We’d done a bit of rigging a couple of days before, anchor trolleys only because the rivet gun decided to die on us before we could get to the rod holders, but Wilmy’s Scupper was looking good to go so two days later we decided we would.
It was quite a pleasant day, bright and reasonably warm but a bit windy for the sea. Wilmy fancied getting afloat though so we decided to head to the river and try for a toothy critter or two. So off to Beccles we went and dropped in by the pool to cover the town stretch for a couple of hours. The water was nice and clear but high up the bank; this should mean less weed being picked up and some deeper-running lures being trolled than usual but I find the lower levels to be more productive generally. No matter though, it is what it is and it’s a pleasant enough place to paddle.
I started off with a blue J13 on the bankside rod and an orange Super Shad Rap to cover the deeper part of the river. I left Wilmy at the launch point rooting around for another lure as the first he’d attached fell off somehow. Sadly it was his favourite too, the one he’d caught his first yak bass on. Being a sinker it was gone and I felt his pain, I hate that!
There wasn’t much happening on the rods but there were plenty of smaller fish topping as we paddled along. Weed wasn’t too bad either, with only the occasional stop to clear the rods when they stopped twitching. The usual spots remained quiet as we passed and, once we passed under the main road we turned and I hoped that perhaps the extra movement in the lure running against the current might trigger a bite. I changed the J13 over to a perch-patterned Super Shad Rap and headed back upstream.
Nope. Still nothing. We made it all the way up to the launch point again without so much as a twitch; may as well carry on upstream past the boathouses then, get a bit of open countryside and see if they’ve all gone off on holiday.
We passed through with nothing and then turned. I’d got maybe fifty yards when I got the shout; I turned and saw his rod hooped over as he played something decent! I reeled in, got the camera out and headed back upstream…had Wilmy broken his pike duck? A species he’d not yet had though he’s fished freshwater much of his life. It looked like a good scrap too.
Mind you, he wasn’t gaining any line! It dawned on him that perhaps he was now snagged and the disappointment was shared. It was stuck solid, no idea what it was hooked in for sure but probably a large, heavy branch. It had felt like a fish at first so perhaps the lure had run right into the fish’s lair and got snagged as the pike moved with it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t coming up and the line parted under the strain. He was now two lures down for no fish. One more pass then?
We passed the launch point again and I decided I couldn’t be arsed anymore. I figured I’d turn at the bridge and run back but then I got a text from Si: “There’s loads of police along your road.” Hmm. I figured I ought to go now. I’d intended dropping in on my brother after fishing too but that was out of the question now. Wilmy wasn’t averse to giving up either so we turned and went in. There’ll be other times though.
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