Dan was itching to get on the freshwater having done no coarse fishing for years and having got the day free for getting out I was more than happy to help. Okay, so he lives four hours away but he didn't mind that and I figured we'd go out for a special day, off to the upper Waveney to come down the five mile or so route winding through farmland to Bungay. A special bit of river this, largely unused and filled with fish large and small. There are good chub, perch, pike, roach, dace and rudd in there plus millions of smaller ones. A quick tackle shop stop for dropshot hooks and maggots and we were away again to unload and walk down to the launch.
Last time I fished with Dan was at the Swanage comp and the last time I fished here was with Amos. I figured our first stop was in the deep bit beneath some overhanging trees where he'd done well on the perch, dropshotting, and I'd pulled dace and other silvers on the float. We pulled up, slung our paddles into the reeds and started to fish. First drop and I was in...a fine perch.
Second fish, second species, surprise surprise, a nice rudd on a hook way too large for it!
Dan managed a gudgeon and I was jealous, I've not had one yet this year. Then, a big pull on my dropshot rig, five maggots on the hook and clear water and a pike grabbed it! I was using 2lb line and it had engulfed the whole lot so we parted company in seconds. Right then...on with one of my new Fladen rattle shads that I'd ordered in for the Swanage comp...this being on my pike set-up. I lobbed it in, worked it slowly up and saw the pike whirling around it eight feet down. Could he get it? No. Practically under me I jigged it up and down with slight sideways movements and eventually it managed to grab hold. Pike on!
It was no monster but it had nowhere to run and being on a short line it gave a really good account of itself before I lifted it in.
It was a bit quiet now and all I managed was some tiny dace - had to be quick on these!
Time to move on, let Dan really see the beauty of this river.
We stopped, I floatfished a single red maggot for the first chub of the day.
It was one of those golden days and I made the most of it with my gold-banded Nano 7-25g rods and the Maxximus 8 and 11 bb spinning reels.
The day pretty much went like this for the first few hours - stop, fish for ten minutes, move a few hundred yards downstream, fish for ten minutes and so on. I'd caught a small dace again - had loads of them - and decided to re-rig with it on a dropshot in the hope of a good perch. I moved off and found a very promising downed tree. As I rounded it I saw some decent chub up to about thee pound and thought this worth a try; down went the dropshot and I watched and waited. A couple of minutes passed when I saw a half-pounder move in, circle the dace and grab it! My first livebaited chub and a terrific bite. It shot off and I fought it on the light line, pulling it away from reeds until tiring it enough to bring aboard. Perfect fish!
It was actually bigger than Dan.
Unlike the river...
Dan pulled up behind and fished for a bit. He had a chub near the surface when he got a thrill; a pike came out of nowhere to grab it but Dan got the chub in then tried to tempt it with a lure. It wouldn't take so I passed over my rod with the shad, still no joy and with it spooked and gone we carried on down to a favourite place of mine, where the fish shoal over a shallow, fast-running gravel bar. They weren't in place today so we stood there instead, having a rather jolly wheeze and enjoying a cigar together as we waded in the manner of toffs with their fly rods. It was a wizard prang and resulted in a fish or two to boot before we headed on again.
We stopped in a few pools of course and Dan managed a nice little chub again.
Then things got a bit tight...
As we approached the sluice I tried the dropshot again in a nice deep bit with an overhanging tree that had plenty of snags trapped beneath it; five maggots and my best chub of the day at a pound or so.
And thence to the portage point above the sluice...
Dan is a, shall we say, portly fellow and his graceful exit was a joy to behold:
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d3fZCPL2_w[/video]
Hmm. We walked down to the sluice and there, with his daughter, was Andy, enjoying some bank fishing for the good chub that sit there. His daughter had a fine specimen as we launched but for us there was nothing other than small bits and pieces though it was only a brief stop.
And on again, down the last stage, narrow and quiet, with pike seen finning below the surface and dace darting around. A large overhanging tree disguised the right direction and we went the wrong way until it became clear that any further and we would be too wide for the river. It didn't look familiar so we back paddled and took the right fork, heading the last half a mile to the less-than-easy exit at the bottom of the lane near Dan's truck. It's fair to say that this exit is somewhat tricky, being high-sided and overgrown, inside a bunch of trees. The trick is to go side-on, hold a branch and put your feet on the drier clumps of earth then pull yourself up. This works and I got ashore, pulled the kayak back then grabbed the bow toggle before pulling it up. Dan followed.
The branch I mentioned is rated less than Dan's weight but as an assist he could have used it. Instead he asked me how deep it was. A foot or so I replied and he tested with his paddle, sure enough...so he stepped in and promptly sank up to his thighs in the soft mud. Granted it was under duress as I was being horrible to him at the time but it was still pretty dumb. I had to help him in the end but at least I got some video...
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9A0Kx38OnY[/video]
Well, back on dry land it was time to fetch his truck and partake in some off-roading, good fun it was and loaded up we set off back to the start point to swap things across to mine before we both headed to our respective homes after a rather wonderful day out.
