Closing the Season...14/03/08

The day had come at last. 14th March is the last day of the coarse fishing season and means no more fishing for freshwater fish in the UK for me now until 16th June. I could, of course, go in the commercial pet ponds but I have no interest in catching stocked fish from enclosed spaces – I like my fish like my women. Wild.

I half expected rain. I awoke instead to glorious sunshine, a mild to warm day and little wind. It was a perfect way to end the season and so after dropping off my daughter I headed to my usual spot and deposited the kayak on the slipway before parking the car. I was armed with a pint of mixed maggots and a bucketload of groundbait – ground-up breadcrumbs, cat biscuits, flour, milk powder and whatever likely looking stuff I found hanging around the kitchen. The big yellow kayak was already attracting the birds.





I paddled out to a different spot to usual and cast out.



I had the first bite in minutes. And second, third, fourth etc. Try as I might I couldn’t connect with anything for ages until finally one strike hit home and into the yak came a Dace.



It took a while of missed bites before a walloping thump came and I hauled in [s]overruns favourite[/s] a Gudgeon. By now I was talking to a local about yaks and species hunting etc – he’d seen me about and finally I was near where he works. He brought me luck with the Gudgeon and then again when this little Ruffe came aboard. Fishnets always look ruffe.



Shortly after he went the rod tip went down and in came a Common Bream. 4 fish, 4 species.



I was still getting tiny bites that weren’t connecting, and then I struck into a bite that actually gave a decent account of itself. It took a few minutes to come in and took a bit of line but finally I had a cracking Common Bream – a new PB.



I decided to move and chase the Roach. I started with a Gudgeon and then finally in came species 5. Locvely looking small Roach with red-orange fins and a blue back, shiny silver flanks…a cracking looking fish.



After a slow hour I decided to move again and headed down to the bridge. I don’t know what was happening but the fish were so shy-biting today it was untrue. Not many bites and most of those I struck didn’t connect. But I did get myself a Chub after a while.



I followed this with 2 more and then decided to head into the quay for sticklebacks. Nothing.



Not a tap or anything. I tried float and feeder but soon tired of this and went back to the starting point where I had a load of missed bites until finally catching the last fish of the day. I think a juvenile Common Bream.



It was time for the season to draw to a close and with a slow and frustrating day of beautiful weather and a slight tan I’m sure. I finished on 13 fish for 6 species – 3 Bream (inc PB), 1 Dace, 3 Gudgeon, 1 Ruffe, 2 Roach and 3 Chub. Fetching the car I passed a chap I knew and wished him a big fish to finish the season on. returning he cursed me - he'd just caught a Stickleback! If only he knew...



And so ends the coarse season. I’m chuffed, it’s started well and I’ve had 9 species out of the Waveney in 17 trips, a total of 185 fish. Roll on June 16th by which time I shall be cross-eyed and babbling from spending weeks failing to catch a mullet!

Hunting for Sticklebacks...13/03/08

Following the school run my wife dropped me off in Beccles for a few hours fishing in the wind before tomorrow, the last day of the coarse fishing season. I was armed with some size 22 hooks and was hoping to catch – of all things – a Stickleback. Set up, I launched and headed into the main basin of the quay to try my luck having been informed that there were some here last week.



Five minutes went by and then my first bite occurred – a swift rattle. It felt small…could it be?



Alas, no. It was a Ruffe. No more fish were forthcoming so after about an hour I moved further up to try a different spot. I got a few missed bites before striking into a Common Bream of about half a pound, followed by another shortly after.



Next up came a double shot of small Roach



After an hour of this, with only a few fish in I decided to go and get a bit more action in the usual spot and untied myself from the quayside for the short paddle. Tying up again, I soon had a good knock and brought in the first Dace of the day



This was soon followed by a PB Gudgeon



Soon after I had to laugh when, after a terrific battle, I landed my smallest ever Roach



I decided to see if the decent Chub were back in the usual spot. I tied up on the opposite bank to where I normally fish as I wanted to put a pike rod out in a specific point where there were no pike at all today. After a while came the first hard shake and into the boat came the first decent Chub, around a pound.



This was the order of the next couple of hours with occasional bites most of which resulted in fish-on.



Departure time drawing near I waited to get my last fish and sure enough I reeled in my feeder and there it was…another Chub.



And so I ended the day with 20 fish of 6 species - 1 Ruffe, 2 Common Bream, 2 Dace, 3 Gudgeon, 6 Roach and 6 Chub. A slow day and I missed the target species but I had some nice fish and a lot of fun. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Last paddle on the broad this season...09/03/08

Before you start reading, I blanked. Just so you know.

Well today panned out totally differently to expected. For one thing it was neither wet nor windy. In fact, it was mild and sunny and so I decided to head for the car boot sail with my daughters: target species, size 22 hooks (have been informed of a stickleback mark!) and two plastic swords. We did better than that and came away with two plastic (cockable) pirate pistols at 20p (my 3 year old told ‘mummy’ they were Sex Pistols!), a mouth organ at 5p, two packets of size 22 hooks-to-nylon at £1, some breakaways at 60p each and a bunch of videos at 20p each. Best of all though were a couple of books – one on pike fishing and one on perch fishing both published in the 1970’s. I looked them up on www.abebooks.com and found them at £12 and £6 respectively. Not bad for a quid…so I’d had a pretty good catch on the fishing gear then.

Back home I milled around and when my wife mentioned taking the kids swimming at the holiday village where I held the Eastern Meet I suggested taking the P15 to do some photography for college on the broad. No argument there and of course I may as well take a couple of rods and troll some lures seeing as how I’d be on the water anyway…nearly ballsed it up by taking a tumble on the stairs though and have a sore arse and back still, 9 hours later. Still, the paddle would do me good...

So I launched around 2:30 and diligently spent 20 minutes getting some pics done before sticking the rods out and completing the circuit of the broad.

Nada.

It seemed that no-one was getting a thing. But it was pleasant enough weather and it’s likely to be the last time on the broad this season so I enjoyed the paddle. It was also good for the old paddle fitness as recently I’ve spent little time paddling and lots of time at anchor. On my travels I saw some wildlife and retrieved a lure for a guy on the bank. A circuit completed I headed back up again and started thinking back. You know, the broad is familiar now – I kind of paddle along and remember having one here…one there…and so on. Up past the reeds behind the houseboats I went.



Here was where I’d hooked a biggy that dropped off. The Great Crested Grebe (I think) in the frame wasn’t doing any better it seemed.



I headed up the dyke this time



At times the water was like a mill pond, so still.



I was rather taken by the reflections of the sky too.



The peace and quiet gave plenty of time to just think about and remember things and the Eastern Meet back in October kept recurring: here was ‘Darnsarfs Dyke’ where Paul had sat at anchor



Down the bottom was ‘The Lozz Hole’ where Laurie had tried for a while



Coming out was the ‘Bucketboy Bend’ where I first met Pete in the flesh and tried his Big Game just around the corner.



It’s also where I met Guinea but his spot, ‘Guinea’s Wharf’ is further down on the broad itself and I didn’t head back that way. Coming back in the light was superb and the water and reflections it carried were just too good not to record.





My wife phoned. They were out of the pool and would be at the slipway in ten minutes. I was twenty minutes away and knew I’d beat them so I slowed down and finally paddled towards the area forever to be known as ‘Starvin Suicide’.



Flo arrived and I loaded up seconds before a heavy hail shower started up – I got the first few on my bald head and they hurt – and we headed on home. No fish but an opportunity to paddle and reflect on how much I’d enjoyed the broad since I first started yakking. To think I had no intention of anything fishing or kayaking related today at all…

Gudgeon Fest! Beccles...06/03/08

After such a slow day yesterday I figured that today – windier and warmer – might bring the fish back on the feed and I was especially hopeful for the pike. I had already got a load of groundbait mixed up from the last session and added some more breadcrumb and a bit of flour to help bind it better. So, armed with the match rods and a pike rod I launched once more after the school run and paddled out to my usual spot.




It took 5 minutes before my first bite – another thumping great one – and I brought in the first fish of the day – a lip-hooked Gudgeon. This was followed ten minutes or so late with a second.



It took a while before the next bite and leaving it to develop I was rewarded with the first double shot of the day, bringing in another Gudgeon and a reasonably sized Roach – perfectly sized for livebaiting with and so it went on the hook. I had decided to give the circle hooks another chance and I cast the pike rod and settled back to wait for more action.



I’d like to say that action was constant and fast but the opposite was true. It was slow and it appears that the Bream, Roach, Chub and Dace shoals that have been providing such good sport for the past few weeks have now moved elsewhere. I continued to pull in Gudgeon here and there with an occasional juvenile Chub here and there.



I decided after a couple of hours to make a move and I decided to do so after one last fish. I was glad I waited as this came with a beautiful little Ruffe, a rare capture and only my second of the year. When it came out it had a deep yellow/gold sheen which had gone by the time I took the photograph. I remembered to spread the dorsal spines and it’s clear to see the family relationship with the Perch – another favourite of mine.



I moved to try and pick up some of the larger Chub from my other usual haunt. Paddling downstream with a keepnet (the first time I’ve used one in the yak and the first time I’ve used one in maybe twenty years) was hard work – the amount of drag was actually more than paddling with my anchor out here (where it works as a mud-weight rather than a true anchor) but I got where I wanted to go soon enough and set up, cast, and sat back and waited.



After an hour or more of waiting with not a single bite I decided enough was enough and headed back to the boatyard area. Fishing had by now died right off and bites were very few and far between. When they came and I struck in time they were more of the same – a real Gudgeon party was going down! I was not the only angler struggling – only one pike came out that I heard of and very few other species. There were a few dory’s out (one of which ran, faster than allowed, straight over my pike line, snagged it and took a load of braid with it but fortunately I got it free and retried line, trace and bait. Tossers. Luckily it didn't result in an overrun...) and plenty of poles along the bank but no-one was doing much at all so I guess I did well when I finally packed up after my last fish – number 21, another Gudgeon!



Total for the day was 16 Gudgeon (my most of the species in a day) 2 Roach, 2 Chub and 1 Ruffe. Total weight if I’d been in a match would have probably been half a pound or less!



Slow, but fun – and with 8 days left of the season I’m glad I was able to get out.

A vvery slow morning at Beccles...05/03/08

I had to take some photographs for college today and – surprise surprise – they involved being on the yak. So, I cancelled the morning session to do my snapping and made plans to be present for the afternoon session at 2m (knowing full well that I would only be required to be present for 20 minutes in the afternoon anyway, such is the nature of ‘self-directed’ learning on an art course). Of course being on the kayak without tackle is okay but I find it is so much better balanced with rods as I’m sure you’ll agree. Especially at anchor. So I took a little something along to amuse myself and launched from the slipway at Beccles Quay with the remains of snow and hail on the grass.



The cruiser is still moored where I usually tie up so I anchored off on the opposite side of my ‘hot-spot’. The current was not running very fast at all and the wind was a bit all-over so it wasn’t ideal conditions for fishing in this manner. It was cold too, and there were hardly any anglers around (and those that I spoke to hadn’t had a thing).



Five minutes or less and I got a thumping great bite!



It’s funny that – Gudgeon are tiny wee beasties but they don’t half take a bait forcefully. If only they got bigger they’d be a handful. Too small for livebaiting with I popped him back thinking things were going to be hectic. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Ten or so minutes later I managed to land another and a while later I got a dace – again quite small.



I put him on anyway and crossed my fingers even though I’d heard that the pike were not coming out right now.

This done, and with little happening, I headed down to the iron bridge to try for some decent Chub. I cast the lines in and waited.

And waited

And finally got a knock that developed into a half-pounder:



A beautiful fish Chub, and a good fighter - I’m really starting to get fond of these. I felt guilty rigging it for pike bait (swapping the other mini one) but hoped that it would at least not be in vain.

I had nothing more in the next hour there so moved around a bit. The anchor business was annoying me as I just couldn’t keep the lines tight and the necessary bend in the rod tips to detect bites properly.



I fished for a while longer and caught another baby Chub and some more Gudgeon before it was time to head home. Of course you always have to have that last cast and I was on 8 fish but wanted to go home on ten. One rod was out of action with a tangled up trace (been experimenting with a new type I came up with, needs work) so it was unlikely. But I had a couple of hard bites and some wriggles and finished a slow day on a high with a lovely little brace of Gudgeon! Lovely.



I loaded up and set off to college (pics were fine, got what I wanted. In five minutes) via my parents where I did as any dutiful son would do under similar circumstances – drank coffee and had a bite to eat. Cheers mum! 1 Dace, 2 Chub and 7 Gudgeon, and 9 days left of the season. Let’s see what tomorrow brings…..