Just because the sea has been fishing really well of late doesn’t mean I can’t get excited by the start of a new season on the rivers; the sixteenth June is a special day in the calendar and one that deserves a day’s fishing. Having been off the rivers for three months and with all the fish feeding more heavily than back in March and more confidently after not having had hooks to contend with for a while it always promises to be special. So plans were laid for the usual start of a paddle from Beccles to Geldeston with a group of us, joined this time by my nephew Mike.
Disaster from the off; I slept through my alarm, had a blazing row and then lost my keys…I left with my spare car key and left the house locked on the latch. Over to Paul’s to pick him up but he’d gone with Shaun so then on to pick up Mike, turn and head back to the quay where everyone would be assembling. Although a big social I wasn’t feeling too sociable as my right ear was totally blocked and I couldn’t hear much through it. Oh well. All Paul’s fault of course.
Everything unloaded, set up and parked Mike and I set off behind Tim who turned left initially while we headed straight up towards the pub where a pie and a pint was the plan, Paul also with us. Out on opening day was also Cam’s bequeathed vintage Rapidex reel and so I’d be fishing this rod only for the time being; he could have first fish. Mike was on the Xtraflexx and I had a pair of Warbird 220’s on Ice Pike rods for later. Both of us were using the Eco Narrow lures that had been deadly last time out.
Weed was an issue. The water level was quite far down and every hundred yards or so I was having to wind in and clear my lure. Before I’d even managed a decent troll Mike was in with the first fish of the day!
That was Paul and I put in our places then. We carried on…and ten minutes later he was in again, this time with a perch, his first ever. Obligingly it erected its fins for the photos before being released.
Hmm. We weren’t doing so well here. We were being shown up! Fortunately Paul was there to save the day with a monster pike of his own.
We were probably around a third of the way to Geldeston when excitement and disaster struck. Mike was ahead of us and got his lure weeded up. He turned, took the rod and started to wind in. As he did so there was a massive swirl and a splash and then, stunned, he sat there looking at his slack line leading from the disturbed water. As did we. He wound in and discovered that this pike, a double by the look of things (Paul saw head and flank clearly as it breached) had taken the lot and either scraped the braid mainline with its teeth or slammed into it so hard on a tight line that it had parted from the shock. Either way the fish was missed.
We kept on going, then I had one; a tiny jack around eight inches long which came off as it was lifted into the boat. I tried again and soon had another one a bit bigger for the photo, one for my mate.
With Mike having had a third jack we arrived at the Locks and decided to stick some maggots out while we waited for everyone else. The fish weren’t playing ball and it took twenty minutes and a longer hooklength before my float finally dipped and I brought in a perch.
Then the others started to arrive one by one. Tim had had six fish and to celebrate took my Tempo out for a spin. Amos was next, then Shaun. John had driven down to join us too and we went inside for lunch and to rag Shaun for being the only blanker, on a run of poor, fishless luck since he got back from Holland.
Best laid plans eh? There’d been a disaster in the kitchen so food was off. Beer and crisps was the best that could be done. At least it’s good beer there, local real ales.
Sufficiently rested after this and still struggling to hear properly Mike and I set off for home. I had a few hits that didn’t result in fish and then a 34cm jack on the Warbird finally came to say hello. Mike was surprisingly fishless though his bad luck was compounded with a decent fish running straight for a submerged branch and eventually freeing itself from the lure as I handlined it out
Time was pressing as I needed to be home to leave at half four at the latest to take my daughters out and we were only a few hundred yards from the launch point when Mike called out that he was in again!
Brilliant, three pike and a perch each. That was it, with that fish landed we decided to end on the high note and with the kayaks and gear loaded in eight minutes flat we were off.
Not a bad start at all…
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