Washed Out…07/01/2014

Washed Out…07/01/2014 Eighteen days I’ve been dry, stranded on this septic isle of ours with bad weather, family at home and no enthusiasm but with everyone out of the house finally it was time to make an effort; first things first though, I had to go to the post office and pick up a book on cod published in the seventies. That’s of no relevance other than the half hour delay because I then had to go all the way back across town to get my charging phone. The day was starting badly. The sea was a washout so I had to go freshwater; further delays of course because I had to go and buy maggots…another half hour wasted. Oh well, might as well make it pay and instead of going to the very familiar quay at Beccles hoping for tiddlers I decided to head for Ellingham where the chance of good pike and more importantly good chub and rudd were high, plus gudgeon and other species…as I left town it started to rain. Rain? It was a downpour. A squall moved through and I could barely see out of the windscreen. More time wasted. Then, after three wrong turns I arrived at the mill. Both sluices were open and water was pouring through; the water was raised hugely since last time I was here and was what could only be described as turbulent. Whitewater heaven. I couldn’t even launch here; more wasted time. Back to Beccles? The Hundred? Home? How about Mettingham? That was close and there was a pool above the mill which might give a bit of shelter from the near-40mph winds that were blowing. So, three more miles and I pitch up to more turbulence from an open sluice. Still, I was going the other side of it. I unloaded and launched. Into the pool, tie up to a stanchion and throw a waggler upstream. Loads of good chub, roach and perch here last time I tried; I sat there for an hour without so much as the float bobbing once…more wasted time. I headed upstream instead; the sun was out now and I found a cutting out of the strong, main flow. I cast and the float went straight under; I had about a foot of water before the weed. Great, move again. A bit deeper here, I sat around for half an hour with no bites. I moved again. Nothing. I decided to head further upstream. Back into the main river and it was hard work paddling, virtually static, it must have been flowing through at close to 4mph. I decided enough was enough and just let the current pull me back. I got back to the pontoon and, dejected, made my way home. I stopped en-route and went to have a recce to see if there were any gobies or smelt about, from the shore and jetties. I tried a few spots over the next half an hour without so much as a nibble. An absolute waste of time and a waste of my first launch of 2014. Still, Nick had sent a text to see if I fancied hitting the sea the following day. I decided to have a look on the way home…it was certainly getting stirred up…could this bring the cod on the feed?