My year began in France and it wasn’t until I got back that I was able to launch for the first session of the year. As with 2008 I decided to begin with a piking session on Oulton Broad and of course began my year with a fish on my Blue Mackerel Big S...
That was the freshwater year begun and so it was that I launched into the sea the following morning before sunrise for my first codling of the year...
Third launch in 3 days and the planned solo saw me fishing for the first time with a foreigner (London) who’d soon become a regular up here – Hungryfisherman. He began his year as he was to end it – fishing Hopton on my Trident 15 (which now belongs to him).
That was it for the time being – it was off to the London Boat Show for a fortnight where my days were filled with Humminbird, Geonav, Minn Kota and Cannon and my nights with food and beer. It soon passed and I returned home...
I was fishing a bit with Pinkfoot at weekends and Eastangler had joined us towards the end of 2008 but it was around the beginning of February that things started to get even better as new friendships were made. Steve111 and Onmas joining the Anglian Fleet at the end of January...
Then of course the Yakboard did for me and I pulled a muscle in my chest which put me out of action pretty much until I flew out to South Africa for a holiday, game fishing on my aunt’s boats...
A largely unproductive silver bash on the Waveney closed the coarse season for me and then it was back to the sea with a Friday night session of paddling around, playing in small waves and doing capsize and re-entry practice with Amos and Steve before hunting the cod the next morning and Norfolkboy coming to try it out and see what the fuss was about before committing to buy his own kayak
April was notable for a night session with four of us off Pakefield that resulted in plenty of fish and a am surf landing. It was 3am by the time I got home, a mile away, with the four of us having spent the other two hours chatting away, on a high.
A few days alter I was in the same place, fishing with Bootster who was back on leave. This was the night when I lost rigs a few times with a damaged tip ring. The last of these occurred having just rebaited. Disgusted I continued to fish one rod for ten minutes then up-anchored and paddled over to chat to him before reeling in as we prepared to paddle back...I’d snagged my lost rig and landed a 3lb’er on it...spawney!
Pinkfoot was by now remounted on a Malibu X13 that had been completely re-rigged to make it watertight and Easter saw some hectic fishing with launches most days or nights as we all tried to load up the freezers with the spring run of cod before they all went offshore for the summer...that’s when the first bass fell to my rod, my first sizeable one and of course a PB. Dissatisfied with the first photo, I took another which was a great souvenir – and the only one, seeing as how it subsequently did a back flip off my knee and into the water! Rising to well over record size in the ensuing days I failed to match it throughout the remainder of the year.
The following night saw a launch with Steve that wasn’t called into the Coastguard until we were already at anchor, seeing as how visibility was down to a few metres. A lovely calm sea and no boats likely in the area saw us with a few more fish in the bag. It roughed up again a day or two later and then the fun started in the surf! I was looking dashing on my Yakboard...
...while Steve was looking like the love child of Matt Lucas in Neoprene!
Then work intervened with my social life and I was asked to do some work for a change. A delivery driver was needed to head west and then south. Now I like going out on the road and as long as I don’t need to go backwards at all then driving is something I find fairly pleasurable. So, across England I went before ending up, by pure coincidence of course, a couple of miles from Mudeford Quay. There followed a bit of dogging with Overrun...
May arrived and I headed down to AS Watersports for one of their shows. This resulted in a very drunken night chez John and Helen in the company of them and Dorado...the man cannot drink! Well, he can, but not for very long! I recall Helen starting to get to danger stage at one point as sense of humour failure became imminent...not that Simon noticed, having disappeared into the neighbours garden. The following evening saw us at Budleigh in a sea that picked up while we were nattering and following my second attempt to break out into the sea I paddled about before calling in an abort and turning to come back in. John was by now on his way out and I followed him in. Seeing a reef become exposed and a large swell approaching it I turned for it to try and go up and over the wave but was not in the right place...it broke over my front hatch and washed me through both rods and off the back of my cart-wheeling kayak...
I was quite comfortable in the water and got back to my yak easy enough but had lost a rod and reel in the process. Further annoyance ensued as I managed to lock myself out of my van back on the beach. Fortunately the next morning was more benign and an enjoyable session was had before my long drive home, bringing me dogfish and a launce, a new species for me! I left with some mackerel kindly donated by Justin69 which were turned into smoked mackerel pate for Christmas!
A few more codding sessions followed and Steve and I located a new launch spot – nicknamed Dogger after the shagging going on in the car park as we’d come in after a session! The sea here can be a bit unforgiving and it nearly took Steve out, cresting alongside as we came in at midnight after one session. I aborted after a brace of 5lb’ers and my first smoothie on a day session before going into the estuary after mullet. I spent the afternoon chatting to someone in a boat instead however. That was the day I mislaid my camera too.
I’ve not been to the Channel Islands before apart from living on jersey for a while as a baby so it was great to have the opportunity to visit for a fishing weekend as part of my job. Arriving in good time at Poole on the Friday afternoon with a trailer load of demo kayaks I had time to sit on the quay and make up plenty of rigs for the weekend. Informing the marshals that I was carrying distress flares was not what they wanted to hear but after verifying my need for them I was let aboard without further ado and off we sailed, arriving late afternoon and finally seeing me arrive at the campsite in time for a drink. Starvin, Darnsarf and Egbertnobacon were all back after a successful session and were decided on the venue for Sunday’s competition following the demo the next day at Coho Bay. We dined well that night and awoke early enough to line the demo fleet up ready for the hordes. Well, I did.
The demo went well and the next day saw the competition...we went south.
What a glorious place to be on a yak! Beautiful, clear water, fantastic, rugged scenery and lovely weather ensured that the hard fishing was not hard to take. I had a mackerel of a good size and then my first ever Pollack – a beautifully marked juvenile which I was more than happy with...
Back home and it was not long before the coarse season started up again – and we hit the Waveney with a vengeance! Trolling lures either in the town stretches or up to the pub two or three times a week saw us taking plenty of hard-fighting summer pike from a pound up to low doubles, all fighting well above their size. Steve started off beautifully with a cheap yellow lure that outfished everyone put together. I was secretly overjoyed when he broke it!
Not that he was doing much better than I...and his were all babies anyway!
Llangorse in Wales came around and it was time to head west with the demo fleet. Another weekend on a campsite, fishing and getting people to experience SOT’s on the water by day and drinking, eating and drinking at night with friends. A great weekend of lots of fish, lots of laughter and some new mates to boot...
Back home again and we were still hammering the pike and drinking Suffolk ales...only our numbers had grown again with the appearance of Westie, a Hobie owner from Northish Norfolk who also liked both fresh and saltwater fishing. It wasn’t long before he added a Scupper Pro to his fleet...
...as did Steve!
Of course, being a family man means I do other things than go kayak fishing with my friends. One of these, of course, is to go kayak fishing with my wife and children. Eloise, now nearly seven, was finally able to paddle herself around in a Kea without any trouble. Lucky really, as she was beginning to get a bit heavy in the tankwell of my fishing yaks.
With my family departing to France for most of the summer I was left to my own devices largely and spent a lot of time on the Waveney after work. A German friend I had not seen in nearly twenty years came over for part of this time and stayed at mine on the weekends. Kayaking was largely ignored as I dragged him to the War and Peace Show in Kent, the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, the RAF Museum at Hendon and of course the Crazywater Demo Weekend at Mudeford Spit! Once again, John Haynes and his team had taken over a small area and there we sat, in the bloody rain and wind, for a few days raising money for the RNLI, taking people out on various kayaks and allowing them to take them out themselves, talking, laughing, speaking Bulgarian and catching up with numerous guys off the forum...highlights were many but one which sticks out is the speed which a Bic goes in reverse...
Back home and back on the river I was starting to get perch and chub on trolled lures as well as pike and would often take two out of the three on a session but never quite managed the predatory triumvirate! We had, however, caught ourselves another companion in the form of Spiny. Another from the Norwich area, he’d started up a forum for locals to post catch reports and discuss local sea fishing. He soon progressed from his original kayak to a Trident 15 and Mysto pair which were spied all over the county!
Then shortly before I had to disappear for a couple of weeks at the Southampton Boat Show I got back onto the sea again. A quick inshore session off the beach by my house, with shrimpers working inshore of me, saw me nail the first Smoothound since losing my camera back in the spring.
The therapy of desperation was upon me and that afternoon saw me on the river with my family and friends were I pulled out a pike for my trouble. That was still not enough however and with my children in bed I had to go on a Goby Hunt! Not only did I slam into those awesome sportfish, I also had a whale of a time with inch long bass!
The Boat Show...two weeks of answering questions, drinking coffee and standing up close enough to the water yet surrounded by kayaks to want to scream! Luckily help was at hand and between Tratty, Richi and Overrun a superb session was planned off Tanners Lane. A lovely evening, 20 knot south easterly! We paddled into the teeth of it, got weeded out like you wouldn’t believe, blanked and I even snagged a tow rope with my anchor which needed assistance to raise...it was fun though, trying to pull the bugger out while beam on to the waves! A flat camera battery was not appreciated.
A couple of weeks at home and then stock take...now I like Lendal paddles, a lot, but counting them is purgatory! I finished just in time for a trip down to Exeter to get the first public on-water demo of the Torque and Nalu. Driving home with a demo trailer, my yak at work, Steve called to say he was going fishing that night. I got him to leave his Scupper Pro on his roof for me and I’d see him out there...
I arrived and got kitted up. I could see Steve out there with a friend on an inflatable but I could also see a 3ft+ shore dump between us. Nothing ventured...I broke through it and headed out. Fishing was crap and after a couple of hours in big swell I was bored. I decided to head in and both Steve and the inflatable guys said they’d come in with me. The rubber duck went in first to have a look and decided against going in yet – the shore dump had grown by now, another foot at least. What the hell, my kit was stowed in the front hatch...sometimes it’s possible to surf a wave beautifully and this I did. Hell, it was so good I decided to do it again after Steve came in...I watched him, he paddled, and then I saw one rearing up behind him... “GO!!!” I yelled and he did – I can still visualise this wave breaking and curling down over his shoulders but missing his head as he slid up the shore in one piece. His fish bag was ripped away but other than that all was well. Enough of him – I went back out to play! 11pm and I came in on a wave, Steve was standing waist deep in water and watched me slide down the face of it – he thought I was going to dig in and cartwheel but I didn’t – instead two jets of water came up from the nose and into my eyes as I ploughed along, the buoyancy of the nose keeping me upright...it was a blast and I had to call it a night on that one!
Then it was back home again in time for the third annual Eastern Meet and I had to get on and prepare breakfast for all the early arrivals in Lowestoft who’d pitched up from all over the country. Conditions weren’t ideal, starting off with a horrendous sea that even saw Richi paddling on freshwater. It improved over the weekend and although the currents were strong and the wind stayed around Force 4 it was, at least, from a manageable direction and most people who came to see caught a codling or two. Some good pike were also taken and Tinasarf showed us smelly old blokes what for! The food, drink and banter was of a high standard and the most was made of the chance to play around with the Nalu and Torque. There must have been around 30 yakkers who finally made the trek up to the Lowestoft area to join in and at one point the old and new were on the sea together as the Excelsior passed us by...
Well, that was it...the cod were back again. Eastern Meet starts the cod season off for me and we were back on the beach at Hopton in far greater numbers than we’d have imagined a year ago. Steve, Onmas and I all had PB’s while Westie had his first ever cod on his first night launch! There were some good hauls coming ashore with us and Eastangler was back out with us again after a busy year’s work.
The cod were here in good numbers and double the size of last year – the same year class it seemed. Both they and the whiting often had livers in poor condition and regularly carried copious amounts of worm however and this led to some speculation by local shore anglers about the state of the fish stocks.
I just continued to fry them in batter however, which seems to kill the worms off adequately. There was no way I’d be panicking over something like that, especially with my best haul on a night session off Hopton with Westie, having aborted at Dogger beforehand.
By this time I was making full use of my new mount – a Scupper Pro. My Trident had moved on to Amos and I’d picked out and rigged a lovely yellow 2009 New Zealand model. Rigged out and fitted up, made extremely visible with SOLAS tape around the hull it was ready by evening for its maiden voyage. Three times I came off, unable to get past the foaming slop pounding up the beach!
Essexbuoy returned to the fold around this time too, dragged out of medical retirement for a codding session at Hopton...Great therapy was had both the night before and the night after when he ate the plump codling he tempted out in the first few minutes on the water... how his luck had changed after flipping during the launch!
Finally I decided to borrow side imaging – I wanted to see what was going on at Hopton and the surrounding area. It appeared that there were patches of rough ground (sabellaria beds) that were the key to success and I also managed to pinpoint debris fields from charted wrecks. It was impossible to resist, however, paddling north to Gorleston to survey the wreck of the White Swan...
Zzippy’s Flounder Meet was next on the cards and I headed south with a van full of kayaks. The Friday night, post-paddle, was spent in some pub and I got to meet yet another kayak angler local to us – Blunderbust. He’d not been able to make a Hopton session to date but Poole was do-able! A raucous night was had by all and this was followed the next day by a windy and wet day at Rockley Park. A short fishing session and a crack at seal-launching a Scupper Pro were followed by salmonella and raffles before we all split up and headed our separate ways.
At home once again and both Norfolkboy and Blunderbust were dragged out for night sessions. A beautiful sea was beneath out hulls and it was just a pleasure to be on the water. It was even more pleasurable for Norfolkboy as he went home with the next day’s supper in his hands...
Huge seas put paid to any chance of getting out that weekend and I was persuaded back into shore angling...with my Grandpa’s Rod!
Next on the agenda was a very cold start at Beccles to take the Torque for a ride up-river. Photographs were needed and with Steve back from sea (but with a broken finger) and Jason up for a paddle it seemed the perfect opportunity. With the rain clearing and the sun coming out all was perfect bar the temperature...and Sue’s Canoes consequently had a run on Palm Kola boots!
That day was notable for another reason too – Westie finally had his desired Trident 13 to play with, his Hobie now up for sale, and he joined us on the water and nearly joined us for breakfast!
Not only were our contingent growing but this was around the time that Norfolk Canoes opened up near Norwich. Chris was up from Cornwall to help get it set up and, never having had a cod but being a kayak angler, was unable to refuse the invitation for a night session. He blanked but luckily I snagged one for his landlady to cook up the following night...
Then it started to get cold! Fortunately, my occasional surfing of UK Rivers Guidebook had turned up a marvellous new item of headgear – the manly BeardHead. These were just spot on for my needs, being yellow and with the snow arriving a few days after my BeardHead the perfect opportunity for field testing 9and photographs) arrived.
Bloody weather! So cold was I that I wore gloves, very rare for me, as I paddled and fished down the coast from Gorleston. The gloves were the cause of my downfall as the second rod and reel went into Davy Jones locker. I was not overjoyed.
The bulk of the BeardHead contingent were on the water soon after and a cold pre-Christmas session was expected. We were prepared...
What we weren’t prepared for though was the first of the Hopton doubles, ably landed by Onmas. Weighing in at a whopping 12.5lb it was a lunker!
What a way to end the Hopton cod season! Yet it wasn’t the end, oh no! That weekend Amos turned up, Lureman wandered over and Pinkfoot, Steve, Onmas and myself all took to the water too. With all but Jason and I landing cod it was down to Pinkfoot to pull another double out of the hat with an 11lb’er! Amos wasn’t jealous though – he had his best ever haul to christen his Trident 15...
One more launch was managed before the end of the year. I got up early and drove over to Beccles for an early trolling session, hoping to connect with a last pike. It was hard to get out of bed especially when I looked out and saw that everywhere was wet. I forced myself though and on arrival at the launch point rather wished I hadn’t – the water was as high as I’ve seen it and quite coloured which spells disaster for trolling. I nearly turned around and went home but figured I’d not catch anything in my house, so I launched and trolled up and down the river. I did have a fish as it happened – I finished 2009 by catching a bream on a Super shad Rap. Firmly hooked in the flank...
Well that’s it. 128 launches, 90 saltwater and 38 freshwater and 610 fish from 20 species. I just hope that 2010 is as good!
43x Pike, 58x Codling, 8x Dab, 29x Pouting, 78x Roach, 4x Gudgeon, 192x Whiting, 75x Dace, 4x Ruffe, 9x Bass, 12x Dogfish, 1x Smooth Sandeel, 3x Starry Smoothound, 1x Mackerel, 1x Pollack, 3x Rudd, 33x Chub, 28x Perch, 8x Bream, 20x Sand Goby
