B560 #12, on the waggler in an attempt to get past the small stuff as I suss things out and put an unexpected scrap on the albeit lighter float gear 

 

And this one fell to a wafer and the method. Might have a very  small touch of who's your father about it as I'd been told to expect on the new water. Wonder if they are related?

 

And this lovely thing confirmed it. A very respectable 2lb 13oz. A very different kettle of fish, love how hybrids look and how they fight back too.

 

Back much closer to home today, and despite the shoe mishap enjoyed soaking up some sun on Golden Pond. Slow going but such lovely surroundings making up for it.

Just the one, on the golden grains under a puddle chucker. Fresh young fish as well. Nice to be able to net them in water, not silt. Let's hope the levels stay up, its been heartening to see it saved from extinction. Would be nice to get a tench now.

Burnt offerings

Saturday saw Sheringham invaded by hordes of Vikings and the ritual burning of a longboat on the shore. I was famished having been bream bothering and ordered up a Guac and Mole burger  whilst I waited.

Last scraps consumed just in time as the Vikings were indeed Coming. I don't think they ever did come to this corner of East Anglia, well not until they became Normans anyway. 

Not sure if they burnt their boats either but these ones did. 

Getting all your ducks lined up in a row

I ventured out onto the rickety staging for the first time for a while and it looked promising, with a large area of stirred up silt, a bit too much to the left for my liking but buggers can't be choosers. A mini Source on one, golden grains on the other. A lacing of hemp, pellet and corn, hoping to entice them a bit  to the right. Good to get the puddle chuckers and the lovely tench and specimen rods out again.

Then a pair of mallard flew in. Wary of the two bobbing floats for a while but not long before the female set about picking up every pellet, grain of corn and hemp she could find in the silt whilst the gaudy drake, all ducks arse tail curls looked on in bemusement. Too close for comfort to my hookbaits, barbless QM1's or not so I slunk off home

Headed further afield next time out to scout a new ticket for this year, and went with the flatbed feeder approach rather than wade through the small stuff on the waggler much in evidence when I've been looking round whilst I get to know the place. Plenty of mallard drakes in attendance but they hadn't packed their scuba gear so I felt a lot more at ease. Picked up  a nice pair of bream, and as usual one each on the yellow peril and pink tuna mini wafters. Still cold to the touch. Quite a silvery colouration on this one despite it being well over skimmer size, at a guestimated 5 plus. I've been told they get to a decent size so I'd better check the batteries in the scales and the self take remote.

Point to prove.

The farm pond has been loathe to give up almost any of it's treasures and I had one more chance to winkle something out for the 2021/22 season. Small wafters  fished with small flat bed feeders though I had toyed with setting up a standard open ended feeder with a longish tail to fish corn and worms on the tip. Two rods  won out in the end. Things seemed different, surface activity and the odd patch of bubbles, though not over my bait. Skylarks singing all afternoon. Did they know snow (yes snow) was forecast for tomorrow? It snowed two years ago  and I think I caught a bream in it. 

Couldn't get any Spicy Sausage in 4mm for the feeder so I went for a krill/squid combo in 2mm. The 8mm wafters were from last year, so I added so a few drops of water to the pots to make them soft enough so as not to split them or split the plastic bayonet stops. Always pineapple on the left rod, tuna on the right rod to start with.

One of the most effective  feeder developments ever,  even I can catch on it. Sometimes, anyway.

Took a while to get some proper takes though, probably small stuff then this lovely bream with a distinctive tumour pulled the tuna bobbin up tight to the butt ring and the baitrunner fizzed. Determined scrap (for a bream) which I enjoyed..

Two neat little red spots on the left cheek too.

I recast both rods and hadn't even set the baitrunner when the bobbin was pulled out of my hand on the pineapple rod. Another barry, this time a male with spawning tubercles. Two better skimmers also fell for the left and right trick. Point proven? Not sure but nice to get on to winning ways.

Good enough for a celebratory Wherry and scratchings.

Scratching for bits

I've been confined to barracks by Covid. Fortunately it's been quite a mild dose, and I've worked through it as well by the medium of Teams. Only just getting some taste and a minute amount of smell back. Food tasted like this.

even though it looked like this

Yesterday was the first time I've left the extensive grounds of BureBoi Villas for  a week. Just a quick drive round the syndicate beats to check for malingerers and chancers, of which there were none. Nice  to see the dace and roach on the gravels. 

Celandines and fresh and fiery nettles emerging.

Once the single LFT line appeared for the second day in  a row and the murk lifted late this morning I headed off to a nearby pond to see if it's inhabitants had woken up,  and it was tough going despite the gentle conditions. And the first ginger beer al fresco of the year which did register 6/10 in the presence of taste test.

A few small roach and a lost bream and the only thing to grace the stink net was this portly skimmer. All the fish felt like blocks of ice and surface movement was minimal though there was a brief hatch of something. Bream Slayer was fishless when I left but I'd expect him to have winkled one or two out  before he packed up. 

Clearing away the cobwebs.

Thought I'd end the season where I started on a  lovely little urban stretch of the Wensum. 16th June was a real sweltrerer, and Monday was a no coat day. Busy little stretch but the bread feeders could at least keep some of the suicide squad ducks away from my lose fed and hook baits. White and red maggot, under a slightly undershotted float big enough to drag over the bait  over the bottom and that I could see with my aging eyes down the glides. Bulk shot down and a #6 dropper and a #16 wide gape fine wire spade end. B560, natch.

Bright sun, and pacey, clear water with little or no weed, find the cover and slightly deeper, darker water. Little and often, keep 'em chasing after the bait. And first run down bingo. A lovely little brownie, first of many and such variations and colours. And game little blighters, though a bit splashy at times

This was the biggest of the day and he/she/they sat there for a good time till I poked it with the net when netting a companion. Something to show a couple of the dog walkers, one who told me he used to live next to the Cherwell. Nice old chap, shirt, tie, jacket, light raincoat (yes) and a nice neat little tache and  a cap.  Classic Werthers sucker.

 

Of course I wasn't targeting them, hoping instead for roach and dace, and I began to think how best next season to get though the brownies to them. Bright things as you would imagine living in the clear water and a joy to behold.

20 brownies in and I thought I  needed a break and a change of swim. Cream of Chicken soup this time, nice and hot but a little bland.  Ginger beer time soon. 

And a nice swim too, with fewer overhead temptations for my float. These fish do pull back in the  faster water and are great fun to play on the pin.

More roach and dace in this swim though I did add another 10 brownies to the tally.

 

And this is the last fish of the season before it being drawn to an untimely end as after another tangle, line guard or not, necessitating  removal of the spool the ratchet pawl dropped out into the grass and was lost for good.  ( I have since cannibalised one from an old Ikon). 30 brownies. 12 roach and 6 dace. I'll take that.