While the Cat’s Away Day 4…31/07/2011

It’s bliss having a lay in at the weekend. I normally try and get up early and home early to suit family life but with none to please but myself I have got lazy ;D I even went down to the car boot sale in the hope of finding a wooden spinning rod but to no avail. Ah well. I called Paul again to see if he was up for a paddle and checked what time my brother was wanting me over for a barbecue in the evening…

“Anytime. We’re going kayaking at 1 if you fancy it.”

Well, it’s been years since I went with him and my nephews so I postponed Paul and went home to do some overdue rigging on one of my yaks.

We launched at Beccles at 2 and headed south for Worlingham. I never go this way as I never catch anything but with the fishing so good the other evening I was hopeful. It was bright and warm as one Scupper and five Frenzys got dumped on the slip. As we left my brother asked me why I was wearing a PFD and was I expecting a tidal wave? – I told him I always do and my gear is in it.



We headed off through the quay and under the bridge.



That’s where the Broads Authority launch was. They were starting up as I nodded to them on passing. Then they decided to speak to my brother. Pulled over in a yak ;D Hmm. I paddled on. As I heard them mention the BCU I knew that he was being asked about the Broads Authority licence…

He turns up later, heartily spanked and says he didn’t know one was needed – at nearly £30 each – and why the hell wasn’t I stopped? Well, say’s I, I was wearing a PFD so am clearly responsible…Bless him, he had a nap to recover from the stress.



Meanwhile the boys had found a diversion:






Really they should have been working on their technique – I’m sure it’s not done like this in the books:





Well there isn’t much more to report. We did about five miles, I blanked on every lure I tried and then went back for the Barbie. Saying that though, I have a Columbo moment…there’s just one more thing…

He told me he had a bunch of fish in his pond, goldfish and grass carp. I had to spend half an hour chilling in a Frenzy ;D

While the Cat’s Away Day 3…30/07/2011

A lazy start to the day for me. I got up long after the sun did and made a coffee before wandering down to the beach. There was supposed to be some surf but as I expected there was none – it was pretty flat. I did some stuff at home instead as Uptide was not going to be free until the afternoon and then headed to the smokehouse to buy a bloater for today’s breakfast and a kipper for tomorrow’s. Beautiful traditionally smoked herring and boy was that bloater tasty, fried in butter and water and served with horseradish. If only somewhere sold it fresh I could have avoided using a jar and done it the proper way but that’s life. It was while driving back that I had an idea…Noidea! I gave him a call to see if he was free this afternoon and he was so I arranged to pick him up an hour and a half later for a troll along the reefs at Sea Palling.

We arrived down at the Waxham access and dragged the yaks up the bloody great huge massive gigantic steep horrible bastard bitch of a soft sand dune in a few legs and then headed down to the water. It was clear we were going to get wet, the waves breaking a hundred yards out but it was all swell rather than chop so we figured we may just be okay. It was just coming off low water and out I went. I took my time and judged it for the best moment to break through the breakers. Splash! I still got a soaking ;D

We headed out to the other side of the reefs but with large swells smashing into the rocks we turned chicken and turned tail heading inshore of them to see what bass might be lurking there. I guess the 6 inch water was not going to work. As I sat there Paul came up behind me with the words ‘What the fuck was that?’ to which my reply of ‘the bottom’ had him look down. We were barely afloat ;D Oh well, we tried anyway and then pulled up on a sandbar to have a think.



Thinking done we clambered onto the rocks at the end of the reef and started flinging lures out. Unsuccessfully. I got a bit more wet and then, bored and with Paul losing the lip off his lure, we went back to the yaks.





We soon tired of the boring inside and decided to head out into the swell.



It was exciting to say the least and it was impossible to get as close as I wanted with the swell lifting me, sucking away loads of water and then crashing into the rocks…we’d be toast if we ended up there.



He’s a bloody jinx, Paul. Every time he comes out with me it’s rough ;D



Never mind, we trolled a few of the reefs with me losing a Rapala Sliver to a rock and coming close to being under the grill while trying to pull it free. I hated cutting my line. In the meantime, while heading back to knock it on the head and go piking we attracted a nosy seal, much to Paul’s delight. It came quite close to him and at one point surfaced 3 metres behind him without being noticed. It was great. We carried on and then Uptide turned up. Bad timing as we were heading home. Still, we stayed, chatted and fished a little bit longer.



It wasn’t the easiest day to troll though.





Bollocks. We weren’t likely to get anything so headed back to the first reef and made our way ashore. This was fun too and Paul’s last launch with me, when we hit the surf a couple of months ago, paid dividends.







I had a nice ride and bongo slide before surfing the last bit in and Paul also made it in one piece…Mark came next, bongo sliding as well with a seal behind him much to our amusement. He stayed upright and we tried flinging Dexters from the shore for ten minutes before heading off. A valiant blank ;D

While the Cat’s Away. Day 2. 29/07/11

Right, change of scenery called for. Change of tack too. A windy forecast set me on a course for Beccles and a spot of piking. Straight from work I stopped off at a colleagues to watch myself on tele and then headed for the launch. In I went and stuck two rods out with some big-ass Rapala jointed shad raps, a blue one and an orange one. I set off upstream, caught a bank angler and then chucked them out again. Five minutes and fish on! It felt pretty good but the hooks on the blue didn’t penetrate and I lost him. Never mind. Out again, a couple of minutes and the first one came to the boat on the orange. A pound or so; swim away little fishy!

I carried on up, turned and came back down. That’s when number three hit the orange and came to the boat, a couple of pounds this time, as was his twin that came soon after on the same lure. Right, twenty minutes had passed and I decided to go on the look for some larger fish on the town stretch…

First up was a bigger fish, right down towards the bridge. Quite a strong, chunky fella that went to about 6lb, again on the orange. Still feeding even with a broken off trace and a treble in his throat.





This was followed minutes later by a half pounder that took the treble right down into the gills, blue this time.

Nothing else happened as I ran down to the second bridge so I headed back up again, another fish taking the lure under the iron bridge. I’d got a J13 in Firetiger on now and this 3lb’er had taken it. The next one did too, a 3lb’er this time, lovely.



My final one I had to wait half an hour for and came in at a couple of pound, again on the J13. That’s when it all went to hell in a handcart.



I pulled ashore at the quay and got hissed at by an emu-sized swan with his brood so left all the junk on the quayside instead of over to the bin. The 60lb braid got my lure back but it was a heavy old lump to pull up and took me ages. I got a spoon and a spinner off it, removed the trebles snagged in it before dumping just in case of further problems for people.



A great 3 hours on the water and then I was on my way home wondering where to go tomorrow...

While the Cat’s Away. Day 1. 28/07/11

Well, Flo and the girls have gone to France so I have three weeks of daily fishing and paddling if I’m not on trips. I’m making the most of it.



My first evening session. A busy day unloading containers and then it’s time to knock off. By 5 I’m at Gorleston above the wreck of the White Swan. Minutes later and a car turns up with two brand new Tridents onboard. I’d chatted to the one fella previously when I came in with a 4lb’er…then posted a report on EA. They went and bought! Welcome aboard guys! I launched awhile they got themselves set and paddled out to the wreck. It was mid-tide and running fast, the water was clear except where the wreck lay and I cast into the murk again and again for an hour and a half to no avail. Soon Rich from the warehouse and Alex, our part-time summer chap who surfs my beach also turned up, Alex in a demo Scrambler and Rich looking well bent on a Nalu, his limp wrists suiting stand up paddle boarding perfectly. The wind on his rash vest made his nipples poke out and I must say he has a lovely pair of breasts ;D I unclipped and we paddled the mile to the pier and back, against the tide. That done I tried once more on the wreck then gave up and came home with a blank.

Further Afield: Another Crack at Conger…23/07/11

I can’t believe it’s been so long. A month shy of three years in fact. Some of the faces differed but some were the same, namely Richi, Lozz, Fatflyfisher, Myself and Paintfly. Ah yes. Paintfly. Come to think of it, this was also the last time I fished with him…a memorable occasion ;D



More of him later.

Friday morning saw me back in the warehouse after another overnight trip. There were containers to unload before loading my van and trailer with deliveries and demo kayaks and it wasn’t until after lunch that I was able to get away and head south. It was rather a pleasant afternoon as I headed for Christchurch at the requisite 60mph with a tachograph and a stereo. It was all going really well too…until I heard Sally Traffic on Radio 2…

“…and now the M25 (sighs)”

Umm, how can one put this delicately? I can’t really use the very large, very bold, very loud uppercase F that followed as I headed straight into the gridlock between junction 17 and Junction 11. Friday afternoon and the first day of the school holidays…

My patience ran out after one 45 minute junction and I headed cross-country for Windsor and Ascot before hitting the M3 from the side eventually and getting KFC on my impossible-to-avoid overdue tacho break. Hmm, last year I think it was that Paintfly had collared me here on the way down to the Mudeford demo. More of him later.

Back on the road again and I finally pulled into the car park just after 9:15. Only a couple of hours after I’d intended and 45 minutes before OKreally who’d left around 5:30…but at least he didn’t beat me this time!

07:50 and I headed to McDonalds for coffee before joining him at Mudeford Quay. Gareth, Becky and the team soon joined us and we put out the boats, put up the marquee and did all the other jobs needed for the event. We had everything but the water which, with the change of venue by the council, was now somewhere near Poole ;D Still, we persisted and soon kayaks were away on yonder horizon and the first forum members began to arrive. No sign of Paintfly, mind. Still, more of him later.

The demo got busy, slackened at lunchtime and then got pretty crowded out. Luckily there were plenty of staff on hand by the water as Richi and I chatted fishing, Scupper Pro’s and kayaks to forum members, interested parties and little old ladies unable to run as fast as us. The 7pm launch was looming and by the time people stopped demoing and we got loaded up and dropped the trailer it looked like I’d be late. As it happened I made it back in time to wolf down a Ribeye steak and a pint of Orange juice and rig up from scratch. 10 minutes of the half hour it took was waiting for the steak to be cooked…I asked for rare, it should have taken far less time ;D Never mind. I ran back and guess what? Guess who I saw getting rigged up in the carpark? Yes! Paintfly! More of him later.

We launched, minutes later than planned which wasn’t bad going at all. One shy of a dozen in the end we hit the water in dribs and drabs and after turning the corner I found myself paddling out alongside V8Rob. I’m glad he has a Big Game because if he’d changed to something faster by now I’d have been over in his wash ;D I wasn’t pushing it but neither was I hanging around and he was sitting alongside no problem at all until we hit the rough stuff when I gained ground quickly, all 4.7 metres of the Ultra cutting through without hesitation. That was my chosen steed for the evening, my Scupper left at home to get jealous ;D I was quite hopeful as this was the boat I’d had my tope on amongst other fish and knew it was a: lucky and b: capable. I wanted a conger lap shot.



Now, when I say the rough stuff I mean rougher stuff. From the spit around to the groyne it had been a nice 2ft swell. Nothing to write home about. Now as we came through between the groyne and beerpan rocks it picked up considerably as well as becoming choppy. The wind was also stronger here as we were no longer sheltered by the cliffs. It reminded me, only slightly, of that same day I mentioned earlier three years before. I surfed a Trident through that gap on a bloody big wave and stayed upright by chance. It was big then too. It usually is when I follow this Bugger.



Do you recon he looks older now?



So, here we were again. Off Pout Hole. Rob and I had got out first and then came straight back inshore as my memory was so full of big waves and Paintfly that I totally missed the mark. More of him later. It didn’t take long before the fish started to bite.



I was getting them too but missed the first few bites as I was on the phone. The breaking news was that Amy Winehouse was no more and as usual Curly beat Reuters in getting the scoop. His jokes got better over the next few days though. Anyway, after missing yet another I said goodbye and waited for my baited feathers to tempt another and here it came, a Tommy-Gun of a bite and up came the first bream I’d laid eyes upon in three years, since that day I’d been out here with Paintfly. More of him later.



Right, I had some defrosting mackerel but for conger I wanted fresh. I reckoned this would be top bait and a half (lengthwise) flappered would be about right (I’d not be home until Tuesday night so wasn’t fishing for the pot this time). I popped it to one side and sat and waited. Bugger me if the perfect livebait didn’t jump on the hook a few minutes later!



Right, time to see if there was a big bastard bass about ;D It was a job liphooking it on a 10/0 I tell you! Poor thing.



The sun was going down. The pout were coming up. So what to do with the bream? The lost conger take I’d had was on pout…but then I recalled one afternoon, three years ago, sitting here with Paintfly and having my first forays into sashimi as we ate pieces of mackerel fresh from the water. Well, it had to be done and knowing that bream is a great sushi fish (and one I’d yet to try) the bait knife came out and the fillets came off. Not bad, not bad at all. It deserved proper preparation, thinner slicing and so on but it was certainly tasty enough. It was struggle in fact to keep some back for Paintfly but I felt it only right, being tradition and all. I called Richi up to come and take his present over. I mean, he’d said he was going to mill around rather than fish. How was I to know he’d have to paddle a mile against the wind to take the morsel of bream over to Paintfly? I didn’t. Don’t blame me ;D

Nor blame me for Paintfly chewing once, saying it was rubbery (isn’t that oriental for luvverly?) and tossing it overboard! ;D As for berating me on the VHF for not having any soy or wasabi, well, that set the bloody tone didn’t it! More of him later. As to Richi, well, seeing as he was here he may as well make himself useful and give me a cigarette ;D (photograph not chronological but it gives the idea – it was like this but darker and I had nowhere to stick that photo before ;D Allow me storytellers licence please! )




Of course, while we were chatting I carried on fishing and dropped down my feathers yet again. KERRRRIIIIISSSSSTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!! Not even 1/3 down and the rod arched right over, bucked around and shot off. What the hell? This was one hell of a scrap, better than any bass I’ve had this year. I didn’t have a clue what was on, maybe a big bass, maybe a small tope – a tuna maybe? I really couldn’t believe it when I saw it…



It was a big mackerel to be fair, perhaps the biggest I’ve had but they don’t go that well surely? Actually, they do if you drop a hook into their flank. It really pisses them off! Interestingly, the first time I had macky off the yak was here too, with Paintfly three years ago. Anyway, enough of him.

It was getting darker.



The pout were still coming up.

I was still taking pictures.



They were still feeding.



Then they stopped. I’d been sitting without striking for a while, on 18 pout (plus the bream and macky) and then nothing. All that happened was my macky-baited conger rod kept getting snagged up. Well, I say all that happened, I mean all that happened on the fishing front.

“Chris to snapper, Chris to snapper. My unit keeps switching on and off. Why? Over”

“It’s probably as bored as me. Over”

I’m hearing laughter over the water. Chris tries unplugging and plugging back in again.

“Chris to snapper, Chris to snapper. My display is upside down. No, hang on, now it’s mirrored as well. Why? Over”

“Umm. You’ve got me there Chris. Over”

“Have you got a mirror Snapper? Over”

“Have you seen what I look like? Over”“

It was shocking. Our radio protocols were abysmal, not least because I was laughing too much to get to ‘out’ after each punchline. Some people just really shouldn’t be let loose with radios. It was the southerners corrupting me, honest! There was more but that’ll do for the general flavour.

Well, I decided eventually that enough was enough and called up Richi that I was off. Then Rob tells me he’s just lost an eel. So I stays. Then I gets bored again, snagged up again and calls Richi up again. I’m off again I says. He comes along to help me up anchor – I’ve hooked the plug but eventually we get the anchor up, weak link intact. Same link that keeps tripping when I head offshore at home. The randomness of my life really does annoy me at times. Chris is coming too and so I head over to him, Jim and Glyn. Lozz and Simon have already gone to the pub, Rob is staying out, Richi and Paintfly follow up the rear and we shoot back to the run and I finally get off the water feeling old, decrepit, stiff and happy – I’ve had a great night, had two new species for the year, good fun with good company and still have a target to aim for in my conger…that and sticklebacks still eluding me after four years…

Back at the Premier Inn Richi and I push the trailer around ready for the morning. The jockey wheel should be changed by tomorrow mate, it’ll be easier next time ;D In bed for 01:30.

McDonalds coffee again. Seafood breakfast on the quay (interesting…) and then it’s another day of talking, chatting, discussing, helping until finally we load up and I head south and west to sleep, have a trailer repaired, drink a coffee near Plymouth, talk fishing in Hayle, have another coffee near Plymouth and get my head down near Reading but that’s another story and one that doesn’t feature Paintfly ;D

Further Afield…Pollacks to Bovisand 09.07.2011

On occasion a bit of work can be tied in with a bit of pleasure and this weekend was one of them. It all started with a loaded van and a run down the M11…

…July 9th and 10th was intended to be the Flying Legends Air Show at Duxford, a return after five years and a long story but I’d had to change plans the day that I was going to book my tickets. It was very much like kayak angling for me in that I had friends around the country that I’d meet up with and enjoy a great weekend watching the flying and taking photographs. Some years I’d also be in the company of a very special group of friends, ex-pilots and ground crew from 609 (West Riding) Squadron who’d flown Spitfires and Typhoons operationally during the war; sadly their numbers have thinned out greatly in the intervening years since I last spent time amongst them. But hey, I was passing, Richi had needed to cancel his day off and I figured I could meet up with some of my old buddies on the way through for a couple of hours. It was good and apart from the old mates I got to see some aircraft I’d never seen (P38 Lightning, Razorback P47 Thunderbolt) and a load of new paint schemes. Historic aviation is an old love that might just have been rekindled…but I digress.

I jumped back in the van, dropped some kayaks near Southampton and went to pick Richi up to give him the fright of his life with my driving as we set off for Torquay and a Premier Inn. I reckon this is the premier Premier Inn! Right on the bay and with a sea view…I toyed with the idea of launching but it was 11 now and we had to meet Chris in the morning.

A quick transfer of yaks and gear to his van and it was straight to Tesco for breakfast before heading off via a tackle shop in Plymouth to some rocky bit of headland near Fort Bovisands. Here we unloaded, kitted up and passed the yaks down to the ‘beach’.



It was blowing a bit and the launch, different to what I’m used to, looked decidedly interesting. It was too, with me having to time my forward motion with waves covering bits of rock. No dramas though and we all headed off, past Shag Rock and round the corner.



I had a Rapala Sliver and a Magnum CD9 out for a bit but they didn’t seem to be doing much so with Chris going in the lead with a Pollack I started flinging my Dexter out. I was using my 20 year old Shimano Bantam Crestfire, the first baitcaster I ever saw, as my spinning reel has seized solid. A freshwater reel, they told me, and they were right! Still, the Crestfire soon had me the first of my Pollack. I don’t see them at home so I was chuffed.



Chris was clearly impressed with our Scuppers…



…not that his Hobie wasn’t coping…



Then Richi spied the horizon, between waves…



It’s nice to see a retailer who knows how to walk the walk. Chris in action:









Walking the walk is one thing though, outfishing me is quite less nice so I went to see Richi. He’d gone to the top of the hill:



He was bait fishing at anchor but had only had a wrasse so far.


I suspect he may have missed some bites:







Anyway, we headed for the Mew Stone.





While the others landed I caught another pair of Pollack, one on the troll and one on the cast…



…and then headed in for a spot of dinner – a Mars bar, 3 Red Band and a bottle of water. There was something really special about sitting on the rocks on a deserted bit of rock in the middle of the sea that I really enjoyed. It’s a bit bland here in East Anglia in that respect.



We sat and talked shit for half an hour before relaunching and trying our hands hand at bait fishing in the lee.






I couldn’t get a touch so unclipped from the handy yellow buoy and went off after the Pollack again, catching a few more on a redhead Sliver. Chris meanwhile hit his second bass:









I brought my total up to eleven and then started to look where I could get ashore, the water being lower now…





It was an issue but I found a gap.

Yeah. Bloody right. Through the gap then picked up, slammed down on a submerged bit of reef and a quick brace before I was floated off again on the next wave…it was close and I imagine it would have been a tad painful as well as costly had I not been lucky.

Then Chris made his way in, Richi having already landed before me.



Back on dry land after eight hours or so…it was time to carry the yaks up over the jagged rock and up the small cliff so we could go get a beer. Hard work in an exciting and lively sea and we’d caught some fish (all of which survived). Brilliant day on the water, that. That’s what it’s all about! I only spent twenty minutes gouge-filling on my return home ;D



Up the next morning and it was beautiful. The sea outside was flat. So we headed for Totnes for the demo, arriving in good time. Out came the demo yaks and we waited all of five minutes before the first prospective paddler came up and then it started to get busy enough for us with people coming to see, talk and paddle fishing kayaks, see and paddle recreational kayaks and generally get the advice and experience that would help inform their decision. Most pleasurable for me was a gentleman who’d seen the Angling Trust mention Kayak Fishing and had decided it might be the next thing to try after float tubing. Trident 13, Prowler 4.1, Elite 4.5 and then back again with different seats. Loads of advice and chat with three of us and his choice was finally arrived at (Elite) once a solution for single loading was worked out (Thule outrigger bars). That gives me satisfaction, knowing that he had the opportunity to make the right decision in the right way. Of course, the other pleasure is the visitors! Donk, who I’d stood up the night before popped along as did Pugwash, Mullet Catcher (I think) and someone else…then just as it got quiet I heard ‘Mark’ behind me, turned around and saw someone I was hoping I’d see (if only to break out the home made biltong!). Hennie had popped by and a great chat was had that lasted until the vans were loaded and we were off. Kayaking, fishing, kayak fishing, South Africa, KP Scarborough reels, Couta, Kingies, yellowtail… great to finally catch up mate! Then, with a farewell to Old Duffer, Old Codger and Chris the two of us headed east. Yeah, I liked that weekend.