Out with the big guns.

Rained Sunday/Monday so a bit more pace and colour today back at the Noddy Train Bridge but nothing the big guns couldn't cope with. The Greys 15 footer and  a Korum wire stemmed float. Sits nicely and sensitive too, but a bit noisy on the strike so probably more suited to deeper, boily water. Those two feet extra length make such a difference too so my trotting was pretty well spot on. 

 

Shame the fish didn't think so. Or perhaps they'd moved. I did get  a female/male dace brace.

 

And a non-gender specific chublet 

I also got a stonking great kype-jawed brownie that I struggled to get in the net. Fortunately it didn't get airborne and the 2.6 lb bs Bayer Perlon hook link and #16 B560 held out. One more dace down its throat and it would have made 6lb. Not a beauty but a battler.

If you know you know.

Still struggling with my left ankle after a fall on Saturday so probably not a yomp on Thursday following a bucket of mash down the Wensum with a hunk of flake as planned, I'm thinking a spot of feeder fishing on the Yare, conveniently between two pubs doing food, Bream and perch the quarry.

 

Toodle pip.

No two dace the same at the moment.

I had a short session on the syndicate stretch yesterday, on a run above the Noddy Train bridge where I've struggled  a bit of late but yesterday it looked bang on for a fish and it was first trot as well. A dace and they do look different to the Chicken Town dace, being more uniformly silver/blue. But then Chicken Town is mutantsville. A different river so a different gene pool. And these fish are nearer spawning, with several males sandpaper rough and the hens looking more pigeon chested than just plump. 

Could have done with the 15 footer to keep the float on a truer line down the run so one will  get an outing now I've had one repaired and both with replaced missing rings. Good sport, and no coat again,. In fact the fish in the net shot didn't feel cold at all. 

Double figure delight

Weather man said no rain and a balmy 14 C. Windy though. You cant ignore doubler figure temps in February. Rod and some nearly past their best  reds and casters in the back of the charabanc for a dabble on the way home. Tactical stop at Chicken Town to check emails and field a video call from the boss. 

River low and clear and shorn of it's summer weed fest

Short walk to the bog shed door blue rope swing swim. 10 minutes (well nearly 10 minutes) of loose feeding then an underarm swing of the 4grm balsa. Two yards into the trot the red tip dipped then buried, a sliver dart twisting in the current.

Several followed,  mostly cock fish but no sandpaper scales yet.

The hens definitely plumping up though and by now the browns were muscling in.

Thoroughly pleasant after work session on the pin topped off with this cracking hen of a whopping 10oz. Double figure delight indeed.

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Something about chub

There is something about chub. Even chublets.  Had a few roach yesterday as dusk fell, mostly burnished blues and bold reds and all with big shoulders. But this little chublet was  my prize of the late afternoon as the sky cleared, the frost began to sparkle on the lock railings and a pike-toothed new moon and Venus shone bright low in the sky.

Oh, and a kingfisher that arrowed in and crouched on the concrete sill just feet away, intent on the fry that always become active at this time in the lock. All Merlin could pick up from the increasing dusk chorus were the robins waiting for my left over maggots. The several times frozen corn went in for the fish 11 feet down.  

Hoping for an hour tomorrow at the tail of the weir, amongst the carpet of snow drops.

Stormzy

Storm Eowyn was a bit of  a damp squib here in Norfolkcestershire and I wasn't even aware Storm Herminia was going to be a thing till half way down the A140 today to pick up a rod from the Loafer. The river looked OK on my first pass over it on my way down to sign some estate tidying papers, but  a way marking pampas stand showed some signs of movement and heading back to the river the movement was rather more pronounced.

Rod duly purchased and reading material exchanged Loafer left me to trudge across the flood plan against the buffeting wind, hints of rain in the air as the early gloom descended, the upstream waves pushed up against a decent flow, the river with that bottle green tinge but clear in the margins. Chub conditions, not roach. So a decent hunk of flake on  a size 6  and 2x 2SSG given the increasing wind and now rain. Tip bent backwards by gusts so laid the rod flat on the bank. Poxy dog nosing round the bait bucket  meant I missed a flier but at least the fish were there. 3 casts later hit a confident stab round and  had a good tussle as the chub  made for the near bank snags. Standard stamp for here and worth getting wet for.

Not much longer after I'd had enough and headed for the Posh Pub and a nice fire to warm my wet. cold hands. Dark well before 4. End of days, even had an earthquake off the Norfolk coast in the early hours, felt well inland (it says, I was soundo).

The rod? A Drennan  IM8 13 foot feeder rod with a pair of beefed up after market tips for the bigger rivers. Looks proper for the job.

I had picked up a lighter feeder rod of less illustrious parentage yesterday for smaller cage feeder work with an AD gift token. All four tips have pathetic little flouro sight flashes so it'll be out with the matt white Humbrol. Though I think the idea with the Commercial rod is that an F1 pulls it round in  a semi-circle when it hangs itself.. 

It's getting grim out there now.

Odds and sods

Not much to write home about lately, in fact hardly been out at all. Tried a spot at the end of the pool with a shallow run down the near bank that worth a return visit, would be good to wade and trot. Bit distracted by a plane doing touch and go's from Norwich Airport turning right over head 4-5 times. 

Plenty of chublets and the snowdrops will be a carpet soon.

An hour or so in the Aquarium this afternoon. Lost a big roach which was gutting but had a few more along with some chublets and dace  and a little perch.

 

Aquarium. Again...

Not quite in the league of Loafer's big rudd boat but sometimes in the winter a real bonanza of a place. I'd packed the chub gear from yesterday as well as the pin rod and getting to the carp park and seeing swimmers and all sorts nearly set off up the path but in truth I'd rather give it a go up there with some regular baiting and the small feeder approach.. I think some of the fish in the Aquarium head back on to the river at dusk once the  cormorants have buggered off. Evil, hateful things. One other on the Aquarium for a short while and later a decent bloke trotting the main river. He has whetted  my appetite for some proper roach.

This is not to say there aren't proper roach in the Aquarium but it's pic'n'mix down there and dropping a bait down in to its variable and often considerable depths is a bit like pier fishing. Using a pin under the rod tip is ideal for control, but it's not trotting, or light tip fishing which is what I like best. Speaking of variable depth I've ditched pinching on an SSG to plumb with an actual plummet. I've also started to dot right down on the Aquarium as I've not been seeing all the bites. These days I need some float out of the water to see it but here is really close up.

 

The decent dace which were present on my first couple of trips this winter seem to have moved out and this was the only one of the afternoon.  

Corn on a 14 did the business again and this was the smallest roach I had.

Some real beauties amongst them in the end.

        

Not dank, dour or dark today, but colder for sure. Work tomorrow.

Dank, damp, dour.

Breakfast out with the Brother then a nice pint in the Swan. All the way from Lewes in Sussex. The pint, not the Brother.

After that met up with the Loafer fresh from his Fens escapades. A very dank, damp and dour late December afternoon. River being run several feet down. Found  a few 'deeper' spots, second one and something took an interest in the flake. Not big, tiny in fact but you can't beat a chub bite on the tip. Top mate and top angler. Shite with a DSLR. I expect he'll blame the camera being lugged round in the Big Green Bucket without a lens cap. Another bungled bite was my lot.

A most obliging species

 Legals and lunch done in Ipswich then a battle through the tail back from a  carriageway closure at the A14/A12 interchange meant I was late for a meet up with The Loafer, up from his lergy bed after  a prolonged lay off. Chub on the menu, buckets in hand, annoying folding seats in the car boots. 

Pathetic little slices in this Warby blue loaf,  selected to cut down in bulk in the big green bucket, Two baits to a slice and mean thin slices too.

As his his way the Loafer had a chub almost before I'd sprawled myself, chair less on the bank.

As he passed for swims afar I moved into the next swim down and first cast the tip  relaxed slightly, tapped then jagged round. In and out of near bank snags, and that lunge they do into the waiting net. A  plump chub #6 hook looking small in it's big, slobbering gob. Standard chub size for this lower end of the river. We sniggered about reported 6lbers in the "new club stretch" above the Mill.

 

One more for the Loafer, standing heron-like to fish before we trudged back to the cars. That sickening moment when you can't find the car keys in the key pocket. Is the car locked Loafer? No, and there, blinking accusingly were the Loafer's keys in the ignition barrel. Phew as Wordle has it when you crack the puzzle on the last line.

10 foot down

Had a load of in and out of the freezer several times corn and hemp to use up and some reds on the turn so headed for the Aquarium. It was free, and plumped for  a spot where the wall is recessed for the lock gates.

Got fed up with the line getting caught up in the trees with the  the 15 footer so broke out the shorter waggler rod, not ideal fishing bottom end only so close to the rod tip and I had a loaded waggler so not much weight down  (I like to get the bait on the deck quick 10 foot down here) but the (mainly) dace didn't mind double caster or corn and I amassed a tidy bag, every drop a coconut in an hour in the gloom.

Back the next day, intending to try a spot at the tail of the adjacent mill pool but it was being used by the Coastguards for training  and the Aquarium was free. I had moved the pin on the 15 footer to a shorter rod and with weight down now plumbed a bit more accurately, packed with fish again as they were taking the SSG I was plumbing with. Corn straight away, and this time it was mainly roach, with a few dace and chublets. Coconut shy again. Happy days.