Lush

With the new season open I didn’t rush to wet a line on the opening weekend, my local rivers are uninspiring and it’s hard to find the time to make plans further afield.  However I needed to tinker with the boat and trailer so with Shelley along for the trip, I made my way to the boatyard.  It has been a while since my last visit, so on arrival it was no surprise to find a boat full of water, which of course had to be drained.  I can’t work it out, the spring has been like a monsoon, as indicated by the amount of water in the boat, so why was there hardly any water in the slip?  

The morning like so many others recently had been wet but by the time we launched in mid-afternoon the sky was clearing and the sun was trying to poke through. It was nice to be out in the boat, cutting through the water in warm weather amongst summer greens, rather than winter beige. Fishing was very much on the agenda but it was more of an outing, as we took a slow cruise through the system, soaking up the environment around us, Shelley capturing as much of it as possible through the camera lens. As ever the birdlife was exceptional, too many species to list but I’ll have a go. The highlights were Egrets, Owls, and the ever present Harriers. All the waterfowl you can think of plus Reed Buntings, Wagtails, loads of Herons, families of Geese and Swans, Gulls and Terns. Somewhere to the north we could hear Cranes and I think I might have seen a Bittern.

  

After an hour or so of meandering around we dropped the mud weights at a favourite spot.  I mixed a little groundbait and fished a waggler with corn on a size 12.  I was optimistically hoping to find a Bream or two.  Shelley fished with a whip, maggots on a more sensible size 18.  She caught small Rudd & Roach from the off but bites on my more crude set up were less frequent.  We had a snack and a tea break then caught a few more silvers, Shelley with the lions share but eventually my float went and I hooked the Bream I’d been after, unfortunately not a proper river Bream, it was only a couple of ounces. 

After a couple of hours we decided it was time for a change of scenery so we motored off to another spot.  Here I cut the engine and we drifted along, Shelley taking photos, me casting lures amongst the weed beds.  Nowadays the Zoota Wagtail is one of my ‘go to’ shallow water lures.  I say ‘nowadays’ but I don’t do a great deal of lure fishing…nowadays.  Anyway the Wagtail, a relatively light (slow sinking), curly tail plastic lure, has caught pike from rivers, drains and stillwaters and I have a lot of confidence in it.  This was justified after a few minutes when the rod banged over and a Pike was hooked.  A small fish but it charged through the weedbeds and tried to punch above its weight but soon succumbed and was unhooked alongside the boat.  We carried on drifting and casting for an hour or so.  I chopped and changed lures; Jerkbait, Spinnerbait & crankbait then reverted back to the Wagtail.  No more Pike made themselves known.  

With the sun beginning to sink in the sky I fired the engine once again and we started our cruise back to the boatyard with Swallows skimming the water alongside us.  We were mostly heading west so had a grandstand view of an epic flatlands sunset, Shelley’s camera clicking constantly.  A nice way to spend a summer evening, I think I’ll do that again sometime.

Dawn

The weekend’s social timetable changed unexpectedly giving me the opportunity to have a few hours at the Marsh.  The only problem was it involved getting up early in the morning.  Not so long ago this would not have presented a problem, getting up at a ridiculous hour was the norm for the weekend.  Nowadays it’s not such a regular occurrence, even my Pike fishing sees relatively few early alarm calls these days.  Over time I had become afraid of the early mornings so could I be arsed to drag myself out of bed at 0445?

I spent Saturday evening buggering about with bits of tackle, tying a couple of short fluoro hooklengths, mixing groundbait and rigging up the nearly new rod.  This took a couple of hours, longer than I expected and the early night went out of the window.  By this time I’d more or less convinced myself to go fishing but how would I handle the early alarm call?

Some bland, forgettable radio tune roused me from slumber and I rolled groggily out of bed.  That wasn’t so bad!  Half an hour later I was by the water’s edge.  There were a couple of Carp anglers already bivvied up which narrowed down the options so I went for a swim on the south bank.  The previous day had been damp and windy but this morning was clear and dry but with a nice breeze from the South west.  The swim I’d chosen had nice margin features, overhangs on both sides with a bed of lilies between them but I’d already opted against using the float rod.  Firstly I’d figured I’d be tired and would not concentrate on the float properly.  Secondly I’m absolutely hopeless at stillwater float fishing, I just can’t keep my eye on a stationary float consistently enough.  Trotting a stick float down a river was a different matter but sadly there’s rarely enough flow on my local rivers these days…  Then thirdly it was a good excuse to use my nearly new, lighter rod. 

On the new rod I fished a helicopter rig with an open end feeder and fake pop up corn fished on a 4” hooklength.  Groundbait was Lake Wizard’s Gold, mixed with a bit of Expo along with some maggots and hemp.  I chucked a few small balls around the feeder and topped it up regularly.  The other rod was the normal chod rig with a tutti pop up and a dozen freebies on top.  I hadn’t even undone the flask before I had a twitchy take on the feeder rod and hooked into…the inevitable small Rudd.  Some things don’t change.

I settled back with the long awaited cup of tea and enjoyed the view of the pool in its full summer greenery, with the dawn chorus as my soundtrack.  I was glad I’d got my backside out of bed.  There was plenty of fishy activity in my swim; Rudd dimpled the surface and the shoals were occasionally scattered by a striking Pike.  Bottom feeding fish created bubbles along the marginal shelf but I know from experience not to try and guess the culprits.  A brood of ducks tried to steal my groundbait and a grebe gave the Rudd shoals an enemy from above.  I heard my first cuckoo of the year, nearly two months late?  Despite all of this I couldn’t stop my eyelids drooping and from time to time I dozed on my chair.

In my more alert spells I’d recast the feeder a few times and topped the groundbait up as I was sure fish of some description were feeding on it.  This was confirmed around 0745 by another twitchy take resulting in a Roach of about 10ozs.  An hour later I had another, more confident take and set the hook into something fairly heavy that did very little.  That ruled out Carp but I also doubted it was a Tench.  The fish buried into the lilies but steady pressure brought it up, a sizeable bream rolled in front of me.  Once out of the pads it was soon in the net.  It was covered in the infamous tubercles that signify something to do with spawning but I can't remember what. Not a monster but I’m only marginally more successful at catching Bream than I am Tench and only a few years ago this would have been a PB.

That was my last action of the day and an hour or so later time was up and I was on my way.  I’m still failing to catch Tench but given the time available I was happy with my mornings fishing.  Getting up early ain’t so bad.

Dutch ditch water

I’m just back from a family holiday in Holland, something I’ve done many times but unfortunately there was no time to fish this time.  This was frustrating at times because there is water literally everywhere; Canals, Dykes, Ditches, Rivers and Stillwaters of all shapes, sizes and types.  Often these different types of water combine again, in all shapes and sizes.

It’s a couple of weeks since I was last able to fish and no opportunities on the horizon so I’m now a little stir crazy.  Last week I was close to the scene of my first attempts to catch fish on the continent so I thought I’d write about it.

It was September 2001, a few days after all the madness that changed the world forever, for the worse.  We managed to forget all of that, we had to we were on holiday.  I was determined to catch a Dutch Pike and found my way to a large stillwater.  The plan was to keep searching with lures, surely I’d find a Pike sooner or later?  After two short sessions, the answer was a definite no.  Not a touch, a follow or anything.  On my way to and from this water I’d been passing a collection of ditches of various sizes which joined together at the end of a small canal.  Five separate waterways joined at one place, if there were any fish here then surely this junction would be the spot?  So with time running out I had one last chance to catch a Dutch Pike, I headed to the junction.

I parked the car at the narrowest point of a ditch that bordered the road and started fishing at the first place I was able to cast, the water barely ten feet across.  My first cast was along the ditch with a small home-made spinnerbait and straight away felt a tap on the rod and saw a boil on the surface…but no fish hooked!  Next cast, another swirl but no take.  No fish but the best signs so far, I know felt confident that I might actually catch something!  I worked my way down the ditch to the junction and here a cast to the mouth of a ditch saw another fish boil and strike at the lure, fish on!  A jack thrashed on the surface and threw the bait, “Bollocks!” or words to that effect.  It was just a small one but even so it would have been nice…

I crossed the canal via a small bridge and straight away another, bigger Pike followed lazily up to the bank.  This one never really looked like it would take the lure but still got the heart rate up a bit.  I kept searching, both the main canal and the two branches I was able to cover.  I chopped and changed lures but after a while I began to get that sinking feeling, I’d missed my chance.  The spinnerbait had moved fish earlier so I stuck with that as I retraced my steps towards the car, with time running out.

I was back to the narrow ditch, the car looming closer with every step.  Yet another cast went along the ditch and plopped into the clear channel between the reeds.  A few turns of the handle…then wallop, the tip banged round and I was into a fish.  Then the line dropped slack…before I had a chance to get pissed off it tightened again.  With nowhere else to go the Pike had torn up the ditch towards me and beyond.  Luckily I was still attached!  She was intent to keep going and I had to follow her along the bank to keep the line clear of the near-bank reeds.  The fight was noisy as she crashed around on the surface, head shaking, at the end of each little run but was in the net before long.  A lovely, dark fish that was not only my first Dutch Pike but was much bigger than I’d expected to encounter in such a tiny stretch of water.  Out with the single hook, a quick photo then back into the ditch, where she slipped strongly out of sight.

And that was that.  That was my last cast of the holiday and a couple of days later we headed home.  Measured in pounds and ounces that Pike would count for little but measured in smiles, it was priceless.  Remembering all this has made me determined to pack a little gear the next time I go to Holland.

Where? How? What?

I arrived at the Marsh at around 1600.  My first choice swim was taken so I drove to the other end of the lake and stood for a while in my second choice area, watching the water and looking for clues.  The anglers opposite showed no signs that they were packing up any time soon, quite the opposite in fact.  After wandering around for thirty minutes or so I hadn’t seen any signs but the wind was blowing straight into the area I‘d been standing in and nowhere else looked a better option so I dumped my gear there.  The wind was a North westerly, completely different to what was forecast, it was a mild, grey afternoon and for once it was dry, no rain!

If I’d managed to get into the swim I wanted I had a plan and knew exactly how I would fish it but could I make the same tactics work here?  Should I even try or should I just play it by ear?  I knew someone had fished the swim already this weekend so I had to assume that a bit of bait would still be laying on the bottom out there.  I didn’t want to overdo it with my own groundbait.  With this in mind I fished chod/feeder rigs so I could keep topping up the bait with every cast.  I keep reverting back to feeders because I’m worried a PVA bag will just drag my hook bait down into the silt.  Two such rods were cast alongside the bank to my right.  The first rod, baited with fake maize was positioned close to an overhanging tree and the other, a tutti fruiti boilie was placed near some pads.  I also scattered a handful of boilies and a few pouches of maize over the spots.  My intention was to keep feeding like this, little and often.  On my third rod I used the normal float rig with fake corn on the hook.   

With the bivvy set up and my swim organised I sat back and chilled out with TMS on the radio, cricket and fishing, perfect!  After dominating the first test for 2 ½ days England were now on the back foot and the West Indies were coming right back into the game.  First Chanderpaul and Samuels put on over 150 then Ramdin and Sammy added valuable runs.  WI ended on 345 then in a brief, fiery spell reduced England to 10-2. 

The evening was pleasant but quiet on the fish front.  Still my evening meal of sausage & tomato pasta went down well and it was great just chilling out by the lake.  By 2200 I was all set for the night, the float rod was rested but the two feeder rods were all set, my casts bang on the money with a little bit of feed on top.  I got myself comfortable in the bivvy and felt I was in with a chance during the night. 

The dawn chorus woke me around 5am, nothing had occurred during the dark hours so I got up and recast both feeder rods.  I tried float fishing for a while but nothing happened so still feeling tired I climbed back into the bivvy for a bit more rest.  By 8am I was back up and at ‘em, or I would have been had there been anything to be at.  It was a pleasant morning despite the freshening wind still blowing into my chops but the tench weren’t playing ball.  I kept on trying though and as the morning wore on I was cheered by TMS on the radio.  Despite early scares, cook and Bell put together a match winning partnership as England eventually cruised to a five wicket victory.  Back at the Marsh the Tench cruised to an easy victory, once again making me look daft.  Oh well, I enjoyed my night at the lake and I’ll be back soon!  

Elsewhere there is no more news on the Norfolk Prymnesium outbreak, which is a good thing.  I have a feeling this story won’t go away though…The new PAC committee has hit the ground running with loads of new initiatives.  The committee changes every three years which breathes new life, energy and ideas into the club.  From experience I know how much committee work takes out of the individuals concerned and in my opinion the three year change over keeps the club fresh and is one of the reasons the club has gone from strength to strength for 35 years.  The latest ‘Pikelines’ magazine landed on my door step the other day.  I haven’t had a chance to read it all yet but what I have looked at has been first class.  If you aren’t a PAC member already then what are you waiting for?

Saturday

Saturday 12^th May is the day the PAC committee changes over.  Some will be staying on but most will change.  Big thanks to the gentlemen bowing out and all the best to those taking over.  Well done to Mark Skinner for doing a third stint! 

Also on Saturday (cue shameless plug for the day job) is the hundred year anniversary of HG Gladwell & Sons at Copdock Mill, Ipswich, Suffolk IP8 3LA.  In the store on the day will be Jan Porter of Shimano and Gerrard Williams from ACE.  Loads of bargains on the day.  Rides, displays, Hog roast and bouncy castle.   

Probably no time to fish this weekend but you never know....

Edit.  For more news on the new PAC team check out the interview on Pike Pool

http://thepikepool.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Dilip%20Sarker

Puddles

The fifth week of the drought saw even more heavy rain and the floods the river craved back in December came with a splash.  In fact I’ve lived in this little Town for nearly ten years and it’s the highest I’ve ever seen the water, all a little bit dramatic by Suffolk standards.  The ‘Marsh’ is currently flooded which ruled out any attempt at catching Tench so I decided to have a lazy day at the Puddle.  No alarm clock, get up when I wake up, chuck some gear in the car and go.  And all was going to plan until I arrived at the Puddle to find the place full of cars and anglers.  I don’t know why I’m always surprised to find it like this? 

I managed to find a quiet corner all to myself and with Carp showing that would do for me.  The forecast had promised a dry grey day but it lied, I sat through light rain all day.  First week of May and I haven't heard a Cuckoo and I'm still wearing my winter jacket.  This didn’t discourage the Carp from feeding on the surface however, far from it.  I set up three rods; a freelined floater, a method feeder & a pop up rig with fake Corn and fished with two at a time.  Mostly the floater and one of the bottom rigs, I only used two baits on the bottom when I wanted a rest and a cup of tea.  The fish were ’having it’ on the surface and after a while it became too easy. 

But not so to begin with, after catching a couple quickly the Carp became wary and were adept at ignoring the bait but slurping down all the free offerings.  And I do mean slurping, these fish had no table manners at all.  I was able to watch these fish close in and a couple of the noisiest had deformed mouths (almost certainly caused by hooks and carelessness), and these fish seemed to be struggling to take the baits.  I hope I’m wrong.  Not only were the fish largely rejecting my hookbaits, when they did take I was missing them.  On more than one occasion a fish was on for a few seconds then off, on one such example I wound in to find a scale impaled on the hook. 

After trying various baits and hooking arrangements I found that two 10mm pop up boilies on a short hair done the trick.  More takes and more hook ups.  I’d started off by feeding little and often, a few mixers at a time but found that the more freebies I chucked out, the more confidently the fish would feed.  I suppose it took me a couple of hours to work that out but for the rest of the afternoon I caught fish regularly.  I landed a dozen fish, only one on the method feeder, all the rest off the surface.  There were commons, mirrors and a couple of those horrible ‘ghostie’ things.  None was bigger than six pounds or so, all looked under nourished, shaped like ‘wildies’ and most had signs of angler damage.  However I did catch one lovely little mirror which was almost perfect.

 Did I enjoy myself?  I did to begin with but to be honest the fishing was boring after a while, I really wanted to catch something bigger.  I did hook something that felt more substantial.  It powered off, fighting strangely and I wondered if it was foul hooked, I suspect it was but it did fight harder than anything else I hooked that day.  Interesting but when the line went slack after a minute or two I didn’t really care.  If that had been a big water Pike….  I suppose I can kind of see why some people like to fish matches, It's the only way to create much interest in this type of fishing.  But I’d had a well needed fix of fishing and caught a few fish.  My surroundings were OK and I saw a pair of Bullfinch which was nice as I can’t remember the last time I’d seen one.  I couldn’t see another angler and Rabbits ran along the banks but compared to a winter on the broads it was all too bland and unexciting.   However it is a good place for Isaac to learn a little more so I‘ll probably be back again soon.  

What I really want to do is spend some time at the Marsh and try to track down one of those big Tench.  The cold spring may well prolong my chances of catching one at top weight but still time is precious.   Meanwhile in Norfolk, no news is good news??

Dodging showers

Back at the beginning of April I wrote the immortal words; “it feels like it’s never going to rain again”.  Now after four weeks of monsoon it feels like it’s never going to stop!  I think we’ve had rain on twenty one out of the last twenty five days here in Suffolk.  A couple of days ago I had a letter through my door offering advice about saving water in the drought…The rivers will certainly benefit from a flush through although on the other hand it may be bad news for early spawning species. 

This last week has been particularly sodden which made life uncomfortable for the JRC & Berkley team doing a tackle display at Suffolk Waterpark this week.  I visited the show on the final day and all seemed in good spirits despite their weather endurance and most had banked some good fish during their down time.  The gear on display was pretty impressive too.  I was interested to see a new ‘big pit’ reel made by Mitchell of all people.  Like many people I grew up fishing with Mitchell reels, 300’s & 410’s were the height of sophistication and fashion in the early eighties.  Then along came Shimano…

With a wet weekend forecast I was determined to take Madi and Isaac out and about and not let them go stir crazy around the house.  As forecast the rain let up a little in the early afternoon so I coerced the children into an hour or so by the water.  We chucked a minimum of tackle into the car then headed off to the puddle.  I was on a mission, catch a couple of fish, take a few photos then get back home before the rain returned permanently.

While the kids explored surroundings that were new to them, I had a wander with a bucket of floaters, scattering a few here and there.  For some reason the Carp in these lakes are happy to feed off the surface whatever the weather.  The sky was lighter than it had been but still a threatening grey and the North Easterly wind whipped light rain into our faces from time to time.  A little uncomfortable but we only planned a short trip and this did have the advantage of blowing our freebies back into our corner of the lake. 

Between the three of us we shared two rods, well a whip and a rod to be precise.  We used simple free line rigs and soft hook-able floaters.  Groups of small Carp would drift into our swim, take a few floaters (with loud slurps which amused the children), then drift away again.  These fish seem a lot more wise than they were a year ago, they are more able to detect the bait with a hook in it but every now and then a bait was taken.  The first few strikes met thin air but eventually Isaac hooked a fish which stayed on.  The weight and power of this fish surprised him after the small silver fish he’s been catching this spring.  He hung on to the rod, let the reel’s clutch do its job and with a bit of encouragement soon had his best ever carp in the net.  

I managed to strike thin air a couple of times before Isaac took the rod back, what do I have to do to catch a Carp this year?  Madison was next to actually set a hook using the whip.  The fish tore off stretching the elastic but she doesn’t have as much recent fishing experience as her brother and tried to rush this one, resulting in a hook pull.  Finally it was my turn again, with my recent experience I probably took this one too careful and played it far too long but eventually managed to net my first Carp of the year.  We had time for a few more spectacular misses, greeted by a boil of water and a panicking Carp.  After ninety minutes or so the rain became more persistent and it looked like it had set in for a while so we retreated to the car. 

I am able to finish this entry with a little bit of encouraging news from Norfolk.  Firstly there have been no further reports of fish in distress.  Secondly the Broads Authority has taken on board the advice of the Environment Agency and has postponed it’s dredging planned for May.  This will now take place in cold water conditions, not before November.  Lastly the BA is reported to be looking into the possibility of suction dredging which is a much safer method.  I should point out that anglers sat down with a BA employee and recommended this course of action two years ago but at least they’ve taken it on board eventually.  Reward for the patient lobbying of John Currie and the guys at Norfolk PAC.  All Broadland anglers owe them a huge debt.